Miles Vorkosigan’s appointment as Imperial Auditor

Miles Vorkosigan’s appointment as Imperial Auditor turns a personal investigation into an officially empowered audit of ImpSec’s handling of Simon Illyan’s breakdown. Marked by a heavy gold chain and made effective through a direct demand for cooperation, the appointment also brings Ivan Vorpatril into the inquiry as Miles’s chosen assistant.

Appointment and Authority

Gregor confirms that the appointment is real and explains its purpose: he is dissatisfied with the progress of the current response and wants an audit. An Imperial Auditor may request what he pleases; Miles’s first request is an assistant. The office is therefore presented not merely as a title but as an instrument for initiating an examination and assembling help for it.

The new office is made visible by the chain around Miles’s neck. Its thick links carry square enamel plaques chased with the Vorbarra arms and logos, and an electronic seal hangs from a gold clasp engraved with Gregor’s arms. Miles judges the chain to weigh about a kilo. Its conspicuous weight makes the appointment a physical burden as well as a public mark of authority.

The Audit and Its Assistant

When Ivan is summoned to Gregor’s office, he mistakes the urgent call to Imperial Headquarters for a possible emergency at the Imperial Residence or a crisis involving his mother. Instead, he discovers Miles wearing the Auditor’s chain. Ivan reacts with disbelief and treats the appointment as a joke, while Miles answers that Ivan must address him as Lord Auditor for the duration.

Gregor identifies the immediate purpose of the appointment: Miles is to audit ImpSec’s handling of Simon Illyan’s breakdown. Miles asks Ivan to serve as his assistant, but frames the request in terms of the danger and responsibility the work may involve. He does not know what load he will ask Ivan to carry, he says, but it may amount to high explosives; what he needs is someone he can rely on absolutely. Ivan jokes about being treated as a pack animal, yet the request establishes trust as the practical basis of their partnership in the inquiry.

Recognition and Consequences

Miles’s authority is tested in his encounter with Lucas Haroche. He states that counterfeiting an Imperial Auditor’s credentials carries the death penalty; after a pause, Haroche addresses him as Lord Auditor. Miles then formally invokes Gregor’s request and requires Haroche’s full cooperation in examining ImpSec’s handling of the situation. The demand makes clear that the audit concerns the institution’s response, not merely Simon Illyan’s condition.

Haroche agrees to continue the discussion in his office, and Miles dismisses his two Vorbarra outriders before leading the way inside. The appointment thus moves swiftly from insignia to procedure: Miles’s status is recognized, his assistant is secured, and the official examination begins. Its decisive significance lies in giving Miles the standing to investigate the very organization whose handling of Simon Illyan’s breakdown is in question.