[ may i log: the good fight ]

[barrayarmods]

Who: Everyone
What: The culmination of months of planning and suffering finally comes to bear as the Barrayarans launch their debilitating attack on the Cetagandan base. Politics, as always, go sight unseen but felt everywhere.
When: May 1st - 18th
Where: the Barrayaran camp, the Cetagandan base, Riverfall Village
Warnings: TBD

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

TIMELINE
5/5 Eavesdropping
5/7 Hacking
5/11 Mystery Plot
5/15 Attack on the Cetagandan base

riverfall
The village is finally starting to get back on its feet after a few blessedly uneventful weeks. Other than the routine Cetagandan patrols, there hasn't been much activity in the village, and no new strife. The villagers merely continue their rebuilding efforts and tend to their fields, and they'll still gladly accept any help offered by outsiders.

With the village down nearly half its population, there's room to grow, even after last month's fight destroyed some of the homes, so Speaker Gura has been taking in refugees from other nearby hill villages – about ten refugees have moved to settle anew in Riverfall in the last few weeks.

barrayar
The time to strike is now.

All three camps are preoccupied with preparations for the attack on the 15th: as far as Barrayaran intelligence knows, no reinforcements are on their way to the Cetagandan base, and the guerrillas need to strike while the Cetagandans are still down nearly half their forces. It's the only shot they have at forcing the occupying troops to leave Vorkosigan Vashnoi and give them a chance at retaking the city – and they're not throwing away this shot, because they might not get another one.

The political unease surrounding Dorca and Yuri is a quieter tension, plaguing only those politically savvy (or well-positioned) enough to understand the situation, but if you're paying close enough attention to the moody Crown Prince, you'll note that Yuri's primary concern isn't the outsiders, but something much closer to home. He's never been a particularly warm man by anyone's account, but lately he's especially given to foul moods, and only part of it is grief for his most recently deceased son.

All further attempts at hostage negotiation from Zahal have been as curtly denied as the first, and just about as politely. Incorporating a rescue plan into their attack strategy wasn't exactly easy, but they won't get another shot than this at rescuing Princess Sonia – or Byerly, whose cover as a spy was recently blown during a failed attempt at smuggling Sonia out of the base. On the 15th, the Barrayarans prepare for war, some donning Cetagandan uniforms and face paint, others swiping mud over their faces to better camouflage themselves in the dark.

And the attack is a success. There's no real such thing as acceptable loss, but the top brass consider the 70 lives spent on the attack a fair cost for what they got: almost destroying the immediate Cetagandan power supply and the return of their Princess. Plus Byerly. The mood lightens considerably, but there is no rest in war, and just as soon as they take their next victory, Piotr, Dorca and Yuri are already planning the next move: finally retaking Vorkosigan Vashnoi.

camp
All three camps are heavily preparing, officers running drills nearly around the clock, quartermasters taking inventory and making sure every piece of equipment is clean and in working order, medical officers and techs preparing the sickbay tent as best they can for the inevitable injured who will return.

But despite the impending mission, tensions are still rising within the army – while top brass is vocally discouraging the fights that have broken out, it hasn't put a complete stop to them, and no one has openly endorsed the outsiders except for Piotr Vorkosigan. Vorvolk and Yuri are both still staunchly in the skeptic camp at best, but Dorca does not seem to have passed a final judgment on the outsiders before the attack. Perhaps he's merely biding his time, because for all the dissent about the outsiders, the Emperor hasn't barred Piotr from letting them participate in critical missions.

The soldiers make enough noise about it on their own. They're especially tetchy about the outsiders who crossed over from the Cetagandan side – they're as good as spies, as far as some of the soldiers are concerned. But even worse is letting Duv Galeni, a Komarran, not only remain in camp and feed on their resources, but actively participate in missions. For the most part, the soldiers in camp who have known the outsiders from the start and have befriended them are sticking with them, but the half of Piotr's army that was with Vorvolk after the split when the location of their last camp was discovered by the Cetagandans are nearly as suspicious as the Vorbarra battalion. Hostility towards Duv and those who escaped from the Cetagandan camp is especially severe, and it's no secret that some of them would prefer the outsiders dead rather than taking up space and resources in their army, though no one has been so bold as to actually make any attempts. Falco Vorkalloner, one of the Rangers who had been in Vorvolk's half of the army, hasn't been afraid to make his voice heard, though. He's even been heard saying that he thinks someone ought to make an example out of the Komarran and demonstrate just what they think of those who would side with the Cetagandans.

After the attack, the atmosphere of the camp is noticeably changed – the return of the Princess as well as what can only be considered a resounding victory for the Barrayarans has led to a jubilant and triumphant environment. And with Barrayarans, all celebration comes with a whole lot of drinking. Wine, vodka and maple mead are passed around aplenty in the nights and days following the attack, as soldiers burn offerings for their dead comrades and trade stories of action.

The tension with the outsiders begins to lessen after this victory, too. The fact that two outsiders, Wash and Lucy, are responsible for the Princess's rescue goes a long way toward relations between the outsiders and the rest of the army, and after the attack, Dorca gives the outsiders his endorsement as comrades to be trusted and honorary warriors fighting alongside them. Of course, this doesn't mean all hostility and tension merely dissipates – there are still plenty of soldiers like the now-deceased Falco who still think the outsiders are a threat and a parasitic presence. But things do start to lighten up a little after this victory...finally.

missions
General Piotr Vorkosigan himself leads the attack on the Cetagandan base, and Yuri leads his own contingent. Although there are some hitches getting in undetected, their plans to disable base security are overall successful, as is their sabotage of the power supply generators and Sonia and Byerly's rescue.

Meanwhile, Lakshmi and Sisko have found Falco Vorkalloner's dead body, and while it looks like an accident, it also looks like someone might have taken care to make sure it looked like one.

The unabridged mission results can be found here.

cetaganda
The social relief brought by the flower-viewing party quickly fades, and tension settles back over the Cetagandan base, underlined by Zahal's frustration with Piotr's flat-out refusal to meet his demands, or even so much as discuss them. He's sent more than one political ransom demand since Dorca's arrival, too, but to no effect. Given the recent guerrilla activity in Vorkosigan Vashnoi, he knows Piotr must be planning something, but with no informants left in the Barrayaran army, his intelligence is dry, and the investigations into weapons smuggling were ultimately fruitless. All known civilian resistance cells seem to have scattered and disappeared, their bases of operation boarded up or burned down. All he can do is concentrate as many troops as he can afford on the city's occupation, though he doesn't leave the base totally unmanned. But he does add another thousand troops to the occupying force in Vorkosigan Vashnoi in the week before the attack on the base.

Not everyone is being sent over, though, and the transfer doesn't make for as smooth a cover as one might hope. Gail is caught on an unauthorized trip to the city while off duty, and you might hear -- or overhear -- the dressing-down he gets from his commanding officer for it. He doesn't appear to have a ready excuse for it -- at least, not one that doesn't sound flimsy as hell.

Military matters affect those of the Star Crèche, however, and Zahal's frustration does not touch that sphere. Not that it isn't without its own tensions -- anyone who spends enough time with Diya and Sei (and Ba Talim, for that matter) will feel the rising tensions between them, though their origins are as obscure as the haut always are. The Star Gate Project, now officially under the jurisdiction of the Star Crèche, continues on with Micah at the lead, although they haven't for a moment forgotten that they are a prisoner here, or where their true loyalties lie.

After the attack, Zahal's fury reaches a boiling point, and since the Barrayarans did so much infrastructural damage, the consequences of military matters finally reach Diya and Sei, rankling them, too. The power shortage and damage to the science/medical complex has put a serious damper on Star Gate research, although as far as anyone is aware, the gene therapy trials and other related Star Crèche research goes on unimpeded, thanks to the successful protection of the secondary backup generator, which seems to exist only to power the medbay and gene labs. But since power is a hot commodity right now, Zahal is going to start pushing to reroute some of that power to what the haut would probably deem as lower priority needs.

base
The mood around the base is restless, Zahal's frustration trickling down into tensions among his officers and seeping into the very atmosphere. They're hardly prepared for the attack that comes because they don't even know what to expect. The soldiers all seem on edge, nervous, a little tetchy, particularly after Tarn's altercation with Diya and Natasha, and then the failed attempt to smuggle out the Princess -- but that did, at least, lead to the outing of Byerly Vorrutyer as a spy among the Cetagandans, confirming some suspicions held by the higher brass in Cetagandan intelligence. About the only comfort, if one can call it that, in all this tension is Byerly's summary fast-penta interrogation.

The gene therapy trials, despite some...trials, continue, and with much greater success than last month. Sei and Diya are as impassive as ever, but even so, there's a tangible undercurrent of mixed relief and triumph. Micahworks as feverishly as ever on the Star Gate Project with the aid and oversight of the military's scientific division and the exotics working as lab assistants. The satellite launch has proven to be a highly productive venture -- it's yielding data they couldn't have gathered otherwise, which is proving to be critical, and Micah spends time having Kaidan, Symmetra and Pearl put through another series of brain scans and consulting the neurology team as they study the results.

Although Sei is never seen outside of her force bubble, and doesn't actually travel around the base all that much, her presence seems to dominate the more civilian areas of the base, overshadowing even Diya -- although Diya is considerably less visible around the base after her altercation with Tarn. Amai is, of course, somehow seen just about everywhere, a constant social and professional presence that refuses to let anyone forget she's there. But after the 5th, she seems to be troubled -- she's far less impassive than the haut, and her anxiety and discomfort are much easier to see.

After the attack, Diya seems somewhat shaken -- it's almost impossible to tell how Sei is affected, but with facilities down, audits are being done on all existing projects to determine what's important enough to remain active while they have limited power. The base isn't quite in a shambles, but there's a lot of damage -- while the Barrayarans personally only carry swords and bows, they clearly have no issue with taking the Cetagandans' plasma arcs to wreak havoc at home -- and the atmosphere is overall demoralized. Sending more troops to Vorkosigan Vashnoi was clearly the wrong move, and it's a bitter pill to swallow, but Zahal begins to recall troops from the city in small waves to help better man the base, knowing full well that this must have been what Piotr intended.

missions
A few interesting tidbits are overheard in the dark of night, and Amai finds herself in the uniquely uncomfortable position of holding Diya's dark secret in one hand, and Sei's in the other -- and Ba Talim seems to know something, though it isn't clear what. And some creative hacking turns up some unexpected dirt on Sei that makes Diya's illicit ba experiments look like mere misdemeanors.

Despite the best efforts of the soldiers and the exotics and the fact that, even undermanned, they still outnumber the guerrillas by a landslide, the base is still overrun by Barrayarans and their attack is successful. The main and backup power generators are totally disabled for the time being, and it's unclear how long it will be before full power is restored to the base.

The unabridged mission results can be found here.

Note: Gavalas, Olivia, Zahal, Diya, and Sei & Ba Talim are available for threads on request. Hit up Madi (Gavalas, Diya, Sei & Ba Talim) or Ammay (Olivia & Zahal) if you'd like threads with these characters!

Comments

[vorbratta]

"You looked like you were having a nightmare," Sonia protests, but she hands the bottle over anyway. She is finally starting to achieve the perfect level of drunk, everything soft and blurred around the edges, and she sits back with a little sigh. "Alright, fine. Never mind, then."

[vorrutyer]

He gives a little toast to her, and downs a few more hearty swallows. Good. He's starting to get back in the right frame of mind - where everything is dulled, where everything is less fraught, where he feels cut off from everything. It's the ideal level of drunk. It's - not a level he's often able to get at, nowadays.

"If I was, that's good," he says, wiping off his own mouth. "Nightmares are useful. What do you dream about nowadays?"

[vorbratta]

"Useful," Sonia repeats dubiously, wrinkling her brow. For Byerly, maybe. She shrugs.

"I don't, mostly," she says, and it's a lie, mostly. She tugs at little blades of grass between her feet with idle fingers. Well, perhaps it was unfair of her to pry into Byerly's dreams. "I don't think nightmares are any more useful than good dreams."

[vorrutyer]

"You don't dream," he repeats, stretching his legs out in front of him. "Says the woman who was after me to give her my dreams. Eh?"

[vorbratta]

"Sorry," Sonia sighs, pouting a little. She shreds the grass in her fingers, momentarily preoccupied, and then dusts her hands of it so she can reach for the bottle again. "I was just worried about you, that's all."

[vorrutyer]

He reaches out and places a hand on hers, petting it soothingly. "I don't need any worry," he responds. Then he draws back his hand. "Though now I'm worried, with how you're avoiding the question."

[vorbratta]

Sonia sticks her tongue out at him as soon as he withdraws his hand and tips back the bottle for a drink. "Who says I need any worry?" she returns, wiping her mouth. She gives him a curious look, squinting slightly. "Is there any answer I could give that wouldn't make you worry?"

[vorrutyer]

"Any answer at all." He shrugs. "I don't put much stock in dreams. If you're having bad ones, I'm not going to decide you're mad or broken or whatever. I'm just curious why you're not so keen on answering."

[vorbratta]

"You weren't so keen on sharing either," Sonia points out, but she blows out her breath and rests her head back against the rock. "I don't know. I just don't talk about them. It isn't that they're bad. I have few nightmares these days that are worse than what I've already seen in daylight. It's just that nothing ever comes of talking about my dreams. I suppose I was curious if it'd be the same for someone else, but -- sorry for being so pushy about it."

Rarely a thing she apologizes for. Maybe she's not drunk enough yet after all. Time for another good, long drink.

[vorrutyer]

"Is that an apology?" He rolls his head over to look at her. His voice is clipped and distant, but there's something a little melancholy in his eyes. "I didn't expect to hear something like that from you."

[vorbratta]

Sonia sets the bottle down between her legs and frowns at him, blinking, not looking quite stricken, but some of that melancholy is reflected back at him. "Why not?"

[vorrutyer]

Simply, without any apology of his own, he answers. "Because you don't see nosiness as any sort of crime or offense. You see it as your right." There's no recrimination, either; that is not, of course, a bad quality to have from his point of view. He, as a matter of fact, sees it as quite praiseworthy.

[vorbratta]

Sonia looks a little stunned -- due in no small part to how drunk she is, to be sure, and so is the flush that spreads over her cheeks, but it's clear that it wasn't something she was expecting to hear. Of course she's been called nosy before, by her brother and sister first and foremost when they were children. But it had never really permeated, not deep enough.

"I -- never really thought about it that way."

[vorrutyer]

A snort. "What, never thought of yourself as nosy?" He smiles just a bit in spite of himself. "Well, do you always need to know everything about everyone at all times?"

[vorbratta]

"Not everyone," Sonia says, a little self-consciously despite his smile, "and not everything. I just...like to know things. I like to understand. Doesn't everybody?"

[vorrutyer]

"Not everyone, no," he answers. He interlocks his hand behind his head, leaning luxuriantly against the rock behind him. "There are some people who are quite dull, after all, and incurious about the people around them. Those people are both useful to know and complete chores to deal with."

[vorbratta]

Sonia squints at him, parsing that through the maple mead, and she looks utterly perplexed for a moment. Six weeks dry and then mainlining maple mead may prove to be a mistake.

"I can't imagine being that dull," is all she says at first, and then she tries to push herself up straighter. "Are you saying you like it when I'm nosy?"

[vorrutyer]

"Of course." He gives a little shrug. "What, you think I like meek people? The sorts who you tell something and they just grunt and nod and say nothing? Please. Incurious people are witless people, and I cannot abide witless people."

[vorbratta]

Sonia gives him a funny look, though not altogether an unhappy one, and she smiles slightly. "You think I'm witty, do you?"

[vorrutyer]

"Do you think I'd be hanging about you if I didn't?" He shrugs easily. "You're not an assignment, and I'm not all that impressed with the Vorbarra name. And I can get free alcohol from other sources. The only remaining conclusion is...?"

[vorbratta]

That small smile brightens and she beams at him, eyes shining and yes, she's drunk, but there's nothing insincere about it. She picks up the fresh bottle of mead, turning it in her hands, and cocks her head at him.

"See?" Her voice is giddy as she holds the bottle out for him. "You do me great service, Byerly."

[vorrutyer]

His smile twists a little as he takes the bottle from her. He salutes her with it.

"And a fine pet I shall make," he says. "Continue rewarding me with treats, and I'll continue doing tricks." He sighs a moment later, and shakes his head, dismissing the bitterness of that. Not that he takes back the sentiment - hah, absolutely not - but he feels bad about harshing her buzz, as it were. "It doesn't matter. Don't worry about me, Sonia."

[vorbratta]

"You know that those aren't magic words, right?" Sonia waves her fingers at him. "You're my friend, and I'll worry about you as much as I please. And it does matter to me." She leans back against the rock and gives him an oddly penetrating look for a girl so drunk. "I meant what I said before. About service, I mean. I refuse to believe you've outlived your usefulness, because it's patently untrue. And I know you want to serve. You just don't see how you can. You have some nasty blind spots, Byerly."

As so neatly demonstrated by their talk about con artistry. Sonia stretches her arms over her head, arching her back until she feels a satisfying little pop, and lets out a satisfied sigh. "If Count Piotr asked you to fight in his army, would you?"

[vorrutyer]

A hesitation, and then Byerly leans forward, resting his elbows on his knees. His voice is a little slow, a little reluctant, when he responds, "Yes." A sigh. "But that doesn't make me useful. I have no facility for killing. Especially not with this barbaric weaponry. A stunner's all well and good, but a sword? I'm not strong, I'm not fast, and the smell of blood turns my stomach." He purses his lips, shakes his head. "It sounds like the start of a bad joke, doesn't it? What do you call a Vorrutyer who faints at the sight of blood?"

[vorbratta]

"A hemophobiac?" Sonia suggests lightly, but she doesn't relent. "No, you're right. You're not a soldier, and I don't think Count Piotr is interested in drafting you. But consider my point proven. You would serve another way, if you were asked to. If you were only given a job to do."

Perhaps unwisely, Sonia pushes herself to her feet. It does take an attempt or two to get her feet properly under her, and she's leaning heavily against the rock, but she is, more or less, standing up. And oh, does the clearing around them do a neat little spin. Still, she beams down at him, pointing one finger at him.

"What you need is a new job. A job that plays to your strong suits. You need someone to tell you what to do, because God knows you're hopeless otherwise."

All uttered with total, cheerful conviction.