- "She awoke in the dark to a tinkling crash and a soft report, and drew in her breath with a start. Acridity seared her lungs, mouth, nostrils, eyes. A gut-wrenching undertaste pumped her stomach into her throat. Beside her, Vorkosigan snapped from sleep with an oath."
- ―The attack[src]
The soltoxin gas attack was an assassination attempt using a soltoxin gas grenade against Aral Vorkosigan in the early days of his Regency, just before the official outbreak of Vordarian's Pretendership. Perpetrated by Evon Vorhalas in revenge for Aral's refusal to save his younger brother Carl from execution, it was also indirectly controlled by Vidal Vordarian.
Cordelia Vorkosigan, who was pregnant at the time, was also affected. Immediate effects of the attack were their hospitalization with soltoxin pneumonia and Cordelia's near death experience from Barrayar's first attempt at a placental transfer operation. The results of the attack included Aral becoming sterile, both Aral and Cordelia becoming more prone to circulatory mishaps later in life, and Miles Vorkosigan's deformities.
The windows of Vorkosigan House were subsequently force-screened to prevent such events from happening again.