Captain Vorpatril's Alliance
Käännös: [ Google ]
Kategoriat: [ Kirjat/Barrayar ]
Published in 2012.
Ivan Vorpatril, while stationed on Komarr, accepts to help his cousin Byerly Vorrutyer protecting Tej, an exiled Jacksonian woman, a possible witness related to Byerly's current investigation. To save her from the local authorities set on her by the bounty hunters who are tracking her, she accepts Ivan's hurried plan to temporarily marry him and fall under Barrayaran protection. They then travel back to Barrayar and fail getting the quick divorce promised by Ivan (probably due to Ivan's mother who likes Tej and talked to the judge). Tej's parent, who were believed to have been killed in the takeover of their House in Jackson's Whole, actually reappear on Barrayar, after having learned that Tej was there. They then plan to secretely raid an underground bunker dating from the time of the Cetagandan invasion where Tej's grandmother (still alive) had worked and where she knows that a huge treasure had been piled up and never reclaimed by the Cetagandans who had fled Barrayar. Ivan manages to participate in the raid, but Tej's family's attempt fails and they are trapped underground: the bunker is located under ImpSec's HQ, and an old bomb, lost underneath it after a failed attempt to blowup the building over twenty years ago, collapses the tunnels. They are however quickly rescued, and Emperor Gregor is willing to make a deal with the Jacksonians to get an ally in the Whole. Tej and Ivan decide de remain married, Tej finally managing to get out of the grip of her family.