The Vorkosigan Companion (48 page)

Orient IV:

The planet with whose government GalacTech had entered into a ninety-nine-year lease on Rodeo. When rich mineral deposits were discovered thirty years later, the Orient IV government initiated stricter taxes and other economic penalties to drive GalacTech off-planet and take it back. (FF)

Orient Station:

A space station owned by the government of Orient IV. GalacTech leases about one-quarter of it from them while working on Rodeo and the Cay Habitat Project. (FF)

Oser, Yuan:

Admiral and the commanding officer of the Oseran Free Mercenary Fleet, he has graying hair, a beak-like nose, and a penetrating stare. Miles describes him as having a look that makes junior officers search their consciences. He loses Ky Tung to the Dendarii when he chews him out over losing the
Triumph
in battle and denies him another command. When Miles breaks the blockade of the wormhole and puts the Oseran mercenaries at odds with their employer over nonpayment of salary, Oser offers to join the Dendarii Mercenaries.

When Miles rejoins the Dendarii four years later, Oser has taken over the Dendarii from Baz Jesek in a bloodless financial reorganization coup and renamed them the Oseran Mercenaries. After capturing Miles, he orders him killed, but then has to work with him against the Cetagandans. When Miles can't convince him to fight, Elena injects him with fast-penta, and they lock him up before the upcoming battle. During combat, he escapes the brig and tries to flee with a few others to the
Peregrine
, but his shuttle is destroyed by the Cetagandans. (VG, WA)

Oseran Free Mercenary Fleet:

A mercenary group under contract with the "legal" government of Pelias on Tau Verde IV to blockade the wormhole near their planet and search all inbound cargo ships for contraband. After Miles defeats them and breaks the blockade by interrupting the payroll between Pelias and the mercenaries, their leader, Admiral Yuan Oser, offers the rest of his force to the Dendarii Free Mercenary Fleet. (WA)

Other:

Another name for Mark's sub-personality Killer, it comes out to kill Baron Ryoval. (MD)

Outlands:

An area on Athos with no rules, and inhabited by "outlaws," men who have turned their backs on regular society. Janos, Ethan's former partner, goes there to live while Ethan is on his mission to Jackson's Whole. (EA)

Ovarian tissue cultures:

Used to populate Athos with exclusively male citizens. Genetic designations of the various lines include CJB, JJY, LMS, EEH, and others, with a number following the three letters. Doctor Ethan Urquhart is a CJB-8. The initials CJB stand for Cynthia Jane Baruch, a doctor who was hired to create Athos's ovarian cultures, and who used her own genetic material to help start the planet's population. Elli Quinn donates one of her ovaries to the planet, which will be designated EQ-1. (EA)

Overholt:

No first name given. A sergeant in Barrayaran Imperial Security, he is a very large man who escorts Miles home after the Laskowski Base incident. Miles dubs him Overkill. Assigned as Miles's bodyguard during the Hegen Hub mission. They are separated when Miles is captured by Jacksonian Consortium security, and when they are reunited, he's assigned to guard Emperor Gregor until Gregor is safely under Barrayaran protection again. (VG)

Padget:

No first name given. A member of the Dendarii Free Mercenary Fleet, he is the jump pilot of the
Ariel
and pilots the craft while Miles talks to Baron Ryoval as they leave Jackson's Whole. (L)

Parchment:

A rare paper used on Barrayar for three types of messages: Imperial edicts, official edicts from the Council of Counts and the Council of Ministers, and orders from the Council of Counts to their own members. This last group is tied with a particular color of ribbon to denote what type of order it contains. Miles figures out that the order delivered to Captain Dimir to arrest him was tied with a black ribbon, and through that backtracks to the plot to destroy his father by charging him with the violation of Vorloupulous's Law against raising a private army. (WA)

Parnell:

No first name given. The pilot officer of Cordelia's bulk freighter during her decoy run against the Barrayan patrol blockading the wormhole to Escobar. (SH)

Pattas:

No first name given. A technician in the Barrayaran military, he works in the motor pool at Lazkowski Base. One of two men who played a dangerous prank on Miles. As punishment, he was assigned to clean the recovered scat-cat, then assist Miles and Olney in cleaning out various drains around the base. (VG)

Patty:

A pregnant quaddie who was scheduled to have her baby terminated, she hides in the Clubhouse instead. (FF)

Pearson:

No first name given. An engineer in the Dendarii Free Mercenary Fleet, he is promoted to Fleet Engineer as Baz Jesek's replacement, per his recommendation. (M)

Peat bog:

A successful introduction to the Komarran ecology during its terraforming. The bioengineered strain there gives off six times more oxygen than its Earth counterpart. Miles, Ekaterin, Etienne, Vorthys, Venier, and Nikolai all see it while on a tour of the region around Serifosa. (K)

Pel:

No first name given. A prisoner at the camp on Dagoola IV who assists in the Dendarii rescue mission. (BI)

People's Defense League:

A Barrayaran political splinter group that wants to get rid of the aristocracy, by assassination if necessary. Aral suggests eliminating their platform by making everyone on Barrayar a Vor. (SH)

Peregrine
:

A ship in the Dendarii Free Mercenary Fleet whose captain is arrested when he fails to join Miles against the Cetagandan attack on Vervain. The captain and Admiral Oser were trying to reach this ship when their shuttle is destroyed by the Cetagandans during the battle. (VG)

Peritaint:

An artificial poison or biological weapon created by the Durona Research Group for House Fell, which made money selling it, then made even more by selling the antidote. (MD)

Peruvian Moral League:

A citizens' group that condemned Anias Ruey's feelie-dream,
Triad
, boosting its sales. (DD)

Philip:

No surname given. He heads the Microbial Reclassification Department at the Serifosa branch of the Komarr Terraforming Project. He tracks natural and mutated bacteria, but wants to introduce higher organisms to help stabilize the planet's environment. (K)

Phillipi:

No first name given. An air-bike trooper in the Dendarii Free Mercenary Fleet, she dies during the clone raid on Jackson's Whole, but her body is frozen in cryo-stasis. She is dumped by Elli so Miles can be saved, permanently killing her. (MD)

Pitt:

No first name given. Leader of a small group of about fifteen men in the prison camp on Dagoola IV, he and four others beat up Miles upon his arrival, taking everything he has. Pitt has committed other crimes, including rape and murder, but no one is able to hold him accountable. Miles achieves both revenge and a strategic distraction when he falsely accuses him of being a Cetagandan spy, carving the title on his back with a broken water cup. The other prisoners beat him to death. (BI)

Pitt's lieutenant:

A Marilacan, no name given. He acts as Pitt's second-in-command at the Dagoola prison camp and attempts to kill Miles after Pitt's death. Miles shows him mercy and he ends up being rescued along with the others. (BI)

Plasma arc:

A standard military energy-beam weapon, suitable for melting and/or burning. Personal versions range from pistol and rifle-size weapons, powered by self-contained power packs, to large, portable plasma arc systems that can damage vehicles and ships from thousands of meters away. A plasma arc power pack can also be jury-rigged to overload, creating a crude explosive device, as Aral does on Sergyar to start a fire. A wound from a plasma arc can be devastating, like what Elli Quinn suffers during the Tau Verde IV campaign, when a plasma arc shot burns off her face. (All except FF)

Plasma cannon:

A ship-to-ship version of the plasma arc, it is immensely more powerful, with a range of several thousand kilometers. Miles places one in the corridor of the
Ariel
to neutralize Cavilo's holding Gregor as a hostage. (VG)

Plasma mirror field:

A ship-mounted plasma mirror field that absorbs and reflects an incoming beam, sending it back to hit the attacking vessel. It allows a shuttle to take on a warship and defeat it, as the Escobarans did to the Barrayaran navy during the 120-Day War. (SH)

Plasma mirror field pack:

A self-powered, personal deflection energy field capable of absorbing approximately thirty to forty hits before burning out. During the clone rescue mission on Jackson's Whole, Mark uses his plasma mirror field pack to shield Elli during the extraction. (B, MD)

Plause:

No first name given. An ensign in Miles's class, he is assigned to languages school to learn galactic languages since he already speaks all four native Barrayaran ones perfectly. (VG)

Plumbing:

Frictionless (waterless) or sonic toilets are found in self-contained settings, such as space habitats. In lower-tech settings or in planetary facilities, traditional water-based plumbing is still used, with accompanying pipes and potential drain problems, as occurred when Doctor Borgos tried to dispose of forty kilograms of bug butter by washing it down the sink. Bathing facilities range from historic bathtubs, such as the one in Vorkosigan House where Ivan dunks Miles to snap him out of his depression, to traditional water showers and sonic showers, which use sound waves to remove dead cells and dirt. (All)

Pol:

A neighboring planet of Barrayar, it connects that planet to the Hegen Hub by way of the Komarr nexus. A republic, it joins the Hegen Hub Alliance after the Vervain conflict. (VG)

Pol Station Six:

A jump-point station between Pol and the Hegen Hub. Miles goes there in his Victor Rotha disguise to gather intelligence on the various ship buildups near the Hegen Hub. (VG)

Population Council:

The organization responsible for ensuring safe reproductive ability for Athos's all-male population. They accepted the lowest bid for a new batch of ovarian material from L. Bharaputra & Sons, and received a shipment of nonviable tissue cultures. Their solution is to send Ethan Urquhart into the galaxy to acquire viable cultures. (EA)

Portobello Pharmaceutical Company:

The large company that both Doctor and Mrs. Bianca work in and own. (DD)

Power armor:

A self-contained combat suit used in ship-to-ship boarding and combat in space or other hostile environments. Each armored suit augments the user's physical strength, contains its own power, environmental, and weapons systems, is impervious to stunner and nerve disruptor fire, and can withstand plasma arc fire for a short time. A suit is also capable of being remote-piloted from a central command. Miles and Auson tap into the Oseran suits during the assault on the refinery at Tau Verde IV, programming error codes into the enemy suits to sabotage them. Later during that same campaign, Miles finds one that will fit him, but is rendered incapable of using it by his ulcer. (WA)

Pramod:

A quaddie at the Cay Habitat, he is a striking boy with aquiline nose, brilliant black eyes, wiry muscles, and dark mahogany skin. One of the quickest learners in the engineering class, he is instrumental in helping Leo create the new vortex mirror for their cargo ship. (FF)

Prince Serg
:

A new Imperial Cruiser and the most powerful ship in the Barrayaran fleet. If Miles can survive six months at Lazkowski Base, he will be transferred to it. The dreadnought reinforces the Dendarii forces in the fight against the Cetagandans at Vervain. Its gravitic imploder lances have three times the range of the Cetagandan ones. (VG)

Princess Olivia
:

An unarmed ship that was hijacked using Lord Vorbataille's yacht. All of the passengers aboard were killed. (WG)

Prisoner of Zenda, The
:

A video that Siggy brings to the rest of the quaddies. (FF)

Projector:

A cloaking device Stuben and Lai use to hide their Betan Survey ship from the
General Vorkraft
's sensors and rescue Cordelia. Later, an improved version is used to project the image of a Betan warship to lure the Barrayaran vessels away from guarding the wormhole so supply ships can reach Escobar. (SH)

Prole:

A slang term, shortened from the word "proletariat," used by the Vor to refer to anyone that isn't in their class. (CC)

Ptarmigan:

No first name given. A lieutenant and shuttle pilot in the Dendarii Free Mercenary Fleet, he takes all orbit-to-surface flights at combat-drop speed. (BA)

Pym:

No first name given. A retired sergeant in the Barrayaran military, he is an armsman to Aral Vorkosigan, and Bothari's replacement. A tall, habitually fit man graying at the temples, he is always dressed in the brown and silver house uniform. He served twenty years in the Imperial Guard, meeting his wife while on security duty at Vorhartung Castle. Afterward he joined the House Vorkosigan staff, aided by a recommendation from Simon Illyan. He accompanies Miles to solve the infanticide case at Silvy Vale. He escorts Mark and Elena in Vorbarr Sultana to protect Mark after Ivan failed to keep him out of trouble. He also tries to help Miles in his pursuit of Ekaterin, and also feeds information about Mark to Kareen after their forced separation. He is highly insulted by Doctor Borgos's genetic modification of his butter bugs with the Vorkosigan family crest. During Miles's wedding and celebration afterward, he feels so bad about missing the toxic pearls that he gives Roic time off with double holiday pay while he works the night shift. (CC, MD, MM, WG)

Pym, Miss:

No first name given. A daughter of Armsman Pym, she is Ekaterin's personal maid, and is sent to Barrayar while Miles and Ekaterin go to Graf Station. (DI)

Quaddie:

An unofficial nickname for the bioengineered workers on the Cay Project. They are genetically engineered humans with a second set of arms and hands instead of legs and feet. They are literally owned by GalacTech, which tries to dump them on Rodeo when the Cay Project is shut down. Doctor Cay dubbed them
Homo quadrimanus
. Bruce Van Atta refers to them by the derogatory nickname "chimps." They prefer living in zero-gee, but can move about in artificial gravity with the help of float chairs. After Leo Graf leads the first group to freedom, they establish the Union of Free Habitats in an asteroid belt, and grow to a population of more than a million. Miles meets several during his adventures, including Nicol, a quaddie musician, and Garnet Five, a zero-gee ballet dancer. (DI, FF)