Pavel Young

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Lord Pavel Young, Eleventh Earl of North Hollow, is a fictional character in the Honorverse novels written by David Weber; he fulfils the role of villain on almost every appearance he makes. He appears on three novels: On Basilisk Station. The Short Victorious War and Field of Dishonor

The eldest son of Lord Dimitri Young, Tenth Earl of North Hollow, Pavel Young is thus heir to one of the oldest earldoms in the Star Kingdom of Manticore. Overly arrogant due to his exalted birth, family fortune and political power, Pavel Young is a cruel individual and a pathological womanizer (which, according to comments made by other characters, is a trait that runs through the Young clan) who can't take a "no" for an answer. He has been known to resort to violence when his advances are rejected; for example, he raped the pilot of his father's personal yacht when he was only sixteen, and was covered by his father.

Deciding to become an officer in the Royal Manticoran Navy, Young attended Saganami Naval Academy and was one year ahead of Honor Harrington, for whom he took an interest. When she resisted his advances, he attempted to rape her: she beat him to a pulp but never pressed charges against him, as she believed that no one would take the word of an ungainly commoner against that of a nobleman. For this action, Young was reprimanded for conduct unbecoming and forced to apologize to Midshipwoman Harrington. He and his father would later take actions to stall Honor's naval career, using every lever of influence at their hand.

Thanks to political patronage and in spite of his questionable abilities as an officer, Young advanced quickly through the ranks of the Royal Navy, becoming commanding officer of the heavy cruiser HMS Warlock. Despite this, he was despised by admirals and officers alike both for his character and his incompetence, and was sent with his ship to the Navy's Basilisk Station: a posting considered to be the dumpster of the Royal Navy.

In 1900 PD (4003 AD), the light cruiser HMS Fearless, commanded by Honor Harrington, was also assigned to Basilisk Station. Seeing a chance to take revenge on the woman who humiliated him, Captain Young faked a request for "urgent repairs" and returned with Warlock to Manticore, leaving Fearless and Honor with the impossible task of keeping Basilisk Station in order, hoping to ruin her career when she failed to do so. His plan backfired as Honor implemented new measures using the scarce resources at hand and managed to enforce regulations and put a halt to smuggling, earning the commendations and thanks of the Manticoran authorities. The final nail in his plan's coffin was when Fearless foiled a Havenite plot to seize control of the Basilisk System, using a Q-ship which Young had previously cleared as an innocent merchantman. Once again reprimanded, this time for abandoning his assigned station, Young and Warlock were sent in yet another thankless assignment to the Silesian Confederacy.

Young returned to Honor's life four years later, during the crisis period prior to the outbreak of open war with Haven. Still in command of Warlock, Young was ordered to proceed to Hancock Station, where Honor was serving under the command of Rear Admiral Mark Sarnow as commanding officer of the battlecruiser HMS Nike. When the Havenites attacked Hancock in the first battle of the war and Sarnow's task force was withdrawing under heavy enemy fire (thus drawing the Havenites to a point where Manticoran reinforcements could trap them), Young inherited the command of his squadron when its CO died. Panicked, he ordered his ships to scatter, disrupting the task force defenses. Even more, Young rejected a direct order by Honor to return to formation, and withdrew with Warlock to the protests and outrage of his own crew.

After the battle of Hancock Station, Pavel Young was placed under arrest pending a court martial, and charged with cowardice in the face of the enemy, disobeying direct orders and compromising the defenses of the force to which he was assigned: charges which would sentence him to death. However, his extremely influential father, a politician in a small party allied to the Prime Minister, threatened to go to the Opposition if his son was condemned, thus depriving the Prime Minister of votes he desperately needed to declare war on Haven.

As a solution of compromise, Young was acquitted in those charges which were punishable by death, and was only demoted and dishonorably discharged from the Navy. However, the shock of his discharge caused his father to suffer a fatal stroke. Young inherited his title, becoming the new Earl of North Hollow, and planned once again to exact revenge on Honor. He hired the Prime Minister's distant cousin, Denver Summervale, to kill Honor's lover (and Young's former executive officer on Warlock) Paul Tankersley.

In vengeance, Honor used her maiden speech to the House of Lords to challenge him to a duel. Despite Young's cheating (he fired on Honor before time), she dispatched him with three shots to the heart. His younger brother Stefan inherited his title of Earl North Hollow.