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Ivan is asleep when it happens, but the captain knocking on his door gets him up quick enough. "What? Where's the fire?" Ivan asks. This was supposed to be a quiet posting. Well, the posting on Earth was supposed to be quiet too, cultural, etcetera, but Xerxes is supposed to be downright boring. Ivan is not supposed to be awakened from his eight hours unexpectedly.
"Murder, not a fire. You're cousin to Lord Mark Vorkosigan, aren't you?" says the captain.
Ivan has to think for a second. "...Yes?"
"Security vid picked him up within radius of a murder. This is the first we knew of him being on the planet, but the locals want us to bring him in so they don't have to it themselves and risk mishandling a Vor lord. Seemed worth consulting you on him - the file on him's really something."
Ivan blinks. "You need to arrest Mark."
"Yes."
"...Sir. Uh, give me a while to try doing it myself. He's... I'm not positive I can succeed but I am pretty sure I can survive trying, and unless he's in a cooperative mood I'm very uncertain anybody else can say the same thing."
"He may have just killed a man."
"I'm aware. He likes me. He doesn't know you from a hole in the ground, or anybody else within fetching distance, sir. Give me his last location and a few hours? Please?"
"By yourself?"
"He wouldn't know anybody you could send with me from a hole in the ground."
The captain chews his lip. "None of your shenanigans, all right?"
"Sir, I'm not the shenanigans one, it's just contagious when m'co- my other cousin's around. I'll see if I can find him, if I find him I'll try to bring him back."
The captain eventually acquiesces. And that is why Ivan is tromping around downtown, debating whether or not to call "Mark? Mark?" like he's looking for a lost dog.
Ivan has to arrest Mark
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middlingalong
middlingalong
The posting is usually quiet, but Ivan must have come at a bad time. He's out, in classy local-ish civvies, at a party, with his girlfriend (they are now using the word "girlfriend", if only as a temporary understanding - she's not interested in coming back with him to Barrayar and he's fine with that, Ivan feels no need to cart home exotic girls and marry them twice) and then he gets kidnapped.
He is a little drunk, which probably helps; he is outnumbered, which definitely helps; and they are armed and he isn't, which seals the deal. Upon his exit from the party to get a little cooled off from lots of dancing he is overpowered, stunned point-blank, and carried off.
The embassy receives a strongly worded note about the kidnappers' ransom demands. They suggest that Ivan's family be informed and invited to chip in. They indicate that if Ivan's planet and relatives do not wish to cough up enough money to pay for an entire Ivan, discount rates on damaged goods are available.
unmarred
Barely a day later - not long enough for a message to have reached Barrayar, let alone made the round trip - the kidnappers receive a short message on the comm address they provided for Ivan's planet and relatives to use when contacting them with money or promises thereof.
The message contains no money and no promises of same.
It reads, in full: Counteroffer. Release Ivan unharmed within one local day, and you also will be unharmed. Otherwise, I make no guarantees.
It is unsigned and untraceable.
middlingalong
The reply is panicked disavowal of this message from the embassy, which implores everyone to stay calm and avoid violence until Barrayar can be contacted, and, from the kidnappers:
a couple of minutes of vid.
The couple of minutes of vid show Ivan tied to a chair, looking slightly beat up (mostly from his initial apprehension, although some of the swelling on his right cheek is new), looking tired and like he has a stunner hangover. It cuts in apparently after there is some conversation between Ivan and unseen kidnappers; the only speech Ivan is permitted to deliver - under obvious duress - is, "Please do not start a firefight. Money is a lot safer for everyone involved." There is some invisible gesture offscreen that catches Ivan's attention briefly and then he adds, "They'll let me go if they get paid."
The vid concludes.
a couple of minutes of vid.
The couple of minutes of vid show Ivan tied to a chair, looking slightly beat up (mostly from his initial apprehension, although some of the swelling on his right cheek is new), looking tired and like he has a stunner hangover. It cuts in apparently after there is some conversation between Ivan and unseen kidnappers; the only speech Ivan is permitted to deliver - under obvious duress - is, "Please do not start a firefight. Money is a lot safer for everyone involved." There is some invisible gesture offscreen that catches Ivan's attention briefly and then he adds, "They'll let me go if they get paid."
The vid concludes.
unmarred
Mark is a little surprised by how personally he takes this rejoinder.
Well. The courtesies having been observed, and summarily rejected, he considers himself to have a free hand.
He finds them with three hours remaining on their day's grace, and commences a careful study of the location and its inhabitants.
Well. The courtesies having been observed, and summarily rejected, he considers himself to have a free hand.
He finds them with three hours remaining on their day's grace, and commences a careful study of the location and its inhabitants.
middlingalong
They are using a location that occasionally sells seasonal live plant decorations for a local holiday and occasionally rents itself out to host various sorts of fairs but at present is doing neither. They look ready to move somewhere else at a moment's notice if they're made or a seasonal plant holiday occurs before ransoming does. They are not staggeringly competent, but they know enough to have a reasonably discreet and thorough guard on the place and keep Ivan quiet, not that the building has close neighbors.
They are keeping Ivan in a very small room.
They are keeping Ivan in a very small room.
unmarred
His single criterion has therefore already been violated: Ivan is not unharmed.
Two hours remaining on their day's grace, Mark begins his one-man assault.
He still doesn't have a stunner, or any other powered weapon - so much the better; energy discharges are noisy and show up on scanners. Mark does not show up on scanners. Mark knows where to get his hands on nearly state-of-the-art scanner shields. It's dark out, balanced in the indefinite hours between late night and early morning. A time of minimum efficiency for guards of merely reasonable thoroughness, when they must rely on their scanners for lack of ambient light, and their reasonable discretion prevents them from adding their own light sources to the mix.
Pleasingly, he doesn't even have to kill anyone on his way into the building. He just slips right past, and picks the lock on a side door before anyone notices he's there.
If he's lucky, maybe the rest of the operation will go this well, and he can ghost Ivan out of captivity with no one the wiser and then ask him what should be done with his former captors. But Mark is not inclined to trust his luck.
Two hours remaining on their day's grace, Mark begins his one-man assault.
He still doesn't have a stunner, or any other powered weapon - so much the better; energy discharges are noisy and show up on scanners. Mark does not show up on scanners. Mark knows where to get his hands on nearly state-of-the-art scanner shields. It's dark out, balanced in the indefinite hours between late night and early morning. A time of minimum efficiency for guards of merely reasonable thoroughness, when they must rely on their scanners for lack of ambient light, and their reasonable discretion prevents them from adding their own light sources to the mix.
Pleasingly, he doesn't even have to kill anyone on his way into the building. He just slips right past, and picks the lock on a side door before anyone notices he's there.
If he's lucky, maybe the rest of the operation will go this well, and he can ghost Ivan out of captivity with no one the wiser and then ask him what should be done with his former captors. But Mark is not inclined to trust his luck.
middlingalong
There's also a guard directly outside the door to Ivan's little tiny room. And the interior of the building has lights on and lots of central open space, for the setup of fairs and seasonal plants.
To someone with very sharp ears, Ivan may be just barely heard trying to balance the urge to hyperventilate against the extreme inconvenience of being in an old-fashioned gag.
To someone with very sharp ears, Ivan may be just barely heard trying to balance the urge to hyperventilate against the extreme inconvenience of being in an old-fashioned gag.
unmarred
Now that he is close enough to hear Ivan, stealth is less important than speed. Stealth matters less because there is no more risk that someone will decide to harm Ivan upon spotting him - well, not and succeed at it - and speed matters more because of the sounds Ivan is making.
The guard outside Ivan's door is armed with stunner and plasma arc. Mark judges the risk acceptable; his height and the visual blurring induced by his scanner shield will both tend to throw off the guard's aim, and the distance is short enough that he might not even have time to get off a shot at all.
He charges near-silently down the corridor. A second and a half pass before the guard turns his head and sees the rapidly approaching ghost - half a second more as he raises his stunner - Mark ducks - a stunner bolt crackles over his head, and then he springs from the floor and stifles the man's belated yelp of alarm with a punch to his throat that crushes his trachea and snaps his spine. The muffled thud of the body hitting the cheap carpet with Mark on top of it is the loudest resulting sound. He bounces to his feet and opens the door to Ivan's room, which is locked only trivially.
And how is Ivan doing in there? This question is of the utmost importance.
The guard outside Ivan's door is armed with stunner and plasma arc. Mark judges the risk acceptable; his height and the visual blurring induced by his scanner shield will both tend to throw off the guard's aim, and the distance is short enough that he might not even have time to get off a shot at all.
He charges near-silently down the corridor. A second and a half pass before the guard turns his head and sees the rapidly approaching ghost - half a second more as he raises his stunner - Mark ducks - a stunner bolt crackles over his head, and then he springs from the floor and stifles the man's belated yelp of alarm with a punch to his throat that crushes his trachea and snaps his spine. The muffled thud of the body hitting the cheap carpet with Mark on top of it is the loudest resulting sound. He bounces to his feet and opens the door to Ivan's room, which is locked only trivially.
And how is Ivan doing in there? This question is of the utmost importance.
middlingalong
Ivan is sitting on the floor with his legs folded under him, and gagged, and has his eyes scrunched shut, although he opens them when the door opens. The vid they had him record didn't include his hands in frame; these are secured behind his back and it looks like they may have taken a while to get sick of him pounding on the walls before they tied him up, judging from the state of everything below his wrists.
He looks pretty damn surprised, around the gag, to see Mark.
He looks pretty damn surprised, around the gag, to see Mark.
unmarred
Even behind the blur of the scanner shield, Mark has a look on his face.
When he turns it off to talk, he does his best to rein in the look, with mixed success.
"I'm here to rescue you," he says, in an oddly light tone considering the circumstances. "Hello."
(This is all within expected parameters - he knew when he saw the vid what it might be incidentally hiding, and the probability jumped when he saw where they were keeping him - but it's one thing to guess and another thing entirely to see.)
In he goes, to free Ivan's arms and mouth. He does not seem to be having any trouble with physical contact today.
middlingalong
Ivan inhales sharply when the gag is out of the way, once, twice, he looks out the open door and relaxes marginally while his arms are untied. "Wasn't expecting that," he says hoarsely.
unmarred
"I was still on the planet when they sent the ransom demand. It wasn't hard to find you."
He takes the time to remove stunner, plasma arc, and respective holsters from the dead guard just outside the door. There; now he's armed.
He takes the time to remove stunner, plasma arc, and respective holsters from the dead guard just outside the door. There; now he's armed.
unmarred
"I lead you out the way I came in and stun or kill anyone who tries to stop us," says Mark. "Simple but effective. Best kind of plan."
middlingalong
Ivan investigates the state of his hands. "I could probably pull a trigger, but I wouldn't want to count on it," he mutters.
One he is in the large seasonal plant area he visibly relaxes most of the way.
One he is in the large seasonal plant area he visibly relaxes most of the way.
unmarred
His relaxation gets a slight smile out of Mark.
"You can leave all that to me," he says. "Although I'll give you a weapon if it makes you feel better."
"You can leave all that to me," he says. "Although I'll give you a weapon if it makes you feel better."
middlingalong
Ivan looks at the corpse.
"If I take the plasma arc that apparently doesn't guarantee you leave them alive, huh? Keep 'em, just - easy on the lethality."
"If I take the plasma arc that apparently doesn't guarantee you leave them alive, huh? Keep 'em, just - easy on the lethality."
unmarred
"Mm. If you prefer. I'm... kind of annoyed right now," he understates. "Didn't feel like wasting time by holding back. Now that I have a stunner it actually is more efficient not to kill them, for the most part."
middlingalong
"Local law will pick them up once there's no longer a hostage, I think. I don't want to have to arrest you. Again. For rescuing me too energetically."
unmarred
"All right."
So, back out the side door they go. Mark spots a guard looking the other way and stuns him before he can turn around.
So, back out the side door they go. Mark spots a guard looking the other way and stuns him before he can turn around.
unmarred
Mark only has to stun one more guard to make good their escape.
"Pathetic bunch," he observes, glancing over his shoulder as the building recedes behind them. "I'll escort you back to the embassy. If you want."
"Pathetic bunch," he observes, glancing over his shoulder as the building recedes behind them. "I'll escort you back to the embassy. If you want."
middlingalong
"That'd - be good, yeah. I've," he loses the fight against coughing, "got no idea where we are."
unmarred
Mark snorts softly. "North end of town. The far north end."
Now that they don't look likely to need it anytime soon, he starts disassembling the plasma arc and making the pieces vanish.
"Ah, here we are."
It's a groundcar. Not in especially good repair, but it looks like it was pretty respectable fifteen or twenty years ago when it was brand new. And it has a transparent roof.
Now that they don't look likely to need it anytime soon, he starts disassembling the plasma arc and making the pieces vanish.
"Ah, here we are."
It's a groundcar. Not in especially good repair, but it looks like it was pretty respectable fifteen or twenty years ago when it was brand new. And it has a transparent roof.