[ april ii log: here's unbroken bone ]

[barrayarmods]

Who: Everyone
What: The sun finally comes out in proper spring, the labs are full of excitement, and Piotr prepares for real war. Your princess is in another castle.
When: April 18th - 30th
Where: the Barrayaran camp, the Cetagandan base, Riverfall Village
Warnings: TBD

Quick links:
Riverfall
Barrayar: Camp / Missions
Cetaganda: Base / Missions

TIMELINE
4/18 Fast-penta interrogation: Sonia
4/19 Eavesdropping Alpha (Barrayar)
4/21 Eavesdropping Bravo (Barrayar)
4/22 - 4/23 Vorkosigan Vashnoi trips
4/24 Eavesdropping (Cetaganda)
4/25-4/26 Satellite launch
4/27 Flower-viewing party


barrayar
Morale is still recovering after Princess Sonia's capture and the deaths that resulted from the ensuing battle in Riverfall, but at least they were able to make contact with Colonel Vorvolk, the leading officer of the other half of Piotr's army, and reunite the guerrilla army for the first time since their last camp was discovered several months ago. Their discovery is not only timely, but critical -- Piotr intends to launch an attack on the Cetagandan base next month, before any reinforcements can arrive, in order to force Zahal to recall at least part, if not most, of the occupying force in the capital city, so that Piotr's army and the civilian underground resistance can work together to retake Vorkosigan Vashnoi. If they can take back the city and continue to defend it, they might even stand a chance at pushing Zahal's forces out of the district entirely, and considering that Vorkosigan's District is one of the hot spots of the invasion, this might even turn the tide of the whole war in their favor. They'll also be attempting to rescue Sonia during the attack, making the most out of the chaos, but that is their secondary objective.

Zahal, of course, means to make the most out of his new hostage. Knowing for certain now that Piotr's army has contact with the Riverfall villagers -- a fact that puts the camp at risk for discovery once again -- Zahal sends a missive to Riverfall with instructions to pass it along to Piotr. His demands are simple: they'll guarantee the safety and return of the Princess on Piotr's complete surrender. Piotr responds by scrawling a particularly rude and short-worded rebuttal over the original message and has it returned promptly -- stuffed inside the mouth of some poor beheaded ghem soldier, left at one of the base entry gates to be discovered by patrols.

Hopes for a successful attack are bolstered still when word comes that Emperor Dorca and Crown Prince Yuri are on their way to the Dendarii mountains. On the 18th, a courier from Dorca's battalion arrives, only to discover that the first courier sent by Dorca some weeks ago never made it to Piotr's camp to deliver the news. Dorca and Yuri bring with them another 200 soldiers when they arrive on the 20th, which nearly doubles their forces, and, like Colonel Vorvolk's half of the army, they set up camp in another part of the mountains nearby, connected by the cave netwrok that runs through the Dendarii mountains. Unfortunately, the occasion isn't entirely joyous, as Crown Prince Yuri recently lost his only remaining son and heir in battle shortly before departing for Vorkosigan's District. This is not only a sad occasion, but a politically uneasy one: Yuri's wife died some years ago, and while he is next in line to succeed his father as Emperor, the lack of an heir to his own makes for a politically shaky situation. Should he die before producing another heir, the title of Crown Prince will fall to his half-brother Xav instead, and that…brings a whole host of other political issues to the table. Needless to say, while Yuri's succession isn't an immediate issue, the politically savvy are feeling a little nervous about it.

But the war marches on, and preparations must be made. Their odds are better, but they're still vastly outnumbered by the Cetagandans. They'll need the help of the underground civilian resistance to prepare to retake Vorkosigan Vashnoi, as well as some supplies. After all, they'll have an easier time infiltrating the Cetagandan base with a larger force if some of them look enough like Cetagandans.

camp
Although the army is stronger than it has been in months, not all is at peace. Colonel Vorvolk has always been a trusted member of Piotr's general staff and a loyal officer, as well as a long-time acquaintance. However, his views on the outsiders don't exactly align with Piotr's: he thinks Piotr has been much too quick to trust them, especially given that several of them came over from the Cetagandan side, and Duv Galeni hails from Komarr, the planet that sold Barrayar out to the Cetagandans. Vorvolk doesn't believe that the outsiders should be given such freedom or privilege, let alone allow them to participate in critical military operations. Most of his own soldiers seem to share the sentiment, as do the Vorbarra soldiers -- in fact, Yuri vocally agrees with Vorvolk, and those outsiders who have been in Piotr's camp from the very beginning will feel an uncomfortably familiar air of suspicion and mistrust settles over the camp. While nothing has effectively changed -- the outsiders are not segregated away from the camp again as they once were, nor put back under guard -- the Barrayaran soldiers who are comfortable with and even like the outsiders are suddenly in the minority.

While few are foolish enough to disrespect the outsiders where Piotr can see them, some of the soldiers from Vorvolk's and Dorca's camps are borderline hostile toward the outsiders, jeering, taunting, even making hex signs or spitting in the most extreme cases. There are still plenty of soldiers who remain friendly towards the outsiders, but it's leading to friction between them and their other Barrayaran comrades as well. After several days of tension, a major fight breaks out in Piotr's camp over the outsiders' presence, and a few outsiders might even be dragged (or throw themselves) into it. Everyone involved in the fight gets a firm reprimand and then some, and worse still is that the fight does little to ease the tensions -- if anything, it only makes them worse.

Dorca and Yuri's mourning casts a somber air over the camps, and both Emperor and Crown Prince are in grave moods, Yuri's especially prickly. As his son was a public figure, they hold a public burning of death offerings on the 22nd, so that Imperial subjects may pay their respects to the recently deceased Prince. A large pyre is set up within one of the larger caves, so that the smoke will be less conspicuous, and any offerings submitted in earnest will be accepted. Typical Barrayaran death offerings consist of a small lock of one's hair, or, if none is to hand, any other personal object they might have on their person that would burn, such as a piece of clothing.

missions
With contributions of…mixed success from the outsiders, as well as help from the soldiers, the villagers are able to repair some of the homes damaged in the recent skirmish. Some of them are too far gone for repair, and so are broken down to salvage whatever materials they can for other repairs. Considering the village now houses fewer than fifty people, housing space is not a concern at the moment.

Preparations for the coming attack on the Cetagandan base go well overall. The raiding parties manage to steal uniforms and face paint for about 50 soldiers to disguise themselves, and parties sent to Vorkosigan Vashnoi successfully make contact with civilian resistance cells to pass their plans along.

The unabridged mission results can be found here.

cetaganda
Zahal sends his terms to Piotr for Sonia's release, and the gruesome rebuttal -- a crude message scrawled over Zahal's own hand-penned calligraphy, the delicate paper shoved into the gaping mouth of a dead ghem soldier, his head left to be discovered just outside the best -- infuriates him. He's known Piotr for too long to expect him to give in right away, but this is just sheer insult. He's well aware of just how vulnerable the base is right now -- the epidemic has mostly run its course, but their total forces are down to about 6,000 soldiers, and there are only about 100 ghem scientists left. His requests for reinforcements have been delayed by Cetagandan central command -- they have no extra troops they can spare on planet, and it will be another month before more ships arrive. Zahal is struggling to balance out his forces, split between the base and Vorkosigan Vashnoi -- right now binternal base security is badly undermanned in favor of increasing the occupying force in the capital city. Piotr Vorkosigan is too smart a man not to take advantage of an opportunity like this -- Zahal just doesn't know exactly what he's planning to do. The Cetagandan base is in a vulnerable state.

However, there is one edge they have: Cetagandan intelligence knows that Emperor Dorca and Crown Prince Yuri are in Vorkosigan's District. The courier who never made it to Piotr's camp was intercepted by Cetagandan intelligence before he even made it to Vorkosigan's District, and the information was sent accordingly to Zahal's outpost. Piotr might have rejected his first demand -- but would the Emperor, the Princess's grandfather, respond the same?

But as the trials of war marches on, so do the advancements of science. Micah is still hard at work in the labs working on the Star Gate Project, but the data they've been able to gather is incomplete and insufficient. They have convinced the Cetagandan science officers to send a scientific party, Micah included, off-planet to take a closer look at the collapsed wormhole and launch a satellite to record more data. They've made a fair bit of progress in discovering the new type of field generated by the collapsed wormhole, tentatively named the Niadem field after its primary discoverer, but they still know too little about just how and why the exotics have been brought here to complete their designs.

base
Despite the military tensions, the Cetagandans work hard at maintaining a lighter atmosphere around the base. Since the weather this month has finally given them some real relief -- and the epidemic raging the base has been quelled -- the Cetagandans decide to host a flower-viewing party on the 27th in the gardens adjacent to the Grow Labs. It is explained to the exotics that such events are regularly held to herald the coming of spring, although emphasis is placed on the fact that the viewings are usually much more sophisticated and lavish than the 'meager' offerings of the lush gardens on the base.

Typical of Cetagandan functions, it is elegant, overwrought and full of a lot of needlessly artfully crafted food and drinks -- many of them intoxicating, so take care what you drink. Sonia and Micah are both in attendance, although Sonia doesn't look particularly happy to be there. The party is celebrating in particular some of the genetic-botanical achievements of some of the ghem lady artists on the base, as well as some recently genetically engineered koi, to update the atmosphere of the garden to proper spring. However, the real show-stealer is the debut of Amai's personal project: an elaborate zoo-biological sculpture designed as tribute to the Star Crèche itself. It takes up a considerable portion of the back wall of the garden, vinelike branches woven into the trellis, curling and spreading in elaborate patterns, and flowers bloom along the lengths in clusters, each a different color. On a closer look, they can be identified as asters -- but some in colors no one's ever seen an aster before. The vines themselves are ridged with what looks like some kind of delicate fin that sways softly with the slightest breeze, a shimmering dark blue. They look more like koi fins than anything botanical, and with the groups of flowers set over them, it looks something like a night sky. In the center is an elaborately crafted flower sculpture of the Star Crèche's screaming bird insignia in minute detail. And though it is rooted to the rest of the sculpture, it seems to move at times -- the slightest flutter of its wings. The placard placed with it explains that each colored cluster of asters is an artistic representation of one of the Constellations that make up the haut caste. The Navarr constellation, from which both Diya and Sei hail, is flowered in asters of a striking violet color.

As time passes, Haut Sei's presence becomes more palpable on the base, and her force bubble is seen more frequently outside of the science/medical complex. Though she and Diya are working closely together, it's clear to anyone who spends enough time around them that there is some tension between them. Ba Talim is almost always present when they are together, although it can at times be found on its own around the base.

missions
The gene therapy trials take a turn for the worse despite glimmers of promise earlier on, and all three subjects suffer from complications with no progress made.

The investigation into the weapons smuggling operation is ultimately a failure -- while they are able to track down one of the resistance cells, the civilians involved manage to get away before any useful information is extracted from them. The next time Cetagandan soldiers return to the place where they'd been discovered, the establishment has since been boarded up and closed down.

The unabridged mission results can be found here.

Note: Gavalas, Ezar and Gail are both available for threading on request. Hit Madi (Gavalas) or Ammay (Ezar & Gail) up if you are interested!

Comments

Emperor Dorca/Crown Prince Yuri

[madvor]

Emperor Dorca the Just is an imposing man. It's hard not to be an imposing man when you're the political monolith of the last half-century -- united the Counts into a cohesive Imperium and ended the Bloody Centuries -- his hair is streaked with gray, his face marked with scars, tall and barrel-chested and built like a brick wall. His son Yuri slightly less stocky, but just as tall, with a grim face quick to anger and slow to smile.

The both of them are always busy when they're in Piotr's camp, rarely at rest, because there's too much to do, too much to prepare for. And Yuri would rather think about the war than his son, and Dorca rarely thinks about anything else at all. But one or the other can be found in a few idle moments, after meetings in the war tent, or later in the evening, Dorca sharpening his sword, Yuri doing target practice on a tree with a worn but finely carved bow.

Emperor Dorca

[shri]

This is someone's idea of a joke, when she's sent to Dorca, she knows. The new soldiers in the realisation that touching her will result in a broken something, like to find other ways to humiliate her - as a queen, as an outsider, as a woman who wore her weapons openly and never dropped her gaze - she's found. Knew that her presence was an affront to them, apparently, and to console their wounded pride, they tell her that it has to be her that brought the Emperor his evening meal from the mess tents. She worked there, as well, didn't she? Oh, she was such a good cook, they'd heard. It'll be such an honour. She can get the praise she deserves.

Sets her teeth, she had been doing her best to keep her word to Miles, to not slit Yuri's throat while he slept and her best by Piotr, to not cause any undue problems on her behalf. So she wordlessly takes the tray of food when it's pushed at her. Straightens the uniform of the rangers, shifts the knife in her belt and turns on her heel to march towards Dorca's tent with the meal balanced in her hand. Her back to the snickering that followed her, meets his guard's eyes evenly when they give her a foul grin and nod her on to where Emperor Dorca sat sharpening his blade.

Doesn't bow her head and she most certainly doesn't curtsey, rather she meets his gaze openly and then indicates to the food. "You lunch, your majesty."

[justvor]

The Vorbarra armsmen in the room, dressed in the same black and silver livery Gavalas wears, exchange looks and then give pointed ones at Lakshmi, for her lack of deference if nothing else -- a bow of the head would have been enough in a military context, but the total lack of it? That's just disrespect.

But the Emperor merely looks at her, heavy brows drawn down. It's not a good first impression, but he's not a man who wastes his time being offended. He has the same kind of raw intensity about him that Piotr has, that single-minded determination that clearly motivates everything he does: win the war. Just win the bloody war. Drive the Cetagandans out, and everything else will follow.

"You may set it down there." He nods at the table, half-covered in papers and plastic flimsies and war maps, and the carved little markers they use for troop movements. He studies her, and doesn't bother hiding the skeptical look at her uniform -- she must have had to have it mended to fit her, because they certainly don't make them in women's sizes. "Lakshmi Bai?"

[shri]

She moves as indicated, striding across the room to lay it down. She keeps her gaze in front of her - where yes, it would be tempting to look at the movements. Get a better head for the war that she's fighting.

But she doesn't, she just focuses on moving the plates across from the tray to the table one by one. Then the cup, pouring out the glass of wine. Everything done and not moved a step over. Once it's done, she turns back around when her name is called. What flattery, he knew her name.

Patience, Lakshmi, he was a man in an impossible position. "Yes?"

[justvor]

Not flattery; he's spoken to Piotr, is all, talked with him at length, as much as they could, about the situation here. Mentioning Lakshmi Bai seemed like an eventuality during those briefings, and Piotr has never been one to conceal any cards in his hand from Dorca. Dorca had wanted to see her up close anyway, with his own two eyes, but his expression is unreadable. If Piotr manages to be a brick wall at times, Dorca is a towering height of smooth marble, impenetrable and unscalable.

"General Vorkosigan mentioned you in his briefings. The warrior queen, he called you." Dorca's expression doesn't shift, although there's no concession in his voice. He rises to his feet and inclines a slow nod toward her. "I am given to understand you truly are royalty where you come from."

[shri]

There's nothing there at all to be read, but she watches him closely regardless. An person that held power, ought to be. No doubt that he did. His men respected him, she could tell that much. Utter and sure.

"Yes, I truly am royalty." A bite, there, if kept. "My own people call me Jhansi ki Rani." To the inspection she can feel, all the way down her back, from him, from the other men in the room, she rolls herself. Her head lifts, the gold she never removes from herself as good as her crown now. Not so much arrogant, though she always is, but sure of herself, all the way down. Wrapped around her limbs. "The Queen of Jhansi. I have been such since I married as a girl, and when my husband passed from my side, kept such by the love of my people." The only validation she would ever want in truth. The only thing she cared for, not for his approval or anyone else's - even if it did help - but she belonged to them and them alone.

[justvor]

Dorca seems to accept this much more readily than her military status, this time giving her a deeper nod of acknowledgment and respect. A ruler is a ruler, and this woman has clearly had her share of experience.

"You are fortunate, to be so loved by your people." There's almost a faint wryness to his expression, though he does not quite smile. Emperor Dorca is not a man known for his smiles. "I inherited the camp stool via my mother's line. Not the customary line of succession, but by the end of the Bloody Centuries, it didn't matter which of my parents was more closely related to the last Emperor."

He gestures to a stool near his own with another polite nod. "Please, your highness, have a seat, if you don't mind."

[shri]

When she gets that respect, then she gives it, her own head bows, and her hand lifts in her own people's greeting. Cupping the air near her face before sweeping it down again in mutual exchange. It's been some time since she had to - take up this role. Queen, not just hunted. Composes herself stiffly in the Barrayaran uniform like it was her own. "Thank you, your highness."

Tit for tat, she hesitates a moment, where she looks back over the tray she's been tasked to bring. Looking at the bottle of wine and the cup, a hesitation in the act but when is she is anything less than bold? So she goes to it first, pouring the glass of wine that she takes up and walks back to him to stand directly in front of him.

It's a declaration that comes as directly as she meets his eyes. Looking into them as she takes a sip, lightly, and in that way, she is still a product of her own time. She takes such things delicately still. But all the same, it's proof enough, she had not come here to harm or fight him nor be anything else but be in his command. Swallows it, her eyes lowered then to the cup to wait to see if anything else happened, but when nothing did, she offered it to him. Let him take it before she sits herself, arranging herself beside him.

"It's not the first time I have heard such a thing not matter to allow an end to such bloodshed." Continues along like nothing has passed in particular, as an equal to him and nothing less.

[justvor]

Some of the armsmen start to look a little vexed, but Dorca says nothing, doesn't so much as balk. In a certain capacity, Lakshmi is like visiting royalty, and he'll hardly be so rude as to deny her that honor. That is entirely separate from the uniform she's wearing. He receives the cup when she offers it to him with a faint polite smile.

One or two of the armsmen look a little uneasy at the topic of discussion, looking toward the tent flap every so often, as if waiting for Yuri to walk in. If Dorca notices, he doesn't show it.

"No, I suspect it's not a strictly Barrayaran phenomenon," Dorca agrees wryly. "If I might ask, what sort of place is Jhansi? I'm afraid General Vorkosigan hasn't had time to thoroughly brief me on everything yet."

YURI

[dendarii]

Miles had intended to avoid Mad Future Emperor Yuri, he really had. He's managed to make himself scarce whenever he spots the man in camp, or get at a far enough distance to stare at the man without being obvious. But mostly he's careful not to hang around the areas a crown prince is likely to be, and that works well enough.

Until now, anyway. He almost literally runs into the man, in fact, having decided to take his meager supper (and a nice bottle of mead) outside to enjoy the spring air. Only a quick recovery sends the tray careening into the ground and not all over the Crown Prince. Better wasted than spilled on Yuri, after all. He drops the bottle too, but at least that rolls rather than shatters.

Miles stops to stare afterwards, momentarily speechless. He really isn't ready to be face to face with this man. (Well, face to chest - because of course Yuri is tall on top of everything else.) It takes him a moment to find something to say at all. "Your highness," he says, almost dazed. "My apologies." He stoops to pick up the tray and bottle both. And tries not to think about the fact that this man right here is going to murder most of his family.

[madvor]

Yuri is not a man with a sunny disposition on the best of days, and this is far, far from a good day. The little mutant runs headlong into him, and Yuri manages not to drop anything of his own, but that's a small consolation. Today, Miles Vorkosigan, you have terrible luck. The look that he delivers Miles is akin to how you'd look at something unpleasant you'd just stepped on.

"Take care you watch where you're going," he says sharply, then as he actually looks at Miles, his eyes narrow. "Where did you get that uniform?"

[dendarii]

He's had worse glares leveled at him. But it's novel, at least, to have it come from Yuri of all people. He reminds himself that now is very much not the time to get in the last witty comment. Deal with him and retreat, quickly.

Easy in theory; hard in practice. Especially when Yuri asks that question with a tone that suggests Miles must have stolen it. He rises to his feet, bottle tucked under one arm. Straightens his spine as much as he can, adopting a military posture. The uniform is ... too big for him, but not hideously so. He'd convinced one of the villagers to modify the smallest one Piotr had had available. "I earned it, sir," he says with a stubborn lift of his jaw. "When I joined General Vorkosigan's army."

[madvor]

"Earned it?" Yuri drawls out the words, giving Miles's unusual form a thoroughly unconcealed look of observation and disgust. He doesn't bother to mask it. The skepticism in his voice is cutting. "And who let you crawl into the ranks?"

[dendarii]

Keep calm, he reminds himself. Pissing off Piotr is one thing - a bad thing - but pising off Yuri would be so much worse. Actively and immediately deadly, in fact. So he resolves to make his tone as firm and respectful as possible. While, you know, not standing for this bullshit.

"The situation is desperate," he says smoothly enough. "And General Vorkosigan is not one to waste a weapon. A knife is smaller than a sword, but no less deadly if well-aimed."

... All right, so he can't resist a bit of personality. But he's being completely reasonable, he swears.

[madvor]

The slight curl of Yuri's lip shows about how much he appreciates Miles's personality. About as much as the rest of him, equally offensive. Yuri's too Barrayaran to claim delicate sensibility, but mutants still have no place in this camp. They certainly have no place in that uniform.

"Desperate," Yuri echoes scornfully, eyes narrowed. The whole planet is desperate. That's no excuse. "I think you mean overly progressive. Prole officers, I'll grant him, but women and mutants in the Imperial Service? I think my niece's Betan sensibilities must be getting the better of him." He makes a disapproving noise. It's clear that he thinks Miles would be much better suited to literally anything else. And that he's not all that fond of his brother's decision to marry a galactic, either.

[dendarii]

Ugh. He's not surprised - and it's better than getting outright attacked - but goddam he hates that look on Yuri's face. Can't help but twitch slightly in response to it, to take a moment to calm himself first. The man is a product of his time. Piotr is the progressive one, for god's sake ... He'd always known that in theory, but now he's starting to believe it.

The prospect of staying in this version of Barrayar the rest of his life is looking worse by the second.

He can't defend himself, really, but the implied insult to Lakshmi makes him twitch a bit more. Subtly, a muscle jumping in his jaw before he quells it. "The women are entirely capable," he says firmly. "I think you'd find that most of them can best any man in a trial by combat." Lakshmi and Carolina, definitely. Completely badass. "This camp would be worse off without them."

you give me the most egregious opportunities to be mean to miles

[madvor]

Yuri sneers slightly. He's not a man in the habit of completely censoring himself -- not that he isn't perfectly capable of it -- but here, now? In this moment, in particular? He has no reason to, not talking to this man. This mutant.

"If that's truly the case, then I fear for the state of Vorkosigan's army." Yuri eyes Miles with continued distaste. "And what do you do in that uniform, other than make a joke of it?"

Dorca!

[protocol]

Being asked to deliver a message to Emperor Dorca was something that part of Wash did consider refusing. The task might be better suited to another soldier, to someone native, maybe, but he can't deny his curiosity, and as much as he doesn't really want to be in their camp after how very pleasant the soldiers he's had the opportunity to interact with already have been. A brief visit won't be too bad.

As much as he's tried to learn about local culture and history, Wash still has a distant, fumbling understanding of royalty, of what a title like Emperor actually means. As far as he sees it, if he's here with the soldiers then it'd be fair to see him like a commander more than an Emperor in some distant ivory tower, but he's still a little surprised to see him with the soldiers in their training, leading a drill. He stands aside and watches with interest, approaching only when Dorca dismisses his men, and ah. He has no real idea how to approach an Emperor, but he does know how to speak to a military man, to a commander. He'll just. He'll go with that.

"Sir." Highness? Majesty? He's just going to stick with what he knows, okay. He automatically takes a soldier's stance, no salute but a bow of his head as he waits to be acknowledged. "I was asked to deliver you something from General Vorkosigan."

[justvor]

Barrayar is military-mad enough that addressing the Emperor as sir during a war is more or less acceptable, although two of the Vorbarra armsmen in the room, clad in the same black-and-silver livery Gavalas wears, give him a slightly dirty look. Outsiders.

But if the Emperor himself is bothered, he doesn't show it; merely looks up at Wash from the table he's bent over, assesses the unfamiliar man in a very familiar uniform with a brief glance and a slight knit of his eyebrows, and nods shortly. Whatever anger he has in him, he isn't wearing it like Piotr and Yuri are -- and he must have anger, the endangerment of one grandchild on the heels of the death of another.

"Vorkosigan sent you?" A confirmation. Not of the sender, but the messenger. If Piotr sent an outsider on purpose, he's making a deliberate statement to Dorca, and it doesn't go unheard. Dorca gestures for Wash to continue.

[protocol]

Wash can feel the eyes of those armsmen on him, sees them out of the corner of his eye, recognizes the livery from the time he's spent with Gavalas -- Vorbarra colors of some kind, he'd always assumed. He doesn't look at them, though, is more than practiced at ignoring a dirty look or a scathing murmur, keeping his eyes on the man in front of him, instead. Piotr did send him. To the Emperor. Wash isn't quite so helpless as to not understand there's significance, in that, even if he's just acting as messenger. He straightens as he's acknowledged, a curt, sharp nod.

"He did, sir." An outsider, when he could've easily sent another. Not for a particularly delicate task, but still. Some pause before he hands over what he was given, some piece of correspondence, not anything he's privy to know about. "And I'm to take back a response, as well."

His task done there's a slight curiosity in his eyes now, with the way he glances around the tent briefly ( and still distinctly not directly at Dorca's armsmen ), at whatever might be spread out across Dorca's table. What does an Emperor get up to, down here with the grit and dirt? His understanding of titles like that is likely outdated, but he associates that more with someone lording over armies from afar rather than being right in the trench alongside them. He's half a mind to comment on the drills he saw Dorca leading, but ah, not yet, right. He's technically still waiting on instruction.

[justvor]

Dorca nods, taking the envelope stamped with the Vorkosigan seal, three maple leaves set against a background of mountains. It comes open easily when he swipes a thumb under it, the wax still warm. He nods at Wash again, gesturing to a stool nearby.

"Have a seat, then. What's your name, boy?"

The boy isn't derogatory or derisive. Dorca merely seems the sort of man who calls anyone more than ten years his junior boy, and he's easily twice Wash's age.

[protocol]

He can hear from his tone that it doesn't seem to be meant in a derogatory way -- but it's been a long time since anyone's called him boy. The Director, or his old officers back in the rank-and-file. He'd expected to be dismissed, called on when he was needed, but he doesn't let the surprise or uncertainty show, just dips his head and moves to sit himself down.

"Washington, sir." A pause. Name carries so much more weight here, but of course Dorca wouldn't be able to tell much of him from his own name. If he's asking, then surely volunteering something more wouldn't be too out of hand. Volunteering rank seems like pressing a line, though? He can still feel the eyes of those armsmen on him. "I was military, in my own world."

IM SORRY THIS IS SO LATE

[justvor]

"I can tell."

Dorca doesn't seem to pay heed to his armsmen's reactions; if anything, the way he talks to Wash now seems to send a signal, and some of them straighten up a little.

"Private Washington, then." One eyebrow arches. Is that a trace of humor? "I take it you were not a private in your own military."

S'ALL GOOD

[protocol]

Ah, rank. Tricky thing, for Wash, given that he was technically due for further demotion at minimum before he circumvented the courts-martial, and the only rank that mattered in Freelancer was the Director's own leaderboard. And that he's essentially defected from the UNSC. Twice. Still though, he nods, curt and acknowledging, his posture relaxed by formal.

"I was, once." Of course. A slight trace of humor of his own. Maybe out of line, but he's kind of out of his field in general, he might as well respond to what he thinks is there. He'll know soon enough if he's wrong. "Sergeant, sir, before being unceremoniously reassigned here."

Wash looks quite a bit too old to have never made it past sergeant if he was an officer of any ability, but look, he isn't about to volunteer the special ops thing so readily.

[justvor]

Dorca's eyebrows twitch just slightly, a sign that he doesn't think Wash is lying, but he doesn't think the man is telling the whole truth, either. Dorca the Just didn't get where he is by being slow. But he doesn't press the point.

"Not the reassignment you were hoping for, I'm sure. But, as for rank -- " While talking to Wash, Dorca is opening a box with writing materials and wax, along with a seal with the Vorbarra crest on it. "I think you'll find that General Vorkosigan is a man who recognizes diligence and talent when he sees it. You may not stay a private all that long." He pauses, and gives Wash a curious look. "Did you know that, prior to this war, only Vor were permitted to serve as officers in the Imperial Service?"