Not!fic: "Aral You-Had-One-Mission Vor^H^H^HKosigan Naismith", a Battle of Escobar AU

[azurelunatic]

Title: Not!fic: Aral You-Had-One-Mission Vor^H^H^HKosigan Naismith, A Battle of Escobar AU
Fandom: Vorkosigan AU
Author: azurelunatic
Size: ~7 kb
Advisories: Not!Fic. Barrayarans! and their fucking honor. :( The party continues in the comments.
Note: klreeher was out for dinner with zarhooie and the name "Aral You-Had-One-Job Vorkosigan" popped into my head.
Summary: Not!fic of what happens when Aral fails to get Prince Serg killed.


So Cordelia and company get picked up in their little thingy just like canon, and are brought on board, et cetera.

Aral notably fails to get Serg riled up enough to go to the front. Aral knows his responsibility here: bring the ship into the line of fire, and get blown the fuck up.

Cordelia is on the ship and has been brought into Aral's quarters to keep her safe from Serg. Something is clearly weighing heavily on Aral's heart and mind, and Cordelia is not entirely brave or cruel enough to ask about it.

Aral tells her about his tactical plan which will place the ship right in harm's way, being unable to entirely keep it to himself, and Cordelia goes snow-pale and then tells him that this is going to get him killed. She refuses to tell him why or how, but continues to insist that this is a suicide mission, voice ramping up into hysteria as Aral continues to insist that this is the only tactical choice he can make (also starting to yell).

Aral stops, kneels, puts his hands together in an attitude almost of prayer. Cordelia clasps her hands around his, clinging to him.

Quietly, Aral says with a note of darkly ironic humor in his voice, that Cordelia is a prisoner of Barrayar, and will almost certainly be put to death as she has already done too much -- interfered with Sergyar, killed Vorrutyer (his hands twitch as he says this), in addition to just being caught as a combatant.

(Cordelia tries to start an argument about the inhumanity of Barrayar's standard practices. "If you were caught doing the same against Beta--" she says.

"If I were caught," Aral amends, and then adds, "I would be dragged into a cozy little room and secured with padded restraints, and then they would drug me and tell me pretty lies until I agreed that it was very unfair of me to do this to Beta, and we could all just get along."

Cordelia opened her mouth to try to rebut this, and shut it again without saying anything.)

"On Barrayar," Aral continues, "a doomed prisoner who has earned special distinction can sometimes choose the manner of his death." He pauses. "Or hers." Speaking slowly, carefully, dragging each word out painfully, he continues. "I could offer you this much. An escape pod, stripped of its oxygen reserves. It would not be pleasant."

"If it escaped being hit by a stray shot," Cordelia agrees. "You would be firing me out into the teeth of the Escobarans. They might think it a bomb." She pauses. "Or they could pick me up, depriving Barrayar of its vengence. I could live to haunt you again."

"You speak as if I would survive," Aral reminds her, hands once again twitching in hers.

Cordelia catches his tone. "You mean to die here!" she accuses him.

He remains silent.

"I will not leave this ship," Cordelia tells him, and drops his hands to pace the tiny cabin.



She cannot bring herself to share his bed. He does not sleep -- he has taken one of the little pills -- and works all night on the comconsole. She curls up in a corner. She wakes partway through the night to discover that he's covered her with the blanket from his bunk.



Aral's nerve fails him at the critical moment. He doesn't steer the ship into the heart of the battle. He remains back, Prince Serg on board, and watches the other ships fall.

Cordelia has video from the bridge piped into Vorkosigan's quarters (he refused her plea to stand with him on the bridge, but did grant her that much) and watches as one of Serg's men presses a stunner to the back of his head and knocks him out. Aral calls the retreat and the fleet limps away.

Serg swans off on his own back to Barrayar in a fast courier after he comes to, and now that it is safe to do so, Aral returns Cordelia to the brig.



They make it back to Barrayar. Aral tells Cordelia that she has just one chance for survival, and takes her before the Emperor. Cordelia's pretty fucked up -- they've been treating her well for a Barrayaran prisoner, particularly because she's been under Aral's watch, and her people are doing all right as well as can be expected under the circumstances.

She tells Aral that really, she can deal with dying herself if there's nothing else to be done, but she really has to insist that he leverage all the levers he has on behalf of her people and getting them returned to Beta.

So she cleans up, accepts the return of her Survey fatigues instead of the prisoner's uniform she's been wearing, and stands before the Emperor, terrified but proud.

Aral introduces her to the Emperor as an honorable enemy combatant, which she would argue with as technically she doesn't consider what she'd done to have been fighting, but she's aware that it's a signal Barrayaran honor to consider a woman a combatant, and doesn't argue. He pleads for the lives of her crew, and then pleads for hers.

And then -- "My liege. I have lost the Battle of Escobar," Aral says. And then distinctly, as if it were a separate failure, he adds, "I have failed in the mission that you assigned me." He bows fully at the waist so that the back of his neck faces the emperor. He remains this way, as if waiting for a signal or gesture from the Emperor. Cordelia realizes in shock that he is in fact waiting for the Emperor to behead him.

"Stand up, Vorkosigan," the Emperor says, a terrifying old man. Cordelia observes that while he holds himself like someone accustomed to power, he is also in a great deal of pain, and encased in a better class of medical gear than Barrayar is supposed to possess.

"You know the penalty for failure," the Emperor says, and Aral flinches but holds his ground. "Have you anything to say for yourself?"

"No, sire."

"Never let it be said that I do not have my moments of mercy," the old man continues, and addresses Cordelia. "Commander Naismith. I will return your troops to Beta Colony on one condition."

"Sir," Cordelia says, terrified and polite.

"You will return with them, with Kosigan as your prisoner," he says. And to Aral again: "Kosigan."

Aral goes down on one knee before the Emperor, hands together in that gesture of prayer again. The Emperor clasps his hands over Aral's, in nearly the same gesture that Cordelia had unconsciously taken so many days ago. "For failure in service to the throne, in place of death," the Emperor says, "you are stripped of your titles, ranks, and properties."

Aral takes a deep breath, and Cordelia can see the muscle in his arm twitch, but the Emperor pins him with a look and holds him in place. There's more. "You are hereby exiled from the Imperium," the Emperor continues, "from Barrayar, from Komarr, from Sergyar, from all its planets, stations, and holdings, now or future. Unless--" --and Aral's gentle slump of defeat turns to electrified attention-- "--you somehow manage to fulfil your mission. In its entirety."

"Sire," Aral says, deep and resonant with suppressed meaning.

The Emperor releases his hands.

Aral kneels in turn before Cordelia. "Cap-- Commander, I remand myself into your custody," he says.

Cordelia feels that something is called for, and manages to stammer out some formal words of acceptance.


AND THEN THEY ALL GO BACK TO BETA COLONY, WHERE ARAL PLOTS THE DEATH OF SERG. I HAVE NO IDEA WHETHER HE EVER SUCCEEDS, BUT THAT IS HOW ARAL VORKOSIGAN FAILED. YOU HAD ONE JOB, ARAL. JUST ONE JOB.

Comments

[enemyofperfect]

This is awesome.

[azurelunatic]

It hit my head while I was driving home, so I had to actually call Tumblr to make sure that I wouldn't forget.

[azurelunatic]

And he totally meant for her to be picked up and saved by the Escobarans. He just can't say it out loud or allow the escape pod to be knowingly outfitted to give her a fighting chance. (One of the extra oxygen bottles would have "fallen in" as he was closing the hatch, and he would have "forgotten" to disable the emergency beacon.)

[enemyofperfect]

Eee, Aral!

My mind is all awhirl about what happens once they reach Beta Colony. It would present such a different set of challenges than the ones Cordelia faced on Barrayar.

[azurelunatic]

I bet he would have also given her a nerve disruptor with one shot's worth of charge in it. Just In Case.

[azurelunatic]

Aral would probably be the one winding up with PTSD from evading the full truth during a debriefing, Betan-style. Does canon ever say whether he's been given the fast-penta allergy treatment? Cordelia would be going out of her mind with worry about him, and everybody around her would be interpreting her hypervigilance at every mention of him as signs that he'd tortured her. Which, understandable assumption, but very wrong.

[enemyofperfect]

It's been too long since I read canon; I want to say counts and counts' heirs don't get the treatment, but I could be wrong.

And of course he'd have thought to give her a nerve-disruptor, in the event. Yi.

[azurelunatic]

If we delay his older brother's death until after he'd got deep into the military --

[enemyofperfect]

Oh. Quite.

[azurelunatic]

Or maybe it happened in the Green Silk Room time, because Mad Yuri's death squads are sort of an important bit of Barrayaran history, and I think it's important to his character that he was young for it.

He was already expendable at that point, when he agreed to take Serg down. Serg wouldn't have blinked twice at fast-pentaing one of his own men if he thought there was a plot. Ezar couldn't afford to let it slip out, and Aral would be an acceptable casualty, especially given that Aral was under orders to take Serg out at all costs.

[vass]

I seem to remember that he begged to be fast-pentaed after the Solstice Massacre, and the Emperor just told him to shut up and behave.

[azurelunatic]

Or maybe Beta never fast-pentas -- no. wait.

Cordelia insists that as his commanding officer, she administer the fast-penta. And that they be alone while doing it, and that the various Betan agencies can be satisfied with a recording. This is after she's elected, and the agencies are paranoid that Aral has been pushing her as a figurehead to lead Beta, and that he's behind a Barrayaran attempt to acquire Beta Colony.

I don't actually know what-all she asks. I'm sure the various agencies had a list of topics. She is not a bad interrogator. Mostly Beta Colony is concerned with possible threats that Kosigan might pose to them. Thus they're satisfied with a report that no, his being stripped of titles, honors, and various holdings means that he is no longer a Barrayaran citizen, and having taken oath to the commander of a non-Barrayaran military force was the cherry on top. He's technically stateless unless/until he takes Betan citizenship examination, but there was some earlier legal precedent about people without Betan citizenship being able to join up to the Expeditionary Force for example as a means of claiming political asylum.

Cordelia cannot actually tell Aral that she thinks that he should assemble a private army for the purpose of killing Serg, but:

Will you assemble a private army for the purpose of gaining social or political power in Beta? No.
Will you assemble a private army for the purpose of gaining social or political control of an ally of Beta? Aral has to think whether Barrayar is an ally of Beta. But no.

[enemyofperfect]

I adore all of this.

[cadenzamuse]

I WANT THIS FIC.

[azurelunatic]

I do not know when Cordelia will realize that she technically took Aral's oath that night. She will, eventually. I suspect it's while she's separated from him. And at that point she will move *heaven and earth*, because she after all did swear to protect him as she would protect one of her own troops. Which, given that she was in Barrayaran territory at the time, counts as his enlistment.

[enemyofperfect]

*sustained squeeing*

...Oh my gosh, and your next comment!

[azurelunatic]

Both of them fight simultaneously the dirtiest and the fairest they know how, with each other. (For each other, it's whatever the fuck will work. With each other, they know they have to live with each other, or at least with themselves.)

[enemyofperfect]

<3

[azurelunatic]

It's still Naismith's Dendarii, but a different Dendarii, a different Naismith.

There will be no Miles. After it is all over, Cordelia (and Aral, if he survives) will come back to Beta to raise a girl.

[azurelunatic]

Chapter: General Naismith and the Terrible, Horrible, No-Good, Very Bad Idea.

[azurelunatic]

... I realize that this means that when Barrayar comes under Aral's control, technically it's then a Betan protectorate.

Especially as Cordelia finds that the most effective way to gain ... not exactly unimpeachable personal power, but certainly scads of it, is to run for office.

Against Steady Freddie.

[thette]

Well, she didn't vote for him.

[lannamichaels]

I want this so much. This is all glorious.

[azurelunatic]

I have the feeling that once Aral is no longer Vor, and gets used to being Mr. Naismith, he doesn't actually want to give up his wife's name.

I have no idea what Piotr thinks of this, exactly, but I have the suspicion that it won't be flattering.

I am sure at some point Piotr tries to insult Aral by implying that Aral is the one being fucked. Aral then has many (crude, but also true and complimentary) things to say about Cordelia's strap-on. (Chapter: No, Your *Other* Honor.)

[thette]

Wow... <3

[azurelunatic]

\o/

[kaberett]

YES YES YES THANK YOU YES

[kaberett]

TEARS WHEN CORDELIA TAKES HIS HANDS BETWEEN HERS

GENUINE TEARS

[azurelunatic]

SHE HAD TO. SHE HAS AN INSTINCT FOR RIGHT ACTIONS EVEN WHEN SHE DOES NOT KNOW WHY THEY ARE RIGHT.

[azurelunatic]

Even though Cordelia is the President, layers of bureaucracy have evolved around all important offices and in every military for a reason: to protect the systems of power from those who hold the power however temporarily. As much as Cordelia might have liked to safely place Aral in a rank suited to his experience, you just can't do that, especially not in the Expeditionary Survey. (He did look nice in the blue uniform, though.)

So Aral became the tactical lead of her bodyguard team, and rustled around in various places for talent who might have been missed by the rather conventional and narrow-minded Betans. Beta, for all its emphasis on freedom of choice in personal appearance, gender, and sexual expression, was remarkably unimaginative when it came to following rules.


Barrayar's finest had not been able to separate Bothari from Kosigan (and Cordelia). "I'm going where they're going," he said, and would not be moved from this.

Koudelka arrived in civvies and random bandages sometime later, having requested Betan medical care for his war wounds.

[pauamma]

Hmm, I forgot the exact timeline, but does that also mean the (mumble) uterine replicators become Cordelia's personal responsibility instead of being dumped into Barrayar's lap?

[azurelunatic]

So if you have Kou, you have to have Drou. Drou is currently assigned to Princess Kareen and Gregor. Drou is really not the best lady's maid, but she is a great bodyguard. Ezar is doing what he can to keep Serg away from Kareen, but it's still pretty perilous.

Which is why the Dendarii's first raid is to liberate Kareen and her household from Barrayar.