High Knowledge Raid

Raid on High Knowledge
Part of the CoDominium Unification
Error creating thumbnail: File missing
High Knowledge debris
Date	June 5322
Location	Yvnes System
Result	Tactical Ventrian Victory; Destruction of High Knowledge station
Belligerents
Error creating thumbnail: File missing Yvnes	Error creating thumbnail: File missing Royal Ventris
Phoenix Empire
Commanders and Leaders
Aurora Alloces Citrine Ovsol-Klystron	Error creating thumbnail: File missing Knight Commander Douglas
Error creating thumbnail: File missing Ravshana Marika bint Yasmin al-Lasalle
Error creating thumbnail: File missing High Abottess Isvilia
Units Involved
Blue Fleet Error creating thumbnail: File missing Lasalle Brigade	Error creating thumbnail: File missing 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)
Error creating thumbnail: File missing 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, 1 Assault Cruiser Captured
3 Cavalry Cruisers Foundered	2 Destroyers Foundered, 2 Destroyers Captured
High Knowledge Destroyed

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. 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 cavalry destroyer of the contracted Blue Fleet. In a brief but violent running battle most of the taskforce's cruisers and destroyers were either crippled or destroyed. While hot cavalry pursuit prevented a boarding action, the Blue Fleet was unable to hinder the NMS Randgritiz from destroying the station and escaping.

The raid galvanized the leadership of Yvnes to reverse their unpopular isolationist practices and a decisive end to 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.

Deployment

Douglas's taskforce . A series of asteroids .

In an emergency meeting of 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. To definitively defeat any chance of debris striking the surface the Capital elements would be arrayed in orbits from the [] to the inner atmosphere forming a redundant series of defensive screens. Despite being scattered across the system the .

The Blue Fleet was largely left to their own devices. After a quick conference, Aurora and General Lasalle decided . As the fastest ships in the system, Lasalle brigade would steam for the the furthest identified .

Battle

Contact

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

Aftermath

The civilian casualties were considerable; many 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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