Lois Bujold: Mirror Dance

He unloaded it all, and laid the pieces out in order upon the floor. Strange splashes, scars, and patches deckled the gleaming surfaces here and there. What weapons, what strikes, had been powerful enough to mar that metalloy surface? What enemies had fired them? Every scar, he realized, fingering them, had been intended death. This was not pretend.

It was very disturbing. No. He pushed away the cold shiver of doubt. If he can do it, I can do it. He tried to ignore the repairs and mysterious stains on the pressure suit and its soft, absorbent under-liner as he packed it all away again and stowed the crate. Blood? Shit? Burns? Oil? It was all cleaned and odorless now, anyway.

The third crate, smaller than the second, proved to contain a set of half-armor, lacking built-in weapons and not meant for space, but rather for dirtside combat under normal or near-normal pressure, temperature, and atmospheric conditions. Its most arresting feature was a command headset, a smooth duralloy helmet with built-in telemetry and a vid projector in a flange above the forehead that placed any data on the net right before the commander’s eyes. Data flow was controlled by certain facial movements and voice commands. He left it out on the counter to examine more thoroughly later, and repacked the rest.

By the time he finished arranging all the clothing in the cabin’s cupboards and drawers, he’d begun to regret sending the batman away so precipitously. He fell onto the bed, and dimmed the lights. When he next woke, he should be on his way to Jackson’s Whole… .

He’d just begun to doze when the cabin comm buzzed. He lurched up to answer it, mustering a reasonably coherent “Naismith here,” in a sleep-blurred voice.

“Miles?” said Thorne’s voice. “The commando squad’s here.”

“Uh … good. Break orbit as soon as you’re ready, then.”

“Don’t you want to see them?” Thorne said, sounding surprised.

Inspection. He inhaled. “Right. I’ll … be along. Naismith out.” He hurried back into his uniform trousers, taking a jacket with proper insignia this time, and quickly called up a schematic of the ship’s interior layout on the cabin’s comconsole. There were two locks for combat drop shuttles, port and starboard. Which one? He traced a route to both.

The operative shuttle hatch was the first one he tried. He paused a moment in shadow and silence at the curve of the corridor, before he was spotted, to take in the scene.

The loading bay was crowded with a dozen men and women in grey camouflage flight suits, along with piles of equipment and supplies. Hand and heavy weapons were stacked in symmetrical arrays. The mercenaries sat or stood, talking noisily, loud and crude, punctuated with barks of laughter. They were all so big, generating too much energy, knocking into each other in half-horseplay, as if seeking an excuse to shout louder. They bore knives and other personal weapons on belts or in holsters or on bandoliers, an ostentatious display. Their faces were a blur, animal-like. He swallowed, straightened, and stepped among them.

The effect was instantaneous. “Heads up!” someone shouted, and without further orders they arranged themselves at rigid attention in two neat, dead silent rows, each with his or her bundle of equipment at their feet. It was almost more frightening than the previous chaos.

With a thin smile, he walked forward, and pretended to look at each one. A last heavy duffle arced out of the shuttle hatch to land with a thump on the deck, and the thirteenth commando squeezed through, stood up, and saluted him.

He stood paralyzed with panic. Whatinhell was it? He stared at a flashing belt buckle, then tilted his head back, straining his neck. The freaking thing was eight feet tall. The enormous body radiated power that he could feel almost like a wave of heat, and the face—the face was a nightmare. Tawny yellow eyes, like a wolf’s, a distorted, outslung mouth with fangs, dammit, long white canines locked over the edges of the carmine lips. The huge hands had claws, thick, powerful, razor-edged—enamelled with carmine polish… . What? His gaze traveled back up to the monster’s face. The eyes were outlined with shadow and gold tint, echoed by a little gold spangle glued decoratively to one high cheekbone. The mahogany-colored hair was drawn back in an elaborate braid. The belt was cinched in tightly, emphasizing a figure of sorts despite the loose-fitting multi-grey flight suit. The thing was female—?

“Sergeant Taura and the Green Squad, reporting as ordered, sir!” The baritone voice reverberated in the bay.

“Thank you—” It came out a cracked whisper, and he coughed to unlock his throat. “Thank you, that will be all, get your orders from Captain Thorne, you may all stand down.” They all strained to hear him, compelling him to repeat, “Dismissed!”

They broke up in disorder, or some order known only to themselves, for the bay was cleared of equipment with astonishing speed.

The monster sergeant lingered, looming over him. He locked his knees, to keep himself from sprinting from it—her… .

She lowered her voice. “Thanks for picking the Green Squad, Miles. I take it you’ve got us a real plum.”

More first names? “Captain Thorne will brief you en route. It’s … a challenging mission.” And this would be the sergeant in charge of it?

“Captain Quinn have the details, as usual?” She cocked a furry eyebrow at him.

“Captain Quinn … will not be coming on this mission.”

He swore her gold eyes widened, the pupil’s dilating. Her lips drew back baring her fangs further in what took him a terrifying moment to realize was a smile. In a weird way, it reminded him of the grin with which Thorne had greeted that same news.

She glanced up; the bay had emptied of other personnel. “Aah?” Her voice rumbled, like a purr. “Well, I’ll be your bodyguard any time, lover. Just give me the sign.”

What sign, what the hell—

She bent, her lips rippling, carmine clawed hand grasping his shoulder—he had a flashing vision of her tearing off his head, peeling, and eating him—then her mouth closed over his. His breath stopped, and his vision darkened, and he almost passed out before she straightened and gave him a puzzled, hurt look. “Miles, what’s the matter?”

That had been a kiss. Freaking gods. “Nothing,” he gasped. “I’ve … been ill. I probably shouldn’t have gotten up, but I had to inspect.”

She was looking very alarmed. “I’ll say you shouldn’t have gotten up—you’re shaking all over! You can barely stand up. Here, I’ll carry you to sickbay. Crazy man!”

“No! I’m all right. That is, I’ve been treated. I’m just supposed to rest, and recover for a while, is all.”

“Well, you go straight back to bed, then!”

“Yes.”

He wheeled. She swatted him on the butt. He bit his tongue. She said, “At least you’ve been eating better. Take care of yourself, huh?”

He waved over his shoulder, and fled without looking back. Had that been military cameraderie? From a sergeant to an admiral? He didn’t think so. That had been intimacy. Naismith, you bug-fuck crazy bastard, what have you been doing in your spare time? I didn’t think you had any spare time. You’ve got to be a freaking suicidal maniac, if you’ve been screwing that—

He locked his cabin door behind him, and stood against it, trembling, laughing in hysterical disbelief. Dammit, he’d studied everything about Naismith, everything. This couldn’t be happening. With friends like this, who need enemies?

He undressed and lay tensely upon his bed, contemplating Naismith/Vorkosigan’s complicated life, and wondering what other booby-traps it held for him. At last a faint change in the susurrations and creaks of the ship around him, a brief tug of shifting grav fields, made him realize the Ariel was breaking free of Escobar orbit. He had actually succeeded in stealing a fully armed and equipped military fast cruiser, and no one even knew it. They were on their way to Jackson’s Whole. To his destiny. His destiny, not Naismith’s. His thoughts spiraled toward sleep at last.