“Help us wage war on the villains among us. I ask not for myself, or for Frontier, but for the entire Dawn Cluster and all the humans in it, soldier and civilian alike. We don’t have time to be divided by men like Dirk. To weather the coming storm, we need all hands on deck.”
The message ended, and Thatcher’s comm froze on Rose’s pale face, her sapphire eyes locked onto his. Even delivering a speech that had been rewritten to death, every word focus-tested for maximum impact, she spoke with a contagious passion.
He’d already been angry at Dirk’s actions, but now he burned to be back in the New Jersey’s CIC, in command again as she sailed into battle against Paragon Industries, Meridian, and any other scum that chose to stand with them.
It was dangerous. The more he let himself become invested in the Cluster’s woes, the less energy he’d spend on getting back to Earth.
He slowly shook his head at Rose’s still frame. He knew this much, at least: he’d never met anyone quite like her.
To be continued…
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Glossary of Dawn Cluster Corporations
Frontier Security
CEO: Veronica Rose
CIO: Hans Mittelman
Frontier is a security firm that prides itself on upholding American values. Founded in Earth Year 2259 by Rear Admiral Gregory Rose, his daughter Veronica now runs the company. Her stated intention is to stay true to her father’s vision.
Currently, Frontier forms part of the Oasis Protectorate, a conglomerate formed for the purpose of servicing and protecting American colonies located throughout the Dawn Cluster’s Dupliss Region.
Kibishii
CEO: Akio Hata
COO: Theodore Xu
Kibishii is a Japanese PMC (private military company), incorporated in Earth Year 2279. The company specializes in stealth troop mobilization as well as stealth detection technologies, and in EY 2288 it opened an asteroid mining division, the expansion of which is now one of Kibishii’s primary focuses.
Meridian
CEO: Oliver Breckinridge
CIO: Ezra Yates
Headquartered on Valkyrie Station, in the Herward System, Kreng Region, Meridian has positioned itself as the only Dawn Cluster corporation with such a narrow focus on stealth technology, which it both implements on its own warships and sells to client PMCs and governments. Its main competitor in the north is the Japanese company Kibishii.
Analysts suggest that Kibishii’s pursuit of stealth detection technology has recently spurred Meridian to innovate wildly, with expectations high for whatever its next product offering will be.
Paragon Industries
CEO: Herwin Dirk
Paragon Industries began in Earth Year 2262 as an asteroid mining company with a specialty in exploiting planetesimals. However, after repeated attacks disrupted their operations, they acquired a small fleet of warships for protection. The attacks that prompted this move were ostensibly perpetrated by pirates, though CEO Herwin Dirk has gone on the record with claims that the true culprit was a Russian PMC operating in the area at that time.
As it gained years of experience defending mining operations, Paragon Industries gradually transformed into a highly successful, multi-stellar PMC that now mainly offers security services to mining company clients.
Reardon Interstellar
CEO: Ramon Pegg
Founded in Earth Year 2210, Reardon was one of the first PMCs to offer its services in the Dawn Cluster, in response to a growing threat from pirates based in the Contested Regions. Reardon identifies as an American company, but has also accepted contracts from various US trading partners, along with countries that have less-certain relationships with the USA, including China and Russia. In response to media inquiries concerning these latter contracts, Reardon CEOs have typically pointed out that, with the rise of the United Nations and Colonies, war between nations has become virtually extinct. It is therefore foolish to turn down any contracts.
Reardon has consistently denied rumors alleging the company has engaged in hot-system skirmishes against other Dawn Cluster corporations. Reardon forms part of the Oasis Protectorate, however at the time of writing its position within the Protectorate has been called into question, with allegations being forwarded by multiple interested parties that the company has been consorting with pirates.
Sunder Incorporated
CEO: Simon Moll
Sunder holds the distinction of being the first PMC to accept a security contract within the Dawn Cluster. While headquartered in Candor, a Cluster Region, the company draws its employees mostly from European countries and colonies, primarily German and Swedish. Sunder was founded in 2208 by a former UNC dreadnought commander, Captain Patrick Moen, and the company has only had two CEOs since its inception—Moen and Simon Moll.
In the 2250s, Spanish biographer Luis Borges made the claim that Moen and Moll were the same person. As evidence, Borges highlighted Moll’s lack of a documented past before his involvement with the company, the fact there is nothing to indicate the Sunder CEOs have ever met, and a number of physical similarities between the two men. Borges claimed that Moll underwent extensive cosmetic surgery to change his identity, though he did not advance any theory of why Moll would go to these efforts.
In recent decades, Borges’ claims have been dismissed as fringe conspiracy theory, since in order for them to be true, Moll would have to be in excess of 160 years old—twenty-seven years older than the eldest human being ever documented.
A Note on Dawn Cluster Cartography
In the Dawn Cluster, cardinal directions are used for ease of reference, with the black hole at the galaxy’s center acting as a “north star.”
Terms such as north, south, east, and west are meaningful because of the Cluster’s layout. While star systems are distributed along the Z-axis, with a maximum spread of 13.781 light years, the Cluster’s X- and Y-axes are much longer, at 105.134 light years and 81.240 light years respectively.
Dedication
To Michael Van de Hey - thank you for your incredible support of my writing.
Acknowledgments
Thank you to my Alpha Team, who have been reading this book since its earliest stage and who’ve provided substantial feedback along the way, which helped me develop the story with my readers’ desires foremost in mind. They are Rex Bain, Sheila Beitler, Bruce Brandt, Colin Oliver, Jeff Rudolph, and Ben Varela.
Thank you to my proofreading team, who helped eliminate scores of spelling and grammar issues. I take full responsibility for any mistakes that remain :) My proofreaders are Rex Bain, Sheila Beitler, Bruce Brandt, and Jeff Rudolph.
A special thank you to my Patreon supporters at the Space Fleet Admiral level. Your support helps me to package my books as professionally as possible while staying true to what my readers like best about my books. My Space Fleet Admiral patrons are Brian Loeung, David Middleton, Lawrence Tate, and Michael Van De Hey. Thank you so much.
Thank you also to Patreon supporters Rex Bain, Richard Gunn, Alex Hamilton, Christian Kallias, John A Koenig III, Daniel Mabry, Jason Pennock, Wynand Pretorius, Bill Scarborough, John Tava, Ben Varela, and Jerry Winiarski.
Thank you to Jason Carayanniotis and Chris Evans for helping me flesh out the details for how some of the technology in the book works.
Thank you to Tom Edwards for creating such stunning cover art, as always.
Thank you to my family - Mom, Dad, and Danielle - your support means everything.
Thank you to the people who read my stories, write reviews, and help spread the word. I couldn’t do this without you.
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