High Knowledge Raid

Raid on High Knowledge
Part of the CoDominium Unification
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High Knowledge debris
Date	June 5322 AE
Location	Yvnes System
Result	Tactical Ventrian Victory; Destruction of High Knowledge station
Belligerents
Error creating thumbnail: File missing Yvnes	Royal Ventris
Phoenix Empire
Commanders and Leaders
Aurora Alloces Citrine Ovsol-Klystron	Knight Commander Douglas
Ravshana Marika bint Yasmin al-Lasalle
Error creating thumbnail: File missing High Abottess Isvilia
Units Involved
Blue Fleet Lasalle Brigade	Douglas Taskforce
Error creating thumbnail: File missing Yvnes Self Defense Force
Strength
8 Ships of the Wall (IIIrd Rank)	1 Ship of the Wall (Ist Rank)
15 Cavalry Ships	2 Assault Cruisers, 5 Destroyers
Casualties & Losses
15,000+ Dead or Missing	2,000 Killed or Captured
1 Ship of the Wall (IIIrd Rank) Foundered	1 Assault Cruiser Foundered
3 Cavalry Cruisers Foundered	1 Assault Cruiser Captured
High Knowledge Destroyed	2 Destroyers Foundered, 2 Destroyers Captured

The High Knowledge Raid, also known as the Battle for High Knowledge or the Burning of Knowledge, was a Ventrian raid on the Yvnes system in the June of 5322 AE. A small taskforce led by Knight-Commander Douglas aboard the Ist Rank NMS Randgritiz attempted to capture the station of High Knowledge, masking their approach with a series of kinetic impactors aimed at the Capital world. While the ploy succeeded in drawing away the YSDF the taskforce was detected at the last second by a light cavalry ships of the contracted Blue Fleet. In a brief but violent running battle most of the Randgritiz's consorts were destroyed or crippled. While hot cavalry pursuit prevented K-C Douglas from boarding High Knowledge, the Blue Fleet was powerless to hinder the NMS Randgritiz from destroying the station and escaping.

The raid galvanized the leadership of Yvnes to reverse their unpopular isolationist practices, particularly the fatwa against FTL travel. Ingratiated to the Blue Fleet and respectful of their general expertise, the newly exalted Divine Adoratrice Beatrix V charged Aurora Ovsol-Klystron with organizing the YSDF counterattack on Ventris. For this reason many consider the raid instrumental in the establishment of the CoDominium.

Background

Royal Ventris under Queen Mimirza had begun a campaign to isolate Yvnes decades ago. Ventrian destroyers began an impressively broad and

Douglas's taskforce left Ventris sometime in April. It is unknown if he was already plotting his desertion.

Deployment

In an emergency meeting at YSDF General Headquarters, the High Abottess Isvilia issued an immediate recall to the fleet with orders to form a perimeter in depth around Yvnes proper. Planetary defense system command estimated a significant probability of leakers through the . To definitively defeat any chance of debris striking the surface the fleet elements would be arrayed in orbits from the far limits to the inner atmosphere in a redundant series of defensive screens. Despite being scattered in patrols across the system and blocking positions around the starways, the ships were soon in position to .

The Blue Fleet was largely left to their own devices. After a quick conference, Aurora and General Lasalle soon agreed upon a plan of operations. As the fastest ships in the system, Lasalle brigade would steam for the the furthest identified impactors and attempt to deflect them in series. The main battleline would likewise attempt to

Battle

Contact

Provided a clear sensor picture by the , Aurora Ovsol-Klystron

Aftermath

The civilian casualties were considerable; most of the 12,000 staff and pilgrims aboard High Knowledge were killed. Search and rescue efforts would extend for weeks until officially being called off early July after all reasonable hope had been exhausted. The appallingly small number of Ventrian survivors, less than a thousand, were detained in custody by the Lasalle Brigade. Most of . Kindifi and Ulkina were lost with all hands.

Lasalle, who was recovered late in the day, would be preoccupied with monitoring the political situation on Yvnes, reorganizing her command, and engaging the captured Ventrians for the duration of her recovery. Her head wound at the time of injury was recorded as being "three inches long from eyebrow into the scalp, with cranium visible for some length". She was shortly pronounced as hale as ever and the scar quickly disappeared under treatment, though one officer claimed that on one occasion the General - whose eyesight "would sometimes swim in and out" during her convalescence - once offered to light a Ventrian's pipe unaware that it was actually a toothpick.

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