Micah stares at her, incredulous and a little perturbed. What kind of moral gymnasitcs does she have to do to arrive at that conclusion?
"They weren't selling safe passage. They accepted a bribe. You don't take bribes for services you already sell." And war trafficking wasn't one of Komarr's specialties. They shake their head, lips thinning.
"Then what do you call an unprovoked attack on a still-developing planet when they had barely been ten years out of isolation? Barrayar was just beginning to develop relations with other planets, just getting started on adopting galactic level tech, catching up to the rest of the Nexus... It takes more than ten years for an entire civilization to go from horseback to spaceflight, you know. But they were making progress. The Betan government -- my government -- was even supplying technological aid and training."
Mindful of their company, Micah lowers their voice, though some of the ghem researches are already giving them dry looks. "The Cetagandans aren't benevolent do-gooders here to speed along the civilization of this planet. They're here because they're known aggressive expansionists, and the prospect of a fledgling planet with barely developed planetary alliances and absolutely no defense against modern warfare was too much to resist. They're here because they thought Barrayar would be easy pickings."
no subject
"They weren't selling safe passage. They accepted a bribe. You don't take bribes for services you already sell." And war trafficking wasn't one of Komarr's specialties. They shake their head, lips thinning.
"Then what do you call an unprovoked attack on a still-developing planet when they had barely been ten years out of isolation? Barrayar was just beginning to develop relations with other planets, just getting started on adopting galactic level tech, catching up to the rest of the Nexus... It takes more than ten years for an entire civilization to go from horseback to spaceflight, you know. But they were making progress. The Betan government -- my government -- was even supplying technological aid and training."
Mindful of their company, Micah lowers their voice, though some of the ghem researches are already giving them dry looks. "The Cetagandans aren't benevolent do-gooders here to speed along the civilization of this planet. They're here because they're known aggressive expansionists, and the prospect of a fledgling planet with barely developed planetary alliances and absolutely no defense against modern warfare was too much to resist. They're here because they thought Barrayar would be easy pickings."