Brothers in Arms recap

After a costly Dendarii rescue operation, Miles Vorkosigan reaches Earth short of money and unable to separate his Barrayaran life from his Admiral Naismith identity. A blocked payment, an assassination attempt, and Duv Galeni's disappearance lead to a Komarran conspiracy run by Galeni's father, Ser Galen. The conspirators have trained Miles's clone, Mark, to replace him and destabilize Barrayar. Miles and Galeni escape, but Miles defies Barrayaran security to keep Mark from being killed. At the Thames Tidal Barrier, Ser Galen murders Galeni's brother, and Mark kills Ser Galen before helping Miles save Ivan. Miles frees Mark rather than claim him, and their final impersonation preserves the Naismith secret. Quinn survives, Galeni remains under review, and the missing funds are restored. Tung retires as Miles takes the Dendarii toward a new covert hostage-rescue mission.

Previously: Lieutenant Lord Miles Vorkosigan also commands the Dendarii mercenaries under the identity Admiral Naismith. Only a trusted inner circle knows the two officers are the same man. Elli Quinn serves among his closest Dendarii allies, while Commodore Tung is a senior member of the command staff. Miles's Barrayaran obligations and mercenary command therefore depend on keeping his identities separate.

So far this book: The Dendarii reach Earth needing repairs and an overdue eighteen million marks, while Miles reports to the Barrayaran Embassy in London and resumes his identity as Lieutenant Lord Miles Vorkosigan. His temporary superior is Captain Duv Galeni, a Komarran officer who receives neither the expected money nor useful orders. Miles's cousin Ivan helps him settle into embassy intelligence work, and a Cetagandan attaché learns that Lord Vorkosigan is on Earth. When failed fleet credit drives four drunken Dendarii soldiers into a wine-shop hostage incident, Miles slips out as Admiral Naismith. He disarms the group and rescues the clerk from a fire, but the public intervention exposes Naismith's presence. The fleet is days from receivership, so Miles secures a short-term loan against the flagship Triumph. On his return, Galeni places him on probation for evading embassy security. Miles and Elli Quinn also begin a romantic relationship. At a reception, journalist Lise Valérie recognizes that Miles and Naismith look identical. Miles invents a confidential cover story claiming Naismith is his accelerated-growth clone, creating an explanation that may protect the secret if it holds.

So far this book: Miles receives one guarded day with the Dendarii, but professional attackers try to crush him at the shuttleport. Quinn destroys their vehicle and is detained during the investigation. Suspecting that the delayed payment may be deliberate, Miles secretly sends Elena Bothari-Jesek to Tau Ceti to bypass the courier channel. He borrows against the Triumph to keep the fleet operating and permits Dendarii personnel to seek temporary work. Miles and Quinn become lovers. He proposes marriage and a life on Barrayar, but she refuses a future that would cost her independent military career, even though she loves him. Soon afterward, Galeni disappears. A search finds no evidence that he stole the money, but his sealed record identifies him as David Galen, the son of a prominent Komarran resistance family. The Dendarii then receive an offer to kidnap Lord Vorkosigan. Miles accepts a controlled meeting to identify the buyer, but an exact duplicate takes his place and convinces Quinn and Ivan to withdraw. The real Miles is abducted and placed in a cell with Galeni, while the impostor enters the embassy as Miles.

So far this book: In captivity, Galeni explains that radical Komarrans abducted him after he rejected an attempt at recruitment. Repeated fast-penta interrogation revealed that his father, long believed dead, leads the group. Miles and Galeni conclude that the impostor is a purpose-grown clone trained to replace Miles. The conspirators intend to use him in a coup against Barrayar, with deaths at the highest level and a Komarran uprising likely parts of the plan. Ser Galen personally interrogates Miles, but Miles's abnormal reaction to fast-penta makes focused questioning difficult. Galeni rejects his father's violent program and explains that he entered Imperial Service to improve Komarr's future through existing institutions. Miles also reasons that the clone is probably disposable and begins to see him as a brother rather than merely an enemy. The clone is Mark, created for a body-transplant market before the conspirators acquired and trained him. He admits engineering the kidnapping switch. Ser Galen now plans to use the Dendarii as an expendable blockade force. Miles offers Mark recognition and protection as Lord Mark Pierre Vorkosigan. Mark is tempted by the possibility of a separate future but remains under Ser Galen's control as Miles and Galeni attempt to escape.

So far this book: Quinn's patrol rescues Miles and Galeni as their captors prepare to kill them. The Dendarii seize records and equipment, but Mark is arrested by London authorities for the earlier attack on Naismith. Before Miles can recover him, Ser Galen removes Mark while posing as Galeni. Both men remain loose in London, and exposing the truth could compromise Miles's Naismith identity. Elena returns from Tau Ceti with Commodore Destang. They establish that a blackmailed embassy courier blocked the Dendarii's funds and messages, clearing Galeni of responsibility for the leak. Destang restores the eighteen million marks but intends to seize Ser Galen and treats Mark's death as an acceptable solution. Galeni withholds the Dendarii's independent search, giving Miles a narrow chance to reach Mark first. Miles orders Bel Thorne to continue that search and identifies Mark to the Dendarii as his clone brother. Destang confines Miles to the Triumph when the official team closes in, but Ser Galen then demands a meeting at the Thames Tidal Barrier and threatens to kill Ivan at high tide. Miles defies orders, recruits Galeni, and goes to the barrier with Quinn to save Ivan and Mark.

At the Thames Tidal Barrier, Ser Galen rejects Miles's offer of money and safe escape in return for Ivan and Mark. He orders Mark to kill Miles and Galeni. Mark hesitates, Galeni's brother intervenes, and Ser Galen kills him. Mark then kills Ser Galen while resisting his control. He leads Miles to Ivan, who is trapped in a pumping chamber set to flood at high tide, and Miles frees him. Cetagandan pursuers and Destang's Barrayaran team converge as the rising water blocks escape. Miles arranges an anonymous police alert and disables part of the pumping system with Ivan and Mark. Police pressure brings the rival covert teams into a stunner fight and custody. Miles finds Quinn alive but stunned, and Galeni subdues the remaining Cetagandan officers. To preserve the Naismith secret, Miles poses as Naismith while Mark poses as Lord Vorkosigan. The Cetagandan witnesses leave believing the two are separate men. Miles gives Mark a coded credit chit and releases him without conditions. Mark rejects Barrayar for now and considers opposing the clone trade. Galeni remains at the embassy pending Illyan's review. Destang restores the fleet's funding and assigns a covert hostage rescue in Sector 4. Tung retires to marry, while Miles prepares the Dendarii to infiltrate the pirate force and departs Earth orbit.

Ser Galen's conspiracy ends at the Thames Tidal Barrier after he kills Duv Galeni's brother and Mark shoots him. Ivan is rescued from the flooding mechanism, Quinn is recovered alive, and the competing Cetagandan and Barrayaran covert teams are drawn into police custody. Galeni helps subdue the remaining Cetagandan operatives but stays at the London embassy while Illyan reviews his loyalty and conduct. Miles and Mark exploit their identical appearance one last time: Miles poses as Admiral Naismith while Mark poses as Lord Vorkosigan, leaving the Cetagandan witnesses convinced they are separate men. Miles then gives Mark money and releases him without conditions. Mark refuses a future on Barrayar for now and considers turning against the clone trade that created him. Miles and Quinn remain together, although her refusal of a Barrayaran life leaves their long-term future unsettled. With the blocked eighteen million marks restored, Destang assigns the Dendarii a concealed rescue operation against a pirate mercenary fleet. Tung retires to marry, and Miles begins planning an infiltration as the fleet leaves Earth for Orient Station.