State Security has now released further information from the debriefing of survivors of the breakout from Hades led by the convicted murderess Honor Harrington.
Following the destruction of PNS Attila in orbit when she had no weapon systems on-line, no wedge and, indeed, only station-keeping particle screens designed to prevent the accumulation of dust on the hull, Citizen Commodore Rachel Yang reports her conversation with Harrington as follows:
"The ships close to Attila had been badly damaged and had large numbers of casualties. We had barely begun to rescue the injured crew, but Harrington was back on the com the moment there was any chance of getting contact through the radiation and debris. She told Citizen General Thornegrave and myself that she would repeat her attacks as many times as it took to get us to surrender. I had already had to inform the Citizen General that we could not get our ships into any state to take action against Camp Charon without their sensors detecting it. The attempt would simply have resulted in losing more lives, so I told Harrington that we would comply with her orders, but that we needed more time to sort out our communications, which was true.
"Harrington told me that her men would be boarding in five minutes, in battle armour, and with heavy weapons. Any resistance at all would be met with overwhelming lethal force. I said that that was understood. She told me to be very sure that it was, because her men would not hesitate to kill anyone who resisted. She actually specifically said that they would be looking forward to it.
"She then said that any attempt to abandon ship, scuttle a ship or damage the computer nets would be regarded as grounds for the use of lethal force. She told me that our ships were her prizes and then she said 'neither they nor your personnel are protected in our eyes by the Deneb Accords. They would be wise to remember that.' She made it very clear that she was looking for any excuse whatsoever to kill my people."
Harrington holds the rank of Commodore in the Royal Manticoran Navy, and the rank of Admiral in the Grayson Space Navy. She is also a member of the aristocracy of both worlds and a personal friend of the Grayson head of state. It is therefore safe to assume that her repudiation of the Deneb Accords is part of the official policy of both governments and navies. Her behavior also demonstrates the rank hypocrisy of this woman. When she was captured aboard HMS Prince Adrian the crew destroyed any classified equipment and information before boarding commenced. This is standard practice and is accepted by all civilised navies as the price for reducing their own casualties by not having to fight to the death. In the past the RMN (and even Harrington) accepted this, yet here she claimed the right to kill a ship's crew for carrying out a duty that she herself had executed.
The People's Republic of Haven calls on all civilised societies to isolate Manticore and Grayson, and to demand assurances, backed by effective independent monitoring, that their armed forces will abide by basic humanitarian requirements regarding the treatment of prisoners of war.
The information above is provided by the Office of Public Information at the direction of Citizen Secretary Leonard Boardman
Written by Kevin Logan, based on the information set out in "Echoes of Honor" by David M Weber, Baen Books, New York, ISBN 0-671-57833-2