#rucy reads the vor game

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The reunion scene in The Vor Game will live in my mind forever.

(Shoutout to my sister who, when helping me make this comic better, accurately recognized the characters as "That's the guy who wanted to get into the army, right? And that's his dad, I guess?")

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Ah, yes, an Oseran mercenary, Victor Rotha and uh... (checks notes) Greg.

The kids from the Vorkosigang have grown and I'm all here for it.

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This sketch contains many errors but I had fun drawing and I had more fun even reading.

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Small Vorkosigang

(I have probably messed up someone's uniform's colours but shhhhh)

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ELENA IS HERE! My girl, how have you been!! She's cut her hair, I love that!!

The Vorkosigang is back assembled! (Except for Ivan, poor Ivan).

And Mayhew!!! And Tung!!! Wow the team is really back together!! I'm so happy that I just know this won't last a chapter.

Plan A (...) was to flee at once to the Ariel, now on picket-station, and declare the revolution.

This sounds so Miles idk if Tung has rubbed off on Miles or the other way around.

"To bang his commander's wife?" Elena's eyes sparked. "Anyone's wife? I knew then he wasn't level. If my oaths meant nothing to him, how little did his own?"

SAY IT!! Although this feels very Barrayaran, for all of Elena's hate to her home planet.

Right, Gregor is hearing all this for the first time. I guess he heard a censored version at the end of TWA but he must be amazed at the notion that Miles really did have a fleet as his command.

If anyone could point me to an essay and/or paper and/or tumblr post about the naismith/vorkosigan identity crisis Miles has, I'd be very grateful.

"I think . . . should you become refugees on Our behalf," (Elena, Miles saw, heard that official capital O too, as Tung and Mayhew of course could not)

I love the writing I love the writing I love the writing

I loved her once. Who is she now? Could one choose not to fall in love all over again with this new person?

I LOVE THE WRITING!

Elena being so quick on her reasoning that this will just end up as another treason charge for Miles. I hope that our old friend Greg can help if (when) that time comes.

Mercenary Gregor. Now that's an AU if I've ever seen one. I've tried searching for it on AO3 but all I've found is an alarming frequent use of the tag "Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies".

"I hear their new second officer is a Barrayaran. You might be able to swing some help, there."

This is plot. I'm sure. But Idk how. It's not gonna be help so what is it. Ungari's people?

OH CAVILO IS WITH THE RANGERS OKAY. They're so gonna run into them.

"Strange," said Gregor, looking at Elena—at the new Elena, guessed—"to think you've had more combat experience than either of us." "Than both of you," Elena corrected dryly.

YES!! TELL THEM!!! Elena is not my favourite character only because Cordelia exists, I think.

"Your friend can pass as a fleet soldier," Tung told Miles. "For you, I found a box."

Miles deserves a hug too.

Almost over, says Miles, in page 230 of a 400 page book.

Aaaaaand, here's the trouble.

Cavilo is the elf lady?!?!?

METZOV?!?!?!?! METZOV??!??! I'm sorry, Metzov?!?! Works for Cavilo?????

I HAD SPENT THE LAST FOURTH OF THE BOOK WONDERING WHAT NARRATIVE PURPOSE THE FIRST FOURTH OF THE BOOK SERVED AND OMG HERE IT IS. How could I not see it. This is. I have no words. I love Lois McMaster Bujold.

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"He could have had me, and gotten away," said Elena to Miles, "but he kept firing at you."

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Call it Rule 27B. Never make key tactical decisions while having electro-convulsive seizures.

I will add Rule 27B to my life's lessons as well.

I've only had Gregor for a little bit but I love him already. Depressed and clever is, I'm afraid, my type of character. No wonder I'm enjoying these books.

The more I read the more I just want to hug him. It's so natural, so well written, for him to want to test the limits of what he can do in such a way.

I'm also very endeared by Miles reaction. Because of course he knows some of those feelings.

Ah, yes! Lord Miles Vorkosigan, Heir to Vorkosigan Countship, Ensign of the Barrayaran Army, Imperial Security Recruit, also known as Admiral Naismith of the Dendarii Mercenary Fleet. His specialization? Drains.

Oh, Elena, please appear, Elena.

This book is fun because every time Miles thinks something along the lines of "we're saved!", you know the plan is about flat on their heads and you have to guess where it's gonna come from.

And what do I pretend to be now? A moving target?

ALWAYS BE A MOVING TARGET. LIVE! LIVE! LIVE! I cannot be crying over a Barrayar reference in a book that was published before Barrayar. Have I ever said Barrayar is one of my favourite books ever?

(Fun fact! Since it's not dialogue tagged, the final monologue of Barrayar, which is usually (and I'd say, correctly) atributed to Cordelia, in the Spanish audiobook is narrated in Aral's voice.)

Gregor and Miles have employed "Letting Miles’ friends do violence"! It's not very effective!

The data analyst in me is wanting to run a record of attempts at either plan A “Letting Miles talk” or plan B “Letting Miles’ friends do violence” and calculate their respective success rates.

Going with plan A instead. Naismith would, Naismith would... MY MAN I HATE TO TELL YOU BUT YOU ARE NAISMITH. What is this Conan/Shinichi-like situation. The only diference is the accent. Like, not even the name. Miles Naismith is part of your legal name, not even an alias!! "GREG BLEAKMAN" IS A BETTER IDENTITY SWAP, THAT'S HOW LOW THE BAR IS.

PLAN A DID NOT WORK EITHER HELPPPP Wow they are really going through it.

Look at Gregor fighting for his life! You're doing great, my boy!!!!

They're gonna be fine. Everything's gonna be fine.

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He could see a couple of ways Ivan might succeed in jumping a guard and making a break for it. Not fragile, short-legged Miles. For a moment, he found himself actually wishing he had Ivan along.

Can't employ Eternal Plan B: "Let Miles' friends do violence" if Miles has no friends :(

Okay, not interrogation, thought as much. Can I see my boy Gregor now, please? Whose idea was "Yeah, let's send Miles to command the mercenary fleet, making him pinky promise he'll put them at our command"????

OH HE'S ALLERGIC?!?! XDDDD Took me too long to see. Weird narrative device but fun, I'll take it.

Love to see Miles honouring the family tradition of secret mission in slippers.

No Gregor :( Yes Miles being packed as a present :( TO BEL!!! AND THE ARIEL!!! :D WHO HAS A HAMSTER! :3

This book really ought to be titled "What are you doing here?".

Is it just me or are Bel's pronouns being ommited? Also, while I'm checking this in the English version, wdym the "Kurin" is actually named "Kurin's Hand"? How do you lose "Hand" in translation?? Prince Serg is two words and General Vorkraft is two words and they're both translated in full, why can't Kurin have their hand in Spanish??? I am not finding any Bel's pronouns in English either. Does anyone know if this is a thing, if LMB retracted from having Bel use "it/its"?

The risk of Miles stealing your uniform if you’re less than 160cm tall is low, but never zero.

I think at some point in the past Cordelia had to sit down with her tiny boys Gregor and Miles and clarify that "No, God is not a Betan equivalent for Illyan". Even though they both know everything and judge your actions and can be invoked by pleading while muttering their name, looking at the ceiling of rooms they're not in.

ELENA!!! :DDDDD

ASSASINATION ATTEMPT!! :CCCCC

METZOV?!!?!?! AGAIN?!?! I CAN'T KEEP FALLING FOR THIS!!! LOL

Miles. Miles. Whatever happened to Rule 27B. Do not propose to fast-penta with Oser the man who knows you're Lord Vorkosigan.

Oh, Miles.

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Disclaimer: I'm sick so this post might not make sense but here we go.

OH HO METZOV RECOGNIZES GREGOR AS WELL. Okay. Okay. We probably can work with that.

The fact that this guy's first reaction was searching for Illyan... I wonder if perhaps we as readers have our friend Simon overly normalized. Like for me, he's a guy but for every character he's something like the omniscient and omnipresent spirit of Ezar Vorbarra protecting Gregor.

I am loving! The use of capital lettters! In Gregor's dialogue! Great writing!

I wonder what legal status Metzov holds. As in, if Gregor were to give him an order, would he have to obey? Unlikely. Very unlikely.

"Cavie" "Stanis, darling". This is like watching a car crash in slow motion. I can't take my eyes off it.

That parragraph about Gregor being very good at the role of emperor but being no one outside of being the emperor, but about Miles and Naismith. About what's the person and what's the role.

"Send the little one to the brig, if you like. He's nothing, you say?" The only son of the most powerful military leader on Barrayar kept his mouth shut for a change.

Miles has employed Eternal Plan A, "Letting Miles talk"! It has gone horrifically wrong! :D

"Commander Cavilo, being female, (...)" Please let her kill him please let her kill him. I would kiss you, McMaster Bujold.

"What does it look like" "Like you're comitting treason" "It does, doesn't it?"

Miles has employed Eternal Plan A, "Letting Miles talk"! It is working considerably better with Metzov than with Cavilo!

The threat of fast-penta floats above Miles' head. While I look forward to the day Miles is chemically interrogated, I don't think this is going to be it, given all the set up the writing is doing. Maybe in another book. I hope in another book.

Miles doing macrame in a cell to write a help message is the funniest thing I've read in a long time.

"So, Lord Vorkosigan. Tell me about your mother." While I'm happy to hear about Cordelia, what are you doing, Gregor.

"Plus, she established quite a local military reputation in the fighting of Vordarian's Pretendership, the year I was born twice. Led loyal troops, oh, several times, when my father couldn't be two places at once." And had been personally responsible for the five-year-old emperor-in-hiding's safety.

THAT'S A WAY TO SAY IT, I GUESS LOL. I am reminded now that this was written before "Barrayar" and oh, boy. The shopping trip was a great addition to the ideas presented here.

Cavilo, Empress of Barrayar, now that's a laugh.

A thing I love about the writing of the characters is that they're not in a vacuum. Just this chapter, Aral, Cordelia, Ivan and Seargent Bothari have been mentioned. I like it.

NOT HIM BEING RECOGNIZED AS NAISMITH AS WELL. AAAAAAH!!!

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So it isn't clear then if Cavilo and Metzov are dead. Which means they are alive. Will return in another book?

OH. NO. NOT IN ANOTHER BOOK.

Cavilo...? OH, YES, CAVILO!!!! This is so satisfying. Thank you, Lois McMaster Bujold.

Miles!! You don't ask people why they aren't shooting you!!

I wonder if she'll be back. It would be very interesting. She kissed him?!?!?!!!!

This is so much fun. Yes, of course Admiral Vorkosigan and Admiral Naismith will have a meeting. Both Admirals.

NOT BARRAYARAN SOCIAL NORMS BEEN EXPLAINED TO LORD VORKOSIGAN.

ARAL!!!! THEY HUGGGGGGGG!!! I'm not crying, you are.

Also, Jole is here again. Hello, Jole, your presence is noted.

'Home is where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in.'

Cordelia you are so right, I love you.

GREGOR USING HIS POWER! GREGOR OVERRULING ARAL!! Yes, my boy, go, fly!

NO BUT TELL ME HOW LUNCH WENT!! I want to see the Admirals talking in front of Tung!!! Are there fics? I wanna read it... Do you think Aral talked about his son Miles? Ah, what a coincidence for it to be Admiral Naismith's name as well.

Cavilo!! With perfumeeeee!!! omg that's what this was for!?

Miles and Gregor heart to heart talk. Love to see it. What if I cry.

"I don't want to be the only one who ... the only one. I know when I'm out of my depth."

Miles is such a mood, I cry.

And now it's time to see Illyan! Poor Illyan, he must have suffered a lot.

...and regarded Miles with a kind of clinical disapproval, as if he were a data point that messed up the curve, and Illyan was deciding if he could still save the theory by re-classifying him as experimental error.

LMB speaks my language.

NAISMITH LIVES!

LIUTENANT VORKOSIGAN!!!

WORKING FOR ILLYAN!!! This is gonna be great.

End! Of! The! Book!

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Beginning by the beginning (1)

I guess this is the start of my "The Vor Game" live blog! Full disclosure, I'm already 15% into the book so I'll be using this post (and maybe some others) to quickly recap my thoughts up to date.

The story so far:

Shards of Honor

Barrayar

The Warrior’s Apprentice

The Vor Game (I am here!)

Cetaganda

Ethan of Athos

Borders of Infinity

Brothers of Arms

Mirror Dance

Memory

Warning: I'm reading the Spanish 2019 edition, and I'm a translation nerd so I'll be commenting a lot of that.

For starters, the title in spanish "El juego de los Vor", already lets us know something that the original doesn't explicitely: the "Vor" in the title is plural. Looking forward to those class dramas.

This edition, although very recent, is a reedition of the first one there was so it's fun to read the prologue: "Barrayar, coming soon in the year way way before you were born even". Man, I've already done and loved Barrayar. The world needs more characters like Cordelia.

Anyway, onto the story.

I love books that reward you for remembering specific details. For example, by remembering from passing comments that Kyril Island is somewhere that no one, no one ever wanted to be asigned to. In fact, wasn't someone sent there as punishment? My boy, what are they gonna do to you this time?

"Very good. But your most insidious chronic problem is in the area of... how shall I put this precisely... subordination. You argue too much." "No, I don't."

So fun, I adore him, your honour. I didn't know the notorious "you see your superiors as cattle" conversation was in this book, it was a nice surprise. They're not wrong lol

Miles not ten minutes into the island, already lying by ommision, pretending he doesn't know barrayaran greek: it's a surprise tool that will help us later.

Also, the sentence about barrayaran greek is the first instance so far of the word "barrayaran", which I looked forward to, since sometimes they translate as "barrayarano" and others as "barrayarés". I prefer the first one, so I'm in luck with this book :D

Overall enjoying the Miles suffering so far, I'm very pleased with the evolution of the character, he doesn't seem as wild and desperate as in The Warrior's Apprentice but he's still him.

(To be continued...)

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Oh! Demoted to ImpSec, that's clever! At this rate Miles is going to get demoted to Emperor somehow. Poor Gregor though. (He was an adult only for a few scenes in TWA* but I don't think I dislike him).

*Do people use initials to refer to books in this series? TWA seemed like a good idea but "B" might complicate things.

"Miles's heart rose in his aching chest for the first time since he'd left Kyril Island". I love this father-son bonding.

"The former Lord Regent was the man who used to take a two-hour lunch every day, regardless of any crisis short of war, (...) with his son who could not walk, playing, talking, reading aloud". OH I WILL CRY!

AND CORDELIA IS HERE TOO! Oh how I love her. The woman that she is!

Wdym "acento betanés"?? If you're doing barrayaran->barrayarano why are you not doing betan->betano??? I think all previous editions had at least the two demonyms use the same termination, this is an unexpected development.

Gregor is here!! I didn't expect him here. It's early in the book, only a third in.

Miles and Ivan and Elena and Gregor. What a picture. I love them. I'll have to draw them, I think. (I'll have to work out the age differences. Gregor, then four or five years, Elena, six months, Miles-but-not-really , some months? weeks? Ivan, some days?, this-time-for-real Miles. I need to reread Barrayar.)

"Gregor had graduated from the Imperial Academy two years before Miles entered it." So five years older? Six? I need to do math, I'll be back.

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More problems for Miles: now an spillage, which is a step above sewers, I think. Oh. Mutagenic spillage. Steps below. Definitely below.

So a day in Barrayar is 26,7 hours! I was wondering about that, I think i read Ivan mentioning hour 25 before.

Have I already said I don't like Metzov? I don't like Metzov.

WOW THIS IS ESCALATING QUICKLY. NOW MILES HAS A NERVE DISRUPTOR. OKAY. OKAY. YEAH WE CAN DO THAT.

NO CLOTHES IN THE POLE. OKAY. YEAH WE CAN DO THAT. I know Miles doesn't die here, which is little relief.

"It'll all look different in the morning, anyway." "Yeah. Worse."

This dialogue was so funny!

“Imperial security” Oh, that is good :D “Miles is happy about that”. Oh, that is not good :/

HIGH TREASON?! AGAIN?! He's 20!!! I wonder if he'll set a record, at this rate. "Most high treasons per year".

At least he won't be cold in Vorbarr Sultana...

Illyan! Long time no see! You were younger last I read about you. Was he in "Barrayar"? I recall him in Shards of Honor...

Offhand, Miles knew of no one Illyan feared except Miles's mother. He'd once asked his father if this was guilt, about the soltoxin, but Count Vorkosigan had replied, No, it was only the lasting effect of vivid first impressions.

I see he recalls Shards of Honor as well. Well, he recalls everything, I guess.

"Him". Ay, Aral… OH HES HERE! THE MAN, THE MYTH, THE LEGEND

Jole??? Is this the Jole I've read so much about in the main tags?? Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen’s Jole? I didn't know he'd be here that early. Then again I also expected Bothari to last a couple more books. It feels unreal that I'm already in book 4.

Aral hugs Miles, peace and love on planet earth

"For that sin, there is no hole deep enough to hide him from my wrath." hbcffhh i love Aral. Though what are you gonna do? Send him to Kyril Island?

MILES RENOUNCING HIS CAREER?!? THAT HE FOUGHT SO HARD TO GET. Excuse me while I go cry in a corner.

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Beginning by the beginning (3)

(Almost there! Almost up to date!)

Miles rides his way to the trap, because we as readers can see it's a trap. This is stellar storytelling because we know something is gonna happen but not what exactly so it makes you even more invested.

"But he'd known that would be part of the game when he'd demanded to play." Possible reference to the title. Although in all chances this was written before the book was titled. Either way, I like it!!

Let me tell you, "Miles almost dies drowned in slow-quick-sand" was not in my bingo card for this book. Then again, this is McMaster "Here's a horseback chase in my sci-fi book" Bujold. I do not really have a bingo card for this book, it'd be pretty useless I fear.

Metzov. It'll take a bit for me to remember his name but I'll get to it eventually, specially if he insist on being an ass to Miles. And also women. "Miles wondered sourly if the general would then agree that a woman armed in a technological war might as well be a man."

Miles spoke through his teeth, words jerked out as though by pliers. "Would you have preferred the interview you'd be having right now if I'd permitted myself to freeze, sir?"

Ouffffff, that's some great great dialogue. See, this is why I love Miles.

"He'd simply have to avoid Metzov as much as possible for the next six months." <- Sounds like something that will go very wrong to the point of being funny on a reread but I'll have to wait to be sure.

And thus we are up to date! Because otherwise this post will be shorter than the previous two, I'll add here some fun facts about when I started reading this series:

I say that I'll eventually remember Metzov because one of my first thoughts when reading "Shards of Honor" was "Man, I have to remember this book's title because it I have to search it by its Vor-whatever saga name, I'll never be able to find anything because it's so hard to remember". Cut to me now knowing by heart pretty much all the Barrayaran family trees that have been explained so far. (Though I still sometimes confuse Vorhalas with Vortala but that's the only thing).

This all was because I took the books out the library randomly, I had never heard of this series before but hey, it was sci-fi and the cover looked pretty. (I've come to know that this series isn't really graced with covers as cool as it deserves but here, see? This one was cool enough to pull me in).

I also didn't realize "Lois" was a mostly exclusively female name and then had an "Oooooooh, that actually makes a lot of sense" moment when I finally became invested enough to google the author. Canon FMA fan moment, anyone?

I'm a disaster xD

Anyways, this concludes the recap part of the live blog so from now on the posts will be actually live, shorter and more random, all still in this same tag. (Also, if you followed me just for this you may want to silence the professor layton tag, I'm really annoying about those games). Cheers! <3

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Beginning by the beginning (2)

(I'm sorry these posts until I get caught up are gonna be many thoughts in one place.)

Then we meet Lieutenant Ahn, which the voice reader I sometimes use doesn't know what exactly to do with, so he's "teniente A-Hache-Ene (lieutenant a-aitch-en)" instead.

Franctically googling if an Ensign is ranked higher than a Corporal. If im understanding this correctly, it is! Which, wow. 20, 21 yo is the boy. Makes the relationship with the crew all more interesting.

The boss at the base is a rare character because he isn't kissing the floor Miles walks on, as others tend to do if he manages to get his way in the first five minutes. An intriguing new obstacle, what will our Ensign do?

"After a bewildered brownian trip around the room" Do people usually know what brownian movement looks like? I'm a physicist so I know, but, is this even in the dictionary? (If anyone does actually read these, please feel free to reply or tag with if you know what "brownian motion" looks like).

If Aral has been Prime Minister for 4 years that means Miles is 20 yo-ish? 19-ish? So young still. (*Thinks about Warrior's Aprentice* SO YOUNG!!)

I'm gonna applaud McMaster Bujold for naming the deathly wind "wah-wah" for no obvious reason. (I was listening the first time I came across this term and thought it was "guagua", a regional version for "bus" in some spanish-speaking places).

"And this guy is going to leave me alone on this island with six thousand armed men, and tell me to go sniff for wah-wahs?" SERIOUSLY, how can this writing be so very well constructed that's funny and serious at the same time??

Another one I had to look up: the vehicle names. Spanish says "gato-veloz" so I thought it would be "fast-cat", but it is instead "scat-cat", which sounds cool as hell.

(To be continued... We're getting closer.)

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She wore space armor though for the moment she carried her helmet tucked under her arm like a decapitated head.

Do you think LMB looked at this sentence and said, you know what, a decapitated head sounds fun, let's do that in Barrayar?

"God help us now" is a fun expression for Miles taking into account that in TWA he instructed Elena to use it as expression of ultimate despair/disappointment.

GREGOR I LOVE YOU

ALSO GREGOR, PLEASE GET SOME SELF-PRESERVATION

Now that I think of it, I think I've seen this scene drawn. Here: https://www.tumblr.com/artfrostedleaf/642488576204013568/a-wonderful-scene-from-the-vor-game-by-lois?source=share Lovely art!

Poor Gregor...

"I can only bluff. Your breath is law." is such a good summary of these characters.

"You realize, Gregor, you did this? Sabotaged the Cetagandan invasion single-handedly?" "Oh," breathed Gregor, "it took both hands."

My boy :")

I fear that this post is going to be just Gregor quotes. I just love him so much.

He raised his head to say tiredly, "Commander Cavilo, both my parents died violently in political intrigue before I was six years old. A fact you might have researched. Did you think you were dealing with an amateur?"

Cavilo's threat for the future sounds like... some kind of curse. I too wonder what Miles would be like in 20 years.

Gregor being emperor! Always nice to see. Use your power, my boy!

It's a pity these were written so long ago because the sentence "Two ships trying to rematerialize in the same place at the same time would result in no ships and a very large explosion" has the precise structure needed for a "none pizza with left beef" joke. Sometimes I think Tamsyn Muir has spoiled me with Tumblr jokes in scifi books.

There's a chinese quote about this scene. From The Three Kingdoms Romance. I had to so search it in Detecteive Conan of all places but here it is:

Liu Bei said, Do you not understand that the plans elaborated in a little chamber will determine victories thousands of miles away?

Goodbye Oser, you won't be missed! Wonder if Cavilo and Metzov died there too...

HELP COMING!

THE PRINCE SERG!! Gregor, is that you??? :D

(Why is "Prince Serge" not translated to "Príncipe Serg"? I guess because "Triumph" and "Peregrine" are not translated either. But this is a title not a name. And you did adapt "Kurin's Hand".)

EMPEROR GREGOR VORBARRA AND ADMIRAL COUNT ARAL VORKOSIGAN, JOINT COMMANDERS!!!!!!!!! YESSSSSS!!!!

Ah, right, Tung was Aral's fan. I hope they meet, that would be so much fun.