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WHO: Miles, Gregor - you're also welcome to catch Miles while he's wandering, but this is primarily for the Vor lords to find each other.
WHERE: Heropa, then De Chima
WHEN: Just previous to start of Pan plot
WHAT: Miles and Gregor find each other - and figure out what those weird headaches are all about.
WARNINGS: Probably none?

[ Miles has had a little time to figure out what's going on here - run into some interesting people in Heropa, figured out his comm, managed to both break his wrist and have it tended to. But what he can't figure out is this damn headache plaguing the back of his mind, like a strange pressure weighing down his thoughts. Nothing in his pamphlet had listed anything that looked like it was remotely close from a power perspective - though, admittedly, the description for each had been hilariously short.

In the end he finds himself pacing aimlessly along one of the boardwalks, not ready to go seek out his assigned dwelling but not much wanting to do anything else either. His mind is a frenetic whirl as digests everything he's heard and learned today.

And beneath it all, a sharp pang of homesickness. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ A quick flicker of surprise - he hadn't expected to be right. ]

A dead woman--? Was she scanned somehow before her death then?

[ No bone to pick whatsoever, and immediately distinguishing Tex as a different person from her progenitor. ]

Not exactly. [ She is the last person to be explaining this. She's a soldier, not a neuroscientist. For the first time her gaze shifts away from him, focusing instead on her visor. ]

They were making a different AI and the idiot they were scanning wasn't over his dead wife. They can't run the scan on a dead brain.

[ At least... Not that she knows of. Dryly: ] Call me a happy accident.

[ Miles considers that for a moment. ]

So you were based off a memory of a memory.

That's the gist of it. [ Incomplete and biased memories at that. The Director couldn't have known everything there was about Allison, no matter how desperately he wanted to.

But that's neither here nor there. Her eyes return to him, sharp and voice serious. ] And if I hear you repeating that to anyone, I'll do something worse than twist your arm off. It's not something I broadcast.

-- No, absolutely. You have my word on that too.

Good. [ Hopefully his word means as much as his friend's supposedly does. ]

When I got here, the porter shoved me in a body. [ Human or otherwise, she'll let him guess. ]

[ Oh, yes. They're both Barrayaran to the core. ]

I was wondering about that. [ A beat. ] It ... er, did a good job.

[ There's a hint of amusement in her voice. ] So that's where you were staring at the coffee shop.

[ Not that she's bothered by it after the staring of her own a bit ago. He's not crude like Tucker and far more interesting. ]

[ They are entirely even on that point as far as Miles is concerned. Really, Tex. ]

Alas, I can't help it. I get the most terrible crick in my neck otherwise.

[ He gestures along his eyeline; he tends to be at or below breast-height on most women. ]

[ Flatly: ] You could try stilts. [ It's something she'd pay to see, but that's not why they're here and she's eager to move farther from the topic of AI. ]

You still want that kid's number? Because you have more information to give me.

[ There's a thought. He'd look even more ridiculous like that ... He snorts a bit and shakes his head. ]

Ah, yes. The purpose of the mercenaries. I truly think we shouldn't be beholden to the government - it all smacks of conscription, which is abhorrent to both Greg and myself. Regardless of whether we're forced to fight or not.

And how do you manage to get enough revenue to do that? Getting people away from the government isn't going to be cheap with the stipends they offer for bullshit work.

... that's the first complication. I admit I'm used to Greg bankrolling a lot of our expenses.

[ She rolls her eyes. ] He can't even afford to pay me for a training lesson right now. Good luck getting him to fund a bunch of mercenary forces with the kind of job he's looking at.

Yes, well ... we'll figure something out. Somehow we always do. Personally, I don't care much about the money anyway as long as we can pay the group.

I didn't think you did, but the people you want to lure away from the government will. You dropped your idea pretty fast into our conversation. Why?

[ Hmm. Cards on the table, eh? He may as well. ]

I ... cannot protect Greg adequately here on my own. Having any mercenaries with any loyalty would be better than what I have now.

[ And he aches intensely at the thought of Gregor being harmed - killed - while he's here. ]

[ There's something else going on between those two. Something more than what he's told her. ]

And why do you care so much about a lord being killed? It sounds like you've already paid your debt by helping him escape.

[ A little too stubbornly: ]

We're good friends.

Right. That's all, you're just friends? You still wanted to see my camo unit, right?

[ It's her last ace in the hole, the only thing she has left to offer him for information. ]

[ Miles hesitates. Miles hesitates way too long - now it's obvious that there's something else going on. But given it seems she already figured that out, he doesn't feel too bad. He sucks in a breath. ]

We're very good friends.

[ Sorry, Tex. Not even a camo unit demonstration can get this one out of him. ]

[ Miles is lucky that's all the prying she cares to do on the subject. She's curious, but she knows better than to force that deep a secret out. She has her own skeletons in the closet. ]

I'll give you a demo for free. Consider it your welcome present.

[ As she finishes speaking, she replaces her helmet. Within seconds the unit is activated, bending the light around her in such a way to make her seemingly invisible. It's easier to notice the shifting of light with his close proximity to her, but the farther she is, the harder it is to tell. This isn't the best place for demonstration with the constrained space, though she makes due and at least moves around the room.

He's observant and with her starting point already known, she has a feeling he'll be able to keep track of her movements with ease. ]

[ He can, but that doesn't make it any less impressive. Invisibility - nearly true invisibility, with only a glint to show where she's gone. God. He feels a strong lust for that particular toy, oh yes. ]

... Impressive. Extremely so.

[ She turns it off, demonstration over and removes her helmet. ]

It's tech we repurposed from the Covenant. The aliens we were fighting. I'm guessing you don't have anything similar back home?

[ Miles shakes his head. ]

No aliens. Therefore, no alien tech. And nothing analogous either I'm afraid.