Casimir Raid

The Casimir Raid was a Royal Manticoran Navy operation against a slave depot in the Casimir System, conducted in 1899 PD.
== Prelude ==
While on anti-piracy duty in the Silesian Confederacy, Commander Honor Harrington of the Manticoran destroyer HMS Hawkwing was approached by agents of the Audubon Ballroom, who informed her that the infamous Mesan slaving company Manpower Incorporated conducted large-scale slave trade from a base in the Casimir System.
Hawkwing later met up with the transport ship Reprisal, filled with well-trained Ballroom fighters. ()
== Course of Battle ==
Hawkwing and Reprisal approached Casimir Station, the system's primary space habitat and location of the slave depot, with Reprisal posing as the slaver Rapunzel. Scanners detected an Andermani freighter that turned out to be the slaver Evita.
Once they were close enough, Reprisal seperated from Hawkwing, which it had towed along in its sensor shadow. Evita was destroyed by a single salvo from the Manticoran destroyer's laser batteries before the pirate crew even realized what was happening.
After neutralizing the station's weapons with her point defense clusters, Commander Harrington ordered the surviving slavers to surrender, threatening to kill them all. The depot's commander, Edytá Sokolowska, tried to stall the Manticorans until the corrupt system governor could be reached. Harrington informed her about the nearly one thousand Audubon Ballroom terrorists waiting to be set loose on the station. Sokolowska dared her to do it, but at that point the depot's senior engineer, Kamil Mazur, shot her from behind and surrendered to the Manticoran ship. Harrington ordered him to protect the slaves from the fanatics among his own crew. The Ballroom and the Marines then boarded the depot and fought their way past the Manpower crew, finding most of the station's original crew battered, but alive. ()
== Aftermath ==
Five days later, Commodore Mieczyslaw Teschendorff of the Silesian Confederate Navy arrived in the system and officially reprimanded Commander Harrington for her unilateral actions, but allowed Hawkwing, the Ballroom, and the hundreds of freed slaves to leave Casimir unharmed.
Once back on Manticore, Harrington was relieved of command of Hawkwing, and registered for the next training cycle of the Advanced Tactical Course to prepare her for senior command. ()
When the House of Lords discussed the affair, it was decided to cover it up and prosecute nobody due to the political backlash. Lady Catherine Montaigne, Countess of the Tor, protested this decision and argued that an officer like Harrington, who unlike others actually enforced the law, should be commended, not criticized. Her speech led to a controversy and the countess' eventual removal from the House of Lords. ()
== References ==
Category:Manticoran Battles