"Kety was trying to frame Barrayar, sir. Until I could achieve independent corroborative evidence that—"
"From your own side," Vorreedi presses.
Miles sighs.
"In fact, sir, I did not at first recognize the Great Key for what it was. But once the haut Lisbet contacted me via Linyabel, events slid very rapidly from apparently trivial to extremely delicate. By the time I realized the full depth and complexity of the haut-governor's plot, it was too late."
"Too late for what?" asks Vorreedi, rather pointedly.
Miles shakes his head. "You would have taken the investigation away from me, you know you would have, sir. Everyone in the wormhole nexus thinks I'm a cripple who's been given a cushy nepotistic sinecure as a courier. That I might be competent for more is something I - have never been given a chance to publicly prove."
The higher-ups on his own side know, of course, at least those of sufficient height - Illyan, Gregor, Miles's father Aral. It's the Cetagandans who are unaware of just exactly who played an instrumental role in foiling their attempted invasion of Vervain a year or two ago.
And it's the Cetagandans whom Miles happened to need to impress this time around. Not that that was his sole motive.
"So... you wanted to be a hero?" clarifies ghem-Colonel Benin.
"So badly you didn't even care for which side?" says Vorreedi unhappily.
"I have done the Cetagandan Empire a nice little favour," Miles concedes, directing an unsteady but courteous bow to Benin. "But only in the course of rescuing Barrayar from the wrong end of Governor Kety's cruel ambitions. It was all of a piece."
no subject
"From your own side," Vorreedi presses.
Miles sighs.
"In fact, sir, I did not at first recognize the Great Key for what it was. But once the haut Lisbet contacted me via Linyabel, events slid very rapidly from apparently trivial to extremely delicate. By the time I realized the full depth and complexity of the haut-governor's plot, it was too late."
"Too late for what?" asks Vorreedi, rather pointedly.
Miles shakes his head. "You would have taken the investigation away from me, you know you would have, sir. Everyone in the wormhole nexus thinks I'm a cripple who's been given a cushy nepotistic sinecure as a courier. That I might be competent for more is something I - have never been given a chance to publicly prove."
The higher-ups on his own side know, of course, at least those of sufficient height - Illyan, Gregor, Miles's father Aral. It's the Cetagandans who are unaware of just exactly who played an instrumental role in foiling their attempted invasion of Vervain a year or two ago.
And it's the Cetagandans whom Miles happened to need to impress this time around. Not that that was his sole motive.
"So... you wanted to be a hero?" clarifies ghem-Colonel Benin.
"So badly you didn't even care for which side?" says Vorreedi unhappily.
"I have done the Cetagandan Empire a nice little favour," Miles concedes, directing an unsteady but courteous bow to Benin. "But only in the course of rescuing Barrayar from the wrong end of Governor Kety's cruel ambitions. It was all of a piece."