ImpSec HQ is both the headquarters of Imperial Security and the physical terrain of Miles Vorkosigan’s investigation into General Haroche. From its cafeteria and offices to its sub-sub-basement Evidence Rooms, the building’s working spaces shape the inquiry: Miles uses access, witnesses, and routine procedures to expose an attempt to alter evidence and to confront the man in charge.

Working Spaces and the Investigation

The headquarters is shown as a busy institution with distinct administrative and operational areas. Miles takes a breakfast break in its cafeteria while waiting for Haroche to return, but exhaustion catches up with him there: he realizes he has been dozing over his coffee and that restarting work has become harder. Later, he briefs Haroche in the chief’s offices, moving from the outer office into the inner one. These ordinary work settings frame an inquiry whose stakes extend beyond a single room.

The building’s security and departmental layout also provide the means for Miles to organize his response. At the front desk, a corporal confirms that he has been instructed to report to Haroche’s office when Miles goes in or out. Miles brings the head of Janitorial into the investigation after asking about the air-filtration maintenance schedule, and he collects a technician from Forensics. The scene establishes how his audit draws on staff and routine operations across the headquarters rather than relying on a private accusation.

Evidence Rooms and Controlled Access

The evidence examination takes place in Aisle 5 of Weapons Room IV, in the headquarters’ sub-sub-basement. Miles arrives with a group of witnesses and retrieves a familiar bio-sealed box from Shelf 9, which is out of reach until Ivan hands it down. The Auditor’s seal remains unbroken, and two brittle brown capsules are still inside. In front of the assembled observers, Miles breaks one capsule and releases its powder into the air, making the test a witnessed demonstration rather than an unsupported claim.

The handling of the box and its contents reflects Miles’s concern about custody as well as identification. He assigns Ivan to accompany the box to Forensics, directs Vaughn Weddell to analyze a sample and compare it with the material removed from Simon Illyan’s chip, and restricts access to Weddell alone. The remaining capsules are to be returned to the box and secured under Miles’s Auditor’s seal. The headquarters thus functions not only as the site of the suspected tampering but also as the place where Miles tries to restore a reliable chain of evidence.

The Headquarters as a Staged Test

Shortly before the day shift’s quitting time, Miles assembles his team at a side door for an operation he privately calls the Assault on Cockroach Central. He has used the large rear compartment of the Count’s old groundcar to transport the group and has delivered the mission briefing on the drive from the Imperial Science Institute. Ivan is again part of the team; Simon Illyan attends in undress greens with full insignia, at Miles’s insistence; Weddell carries a shipping carton labeled for frozen Petri-mice; and Delia Koudelka joins them. Their entry into the headquarters is carefully arranged, with the front-desk corporal’s instructions providing an early check on whether Haroche’s orders are being followed.

Before leading the group onward, Miles seeks to prevent Haroche from exploiting an opportunity to make Galeni’s death appear to be suicide. He brings the Janitorial department head along, then gathers a Forensics technician and his other witnesses before proceeding to the Evidence Rooms. The ordered progression matters: Miles distinguishes between having an idea and demonstrating it, and he wants the evidence and the people able to verify it in place before the confrontation.

Haroche’s Office and the Exposure

The operation ends in Haroche’s former inner office in Domestic Affairs. The door is locked, so Miles overrides its codes with his Auditor’s seal. Inside, Haroche is crouched beside his old desk, levering a vent grille out of the wall; an opened flimsy-folder and another fiber filter lie beside him. The discovery connects the office to Miles’s investigation of the filtration system and reveals Haroche attempting a last-minute switch while Miles’s team is already assembled.

When Haroche rises and begins to address Miles, he sees the ImpSec personnel crowding the doorway; Simon Illyan then steps forward. The gathering of witnesses, the secured evidence, and Miles’s choice of timing leave Haroche facing not merely an accusation but a scene arranged for observation. ImpSec HQ’s offices and back-of-house systems have become part of the proof: the place where evidence was vulnerable is also where the attempt to manipulate it is brought into view.