“Not any, as far as I've been able to make out. I actually met the fellow, before all this blew up.”
“Oh? How and where?”
“Socially, as it happens. What is it about you people who run sexually segregated fleets that makes you all disembark insane? No, don't bother answering that, I think we all know. But the all-male military organizations who have that custom for religious or cultural reasons all come onto station leave like some horrible combination of kids let out of school and convicts let out of prison. The worst of both, actually—the judgment of children combined with the sexual deprivation of—never mind. The quaddies cringe when they see you coming. If you didn't spend money with such wild abandon, I think the commercial stations in the Union would all vote to quarantine you aboard your own ships and let you die of blue balls.”
Miles rubbed his forehead. “Let's get back to Ensign Corbeau, shall we?”
Bel grinned. “We hadn't left. So, this backwoods Barrayaran boy on his first-ever trip into the glittering galaxy tumbles off his ship and, being under instructions, as I understand it, to enhance his cultural horizons—”
“That is actually correct.”
“Goes off to see the Minchenko Ballet. Which is something to behold in any case. You should take it in while you're station-side.”
“What, it isn't just, uh, exotic dancers?”
“Not in the advertising-for-the-sex-workers sense. Or even in the Betan Orb ultra-classy sexual smorgasbord and training academy sense.”
Miles considered, then reconsidered, mentioning his and Ekaterin's honeymoon layover at the Orb of Unearthly Delights, possibly the most peculiarly useful stop on their itinerary . . . Focus, my Lord Auditor.
“It's exotic, and it's dancers, but it's real art, the real thing—it goes way beyond craft. A two-hundred-year-old tradition, a jewel of this culture. The fool boy ought to have fallen in love at first sight. It was his subsequent pursuit with all guns blazing—in the metaphorical sense, this time—that was a little out of line. Soldier on leave falls madly in lust with local girl is not precisely a new scenario, but what I really don't understand is what Garnet Five saw in him. I mean, he's a nice enough looking young male, but still . . . !” Bel smiled slyly. “Too tall for my taste. Not to mention too young.”
“Garnet Five is this quaddie dancer, yes?”
“Yes.”
Remarkable enough, for a Barrayaran to be attracted to a quaddie; the deeply ingrained cultural prejudice against anything that smacked of mutation would seem to work against it. Had Corbeau received less than the usual indulgent understanding from his fellows and superiors that a young officer in such a plight might ordinarily expect?
“And your connection with all this is—what?”
Did Bel take an apprehensive breath? “Nicol plays harp and hammer dulcimer in the Minchenko Ballet orchestra. You do remember Nicol, the quaddie musician we rescued during that personnel pickup that almost went down the disposer?”
“I remember Nicol vividly.” And so, apparently, had Bel. “I gather she made it home safely after all.”
“Yes.” Bel's smile grew tenser. “Not surprisingly, she also remembers you vividly—Admiral Naismith.”
Miles went still for a moment. At last he said cautiously, “Do, ah . . . you know her well? Can you command, or persuade, her discretion?”
“I live with her,” said Bel briefly. “No one needs to command anything. She is discreet.”
Oh. Much becomes clear . . .
“But she's a personal friend of Garnet Five's. Who is in a tearing panic over all of this. She's convinced, among other things, that the Barrayaran command wants to shoot her boyfriend out of hand. The pair of thugs that Vorpatril sent to pick up your stray evidently—well, it went beyond rude. They were insulting and brutal, for starters, and it slid downhill from there. I've heard the unabridged version.”
Miles grimaced. “I know my countrymen. You can take the ugly details as read, thanks.”
“Nicol has asked me to do what I can for her friend and her friend's friend. I promised I'd put in a word. This is it.”
“I understand.” Miles sighed. “I can't make any promises yet. Except to listen to everyone.”
Bel nodded and looked away. It said after a moment, “This Imperial Auditor gig of yours—you're a big wheel in the Barrayaran machine now, huh?”
“Something like that,” said Miles.
“The Emperor's Voice sounds like it would be pretty loud. People listen, do they?”
“Well, Barrayarans do. The rest of the galaxy”—one side of Miles's mouth turned up—”tend to think it's some kind of fairy tale.”
Bel shrugged apologetically. “ImpSec is Barrayarans. So. The thing is, I've come to like this place—Graf Station, Quaddiespace. And these people. I like them a lot. I believe you'll see why, if I get much chance to show you around. I'm thinking of settling here permanently.”
“That's . . . nice,” said Miles. Where are you taking me, Bel?
“But if I do take an oath of citizenship here—and I've been thinking hard about it for a while—I want to take it honestly. I can't offer them a false oath, or divided loyalties.”
“Your Betan citizenship never interfered with your career in the Dendarii Mercenaries,” Miles pointed out.
“You never asked me to operate on Beta Colony,” said Bel.
“And if I had?”
“I . . . would have faced a dilemma.” Bel's hand stretched in urgent entreaty. “I want a clean start, with no secret strings attached. You claim ImpSec is your personal utility now. Miles—can you please fire me again?”
Miles sat back and chewed on his knuckle. “Cut you loose from ImpSec, you mean?”
“Yes. From all old obligations.”
He blew out his breath. But you're so valuable to us here! “I . . . don't know.”
“Don't know if you have the power? Or don't know if you want to use it?”
Miles temporized, “This power business has proved a lot stranger than I anticipated. You'd think more power would bring one more freedom, but I've found it's brought me less. Every word that comes out of my mouth has this weight that it never had before, when I was babbling Mad Miles, hustler of the Dendarii. I never had to watch my mass like this. It's . . . damned uncomfortable, sometimes.”
“I'd have thought you'd love it.”
“I'd have thought that too.”
Bel leaned back, easing off. It would not make the request again, not soon, anyway.
Miles drummed his fingers on the cool, reflective surface of the table. “If there is anything more behind this mess than overexcitement and bad judgment—not that that isn't enough—it hinges on the evaporation of that Komarran fleet security fellow, Solian—”
Miles wrist com chimed, and he raised it to his lips. “Yes?”
“M'lord,” came Roic's apologetic voice. “We're in dock again now.”
“Right. Thanks. We'll be out directly.” He rose from the table, saying, “You must meet Ekaterin properly, before we go back out there and have to play dumb again. She and Roic have full Barrayaran security clearances, by the way—they have to, to live this close to me. They both need to know who you are, and that they can trust you.”
Bel hesitated. “Do they really need to know I'm ImpSec? Here?”
“They might, in an emergency.”
“I would particularly like the quaddies not to know I've been selling intelligence to downsiders, you see. Maybe it would be safer if you and I were mere acquaintances.”