Denis LePic

Denis LePic was a Havenite citizen, former StateSec officer, and politician.
==Biography==
=== The New Order's early years ===
Thoroughly convinced of the need to reform the old Havenite system, Denis LePic joined the Office of State Security after the Harris Assassination and by 1907 PD had been assigned as People's Commissioner to then-Rear Admiral Thomas Theisman. Despite his doubts about Theisman's revolutionary ardor and his frustration with the admiral's distaste for politics, LePic eventually came to admire Theisman's professional competence and integrity. (, )
As Admiral Theisman's Commissioner, LePic was involved with the planning of Operations Stalking Horse and Dagger, and was present on the bridge of Theisman's flagship, the battleship PNS Conquérant during the Fourth Battle of Yeltsin's Star.
Following the near total destruction of Admiral Alexander Thurston's task force during the battle, LePic authorized Theisman to withdraw his task force from the Yeltsin's Star System when a force of Manticoran superdreadnoughts was detected in an intercept vector; unbeknownst to LePic, the "superdreadnoughts" were only Allied drones mimicking the signals of SDs, a fact LePic wasn't told by either Admiral Theisman or his chief of staff, Captain Megan Hathaway, both of whom thought the deception was useful to allow the defeated Havenite fleet to withdraw without State Security charging the survivors with "treason against the People". ()
=== Barnett ===
Later on, LePic followed Admiral Theisman, as the latter was given command of DuQuesne Base in the Barnett System. There, LePic used his reports to StateSec to subtly rehabilitate Theisman's operations officer, Commander Warner Caslet, who had fallen into suspicion after losing his ship by trying to save a Manticoran freighter from a group of Silesian raiders.
LePic was among those present when Cordelia Ransom sentenced Honor Harrington to death, and after that he witnessed an indignant tirade by Commander Caslet to Admiral Theisman, protesting Ransom's treatment of Harrington and the other Allied prisoners. As Caslet used language no People's Commissioner (no matter how favorable to him) could ignore, LePic reported Caslet's protests to his superiors, which led to the officer being assigned as Ransom's "liaison" to the Allied prisoners onboard PNS Tepes. ()
=== Change of mind ===
In the years following the capture and sentencing of Honor Harrington, LePic was forced to re-evaluate his support for the Committee of Public Safety. While initially supporting the Committee for trying to reform the People's Republic, both the regime's brutal policies and widespread use of terror, and his first-hand knowledge of the men and women of the People's Navy (whom the Committee distrusted, feared and often persecuted) led him to acknowledge that the Committee's rule was tyrannical and that it had to be opposed.
Particularly, LePic came to hate and fear Oscar Saint-Just even more than he did Cordelia Ransom; while the deceased Secretary for Public Information was bloodthirsty, sadistic and vindictive, the head of State Security had no qualms or reservations about dealing with those he considered "enemies of the People", and he had many more killed than Ransom did.
LePic's soul-searching acknowledgement of the Committee's brutality also transformed his relationship with Admiral Theisman. While originally "protecting" Theisman in his reports so as to not lose an officer of his caliber and competence, LePic eventually came to completely hide Thomas Theisman's progressive contempt and hatred of the Committee, even when the Admiral openly spoke "disloyal" opinions.
Neither Oscar Saint-Just nor State Security ever suspected LePic's change of heart, and thus they placed complete faith in the Commissioner's assessment of Admiral Theisman. This eventually resulted in both Theisman's and LePic's reassignment from Barnett to command Capital Fleet, the People's Navy's defense force for the Haven System.
Arriving at Haven after Admiral Esther McQueen's failed coup, LePic continued protecting Theisman from Saint-Just's increasingly repressive regime, and his concealment of the Admiral's opposition to the Committee was so effective that Saint-Just never suspected Theisman's opposition until the latter launched a swift and successful coup d'état that overthrew Saint-Just and ended with his death. ()
=== Pritchart Administration ===
After Theisman's coup, fellow People's Commissioner Eloise Pritchart became the provisional President of the restored Republic of Haven, and selected LePic to join her administration as her Attorney General, a post he kept even through the Second Haven-Manticore War. (, )
In 1916 PD, LePic travelled to the Bolthole complex in the Refuge System, ostensibly to deliver a message from Chairman Saint-Just to the People's Commissioner in charge, Jacqueline Hammond. Once in her presence, LePic personnally shot Hammond as the "assistants" he brought along eliminated her staff, securing Bolthole for the Pritchart administration. (DF)
He was one of the Havenite cabinet members who joined Pritchart on her mission to Manticore which would be responsible for the formation of the Grand Alliance. ()
== References ==
LePic, Denis
LePic, Denis
LePic, Denis
LePic, Denis
LePic, Denis