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“I’m a woman,” Alan Vortrebond, the youngest captain in the Barrayaran space force in over a decade, said.
Gregor blinked at him.
“Are you… requesting a Betan sex change?”
“No,” he said, “I’ve been a woman all along. I entered the academy under a false identity. I can take off my pants to prove it, if you want.”
“That won’t be necessary,” Gregor said hastily. He stared at him -her? processing. She was very small for a Barrayaran man, and her voice, now he thought of it, was sort of feminine. “Why are you telling me this now?” Gregor asked. Why couldn’t she have made this announcement a year ago so it would be Aral’s problem?
“I want to get married,” she said.
“You want to what?” Emperors, Gregor was pretty sure, were not supposed to be flabbergasted. Gregor was decidedly flabbergasted.
“Marriage,” Vortrebond said impatiently, “I’m sure you understand the concept. Groats in a circle, oaths, a lifelong bond of love and commitment, etc. He asked, and I finally said yes.”
“He… knows that you’re a woman, then?” Gregor asked.
“Of course,” said Vortrebond.
Gregor was… faintly fascinated. He had never imagined a woman successfully conning her way into the Barrayaran military. If he did imagine it, he would never have imagined she might get married afterward.
“Who is this future husband of yours, may I ask?”
“His name’s George Cooper.”
No. It couldn’t be. There had to be hundreds of George Coopers on Barrayar.
“George Cooper the Caravanserai crime lord?” Gregor asked tentatively.
“He’s not a crime lord, he’s gone straight,” Vortrebond said indignantly, “Ask Captain Illyan.”
Gregor wouldn’t describe Cooper’s arrangement with Simon as going straight exactly, but that wasn’t really the main issue. Until this moment Gregor had been under the impression that the only people who knew The Whisper Man’s true identity were himself, Aral and Simon.
“How do you know him?” Gregor asked.
Trebond grinned.
“Who do you think got me those fake IDs in the first place?” She asked.
Which made more sense than it didn’t, Gregor supposed.
“So, you’re retiring, then?” Gregor asked. “Retiring” seemed an inadequate term to use to describe a rising star in the military revealing herself to be a woman and running off to marry a man who had once been in charge of a criminal empire powerful enough to give Jackson’s Whole barons a run for their money and was now something like the secret right hand man to the Chief of ImpSec, but Gregor didn’t know what else to call it.
“Oh no, I don’t intend to.”
“But,” said Gregor, decidedly out of his depth, “You can’t.”
“I’ve sworn my oaths, sire,” Vortrebond said, suddenly deathly serious, “They’re binding. Even you can’t disregard that.”
“But you made them under a false name, under false pretenses,” Gregor said.
“Nicknames are perfectly acceptable for oaths, there’s precedent,” Vortrebond said, “And Alan is a reasonable enough shortening of Alanna.”
Gregor could absolutely poke holes in that.
This was going to be a political nightmare. It would have been a nightmare even if Vortrebond left the military and got married quietly, and this was going to be a thousand times worse. Gregor couldn’t let her stay, the conservatives would throw a fit. On the other hand George Cooper was unlikely to be pleased with him firing his fiancé. He could probably make quite a nuisance of himself if he wanted to.
This wasn’t a decision Gregor should be making on his own. He should await and talk to Aral about it, figure out just how fucked they were going to be with the conservatives.
But, well.
Gregor looked at Captain Vortrebond, really looked at her. He could see the confidence in her stance, her self-assuredness. This was a woman that men followed. She was a brilliant captain. People had been saying she was looking to be the greatest space captain since Aral Vorkosigan. Gregor wasn’t sure he could afford to lose her, he didn’t want to lose her.
And, a female Barrayaran Captain, an exceptional , beloved Barrayaran Captain who just so happened to be female. Gregor rather liked the sound of that. It would certainly be interesting .
“Alright then,” Gregor said, “We accept your oaths as binding to Us, and look forward to your continued service on Our behalf.”
Captain Vortrebond stared at him. Her shock at his quick acceptance was gratifying after all she had put him through over the course of their conversation.
“Thank you, Sire,” she said.
“No need to thank Us for your continued service to Barrayar, Captain,” Gregor replied. After all, he couldn’t wait to see what happened.