Gavin Bledsoe was a Masadan citizen and an officer of the Navy of Masada. On the orders of the Council of Elders, he took command of a small starship secretly assembled from imported parts in the Yeltsin's Star System. With this vessel, he and his crew carried out Operation Hassan, an attempt to assassinate Protector Benjamin IX and Queen Elizabeth III of Manticore during the latter's state visit to Grayson. His ship successfully launched Solarian-built missiles against the royal yachts Grayson One and Queen Adrienne, but due to Honor Harrington's intervention, the ship carrying the two monarchs survived. (HH9)