Memory #6

[identityformations]

Trivial Neutral - First day living as Miles (OS, BiA 188-192)

Regained - Game #75, Cheshire, skill swap (to Amethyst, for "Quite the talk about skills you had . . . or something.")

The body timeline puts this at no later than the clone rescue mission, quite possibly a year or two before that, because he does feel younger.

So this is an offscreen memory that we get a summary of when Mark reports in to Galen at the end of the day. I'm kind of rolling the days' events and said report into one memory, but all the actual book text is going to be from the latter. I should also note that during the entire report, the actual Miles is lolling around in the background, high on fast-penta (imagine the truth spell from the Magic Mirror game, only more so), and making random stream-of-consciousness commentary. Also everything is from Miles' POV.

So most of this memory is going to be pretty vague in write-up, but it's clearly another day of impersonating somebody. Constant stress as to whether he's going to be discovered, improvising and working around people who know Miles, always Miles. He's working as a sort of military attache to an embassy. Boring desk work. And he's getting pestered by comm calls from a group of mercenaries asking for orders and money, and a random lawsuit; apparently Miles is a busy monkey. Then he makes a secret call to report in to his spymaster.

"I nearly lost it all in the first five minutes last night. That big Dendarii sergeant-driver turned out to be the damned cousin." The clone's voice was low and tense. "Blind luck, I was able to carry off my first mistake as a joke. But they've got me rooming with the bastard. And he snores."

[...] "You're going to have to deal with all kinds of people who knew him, before this is done," said Galen roughly to the vid. "But if you can fool Vorpatril, you'll be able to carry it off anywhere--" [...] "The embassy is a perfect isolated test-microcosm...before you go on to the larger arena of Barrayar itself. Vorpatril's presence makes it an ideal practice opportunity. If he tumbles to you, we can find some way to eliminate him."

"Mm." The clone seemed scarcely reassured. "Before we started, I thought you'd managed to stuff my head with everything it was possible to know about Miles Vorkosigan. Then at the last minute you find out he's been leading a double life all this time--what else have you missed?"

"Miles, we've been over that--"

This man clearly knows I'm not Miles, but he's still calling me that? Hell, when am I ever going to get a name?

So between this and some of the things in that memory where I nearly killed a guy, I'm going to guess that I was in fact part of some plot where I replaced Miles Vorkosigan to do...something on Barrayar. Which was complicated by the fact that he apparently led a double life as a mercenary commander. Miles Naismith and Miles Vorkosigan are most likely the same person, and I am most likely his clone?

My spymaster is brusque and businesslike, but there is...a strange mix of feelings there that I can't even put my finger on. (Because Galen is an abusive madman who is also Mark's only chance at life, and there's a whole lot of entanglement and attachment and hatred right there.)

"So. You got through the night all right."

The clone snorted. "Yeah, if you don't count waking up being strangled by a damn animated fur coat."

"What? Oh, the live fur. Didn't he give it to his woman?"

"Evidently not. I nearly peed myself before I realized what it was. Woke up the cousin."

"Did he suspect anything?" Galen asked urgently.

"I passed it off as a nightmare. It seems Vorkosigan has them fairly often."

[...] "Did Vorpatril say anything about it in the morning?" asked Galen.

"No. I'm not talking much."

"That's out of character," Miles observed helpfully.

"I'm pretending to have a mild episode of one of those depressions in his psych report--who is that, anyway?" The clone craned his neck.

"Vorkosigan himself. We've got him on fast-penta."

"Ah, good. I've been getting calls all morning over a secured comm link from his mercenaries, asking for orders."

Yup, he has mercenaries. And also is leading the search for a missing Captain Galeni. And with Miles right there to answer questions, I have a string. There's a Lieutenant Bone asking what to do with the surplusage from the Triumph, my spymaster gets that answer from Miles for me. There's a Rosalie Crew suing Admiral Naismith for half a million GSA federal credits. Miles flails in confusion and starts babbling about a clerk in a wine shop, telling me to slap her with a countersuit; my spymaster overrides this and says I'll be gone before it's an issue. Miles is rambling about how horrible it would be for me to betray the Dendarii, his mercenaries...

"Quite," sighed the clone, "and speaking of what they are, just what is his relationship with this Commander Quinn, anyway? Did you finally decide he was screwing her, or not?"

And Miles goes hysterical and launches himself at the comconsole, babbling about Quinn of the evening, beautiful Quinn...I guess that's a yes on the screwing. How come he gets a girlfriend and I get unnamed sexual dysfunctions? FML.

And then I sign off, saying that I've got to go, and will report again later, assuming I'm still alive.

So apparently, possibly separately from infiltrating the Dendarii as Admiral Naismith, I infiltrated a Barrayaran embassy, with intent to get transferred to the motherland, as Lieutenant Vorkosigan, under the command of an unnamed spymaster who is plotting against Barrayar somehow. This...raises more questions than it answers.

+ Appearance of Ser Galen, with 87 incomprehensible feelings.
+ Officer Boy is Ivan Vorpatril, apparently, and is Miles' cousin.
+ Naismith's group is the Dendarii mercenaries.
+ Names: Captain Galeni, Commander Quinn.
+10 Impersonation infiltration is a pain, why am I doing this?
+10 Why does Miles get all the nice things?
+20 Who the hell am I and what is going on with my life?
+20 MY NAME IS NOT MILES ANYTHING.