The Vorkosigan Companion - Lillian Stewart Carl [179]
Seven Secret Roads of Female Pleasure:
A fictional method of lovemaking Miles invents to prevent Mark from sleeping with Elli Quinn while he's impersonating Miles. (BA)
Sharkbait One:
A jumpscout ship with the Dendarii Free Mercenary Fleet. It scouts for Cetagandans during the Vervain conflict. (VG)
Sharkbait Three:
A jumpscout ship with the Dendarii Free Mercenary Fleet. During the Vervain conflict it announces that help is arriving, and the wormhole must be cleared. (VG)
Ship knits:
Casual wear worn on spaceships, they are like sweat suits, consisting of shapeless, loose, comfortable shirt and pants. (All)
Shock stick:
A melee energy weapon that imparts an electric shock when it hits a target. Often used as a control or punishment device, it has adjustable power settings that cause varying levels of pain. At higher settings, repeated hits can shock a subject unconscious. Ser Galen used a shock stock to punish Mark during his training, and Miles is hit by them several times, including once to the face on Ilsum Kety's ship during his mission in the Cetagandan Empire. (BA, C, MD, VG)
Shuttle:
A small, self-powered, environmentally sealed transport craft used for surface-to-orbit transportation. The means of power and propulsion is not specified. Anti-gravity is used for liftoff and touchdown, so there are no blast effects from a propulsion system. Reentry friction does cause hull heating. Shuttles come in many models, from simple drop versions that carry passengers and cargo, to armed and armored military models capable of transporting fifty to sixty soldiers or civilians, as during the prisoner-of-war breakout on Dagoola IV. (All)
Shuttle A-4:
A fully loaded combat shuttle destroyed by a Cetagandan fighter during the prisoner rescue on Dagoola IV. (BI)
Shuttle B-7:
An empty combat shuttle destroyed by a Cetagandan fighter during the prisoner rescue on Dagoola IV. (BI)
Shuttleport Locks:
An import and shopping district in Serifosa Dome on Komarr. Ekaterin takes Miles shopping there, where he purchases Gregor's lava lamp, and the miniature planet jewelry for Delia Koudelka and Laisa Toscane, along with the miniature Barrayar pendant he gives to Ekaterin after she helps foil the Komarran engineers' wormhole plot. (K)
"Siege of the Silver Moon, The":
A Barrayaran childhood ballad and drinking song about a Vor lord and a witch woman who ride in a magic mortar and pestle, which they use to grind their enemies' bones. Miles hums a bit of it while first talking to Arde Mayhew on Beta Colony. (WA)
Siegel:
No first name or rank given. A soldier in the Barrayaran military, he is the leader of a patrol on the General Vorkraft that attempts to stop the mutineers. (SH)
Siegling's:
A high-class weapons store in the Vorbarr Sultana, where Cordelia buys Koudelka a swordstick. Thickly carpeted, with wooden paneling. The smell inside reminds her a bit of the armory aboard her Betan survey ship. The clerk tries to sell her an inferior weapon, but Cordelia demands and receives the very best. (B)
Siembieda, Ryan:
A hazel-eyed engineering tech sergeant with the Dendarii Free Mercenary Fleet, he was killed at Mahata Solaris during an assault by a Cetagandan hit team trying to kill Miles. Cryogenically frozen, he was thawed and resuscitated on Earth. Miles fills him in on what had happened on their way back to the Dendarii fleet at the spaceport. (BA)
Siggy:
A quaddie who brings contraband video fiction to Claire and Silver. He discusses a potential plan to take the jump ship based on what he saw in another video, Nest of Doom, involving space marines against aliens, but Silver scuttles his idea. (FF)
Sigma Ceta:
One of the eight satrapy planets in the Cetagandan Empire, it borders the Vega Station group. Its governor is Ilsum Kety, much like Slyke Giaja, and cousin to him through their mothers, who were half sisters through different constellations.