Lucifer vs. Vor master post

[vorbarra]

WHO: Lucifer + the whole damn cast + a bunch of unfortunate victims of circumstance.
WHERE: Various.
WHEN: Starting 5/27 and onward.
WHAT: Lucifer has Mark kidnap Gregor. Shit hits the fan.
WARNINGS: There is definitely going to be torture and violence. Will update with specifics.


Table of Contents (roughly chronological)
Initial kidnapping -- Gregor, Mark, Lucifer
So honey, I haven't told you... -- Aral, Cordelia
Secondary kidnapping -- Lucy, Mark, Kel
Hawke vs. Vorhouse -- Hawke, Miles, Aral, Tex, Jim, Spock, Kel
Miles at the hospital -- Miles, Kitty, Tex, Ed, Jim, Bucky, Ken, Kareen, Mark, Newt, Kel
Location: rubble -- Winry, Miles, Ed, Tex
Ruined date and getting voluntold -- Duv, Kasumi, Aral
Torture log -- Lucifer, Dean, Gregor
Assignment -- Lucifer, Mark
Telepathy -- Aral, Tex, Gregor
Wagon circling -- Miles, Winry, Roy, Ed, Yuri
Requests -- Aral, Jim
Rescue -- Lucifer, Miles, Kitty, Hermann, Mark
Hellhounds -- Lucifer, Roy, Ed, Hawke, Mark, Aral
Main fight -- Lucifer, Aral, Hawke
Swamp mingle -- Tex, Hawke, Ed, Winry, Roy, Jim
Post-rescue at hospital -- Gregor, Miles, Kitty, Duv, Cordelia
Following the trail of burger wrappers and tears -- Duv, Nicolas
Hospital threads part three -- Miles, Cordelia
End of the line -- Duv, Mark
Family reunion & oath swearing -- Mark, Gregor, Aral, Tej, Duv, Miles, Tex, Winry, Ed, Simon
Recovery OTA -- Aral, Miles, Duv, Cordelia, Ed, Winry

Comments

[komarran]

[ Of course. He's already given the Emperor a brief, but more full one than he desired. It would stand to reason that Admiral Vorkosigan would require one of him too. ]

Starting from Miles coming into my command or our encounters with Mark?

[use_everything]

[A hand lifts, brushing aside plastic to do so, and waves away the choice.]

Given what I do know, I doubt one can be understood without the other.

[komarran]

[ He nods. Proper context. He can appreciate that part at least. ]

I found Miles unexpectedly in my chain of command when his mercenary fleet showed up on Earth from an operation. 'Admiral Naismith,' as he put it, needed to disappear as they had upset the Cetagandans enough to put a bounty on his head. My embassy had neither the budget nor new orders to give Lieutenant Vorkosigan, so he was to continue as a military attaché and lay low until the payment for his fleet and instructions were delivered.

They never came. While I was investigating, I was contact by my father who I had presumed was dead. [ The 'father' detail worth including only because Admiral Vorkosigan has figured out Duv's old family name. ]

He said he wished to speak with me and we met for lunch. He was under the impression I could redeem myself in the "eyes of Komarr" if I helped him with his scheme to replace Miles Vorkosigan with a clone he had created. [ Sarcasm quotes not physically done, but verbally included. ] I declined and was kidnapped, leaving the embassy vulnerable as I underwent fast-penta interrogation.

[use_everything]

[No payment and a missing Komarran with that history... Though there was a bitterness and anger in the young man's voice that gave weight to his words.]

Ah. While they assume a manhunt rather than rescue, I presume.

[He gestures for him to continue, dryly. He'd been caught in that machine before, himself.]

[komarran]

[ He only nods at the question. Even Miles has suspected him at the time, but he supposes 'Komarran' is as damning as it gets under the circumstances.

It doesn't help that the actual perpetrators were Komarran of course. ]

They managed to lure Miles in later and were prepared to dispose of us both in order to replace him with Mark when the Dendarii found us. We were able to launch a proper investigation from there though it was the kidnapping of Lieutenant Vorpatril that led to our final meeting. [ A small wince at that. Yet another problem that had arisen under his command. Until the Vor came under his command, his record had been perfect. ]

In the end, Mark chose to kill the man behind the plot rather than us. Mark decided to go his own way and Miles was able to provide him with enough money to have him situated for a long while. Here is the first time I've spoken to him since his departure.

[use_everything]

['The man' not his father. It could be couched merely to obscure that last fact... but there was little utility in it. There's long moments after Duv stops speaking that the distant alarm tone of an IV pump going off down the hall counts the seconds for them.]

What is your endgame, Captain Galeni? It had to be no small fight to even enlist, open doors or not.

[komarran]

[ When Aral finally speaks, Duv lets out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. Good. He doesn't have to dwell on that anymore. The future is a much preferable topic. ]

I want to help Komarr not hinder it with idealized hostility. I'm getting closer to a Vorbarr Sultana ImpSec posting and eventually I'll strive for an appointment to Imperial Counselor.

[use_everything]

[It made sense. Those Galens were no longer large enough shareholders to have a seat any other way... and if one truly wanted that spot of a bridge... the only way to get it was going to be through the military ranks.]

You've got her backbone, anyway. [It's muttered, by the distracted look on Vorkosigan's face, he might not even realize he said it.

Stronger, clearer,] That will be all, Captain.

[komarran]

[ Had he heard that right? He freezes, brain stopped at the Admiral's first sentence that he doesn't even process the second. There's only one 'her' Duv can think the man means.

He's asking before he can even stop himself, ]

I... Did you know her?

[use_everything]

[There's a look of surprise, and some mild alarm as he realizes it had been out loud.

... There was no point in retracting it now, he pushes himself to focus.]

Little. She negotiated like Komarr was the winner, no nonsense about it. She stood out...

[komarran]

Ah. That's all, sir? [ His shoulders slump with that disappointed sound. He's not sure why, but he had been hoping for more. Another scrap about his aunt from a different source.

The truth always rested somewhere between two extreme biases. ]

[use_everything]

[He regards Duv, words coming slowly, as carefully picked as the pain would allow. It always did loosen his tongue as well as drink.]

Not.. quite, but the rest is hardly easy.

[komarran]

[ Dryly, ] No, I suppose it wouldn't be.

[ That doesn't stop him from meeting the Admiral's gaze, standing tall. He'd give it another moment to see if anything more came from the man before he gave up hope. ]

[use_everything]

[He watches the young Captain shrewdly, taking his measure again, through that hard, resolute gaze.]

I refused to take report, or video. I insisted on going down myself.

[There's a pause here, to let Galeni halt the conversation.]

[komarran]

[ That's the kind of gaze men wither under. But there's no way he can back down, not now. ]

To speak with the entire council?

[use_everything]

[He sinks back onto the hard bed, fingers idly scratching at a loose flap of medical tape on his arm.]

That was my intent. The political situation was tenuous. There was pressure to deliver and arguments on how it was to be done. I didn't trust anyone else to go.

[His jaw sets, jaw muscles visible and anger in his eyes.]

I was planetside, ten minutes out when the news hit. [There was a pause here, seeing something that had happened years ago, and swallowing down the details of it.] Of all of it, I remember her very clearly.

[He looks Duv straight in the eyes for this.]

She was one of the very few who died facing her murderers.

[komarran]

I... [ To Duv's credit, he keeps eye contact with Aral until he finally tries to speak. So that's how Rebecca had died.

Some small part of him recognizes the historical significance of this conversation. He's likely one of only a handful of people who has heard this, straight from Admiral Vorkosigan himself, if even that. But his mind is failing him as are his words. ]

I had no idea, [ he finishes lamely. ]

[use_everything]

You wouldn't have. Grishnov and Negri actually worked together on that aftermath. [It might have been another generation, but the legends of those two departments and their heads were enduring.

There was that unfocused look again.]

It was a goddamn, bloody waste...

[komarran]

[ He nods -- both names are familiar to him and more than one graduate student, including himself, had cursed them quietly when searching for sources only for them to be mysteriously nonexistent or censored.

It's the second comment that catches him off-guard. The rational part of him had questioned his father's propaganda, reading Vorkosigan's book on the 'textbook campaign' that Komarr was hadn't sounded like a man searching for tensions to rise through revolts and terrorism that harmed his own people as well. But there had been no proof beyond the man's word when on trial. Nothing firmly released to say otherwise.

Never before had he been so unsatisfied in trying to disprove the words of his father.

Duv's not sure how much weight he can give the Admiral's words, the sole person who's alive who can say anything about the massacre and has every reason to deny he had a hand in it. How much was the pain medicine of this world clouding his judgement? He lets out a small sigh and quietly adds, ]

Yes, it was.

[use_everything]

[In a better state of mind, he'd be more cognizant of the man being Komarran and a relative of a Counselor, no less. It was an awareness.. but not as much of a consideration. The conversation wouldn't be happening at all, really.

There's a frown but a noise of assent at that quiet statement. Vorkosigan closes his eyes again, one hand lifting to wave Duv off.]

[komarran]

[ He's not arguing with that gesture. At the wave, he turns heel to leave at a quick stride. The healing could wait, he could easily circle back after he's had a few moments to collect himself. ]

[keep_nothing]

[ A few seconds after he leaves Aral's room, Cordelia rounds the corner. ]

Oh, Duv, I was wondering when the healers would arrive.

[komarran]

[ --Or he could get dragged right back in. To his credit, he doesn't flinch at the sound of her voice, merely stands at parade rest as he turns to face her. ]

Lady Vorkosigan. I arrived not too long ago. Am I needed somewhere? [ As if he needs to ask. ]

[keep_nothing]

Oh, just Cordelia, please. Aral's in the room behind you actually. Would you mind?

[komarran]

No, of course not. Will you be accompanying me?