#vorkosigan
“You may address me as Mr. Naismith.” There, let them build theories on that.
“Then how do we know who to obey?” asked the original hard-eyed heckler.
Miles bared his teeth in a scimitar smile. “Well, if you disobey one of my orders, I’ll shoot you on the spot. You figure it out.”
A mercenary held up her hand, serious as a child at school.
“Yes, Trainee Quinn?”
“When do we get copies of the Dendarii regulations?”
OK, so this is when the entire momentum of the conversation (and therefore the book, and therefore Miles’ life) shifts. Before that it’s “Who the hell are you people, anyway?” and “I don’t want to hear any more back-chat”; after that it’s “Will our pension plans transfer?” and “We know their Oseran codes but they don’t know our Dendarii ones.”
Knowing what we now know about Trainee Quinn, there’s every reason to believe that she has a rather strong (if possibly unofficial) leadership role among the crew. If she’s decided this thing is legitimate, and has communicated that decision by way of this question, it’s perhaps less shocking that everyone else would decide to go along with it also.
And I would really love to see a fic looking at Quinn’s role in the first week of the Dendarii. What made her decide that? What conversations did she have with the other mercs between training sessions? I think there’s a lot of good stuff here to explore
A short scene from the short story Borders of Infinity by Lois McMaster Bujold. Because who doesn’t like a charismatic “clerk” and his imaginary hat?
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