Holding the rank of Rear Admiral, Styles was in command of the Royal Manticoran Navy's picket force in the Yalta System. He was taken a prisoner of war by the People's Navy when his units were destroyed after being caught with cold impellers. He was then sent to the prison planet Hades, where he was the senior RMN officer present until Honor Harrington arrived. He disputed Harrington's claim to senior command among the Hades prisoners, claiming that her commission as an Admiral in the Grayson Space Navy would not actually outrank him.