[ june ii log: the underestimated power of the forces of the unseen ]

[barrayarmods]

Who: Everyone
What: Let's go steal us a spaceship.
When: June 18th-30th
Where: the Barrayaran camp, the Cetagandan base
Warnings: TBD

Quick links:
Barrayar / Cetaganda / The Hijacking

TIMELINE
6/28 Hijacking of the Star Gate, Haut Sei's death

barrayar
Things are as tense as ever in the Barrayaran camp, but at least morale is on the rise -- in a way. While Piotr's decision to help the outsiders as part of his plan to strike back at the Cetagandans hasn't been the most popular, ever since Vorvolk's summary demotion and dismissal from Piotr's general staff, few are bold enough to put forth criticisms of the General Count, especially considering his plan now has Emperor Dorca's endorsement. House Vorkosigan has always been deeply loyal to the Emperor, and that loyalty is repaid in kind with confidence, though it isn't necessarily shared by the Emperor's son. Yuri still has his own objections, and he certainly has no love for the outsiders, but he recognizes Piotr's brilliance as a military strategist, and rather than continue to stir malcontent in Vorvolk's wake, he has decided to fall into line with his father in backing the plan.

It isn't just the Emperor's endorsement, either. In the wake of Vorkosigan Vashnoi and the despair its destruction had wrought, the soldiers crave some direction, something to rally behind -- anything to get back at the Cetagandans. And those soldiers who have known the outsiders since the start…well, many of them are just as sympathetic as Piotr, some of them even more so. Piotr makes a public speech in his camp on the matter to drive up morale, and points out to both his and Dorca's troops that they have an utterly unique opportunity: hit the Cetagandans in a way no one has done before, and nip in the bud what could be the biggest threat of the war to date. "We won't let there be another Vorkosigan Vashnoi," Piotr declares to his troops, impassioned. "Not as long as I walk this planet. The Cetagandans may have already left its scars on Barrayar, and the war may rage on still, but we can ensure their ambitions go no further than this world -- and if this does not bring us honor, what else will?"

The speech is to great effect, but to anyone paying close enough attention, it's clear that what's really keeping Piotr upright these days is Olivia. The destruction of his own district's capital dealt an especially hard blow, but he's not a man who can afford to buckle now.

Vorkosigan's District is wracked with a heat streak, the sun beating down on them from the cloudless sky. Rain is rare, and while it's cooler up in the mountains, it's still hot as hell. Make sure you're drinking enough water, maybe take a cold bath or a dip in the creek, and…don't stand too close downwind of the stables.

The Barrayaran camps have spent the last few weeks communicating with Micah and the outsiders on the other side, preparing for the hijacking of the Star Gate. They pull together a modest cache of weapons and do their best to ready themselves, but when the night of the 28th comes, all they can do is make do with what they have. Sonia, unbeknownst to Olivia, Piotr, or anyone else, disguises herself as a soldier and slips into the rank and file at the last minute. There's a small panic among the top brass when they discover the Princess missing, but after the fight, when the dust starts to settle, soldiers who were in the shipyard report having seen the Princess there -- and that not a single one of them was able to stop her from getting aboard the Star Gate ship.

cetaganda
The atmosphere around the Cetagandan base is increasingly conflicted. Sei carries out her gene therapy experiments as always, and in Diya's stead she runs the genetics research project with ruthless efficiency and, apparently, increasing pressure. Amai is perpetually uneasy ever since she was drafted (blackmailed) into working against Sei, and there are murmurs that Sei is frustrated over some of her coms not going through properly.

Zahal is catching some serious flak from central command for resorting so quickly to nuclear measures on Vorkosigan Vashnoi; it was clearly not an order he received or even requested, and his superiors aren't happy with that. Coupled with Diya's recent passing, he's not so much his usual composed self these days. And with no clear direction after Vorkosigan Vashnoi, the soldiers are getting restless and antsy.

By the 25th, construction on the Star Gate is complete, and Micah is working with the exotics to execute their plan, loosely codenamed the midnight shift, in conjunction with the Barrayarans. They've been providing directions about how to proceed with regards to sabotage and preparing for the hijacking on the 28th. In their off hours in the lab, they've been constructing dozens of small, short-radius EMP charges to be planted in the other ship sin the shipyard.

Sei is murdered by Jasper on the evening of the 28th, before the hijacking begins. Lapis did tell Amai that they'd take care of things with Sei, after all. But because things go to hell so quickly that by the time they have a chance to process the site of Sei's death, the responsible parties are already long gone. Amai also seems to have gone missing, except she isn't really missing -- having been blackmailed into helping with the hijacking, she had no choice but to go with them. Her career might has well have a DNR order on it at this point.

In the aftermath of the hijacking, the base is in a logistical shambles, despite them having taking comparatively much fewer casualties than the Barrayarans. However, beyond the initial emergency response, Zahal's response has been disorganized, enough that they don't manage to immediately get any ships off the ground to pursue the hijackers.

the hijacking
The unabridged mission results are located here.

The Barrayarans don’t descend from the mountains until after dark, their faces smeared with mud to keep the light from reflecting off their skin. Ezar and Piotr lead the infiltration force, while Yuri and Dorca lead the assault on the shipyard perimeter. Casualties in a mission like this are inevitable -- it's just a matter of how many.

While Byerly and Lakshmi are infiltrating along with the rest of the security task force, another force is taking out the shipyard perimeter security. An initial wave of soldiers takes out the perimeter guard, while a second wave fans out through the shipyard to dismantle internal security, including any inner guards. Sonia sneaks herself in on the mission, disguising herself as a soldier in uniform and sticking with the second wave. They're able to secure the shipyard more or less successfully, but it's at the cost of quite a few bodies, and their hold is shaky at best, especially with alarms being triggered after the security task force fails to disable internal security.

Meanwhile, Micah and Kaidan are working on the anti-aircraft protocols, Julian and Pearl are destroying the gene samples, Nash and Symmetra are destroying the research, and Tarn and Lapis are trying to create a diversion. Unfortunately, it doesn't entirely succeed, and with the alarms going off, it makes everyone's job harder. Sisko and Deanna move in with the second wave into the perimeter so they can get started on re-engaging the flight mechanics.

It doesn't take long for things to get bad, and the ghem soldiers begin to close in on the shipyard. There are Barrayaran assault teams both inside the base and in the shipyard, among which are Wash, Miles, Vex and Tucker. The Barrayarans are fighting fiercely, but they're still vastly outnumbered, and they push the perimeter into the shipyard, forcing the rear guard further back. Timing for the Star Gate's departure is starting to run out. Thankfully, though, despite the delays, everyone manages to get to the Star Ship just in time for takeoff -- except for Vex and Tarn.

Micah detonates the EMP charges in the Cetagandan ships as they take off, but they've only planted 23 devices. Luckily, the Barrayarans took initiative and brought along some bombs to plant in the shipyard, like they do. The Barrayarans provide cover fire until the the Star Gate ship clears, and once it does they begin to fall back, taking even more casualties as they pull out. The bombs that go off shortly after their retreat take out another 22 ships, leaving the Cetagandans with only 5 immediately available -- but plenty enough to go after the Star Gate ship.

The Barrayarans retreat back to the mountains, many of them wounded, and at least a hundred of their small army died in the attack on the base, including both Lakshmi and Tucker. The Cetagandans' attention is sufficiently occupied right now, which is good, because now more than ever the Barrayarans need a chance to recoup.

The Star Gate ship breaks orbit, but it's only a matter of time before they'll be pursued. In addition to Micah, both Sonia and Amai are aboard the ship when it lifts off, and later Negri is discovered to have somehow stowed aboard while no one was looking.

Comments

NPCS: BARRAYAR

[barrayarmods]

Sonia Vorbarra

[vorbratta]

a. if i were that kind of grateful, what would i try to say?
While everyone's gearing up with rising anticipation, if not excitement, for the upcoming mission, Sonia is looking a little melancholy. She hadn't had many friends before the outsiders arrived – really, it'd just been her sister – and she knew they'd probably all leave someday. And she does want them to go home, if that's what leaving means. She knows they don't belong here. That doesn't mean she isn't any sadder to see them go for it.

She's doing her usual thing around camp – boosting morale however she can, although she seems to be paying much sharper attention to what's being said around camps, conversations between the soldiers, and especially among her own family. There are politics at work that make her uneasy, and she's getting savvier to them these days. But as the 28th draws near, she's far more preoccupied with saying her last goodbyes. She's become deeply attached to many of the outsiders even in the few short months they've been here, and the need for closure is urgent, bordering on desperate. If you haven't come to her to say your goodbyes, she'll almost certainly find you.

b. can't change the start of a hurricane
It isn't until almost the last minute that Sonia decides to do something so spectacularly stupid that even she's able to admit to herself that it's just a little bit of a bad idea, especially after her capture a few months ago. But saying goodbye to her friends now just doesn't feel like enough, and realizing that she'll never get to say goodbye to Miles if she stays behind, and worse, that she won't be able to make him go home, eats away at her steadily. The night before the hijacking, she lies awake for far too long wrestling with the idea.

She waits until it's already well after dark, taking advantage of the distraction of war preparations to steal a Ranger's uniform. She braids her hair and tucks it under the cap, tugging it low and hiding her face behind war paint made of mud across her cheeks. Her height is to her advantage here; while she isn't as tall as most of the soldiers, with a uniform that's just a size too big on her and the darkness obscuring all else she can pass herself off as a man of somewhat below average height -- at least for now, anyway. Sonia isn't a soldier, she doesn't move or think like a soldier, but she's been taking self-defense lessons from Wash and Carolina, and when there are hundreds of soldiers moving out, it's easy enough to slip into the ranks of the assault force on the shipyard. She knows how to use a stunner, but she's smart enough not to put herself in the front lines, hanging back until the second wave moves in.

c. in the grand, i'll go anywhere with you
Sonia knew posing as a soldier wouldn't really be sustainable, but as long as it gets her to the Star Gate ship, that's good enough. It's only a matter of time before somebody figures out the Princess is in the middle of the action, and some of the soldiers try to catch her, usher her away to whatever safety they can provide here or fall back and take her back to camp. But Sonia is famously stubborn, and she makes a beeline for the Star Gate ship as quickly as she can – not only is that her end goal, but she also knows that it's probably the safest place she can be right now. That doesn't mean she isn't at risk the whole time she's out in the open, but she holds tight onto her stunner, even fires off a few shots to get past ghem soldiers.

She's aware it might be a little too much to hope for that her friends won't be mad at her for putting herself in danger, and she's probably going to get a lecture from whoever's on the ship when she gets there – or anyone who shows up after she does. But that doesn't stop her from helping as much as she can from the ship, offering a hand to pull people in to safety if they need it.

c

[dendarii]

This whole thing has gone to hell too quickly. Lakshmi dead, Tucker dead, Wash presumably half out of his mind from watching his friend die - and Miles himself badly injured, clutching his bloodied left arm close to him. Afraid to look too closely at the injury for fear of what he'll see. He can't feel anything at all in some of it. Too much of it. And he isn't quite brave enough to look down and see if he's missing something or just nerve-damaged from a disruptor ...

But he is alive, and he is racing for the ship with the others left on covering fire duty. He reaches out with his good hand, grabbing on tight before he even looks up. But when he does ... His eye widen with relief and surprise both. How the hell - she really shouldn't be here, but --

"Sonia!"

He pulls himself up the rest of the way, immediately leaning in to hug his great aunt.

[vorbratta]

"Miles!"

Sonia's heart is in her throat as soon as she sees him -- oh, thank God he's alright, she needed to see him alright -- relatively speaking, anyway, because he's visibly injured. She wraps her arms around him and pulls him in, into the ship, safe from danger. For a second she can't bring herself to let go, but finally she pulls back, studying his face and then his arm with concern and alarm.

"Oh, God, Miles -- what happened to your arm?" She reaches to take him by the elbow to get a good look at it. There's first aid kits on board, there has to be synergine somewhere around here...

[dendarii]

He's so fucking glad to see her. Manages a one-armed hug, pressing his forehead to her shoulder as they embrace. When the plan had started to go forward, he'd thought he'd never see her again. And - while he wasn't going to turn down going home at this point, there had been a part of him that had been tempted to try to go back. Just to see her again. God, he is going to miss his great-aunt something terrible.

But his arm? Ah, that's right. He lifts his left arm, awkwardly, to see how bad off he is. It's ... not great. Part of his hand is completely missing, the remaining flesh bloodied but cauterized by the plasma rifle shot that had taken them off in the first place. More concerning is the fact that he can't feel anything below his elbow. No pain, no, but a nerve disruptor blast is never a thing to joke about.

So, naturally, he's going to.

"Ah," he says, staring down at himself. "I seem to be all right."

[vorbratta]

Sonia's seen injuries before, bad ones, fatal ones, and this isn't fatal, but it is Miles, and she feels a lurch of nausea at seeing Miles's hand, a hand going to her mouth for the single moment of horror she spares herself. She realizes belatedly that the vague wetness on the front of her stolen uniform is Miles's blood, and she swallows down the nausea as best she can, her mind tripping over itself.

"Oh, God," she breathes again, staring, "your hand -- "

And he's...far too composed about it. Oh, hell. Sonia takes Miles by the shoulder, his uninjured side, and there's nothing on her pale face but concern and worry she's trying desperately to put a brave face over.

"Miles, you're in shock," she says, and she's no doctor, not even a med tech, but she finally finds a half-open first aid kit with a hypospray of synergine in it and packs the whole thing up and shoves it under her arm. "Come here -- come on, let's get away from the airlock, you need synergine -- "

[dendarii]

He is in shock. More mentally than physically, although the hand doesn't help; he keeps thinking of Tucker and Lakshmi, how quick it had been to go from glee at seeing them again to agony at seeing them dead or dying - no, focus on Sonia. He's glad to see Sonia, dammit, desperately so. As such, he lets her lead him along with not even a whisper of complaint. Staggering slightly, dazed.

"Will that help? I'm not sure anything will at this point." He makes a gesture towards his limp arm. "I'll have to - have to go home after all to get it fixed."

[vorbratta]

At least he doesn't fight her. Sonia's already feeling sick, forcing her eyes away from Miles's hand so she can lead him away from the heart of the chaos, further into the ship where she can sit him down. She's the farthest thing from a combatant but she's had first aid training, they all have, and she knows how to use a frigging hypospray -- more than can be said for half of Piotr's soldiers. She sits Miles down in the first chair she can find and sets the first aid kit close to hand, kneeling in front of him.

"Of course you're going home." She says it as matter-of-factly as she can, though her hands shake slightly as she fumbles for the hypospray of synergine in the first aid kit. She's had first aid training, yes, but God, what the hell do you do for a hand that's -- half-missing? Synergine first, she tells herself, checking the ampule in the hypospray. Then stop the bleeding. Those are the priorities. She takes Miles's other arm, rolls up his sleeve to the elbow so she can press the hypospray to his arm. Her own breathing is shallow, but she gives him as much of a reassuring smile as she can manage. "Why do you think I'm here?"

c everything is fine

[protocol]

Wash is limping, dragging one leg slightly when he finally makes it back to the ship, but it's slight -- the injury is more serious than he's making it look, even from a near miss a plasma burn isn't pretty, but sheer determination has him pushing through, and pain is the least of his concerns. He's stubborn about lingering near the ship, about using the disruptor he has to cover anyone else coming on board, and not shy about yelling for people to hurry the fuck up and get inside. There'll be no more losses today. There'll be no more losses of any of his own, today.

He'll probably end up one of the last people on board, and when someone offers a hand he's a little stubborn about pushing it away, until. He realizes who that is. He grabs her by the arm, as he half-limps his way on the ship, just kind of staring at her, whatever flicker of joy he might feel from seeing her again mostly swept under by worry ( what the hell is she doing here ) and grief, the ache of a loss still too recent, too raw. Seeing her might make it sharper.

"What the hell are you doing here, Sonia?" Sorry, Sonia. He's glad to see you, he is, but he's lost too many people already and you have no damn place anywhere near the lines, and god, seeing her just makes him think of Tucker, and. He's really not in the best state of mind for this.

[vorbratta]

Miles had looked bad, but not like this. Those plasma burns have to hurt like hell, and they can cause permanent tissue damage, and there's synergies in the first aid kits around here --

Sonia lets off one last burst of stunner fire before she starts to pull back, helping Wash as he limps along, pulling them both out of any line of fire into the ship. The mud Sonia had smeared over her face before they'd set out has mostly fallen away with sweat, the skin underneath flushed with adrenaline and exertion, and her braids are already half-undone, but she doesn't appear to be seriously hurt.

"Wash," she breathes, a little hitched just at the look of him. "God, Wash, what happened? Here -- "

She makes a grab for a half-open first aid kit nearby, though her jaw automatically sets in a familiar stubborn expression at that question. "I'm helping," she says fiercely, slipping her arm under Wash's to help him further into the ship. Everything around them is shouting and chaos. Sonia rifles through the first aid kit with one hand. "Oh, hell, where's the synergine..."

[protocol]

He'll notice the pain more once stubborn determination, adrenaline and the bitter anger that comes from grief fade away. Right now, it's really only a footnote in everything else he's trying to process, everything else he has to do -- still intense, too bright and terribly distracting, but something he shoves into the background of his thoughts, still. He's stumbling enough for him to allow Sonia to help him further into the ship, but when she starts rifling through the first aid kit he's turning to grab her by the arm.

"I can look for some myself," he snaps at her, his grip's too tight, his voice too harsh, she can't be here, not when. An image flashes in front of him, too sharp, too real, Tucker falling to his knees then collapsing completely. His grip tightens even further -- but he does notice it, at least, shaking off the memory, forcing himself to relax his grip, still holding onto her arm."There are people out there fucking dying, Sonia, what the hell are you doing here? We're running out of time before this thing needs to take off, there's no damn way we can get you back safely with all of this going on."

[vorbratta]

Sonia flinches visibly when he snaps at her, instinctively pulling away, though his grip is far too tight. She was expecting some people to be less than pleased to see her here, if she'd thought anyone would have approved she wouldn't have done it all on her own, but she wasn't expecting so vehement a reaction.

"Wash -- " She's trying to help, damn it, because he's injured and she isn't and that's what she's here for, and she tries to wrench her arm out of his grip, her eyes flashing. "I know that! Why do you think I'm here? I'm not going back, Wash -- not yet. Not until all of you get home safely. Just let me help."

[protocol]

There's a world of difference between Wash in camp talking with her in her tent and Wash in full mission mode, focused and brutally efficient and with little patience for anything. All that is only sharpened more by Tucker's death, god, he'd been right next to him, Tucker had taken the shot, Tucker had taken the shot. He should tell her. He's not the right person to tell her, not now.

His eyes flick down to the uniform she's wearing, up to where there's still some mud smeared on some parts of her face.

"You were with the soldiers? God, Sonia, you could have died out there, I don't even know how the hell you made it here." A breath, trying to center himself, he lets go of her arm, finally. Rifles through the first aid kit himself. "If you were really going to be this damn stubborn about coming along you could've at least told one of us, we could've helped watch you --"

Someone like him or Byerly or Tucker, and. He just kind of stills.

Piotr Vorkosigan

[oldvor]

a. in camp
No one is as intent about the preparations than Piotr is. He's striding through the camp, checking in on everything from training drills to armory inspection to horse grooming. This is their second major operation on the Cetagandan base in as many months, and they need to make sure it goes just as well as the last. As usual, he's in no mood for bullshit, but if there's something mission-related you need to talk to him -- or something equally worthwhile -- he'll stop and listen.

He'll be leading one of the front lines of the hijacking, but he won't be joining anyone on the ship, so if you'd like to say your goodbyes to Piotr, now's your chance. He's not exactly a sentimental man, but there are a few outsiders he's come to like and even respect. He'll give them the courtesy of his attention -- there are probably a few people he'd like to say goodbye to himself.

b. the vanguard
Piotr is leading the infiltration team into the base along with Ezar, and he's right on the front lines with his men, fighting the Cetagandans as soon as the alarms sound off. He favors his sword for a while, hacking viciously at men with far deadlier weapons than him, but after a while he takes the nerve disrupter off a dead guard and then things get really serious. He fights like he strategizes: to win, at the cost and exclusion of anything and everything.

a

[protocol]

Wash is trying to keep himself busy as much as he can, mostly to ease the incessant worry at the back of his mind, to try and occupy himself with something other than grief. When he's not out there trying to help gather more weapons for their still fairly miserable cache, he's typically training near the armory, mostly with knives, still rather than the rapier. If they're lacking firepower, then he needs to make sure he's sharp on what they do have.

It isn't that big of a surprise to see Piotr in the armory, and he usually wouldn't go up to him, but this might be one of the last chances he'll have to speak to the general, if he chooses to go home. And he does have things he might want to thank him for.

"Sir." Acknowledging, always a soldier. Not quite saluting, though, just idly spinning one of the knives he's holding before he starts to put them away. Might as well give the man an update, wasn't that long ago when he came back to the camp. "Cache by the base is still -- lacking. But we'll hold that line."

[oldvor]

Piotr gives him an abrupt nod, a wordless thank-you for the update.

"Patrols are thin right now, apparently. No idea what the hell ghem-Zefyst is up to now, but I'm sure we'll find out shortly." His face is grim but fiercely determined, made rougher by the several days' growth of beard.

"I know you will, Washington. And you have my gratitude for putting your life on the line like this -- not for the first time." But surely the most dangerous thus far, and to be fair, Wash needs to get home, too. The outsiders have a vested interest in this. Piotr straightens slightly. "Anything else to report?"

[protocol]

"No. Nothing." Everything else he's sure Piotr already knows. Wash likes to keep up with how preparations everywhere are going, not just with his own team, wants to know how everything is progressing just for his own information, for his own peace of mind, but he always sees Piotr around camp and the general is surely much more informed than he is. A quiet, for a moment, before.

"You've my gratitude, sir, for all you've gone out of your way for people that aren't your own." More lightly, not disrespectful but certainly a bit more conversational than what he'd usually be using with him. The gratitude is genuine, he wants his tone to carry that. Glancing to him as he hangs up another knife -- he may have taken quite a few out with him to the makeshift grounds to train. "If it were up to me I might've left us all out in the cold to die."

Might have. Probably not, but might have, and he's quite sure he would've given it a lot more consideration than what it sounds like the Barrayarans gave the outsiders on arrival. A pause, considering, before he continues, "Not to mention I've been at least a bit of a thorn in your side. Sir."

He's still kinda sorry about those things. Kinda.

[oldvor]

"I might have done the same," Piotr admits, half-shrugging one shoulder. "But we had to make sure you weren't Cetagandan agents of some kind, and then you presented us all with a very perplexing mystery -- and then it became clear that you were all only here by some cosmic accident of some kind. Not a thing to do with this war. And I try to avoid killing innocents when I can."

His voice goes a little dry at that, huffing out a short breath. "I never gave anyone here a free ride. Anyone who wanted to stay was going to have to do their part in this camp. I made that clear. But it was you outsiders who volunteered to help, and then to fight. Risking your lives of your own free will. To fail to acknowledge that, to give it the respect it's due, would be nothing short of dishonor." Then after a moment, he adds somewhat wryly, "Besides which, I think if I'd turned you all out in the snow my sister-in-law would've had some very shrill words for me."

He huffs out another breath that might be a chuckle, crossing his arms over his chest. "You don't make it easy to work with you, Washington, but better a thorn in my side than a knife in my back."

[protocol]

Humor and a chuckle from Piotr, it's a day for the journal if there ever was one. Hopefully Wash won't fuck it up.

"The main reason I didn't trust the Cetagandans from the beginning was because they didn't leave us out there to die." A slight shrug. Not to mention of course the instinctive distrust that Wash has of anyone that drives him through a detailed medical check and then asks questions about his implant, but he likes to think that even without his issues he had reason enough to doubt. "They were a military that acted like no military I'd ever known, but too familiar all at once. Too cavalier and forgiving with their hospitality, without directly asking for anything in return."

"Though with Sonia's displeasure, I guess you had reason enough, sir," he continues, not without a touch of humor, but his tone shifts into something more serious again, with a glance back towards Piotr. "That, and the honor that I'm slowly coming to understand." A little, anyway. He doesn't think he can ever quite grasp honor the same way a Barrayaran really would, but bits and pieces here and there, enough to connect together and see the shape of it if nothing else. The memory of Piotr's speech will stay with him, for a while. Ensuring their ambitions go no further than this world . . . A bit more quiet, as he puts away the last of the knives, before he turns to face him fully.

"I've never been easy to work with -- I don't go easy even on officers I like." With some dry amusement to his tone. It's -- true. He's more likely to be quiet and complicit with the ones he doesn't respect and trust, even, working quietly against their orders instead. Carolina gets to deal with him butting heads with her directly all the time, and he would follow her to hell and back. "And if a knife to the back ever was my intention, I'd be hard-pressed."

Also true. Maybe not the wisest thing to say, but ah, oh well. A pause, a slightly measuring kind of silence, before. "Are you aware of the outsiders that are choosing to stay rather than return to their own worlds, sir?"

FINALLY GETS A MINUTE DAMNIT IRL

[shri]

She's preparing, in the quiet ways, she has been for days now. Like a quiet purpose falling back into herself, a goal - if not two in sight though she cannot count for both. One last thing, that hangs in her mind, now - like she is binding things in her mind, tightly and over themselves again and again.

It would be notable, perhaps, for how it will end, but - the truth remains that there isn't a battle for years and years, that she hasn't gotten herself ready for in such a way. To others perhaps, there are commas, but she knows the shape of an end as it forms in her mouth and gets ready to be said.

Done this all once before, with Miles. But she thinks, she thinks she knows Piotr enough now, knows he knows her too. That when she goes to find him, she nods to his guard like she had since the first - arrogantly presumptive but these days, at least now proven and outranking almost everyone, it's comfortably done. Stepping through the tent and she hopes to find and is glad to do so when she finds him alone.

"Count, a word if you will."

\o/

[oldvor]

Piotr looks up from a report he's in the middle of writing with the scratch of pen on paper, and he nods at her as he always does, abrupt but with respect. All the beaten wood chairs around the table but his are empty. "Have a seat, Rani."

[shri]

She takes her seat across from him. Pulling the chair out and sitting herself down in it as she regards him once more. She has done it many days, in many different lights. She thinks sometimes, she can see the man Miles says he will become, hard and unforgiving and so beaten into a shape he doesn't know how to be otherwise.

But he isn't that man completely yet. In no small way - she is fond of him. Because she sees also, too, what she finds herself so wanting of in Miles. Was there some story too, that she did not know, about those who bear the name Vorkosigan being so bright?

Lakshmi wets her lips, sets her fingers in front of her. "I believe you are aware, that I keep many secrets from you."

[oldvor]

Piotr raises one eyebrow slightly at her from over his report.

"I've never pretended to know you in your entirety," he says evenly, more or less in agreement, "and I would never begrudge a woman her secrets. You've always been forthright with me where it counts."

[shri]

She nods, the once, she makes sure of keeping all her dealings as plain and fair as she can. Especially here, where so much mattered, and yet didn't. Her hands lay flat and smooth with the grain of the table. Bracing herself. "That works well, I find."

Her breath comes in deep, and there is trust here, trust of him where she wouldn't ever give to another. "I need to tell you a story, Piotr," His name, not his title, and it's meaning is exact. She is talking to him, the man, not his position, even if it's to that position that must decide. "My last and my most important. I need you to listen to it exactly, and then decide what you want to do with it. Because it could change much - and if I am to die tomorrow, here and now, it's the only story about me you will need to worry about."

Last tales of lost Queens, is what she will title it, bitterly laughing to herself. If it comes to matter, if not - well, she will be too dead to care anymore, won't she?

Emperor Dorca/Crown Prince Yuri

[madvor]

a. in camp
Yuri and Dorca are seen in Piotr's camp just as frequently as he travels to theirs, in conference in the war tent nearly every day. The Emperor has been motivating his men up with speeches, a man of perhaps surprisingly eloquence, but he hasn't led this war effort for a decade by being clumsy. And Yuri, his chief strategy, is mercilessly running drills, and some of his plans and plays can be overheard with conversations with his officers. If you think Piotr is ruthless, Yuri's tactics are even more brutal.

The Crown Prince and the Emperor both need to train themselves too, of course. Yuri can be found sparring with his men and holding nothing back, or viciously attacking training dummies. Maybe the man has some anger to let out. Just maybe.

b. the vanguard
While Piotr and Ezar lead the infiltration, Dorca and Yuri head the assault on the shipyard perimeter. The perimeter is manned both with heavily armed soldiers and armored groundcars with mounted high-precision plasma cannons, but the Barrayaran front line doesn't even hesitate. Many die in the first wave, but not without sacrifice, and their attacks on the Cetagandan soldiers are nothing short of brutal. Yuri himself fights like a bat out of hell; however you may feel about the man, as a soldier he's viciously effective.