The tale of the Kyril Island Incident (KIH-rihl) is told in The Vor Game, as well as in the novella "Weatherman", which was folded into The Vor Game.
At core: Lazkowski Base on Kyril Island had what may have been the last stock of fetaine on the planet of Barrayar. The barrels containing the chemical, having spent at least twenty years in this occupation, had begun to lose their integrity. Thus, when some workers accidentally knocked them over, some of them broke and spilled. The military techs who were given the task of cleaning it up refused to do so on the grounds that it was too dangerous a task. The officers commanding them agreed that it was too dangerous and had alternative plans for dealing with the mess, but the Base Commander, General Stanis Metzov, insisted that they clean it up instead.
When they continued in their refusal, he ordered them to strip and remain standing naked in the snow until they agreed to obey. As they continued in their refusal, first their commanding officer joined them and then Miles Vorkosigan did so as well. He then managed to talk General Metzov into arresting them for mutiny instead of allowing them all to freeze.
References[]
- The Vor Game chapters 5,6
Behind the scenes[]
This incident was at least partly inspired by the tale "The Forty Martyrs of Sebastiani".