he can find Dubauer again, Bel disappears as well, increasing Miles's suspicion that something bigger is going on. When the strange man who assaulted Bel and its partner, Nicol, is caught by the quaddies at the docks, Miles gets a large part of the story. Dubauer had hired Russo Gupta and his smuggler friends to off-load the replicators from a Cetagandan transport ship, then tried to kill all of them with a virulent biotoxin. Gupta survived, and tracked Dubauer down to try and kill him, but failed. When Miles received word that Dubauer and Bel Thorne accessed the ship where the replicators are being held the night before, he knows where the criminal went, but still has to catch him. Going onto the ship that's carrying the replicators, Miles finds that genetic samples have been taken from the embryos. He also finds Bel Thorne there, ill from what appears to be the same toxin that killed Gupta's companions. Miles locks down the ship, and during the search for Dubauer, infects himself when he stumbles upon a trap left by the ba. Dubauer has also never left the ship, as they discover when the ba seals all of the compartment doors and demands a jump pilot to take it away from Quaddiespace, claiming to have left a bomb on the station somewhere. The volunteer pilot is Ensign Corbeau. Miles must fight the poison coursing through him to stop Dubauer and regain control of the ship, which he does right before passing out. Ekaterin must race against time to get both Miles and the recaptured fetuses to Cetaganda in time to save Miles's life and prevent a war-by-mistake. Miles awakens on a Cetagandan space station, weak but cured of the toxin's effects. Haut-lady Pel is there, and Miles explains the plan as he saw it: Dubauer had stolen the haut-fetuses to create a new empire, where it would rule over all as both Empress and Emperor. To cover its tracks, it had planted empty Cetagandan replicators in Vorbarr Sultana on Barrayar to create conflict between the two empires. Having averted yet another war, Ekaterin, Bel, and Miles are honored by the Cetagandans, with Miles giving a sample of his genetic structure to the haut-ladies, so that in the future, a bit of him might become part of the Cetagandan whole. For Miles and Ekaterin, however, that pales next to getting home in time to watch their children, a son and daughter, be born, and to see the next generation of Vorkosigans take their first breaths.
The Vorkosigan Saga Concordance
Kerrie Hughes, John Helfers, and Ed Burkhead
The following abbreviations are used to denote where the defined term appeared in the Vorkosigan Saga novels:
B:Barrayar
BA:Brothers in Arms
BI:"The Borders of Infinity"
C:Cetaganda
CC:A Civil Campaign
DD:"Dreamweaver's Dilemma"
DI:Diplomatic Immunity
EA:Ethan of Athos
FF:Falling Free
K:Komarr
L:"Labyrinth"
M:Memory
MD:Mirror Dance
MM:"The Mountains of Mourning"
SH:Shards of Honor
VG:The Vor Game
WA:The Warrior's Apprentice
WG:"Winterfair Gifts"
Terms are listed alphabetically, without regard to punctuation.
Although we have tried to make this concordance as complete as possible, please note that Lois's novels cover more than one thousand years of future history. The writers and editors are all too aware that mistakes are inevitable in such a mammoth work. Comments, questions, and suggestions or additions or corrections may be sent to the following address:
John Helfers
c/o Baen Publishing Enterprises
500 Wait Ave., #6
Wake Forest, NC 27587
• • A • •
Abell:
No first name given. A scholar who produced a turgid general history of Barrayar. Cordelia views a video of his work while she is Aral's prisoner. (SH)
Abromov:
No first name given. A corporal in the Dendarii Free Mercenary Fleet, he delivers the helmet recorder files of every Dendarii soldier involved in the clone rescue missions on Jackson's Whole to the officer conference room on the Peregrine. (BA)
Aczith:
No first name given. A historian who details the history of Emperor Dorca Vorbarra the Just, Aral's great-grandfather, who ruled at the end of the Time of Isolation.