Thorne, Bel

Surname:	Thorne
Given Name:	Bel
Aliases:
Place of Birth:	Beta Colony

Details

Bel Thorne, a hermaphrodite, was the first officer of the Oseran Mercenary ship Ariel when Miles Vorkosigan, in the guise of Miles Naismith, boarded and captured that ship. It is one of the few people that know the real identity of Admiral Naismith.

Secretly in love with Miles, Thorne quickly joined Miles and was soon rewarded with command of the Ariel.

While Thorne never had the relationship with Miles it wished for, they became very close friends.

During a mission on Jackson's Whole, Thorne fell in love with a quaddie named Nicol who was under contract to Baron Fell. The fact that Baron Ryoval was attempting to hustle her away from Fell, most likely to serve as a sex slave triggered in Thorne a serious hatred of Jackson's Whole and Ryoval in particular.

In the confusion of their actual mission going wrong, Nicol was rescued and Baron Ryoval seriously inconvenienced.

A few years later, its hatred for Jackson's Whole caused Thorne to side with Mark Vorkosigan when he hijacked the Ariel to free clone slaves from there. Thorne recognised that Mark was not Admiral Naismith, but did nothing to prevent him carrying out his subterfuge.

When things started to go wrong, Thorne reclaimed command, dennouncing Mark, but too late to prevent the death of Miles. Throne later returned to Jackson's Whole with Elena Bothari-Jesek, Taura, Elli Quinn and Mark Vorkosigan to rescue Miles.

With the rescue successfully completed Thorne was forced to resign from the Dendarii for his earlier endorsement of Mark.

It is believed that Thorne may in the near future decide to work for ImpSec as an independent agent.