with humanity. In that thirteenth Honor Harrington novel, the treecat Memory Singers examine their collective memory to aid the alliance forming to oppose the Mesan Alignment and the Solarian League. One result is the treecats 'enlist' in the alliance to act as truth detectors, capable of sensing when a trusted individual has been subjected to Mesan psychological manipulation into involuntarily performing complex acts that are often suicidal. Career At the Academy Harrington attends Saganami Naval Academy on Manticore. At Saganami Island, her roommate and best friend is Michelle "Mike" Henke, paternal first cousin of Queen Elizabeth III of Manticore. Shy and lacking in self-confidence, Harrington learns much from "Mike" Henke during those years. At the Academy, Midshipman Lord Pavel Young, heir to the earldom of North Hollow, attempts to rape her in the showers, but she defends herself, sending him to the hospital. Although the Academy commandant suspects the truth, her shame and low self-esteem keep her from pressing formal charges. Young thus escapes with a reprimand for conduct unbecoming rather than dismissal from the Academy. Her outstanding abilities (along with some behind-the-scenes maneuvering by her mentor, Raoul Courvosier) result in her career advancement, steadily, if erratically, despite the enmity of the powerful Young clan and various attempts by it and its allies to sabotage her Royal Manticoran Navy (RMN) career. Her midshipwoman or "snotty" cruise aboard HMS War Maiden, under Captain Bachfisch, demonstrates her skill as a combat tactician when, during an engagement with Silesian rebels, the rest of the command team are killed, disabled, or cut off from the rest of the ship. She assumes command and finishes off the enemy ship. She is promoted ahead of her class to ensign. In command Early commands Harrington's first command is a light attack craft (LAC). She is later given command of the aged destroyer HMS Hawkwing, and after a year of service goes to the RMN's Advanced Tactical Course. Harrington graduates high in the course, and immediately assumes command of the light cruiser HMS Fearless as a commander. Her exploits while posted at Basilisk Station bring her widespread fame—and an in absentia sentence of death from the People's Republic of Haven. Now firmly on the fast track, she proves to have something akin to the Nelson touch, earning the devotion of her officers and enlisted personnel, as well as the high regard of both Manticore's allies (especially Grayson), and