forbarrayar | [ february ii log ]

Entry tags:

[ february ii log ]

Who: Everyone
What: Traitors exposed, celebrations had, sleight hands passing cards under the table. And so begin the preparations for what is soon to come.
When: February 18th - 28th
Where: Barrayaran camp / Cetagandan base
Warnings: Torture (interrogations thread)

Quick links:
Riverfall
Barrayar: Barrayaran camp / Party / Missions
Cetaganda: Cetagandan base / Moon-poetry party / Missions

The harsh weather rages on, which temperatures still averaging far below freezing, and the wind is still strong. But things are a little less dire for the outsiders, and for the exotics -- well, they have their own chills to deal with.

riverfall
Riverfall village is your typical Dendarii mountain village, which means it's small, humble, and mostly poor. This is the most rural of the rural around here, a little backwater even by Barrayaran standards. Most of the villagers live in houses of wood and stone built themselves or by ancestors. Despite the cold, there are plenty of people outside at any given time -- working, mostly, because the daily grind stops for no one, but even the occasional group of children taken over by fits of cabin fever. The village is built up against a rocky mountain face, from the top of which the eponymous waterfall flows into the river that borders the west edge of the village and continues down the mountain. The place isn't exactly hidden, but if you don't know your way around, it'd be hard to find without a native guide.

The villagers are wary of the outsiders at first, even more than the soldiers had been -- the rural Dendarii are as superstitious as they come -- but, slowly convinced of their good intentions, start to warm to them. They're a blunt, hardy people, largely uneducated and tending toward the most extreme of Barrayaran sensibilities, but they are undeniably fierce. The General Count trusts them, so they'll be more or less civil (by Barrayaran standards, anyway), but you might catch the occasional scrutinizing, watchful stare. With Cetagandans in camp and exotics among them, they border on hostile, especially those who are visibly nonhuman. They keep their heads down enough to keep from getting into trouble with the soldiers, but they do not like you at all.

Not everyone in Riverfall speaks English -- Russian is everyone's first language, and only about half the village has any passable command of English. Thankfully, the village's Speaker Yakiv Gura speaks English, if heavily accented. They're clearly stretching to the limit to help the camp, but to the Dendarii, there's no higher act than one in the Count's service, especially when it comes to fighting this war.

barrayar
Even after scoring themselves a little extra food, morale in the camp is at an all-time low. The miserably dangerous weather hasn't let up, food is still heavily rationed, and everyone is still at least a little tired, cold, and hungry all of the time. It doesn't help that they've lost a few soldiers in the last couple of weeks, and in Riverfall, too, some villagers have died of the cold despite their relative warmth and safety, mostly children. This is hardly the first harsh winter they've faced, but that doesn't stop the inexorable loss that comes with it. Some villagers may be somberly putting their loved ones to rest in the village graveyard when the outsiders are in town.

But Piotr finally calls Negri out as a spy sent by his aide-de-camp Captain Ezar Vorbarra, partly to deliver a message and partly to test Piotr, because Ezar loves coy bullshit. However, he does learn that both Ezar and Prince Xav Vorbarra, Olivia and Sonia's father, are en route to Vorkosigan's District with relief supplies from Beta Colony secured by Xav's ambassadorial connections and tireless lobbying. Once Piotr judges it safe to release this information, it bring with it a bit of hope -- and to seal the deal, Piotr and Olivia arrange a celebration of sorts in the village.

Finally outing the ring of reason in the camp helps to bolster morale, too. Vorhalas is interrogated, and the names of his co-conspirators are revealed: Lieutenant Boris Vortala, who killed himself in disgrace shortly after his fast-penta interrogation at ghem-General Zefyst's hand, and their commander Captain Aaron Vorbataille. Vorbataille has, of course, already started to make his escape -- but with the help out of the outsiders, he won't get very far. Once Piotr is satisfied with Vorbataille's interrogation as well, both men are put to execution, but not by beheading as Doctor ghem-Miko: the sentence for treason is death by public starvation and exposure, and in this weather, it doesn't take long. They are publicly and emphatically denounced as traitors with no honor to speak of, sending a very clear message. Although this might seem like a gruesome sight to the outsiders, to the Barrayarans this is simply how it goes, and very few of them are sorry to see these traitors suffer, particularly as Vorhalas was the one responsible for their food shortage in the first place.

Reports from those soldiers and outsiders who were in the village at the same time as the Cetagandan field science team present the General Count with another troubling problem, however: the implications of the Cetagandans building a device that could control this phenomenon are terrifying, particularly to this threadbare resistance movement. But sabotage seems hardly a worthy solution, either. This is the only lead they have on sending the outsiders home, and so many of them have already put their lives on the line for the cause of a planet that otherwise nothing to most of them. There would be no honor in robbing them of their only chance to return home. But whether they should continue to allow the Cetagandans to proceed with their research or try to find a way to copy their plans themselves, a dubiously possible venture at best, weighs heavily on his mind. It only complicates his strategic concerns further, but by his military orders in the next couple of weeks, at least one thing is clear: he wants Cetagandan bodies.

camp
Morale is critically low among the soldiers, particularly after a few casualties during a recent skirmish with a Cetagandan patrol, but spirits definitely begin to lift with news of relief. The soldiers are now more or less accustomed to the outsiders' place in the camp, and they're even starting to become a little friendlier toward them, particularly those who've been involved in the war effort. They might invite outsiders to play card or dice games with them, or share a conversation over an admittedly meager meal, or better still, bond with them in the true Barrarayan form: over a lot of alcohol.

Negri has more or less built himself a niche in the camp, and doesn't look like he's going anywhere any time soon. But he isn't the only spy around. They desperately need a man on the inside, particularly with the troubling news about the wormhole device, and right now, that man is Byerly Vorrutyer. Starting next month, Piotr is sending him on assignment to infiltrate the Cetagandan base under the cover of a cowardly collaborator.

party
By the time they have the party on the 21st, the villagers have warmed up to the outsiders a little, but they don't really bond until the party. With what little they have to share, they scrape together as much of a feast as they can: not much, but by this month's standards, any hot meal prepared with fresh ingredients seems absolutely decadent. And because this is Barrayar there is, of course, plenty of liquor, that Barrayaran moonshine maple mead not the least among them, and there's no shortage of wine or vodka, either.

The hillfolk light lanterns all around the village and raise large tarps to cover the open center of the village where they usually hold gatherings. Inside, protected from the wind and lit by the bonfire and braziers placed around the perimeter, it's actually almost warm. Every villager who's ever laid hand to an instrument seems to gather there to play music all night long, an energetic mix of lively folk music and raucous drinking songs. Anyone with any musical talent would be welcome to join them as well. There's plenty of dancing, too, very little of it formal or complicated, but everyone's having a good time for the first time in weeks, maybe months, and the mood is infectious. By the end of the night, morale seems to have risen overall, and people in camp have something real to look forward to. The partygoing visitors are put up in warmed tents within the tarped village center or in the villagers' homes where they have room. Come morning, they'll head back, but for just one night, it's almost like there isn't even a war on.

missions
Outsiders have been assisting with moving supplies between the camp and Riverfall all throught he rest of the month, and it mostly goes smoothly. Vorbataille is caught on the 20th, although he and Vorhalas aren't publicly executed until a few days later, when Piotr is satisfied with the intelligence he's extracted. By the time he gets Vorbataille's name out of Vorhalas, the traitorous Captain has already fled -- but thanks to Carolina, Duv and Zarya, he's dragged back to camp for his interrogation.

That evening, Maine and William have the misfortune of encountering a dragon -- Darkstalker is on a mission with a Cetagandan patrol, and they run right smack into each other. A fight breaks out, but ultimately Darkstalker and the Cetagandans come out on top, and the outsiders and Barrayarans are forced to retreat -- but not before managing to kill a Cetagandan soldier or two, just barely escaping with one of the bodies.

Miles finds himself in a terrible position when a guard patrol shift goes horribly wrong in a skirmish against some Cetagandans, resulting in the death of their squad leader and a very ugly aftermath.

Zarya, William, Beth and Miles are in Riverfall with some Barrayaran soldiers on a supply run when a Cetagandan field science team arrives with a few exotics in tow. This is a rare chance to learn more about the Cetagandans' scientific exploits, and among other things, they find out that whatever it is that brought them here, the Cetagandan scientists are convincede it has something to do with the wormhole that collapsed 700 years ago.

The unabridged mission writeup is here.

cetaganda
The Cetagandans are a notoriously tight-lipped bunch, but they're blowing away most of the smoke surrounding their wormhole science research. As has been alluded, they're currently working on a device to harness the phenomenon that brought all the exotics here in the first place, and hopefully find a way to send them all home with it. They invite any exotics with scientific expertise to a series of interviews about neurology, astrophysics, and mechanical engineering. None of the advisement they receive helps to solve one of their most critical problems -- that of generating a Necklin field to match the one that must have surrounded each exotic -- but it certainly puts them closer to their goal, particularly in the area of neurology, and they're hardly going to stop there. But it's clear that the mathematicians and astrophysicists on base don't have sufficient expertise to solve the most complex equations before them. But on the brighter side of things, in the interest of this scientific exchange, they're letting the lab techs help a little more beyond just grunt work.

Meanwhile, the genetics project that seems so strange and arcane to the exotic carries on, largely behind the scenes, although Diya is increasingly at odds with her husband and even some of her senior staff, particularly the precocious Amai ghem-Soren. But there is very real purpose behind it -- and far more than just one -- and Diya d'Zefyst is a woman of great ambition. And more than anything else, she is haut.

Unfortunately, the relative peace on base is abruptly broken when Daryl, Lakshmi and Wash all manage to escape in a wild breakout attempt on the 25th. York and Ratchet are left behind, and as a result, some of their privileges revoked. They're now being watched a little more closely as a result.

base
Overall, despite simmering tensions under the surface and the miserable weather, life on base seems to be going more or less smoothly around them. The Cetagandans have had some recent victories against the Barrayarans, so morale is high. Unfortunately, after the breakout they begin cracking down on security with the exotics -- going back to treating the exotics a little more like they did when they first arrived. They aren't under guard, but after the 25th, they are being watched.

They still maintain that insistent veneer of civility, however, breaking only in cases where they feel the need or security risk is significant enough. The ghem on base remain overall cordial and courteous to the exotics as they ever were, which is to say considerably and always with a touch of smug superiority. With her success at the party earlier this month followed by her performance in the moon-poetry garden, the often-sequestered Amai ghem-Soren is seen more around the base.

moon-poetry party
The moon-poetry party is about three hours long and steeped in ceremony, each participant taking their turn to recite. This is, apparently, not a recitation of one's own work, but rather selections of classical Cetagandan poems, and in so referencing something culturally ubiquitous, each makes a statement in its mere selection and juxtapositions. If you pay close enough attention, you might notice that each participant has very subtly coordinated their outfits to further complement the theme of their recitation. Although there is a definite dignity to the party, it doesn't take much to pick up on the fact that this is yet another arena ghem use to try and socially one-up one another. Among the participants are both the Chief Medical Officer Colonel Faro ghem-Naru and Doctor Amai ghem-Soren, whose performance was especially well-received, the theme apparently being something about subtle passions.

missions
The science interviews with the exotics go more or less well, although not quite so hopeful as the Cetagandans were hoping. They do, however, learn some things about FTL travel in other worlds as well as other kinds of neural implants.

On the evening of the 21st, York, Natasha and Kaidan accidentally bear witness to what is clearly some kind of travesty: clearly a human being, but both overgrown and underdeveloped, and exhibiting powers of hydrokinesis and psychic empathy, referred to only as a ba.

On the 23rd, Jasper, Lapis, Pearl and Darkstalker accompany some soldiers and a field science team to Riverfall village, coinciding with a visit from some outsiders and soldiers. They encounter some outsiders while there but also pick up a bit on what it is the Cetagandans are doing -- that the Necklin field problem still remains their biggest problem, and they've been getting conflicting orders from the higher ups lately.

The unabridged mission writeup is here.

Note: Negri and Zahal are available for threads by request only this round. Please hit up Madi or Ammay respectively if you want threads with either of those NPCs. You can also request a thread with Village Speaker Yakiv Gura if you want, in which case hit up Madi.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Miles freezes a moment. Wrong tense. Whoops. ]

I mean, just going off what I've seen. And experienced. You can sort of tell.

[ He's been a soldier for long enough to decide that that sounds like bullshit. If he hadn't just spoken to Miles for so long, he might've assumed he was just someone talking at war when they hadn't really experienced it, when they didn't know better, but Miles sounds like he knows better than that.

Normally, he wouldn't pry, but. Curious. ]

How so? [ Not even elaborating. Go on. ]

[ He knows way fucking better than that. Maybe if he distracts Wash ... ]

I'm a mercenary admiral. And I got that position by taking over the fleet to begin with. First step? Disrupt the hell out of their supply lines.

[ Mercenary spy, mercenary admiral -- the feeling Wash gets from that though is less that he's lying and more that he is, in fact, incredibly capable. With a different person, Wash might be holding back, here, might just decide to pull back with a mental note that Miles has something to hide, but there's been enough honesty between them that Wash doesn't feel the need to do that.

He's sure Miles can tell that he isn't quite buying this, besides. ]

Have they been doing that for ten years, Admiral?

[ Not impossible. But within this context. Please do talk more, though, Miles. ]

[ He'd better spin his not-quite-lies faster then. A shrug at that; he tosses the blanket he'd had under the saddle up on the post where it belongs. ]

I've been an Admiral for ten years. But no. Space conflicts are much quicker, most of the time. A ground war like this may last a few decades.

[ Two, in fact. ]

And I'm a native. I've lived through famine before. There's a point where we start looking at other options.

Edited 2017-02-27 14:42 (UTC)

[ Nothing he's saying rings false, other than the outright assumption of being able to predict the flow of a war. From an apparent Admiral, no less. He should know far better than that.

Wash eyes him critically, maybe only slightly hiding it. He isn't Miles' enemy, at least, he'd like to think they're on the same side, here, and if he has something to hide -- then the man must have his reasons. ]

Just seems like quite the assumption to make, Admiral.

[ He'll leave it at that. There's no need to make an enemy of him. And he promises he'll stop calling you Admiral. ]

[ Wash knows Miles is lying. Hell, Wash likely knows Miles knows that Wash knows Miles is lying. So he stops for a moment to look up at the other man, fixing him with those bright gray eyes. Fiercely intelligent eyes.

Maybe he can manage a different kind of honesty. ]

I know. But I am on Barrayar's side, body and soul.

[ The look in his eyes is striking, focused, determined, fierce, and the first thing Wash thinks of is from before, the way Miles' voice had shifted around the word. Mutant. And what he'd said after, understandable prejudice, here on Barrayar. There is a real loyalty, there.

Wash meets his gaze readily. ]

You have your reasons.

[ Some lies are necessary. ]

[ Miles nods firmly. Glad that Wash seems to understand, anyway. ]

I do. Nothing that concerns you, I swear. As long as you aren't about to wander back to the Cetagandan side, anyway.

[ And then, almost apologetically: ]

I could tell you just about anything else. About Barrayar, for example. I lived here until I was seventeen.

[ He's spent a lot of his life lying his ass off, Miles -- it might have everything to do with why he doesn't drink, he sure as hell can't ever afford to slip. He'd also like to think it's for the right reasons. ]

Being on a planet I barely know anything about hasn't been great. [ Meaning, yeah, he'd appreciate if you could just. Tell him about the place. He really hates feeling so vulnerable and out of place. ] I could tell you about where I'm from.

[ It'd all be much less useful to you though but he would. ]

Deal. Come on, then. I'm all done.

[ He pats the horse one more time before heading out. ]

[ Maybe also giving the horsey a lil pat before he follows Miles. Good horsey. ]

All I know about Barrayar's mostly what the Cetagandans have told us, and I assume it's not all accurate.

Let me guess: backwater barbarians that eat babies and generally shy away from the light of galactic civilization?

There was also a lot about the general pitiable inferiority of Barrayans that couldn't see that they were just trying to help and civilize them.

Edited 2017-02-27 15:42 (UTC)

[ Miles snorts a bit at that. ]

And how much did you enjoy their culture?

I learned what I could.

[ He was trying to play along. He let them glitter up his face once. ]

. . . They threw us a party.

[ Miles can't help but crack a knowing grin at that. ]

And how did that go?

[ LITERALLY JUST GIVING HIM A LOOK.

Though there's a bit of a smile, there. ]

As I thought. I've been to those parties. On Eta Ceta itself. Trust me, culture is always relative.

It was meant to help us exotics feel -- welcome. There was a garden. [ Heavy sighing . . . ] And they dressed some of us up.

Face paint? Seven layers of clothing, minimum? Strange smells that are actually veiled insults?

[ It was very hard to learn to fight in those clothes. :( ]

I feel like if they spent less time on parties and perfumes they'd have found this place by now.

Mm, well. Don't underestimate them. There's a reason why they're an interstellar empire.

[ He sobers further as he walks. Shoving his hands into his coat. ]

Barrayaran culture has its flaws too.

[ He tried to remind himself of that, too, while he was with them. As ludicrous as they seemed, as much as he didn't understand how they operated as a military with all that damned fluff around everything, he'd learned enough from Duv and from others to know that they are, apparently, a very successful empire.

Glancing to Miles beside him, as his tone shifts. ]

What culture doesn't? [ A prompt, but -- not a direct one. That's how Wash tends to do, with things like this. He'll listen if Miles elaborates, but he'll talk about something else if he doesn't. ]

[ A very, very successful empire. In Miles' time, only the Barrayaran Imperium itself comes close, and that's only three worlds.

But that implied hint ... Ah, well. He may as well explain himself before the soldiers paint a more biased picture anyway. ]

My ancestors arrived here over 700 years ago, fleeing a nuclear holocaust. And then the wormhole they'd used to get here closed off unexpectedly, cutting them off from the rest of the Nexus. Which may have irradiated the planet even worse, potentially.

Just picture it. Going from modern to medieval tech in an instant, with dangerous radiation even for a normal world.

[ He pauses here to let Wash draw conclusions on his own, first. ]

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