Highlander / Vorkosigan Saga: Potential Unfulfilled

[ffutures]

I think this is the fastest I've ever written a drabble - about ten minutes from start to finish, came out at 101 words before final editing. Highlander / Vorkosigan Saga crossover.

Spoilers for Barrayar



Potential Unfulfilled

Marcus L. Rowland

Count Vordarian didn't know he had the potential for immortality, of course. Under other circumstances Cordelia might have told him, trained him. But now her son was endangered - a son she could never have had before the invention of the uterine replicator.

There was little time for pity or remorse. As Bothari's blade came down, as his head rolled across the table, she felt the faint stirring of his quickening, snuffed before its time, and wished it could be otherwise. She whispered "there can be only one," put the head in her bag, and set off to end a war.

End

Notes: In the Highlander universe immortals can't normally have children. But it occurred to me that the uterine replicator might change that... That got me wondering why the first gift Cordelia bought on Barrayar was a sword, and the rest followed very easily.



Comments please before I post to archives.

Comments

[azurelunatic]

The concept is stunning enough to knock a cackle out of me.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[cubby-t-bear.livejournal.com]

Hah. Awesome :)

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[danceswithlife]

OOOHHHH! Cordelia as an immortal--totally logical idea. Loved it!

I've been eyeing the complete Highlander DVD collection for a while now, and then I noticed that it's not being produced anymore, and decided I did have to have it, so it's on its way to me. When I finish my thesis in a few months I look forward to watching every episode of it and Babylon 5 again.

BTW...I had a plot idea for a X Files/Highlander crossover, but never got it written. I don't follow fanfic that much (Bujold is an exception) so I don't know how many of those crossovers were written.

And again...wonderful drabble!

Lola

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

I think there's some HL/XF around, not a huge amount. Try this site
http://hlfiction.net/

there's an older and much bigger archive but I don't have a link to it on this laptop, and it hasn't added new stories in several years.

[keerawa.livejournal.com]

Color me fascinated! Cordelia is such an interesting combination of caring and absolutely ruthless. She would make an excellent Immortal.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Maybe - she would have real trouble hiding it but maybe she'd be OK for a few decades if she claimed Betan health care was responsible.

[carbonel]

Okay, I feel better now. The first time I read this, I somehow skipped over the Vordarian name and read it as Vorkosigan. And I just couldn't believe that one.

I have trouble with the essential premise, though it works as a drabble. We've never heard tell of any pregnant Immortals, so it's probably not a matter of early miscarriages. And Miles was intended to be a body birth, so Cordelia had to have become pregnant in the usual way -- which Immortals can't do.

[dsample.livejournal.com]

The other problem is that all immortals are foundlings, without parents, and I don't think the Barrayarans would allow an adopted child to inherit a countship (let alone the emperorship, which is what Vordarian was aiming for.) I suppose his parents might have secretly adopted a foundling, when they learned they were unable to have children the old fashioned way, or something like that.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Oh, there are loads of holes - it has to begin with an adopted Vordarian, and Miles conceived in a uterine replicator from the outset. But I hate to waste a canon decapitation...

[windtear.livejournal.com]

It's Bujold canon that it's the Count's Choice who inherits his title and merely custom that it's his eldest son. So, if young Vordarian was officially named Count's Choice before his adopted father's death and it was not revoked before said death, legally he's the next Count, no matter what his birth or relationship status.

I can't comment on that Immortals foundling thing, but I thought that we only really knew the origins of three (Callum, Donald and um, the red-headed kid). The others would say vague things like "I'm from Egypt" or "I have been a priest for a very long time. The Church is a lot more familiar with us than it lets on" but I don't recall anybody else saying "Yep, I was adopted too".

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

It's never explained, but there's nothing in canon to deny it. Somewhere there is a VERY busy stork...

[missmurchison.livejournal.com]

That is one of my favorite moments in fiction and I love this twist to it!

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[missmurchison.livejournal.com]

I see the change from Immortal canon, letting an Immortal have kids, was bothering some people, but that's just personal taste. Either you don't mind being flexible with canon law in fanfic or you do. I don't and I think a lot of other people don't either.

Cordelia would be an amazing Immortal.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Definitely, she'd be wonderful.

I don't think immortals can have kids naturally - but the technology of the Bujold universe can do a lot better than nature. If I was writing a longer story I think I'd have someone say that getting the embryo started was really tricky, and that her children (also her clones) are mortal.