Diplomat, soldier, spy—Lieutenant Lord Miles Naismith
Vorkosigan of the Barrayarayan Empire, a.k.a. Admiral
Naismith of the Dendarii Free Mercenaries, is a young man
of many parts.
Miles and his handsome cousin Ivan are calle dupon to play
a simple diplomatic role on the capital world of
Barrayar's old enemy until murder and deceit thrust them
into Cetagandan internal politics at the highest levels,
and Miles discovers the secrets of the haut-women's
biological domain to be very complicated indeed.
Commander Elli Quinn, sent by Miles on the trail of those
secrets, meets a man who marches to the beat of a very
different drummer. Dr. Ethan Urquhart, obstretician from a
planet forbidden to women, is on a quest at cross-purposes
to Elli's mission—or is it?
Consequences of Cetagandan bioengineering continue to play
out, this time on a Dendrii sortie to the crime planet of
Jackson's Whole. When he encounters a genetically altered
super-soldier, Miles's routine rescue strike takes a
sudden hard turn for the unanticipated.