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them leaving. The group is sidetracked by encountering the Vorpatrils, Aral's kin, hiding in the slums where they're planning to strike from, who are discovered by Vordarian's security. Padma is killed but the group rescues Alys, who goes into labor, forcing them to deliver the child immediately. Even with larger issues looming over them, Cordelia patches things up between Koudelka and Droushnakova, then sends Kou with Alys and her newborn son Ivan to escort her out of the city while they continue into the Emperor's Residence. They find what Cordelia thinks is the replicator, but it is a fake, set as a trap. Caught by Residence guards, Cordelia, Bothari, and Drou are captured and taken before Vordarian. But when Cordelia produces evidence that Gregor is alive, not dead as Vordarian told Kareen, the princess tries to kill him, but is killed in the ensuing firefight. Taking Vordarian hostage, Bothari has Cordelia set the Residence on fire, then she orders him to behead the pretender. Taking the real replicator, the three escape the Residence through the secret tunnels underneath, presenting Vordarian's head to Aral and the rest of the loyal counts. The coup collapses, and Miles is born, although it's obvious he will have his own difficulties. Koudelka and Droushnakova get married, and the book ends with an epilogue five years later, with a precocious Miles already getting into trouble, and winning Piotr over in spite of himself.

The Warrior's Apprentice (1986)

Miles Naismith Vorkosigan, son of Aral and Cordelia Vorkosigan, is seventeen years old, and at loose ends. His brittle bones forced him out of the military academy entrance exams after he broke both legs while trying to complete an obstacle course. Feeling guilty over breaking his grandfather's heart by washing out, and believing he inadvertently hastened Piotr's death, Miles takes Elena Bothari, on whom he has a crush, to Beta Colony to visit his grandmother Naismith. In reality, he is taking her to research her mother's side of the family, since her taciturn father hasn't told her very much about her relatives. At Beta Colony, Miles helps a down-on-his-luck pilot named Arde Mayhew, and also finds a Barrayaran deserter named Baz Jesek hiding out in a recycling station. Taking them both on as sworn armsmen, Miles quickly gets in over his head. Forced to take a quick shipping job to pay off the outstanding lien on Arde's ship, which Miles now owns, he finds one that would pay off everything, with even a bit of profit left over. However, the job is a risky weapons-smuggling run to the nation of Felice, on Tau Verde IV, currently in the middle of a planetary war. Camouflaging the weapons to resemble farm equipment, the freighter is stopped by mercenaries working for the enemy Pelians. When they decide to take Elena as their hostage instead of the usual jump pilot, Miles captures them, then takes over their ship as well, leaving him with two spacecraft. Miles convinces the soldiers of fortune to join his Dendarii Mercenaries, an outfit that exists only in his mind. From there, they take over an ore refinery after they discover that their employer's in-system contact has been captured. More mercenaries join the nascent Dendarii group, among them a woman named Elena Visconti, whom Miles recognizes as Elena Bothari's mother. However, his plan for reuniting the family goes horribly wrong when the elder Elena kills Bothari in front of her daughter. That, along with the strain of putting together a working mercenary group completely on the fly, pushes Miles to the breaking point physically and mentally. He confesses his love to Elena, but she turns him down, citing the impossibility of their different castes on Barrayar, and besides, she is already falling for Baz Jesek. After coming up with a plan to break the blockade by setting the Pelians and their mercenary employees at each other's throats by hijacking payrolls, Miles ends up in the infirmary with a bleeding ulcer just before they are about to embark on their most hazardous mission yet. With Elena in charge, working alongside