Brothers in Arms Read Online Free Page A

attaché."
    "Ideal, sir, thank you," said Miles. "Admiral Naismith needs very much to vanish just now. The Cetagandans put a price on his—my—head after Dagoola. I've been lucky twice."
    It was Galeni's turn to freeze. "Are you joking?"
    "I had four dead and sixteen wounded Dendarii because of it," said Miles stiffly. "I don't find it amusing at all."
    "In that case," said Galeni grimly, "you may consider yourself confined to the Embassy compound."
    And miss Earth? Miles sighed reluctance. "Yes, sir," he agreed in a dull tone. "As long as Commander Quinn here can be my go-between to the Dendarii."
    "Why do you need further contact with the Dendarii?"
    "They're my people, sir."
    "I thought you said this Commodore Tung ran the show."
    "He's on home leave right now. But all I really need before Admiral Naismith departs into the woodwork is to pay some bills. If you could advance me their immediate expenses, I could wrap up this mission."
    Galeni sighed; his fingers danced over his comconsole and paused. "Assistance with all due speed. Right. Just how much do they require?"
    "Roughly eighteen million marks, sir."
    Galeni's fingers hung paralyzed. "Lieutenant," he said carefully, "that is more than ten times the budget for this entire embassy for a year. Several tens of times the budget for this department!"
    Miles spread his hands. "Operating expenses for five thousand troops and techs and eleven ships for over six months, plus equipment losses—we lost a hell of a lot of gear at Dagoola—payroll, food, clothing, fuel, medical expenses, ammunition, repairs—I can show you the spreadsheets, sir."
    Galeni sat back. "No doubt. But Sector Security Headquarters is going to have to handle this one. Funds in that amount don't even exist here."
    Miles chewed on the side of his index finger. "Oh." Oh, indeed. He would not panic. . . . "In that case, sir, may I request you send to Sector HQ as soon as possible?"
    "Believe me, Lieutenant, I consider getting you transferred to someone else's command an object of the highest priority." He rose. "Excuse me. Wait here." He exited the office shaking his head.
    "What the hell?" prodded Elli. "I thought you were about to try and dismantle the guy, captain or no captain—and then you just stopped. What's so magic about being Komarran, and where can I get some?"
    "Not magic," said Miles. "Definitely not magic. But very important."
    "More important than being a Vor lord?"
    "In a weird way, yes, right now. Look, you know the planet Komarr was Barrayar's first interstellar Imperial conquest, right?"
    "I thought you called it an annexation."
    "A rose by any other name. We took it for its wormholes, because it sat across our only nexus connection, because it was strangling our trade, and most of all because it accepted a bribe to let the Cetagandan fleet pass through it when Cetaganda first tried to annex us. You may also recall who was the chief conquistador."
    "Your dad. Back when he was only Admiral Lord Vorkosigan, before he became regent. It made his reputation."
    "Yeah, well, it made more than one reputation for him. You ever want to see smoke come out of his ears, whisper, 'the Butcher of Komarr' in his hearing. They actually called him that."
    "Thirty years ago, Miles." She paused. "Was there any truth to it?"
    Miles sighed. "There was something. I've never been able to get the whole story out of him, but I'm damn sure what's in the history books isn't it. Anyway, the conquest of Komarr got messy. As a result, in the fourth year he was Imperial Regent came the Komarr Revolt, and that got really messy. Komarran terrorists have been a security nightmare for the Imperium ever since. It was pretty repressive there, I guess.
    "Anyway, so time's gone on, things have calmed down a bit, anyone from either planet with energy to spare is off settling newly-opened Sergyar. There's been a movement among the Progressives—spearheaded by my father—to fully integrate Komarr into the Empire. It's not a