Xavial Dedmon has worked his way up to the top of the largest corporation in settled space. He is the right hand of the CEO and the most powerful man in the Interstellar Cohort, Armitage Bek. Xavial has earned everything he’s received through grit, determination, and sheer cunning. He is no one’s fool and despite his perceived proximity to Cohort power, the one constant for Xavial Dedmon is his personal agenda. He works for some, yet works for none. Xavial is a quiet observer with an uncanny ability to read people and use that perception to his advantage. If there’s one thing Dedmon knows it’s that he will not be taken advantage of and he’ll be long gone before anyone truly understands his motivations. So how did he end up in this spot?
From the universe that brought you Galilee Walker and The Hourglass . Dive into the mix with clandestine corporate fixer, Xavial Dedmon.
I'm excited to share this follow up story to Broken Hourglass and I hope you'll enjoy it.
Here's chapter 1! Enjoy and feel free to leave your thoughts!
Note: This preview chapter is consider an early work-in-progress. Preview chapters are subject to subsequent corrections or edits prior to being included in the final manuscript.
I
The year is 3248. The Interstellar Cohort is a massive and powerful commerce guild that has its hands in nearly every lucrative deal in the Milky Way. Between interfering in local elections, purchasing then shutting down rivals, and exerting military level enforcement of their agendas, the Cohort is one of the most powerful entities in existence with virtually no oversight or restraint. Having been in existence the better part of 200 years, the Cohort has become so commonplace that no one questions their existence or motives within business and political affairs. The Cohort operates at the behest of its most powerful and wealthy members.
Currently, only one individual meets that criteria: Armitage Bek, CEO of Aileron Dynamics. As for the remaining board members, Bek operates an intricate ruse that assures them that their votes determine the actions the Cohort takes. As its "elected" head, Bek's position comes with a certain level of inherent trust and respect, allowing him to announce the results of voted matters as he sees fit.
Membership in the Cohort does not come easy. Rumors swirl of nefarious ways some have become members, and the amount of wealth required to receive the coveted "Conference Invitation" means that few are willing to ask too many questions of Bek.
Bek’s Aileron Dynamics is the largest and wealthiest member of the Interstellar Cohort. It functions as the controlling voice for the Cohort's affairs. The company is the galaxy's largest technology, space flight, and military research conglomerate. The next largest competitor, HoloForm, Inc., is a mere one-fifth as large as Aileron Dynamics. Aileron possesses more capital than three mid-sized planetary governments combined. Their publicly traceable annual earnings are far less than what the organization actually brings in — evidenced by their massive "law enforcement" presence on many worlds. Aileron Dynamics's public communications present the company as a deep space exploration and resource gathering leader that excels in the art of developing and launching next generation deep space technology. Unknown to the public, most ship designs and assembly are contracted to and executed by The Pilian Shipwright Doyen on Xavial’s homeworld of Pili.
The Shipwright Doyen is paid handsomely to nod in agreement as Aileron Dynamics uses their innovations—masking them as the lead products from their nearly fictitious 'Deep Space Logistics' brand. Not-so-mysteriously, no matter how many planets boast having Pilian engineered vessels, the Doyen always proudly comes in second to Aileron Dynamics in every annual fiscal report. Any pilot who's flown enough ships across the Milky Way would recognize a Pilian build with an Aileron nameplate slapped on it, but the average citizen has no knowledge of the back door dealings that prop up a corporation's line of research, development, and physical products. Aileron and the Corhort are powerful and powerful entities need powerful individuals to run them. Armitage Bek is the pinnacle of powerful individuals, yet even he needs assistance on matters of import from time to time. That assistance comes in the way of his personal fixer: Xavial Dedmon.
—
Xavial Dedmon approached the Onarai cruiser, which was sitting in orbit around Brahmanda in the Lyra system — the planetary center of all Interstellar Cohort commerce and home of the Aileron Dynamics corporate city. He was positive that he was waisting his time, but absolute that he would leave with the deal Aileron Dynamics had been planning.
“Xavial Dedmon on approach at docking speed. Approach vector point four-five, zed nineteen. Aileron Dynamics confirmation five-zero-zero-delta-three-nine-eight,” Dedmon announced over the comm.
“Aileron, five-zero-zero-delta-three-nine-eight, you are cleared for docking. You are assigned bay one-three B,” came the response ten seconds later.
Bay thirteen… Dedmon mused to himself. Already trying to move the bad luck in my direction.
Xavial confirmed his assigned landing location and brought his diplomatic corvette into the docking bay of the Onarai cruiser allowing the autopilot to orient and dock the ship in its assigned parking space. Dedmon’s diplomatic vessel was dressed the part while masking several shielded weapons installations and a personal arsenal of weapons that effectively made him a one-man incursion force, if necessary. However, this trip was solely for the purpose of securing a transport contract with the notoriously independent Onarai Logistics. Xavial had no plans of bringing weapons to bear during this endeavor, but he never went anywhere unprepared for hostile hosts. Dedmon stood up, checked the appearance of his professional attire, properly hid a few personal protection items and made his way down the two decks to the exit ramp. As Xavial descended the ramp on his ship, he was met by a single valet in the docking bay.
“Greetings, Director Dedmon, I am Valet Orinian and I will be escorting you to the CEO’s private conference room for your meeting,” Orinian announced with a dry and uninterested tone.
Xavial wasn’t a director within Aileron, but he was enjoying the show of respect and let it continue. Giving an approving nod and offering no response to the obviously callous greeting, he followed the valet on to a lift, through a bay entry door. After rising a couple of decks and exiting the lift, the two of them turned down several more corridors, up another lift, and onto the rear of the ship’s command deck, opposite the bridge. Upon leaving the lift, Xavial turned to find the valet had remained on the lift and barely remarked before the lift door shut, “Second door on the left. Sit. Wait.” Not particularly thrilled with being spoken to like a Pilian grass hound, he kept a stoic face, turned, and made his way into the conference room.
With 25 decks and a length of 110 meters, these cruisers felt more like space stations than moving vessels. The size, however, made it feasible for a corporation like Onarai to have entire divisions of its business in orbit wherever the need arose. Whenever Dedmon found himself a board a corporate cruiser—Aileron or otherwise—he made it a point to enjoy the massive mobile spectacle. The lift ride and his solo walk to the conference room gave Xavial all the time he needed to appreciate his current surroundings before letting himself through the clearly marked conference room entryway and taking a seat while he waited for his hosts.
Forty-five minutes later, a very perturbed Xavial Dedmon was greeted by a tall stocky man wearing an obvious civilian suit re-tailored to resemble a military uniform. This was the CEO of Onarai Logistics, Zsarian Conoveh. He walked confidently to the opposite side of the long conference table intended to seat no less than 20 attendees. He did not take a seat, however. Instead, he stood menacingly behind the chair across from Dedmon, placing his hands on its back.
This was obviously intended to establish dominance in the conversation and potentially intimidate his visitor, but Xavial had experienced far worse in his work under Armitage Bek and outwardly returned the same flat, sterile energy he’d received from the valet that greeted him upon arrival.
“Welcome Mr. Dedmon,” offered Conoveh in a sly tone. “I’ve heard much of your exploits—or at least, those of your CEO.”
In a sour mood from the dismissive interactions and needlessly long wait, Xavial reminded himself to stay calm and just get the contract signed. Once that was done, all of this posturing would mean nothing. Besides, it was understandable that Onarai would be less than thrilled with the necessity of this meeting. A series of botched transport jobs coupled with a few stolen shipments, courtesy of their mercenary friends, placed Onarai in a very disadvantageous position. Their already slim margins had been decimated by a perfect storm of lost and stolen shipments, putting them at odds with multiple delivery partners and creditors. As a result, Onarai was on the brink of insolvency. After 250 years of success, they were now faced with finding a sizable influx of credits or suffering the likelihood of their executive hierarchy being hunted and killed. Mercenaries are a formidable tool when the cash is flowing and an instrument of personal destruction when debts are due. Onarai had been dancing on both sides of this line for a century often entering into deals that required them to compensate their mercenary partners directly from their acquired resources-in-transit. As a result, taking losses from one set of mercenary partners meant lacking the ability to immediately compensate another set. And mercenaries have never been known for their compensatory patience.
“I’m curious about that reference to my CEO,” Xavial offered. “However, I am here on official Aileron business and would like to get to the heart of the matter rather quickly.”
“Ahh. Focus and determination,” beamed Conoveh. “Two of my favorite!” “Excellent,” Dedmon began. “Our first order of business is to outline—“
“Here’s the thing, Director.” Conoveh interrupted. “Before Onarai is free and clear to enter into an agreement with Aileron, there is a matter of concern we will require your services to address.”
Already concerned with this redirection, Xavial prompted the CEO to continue with an exaggerated, “Go on…”
“I am positive you are aware of our current status with various mercenary clients and benefactors,” Conoveh continued. “Unfortunately, we are in a particular spot of debt with one Singularity Ltd.—hilariously corporate moniker for a pack of mercenaries, I must say. More specifically, we are ‘in the red’ if you will, to the tune of some 15.4 million credits. Of importance to Aileron is the fact that, as far as mercenaries are concerned, any business partner or associate of the party in debt becomes an equally legitimate target for retribution. Needless to say, we would absolutely abhor putting Aileron in a position to suffer losses on our behalf.”
An irritated Dedmon spoke up, “So, pay them and let’s get on with our business—“
“Ahh. To that point,” Conoveh added. “Due to our current persona non grata status with a number of our creditors, we are in a difficult position as it pertains to rendering that payment. Frankly, I do not wish to have any members of my executive team executed for attempting to deliver said payment—only to have our adversaries claim the payment was never made. That would obviously put us in a position to have to make further payments despite having such a large sum extracted from us while also being subject to additional attacks.
"And before you ask, yes, we have considered having a less crucial member of our staff sent to deliver our obligation. However, would Aileron send a low level employee out into the dark of space with 20 million of your credits with your lives on the line? “
Dedmon smirked at the thought.
“Of course not,” Zsarian mused. “Thus, we are subjected to imposing upon you to act as our surrogate. This will provide us with a 3rd party witness to the transaction and subsequently give our debtors no reason to bare teeth to an envoy they have no quarrel with.”
Xavial knew this CEO was full of shit, but this level of ignorance could not be accidental. There were zero universes where the CEO of Onarai was unaware that Aileron had been working its political influence to rid the galaxy of mercenary corporations for decades. They were natural enemies and no one with a functioning brain cell could think otherwise. This left the only other option: Aileron was being manipulated and placed directly in the path between the mercs and Onarai. And Xavial Dedmon knew better than to accept this ruse at face value.
“I will need to confer with my CEO before I’m able to make such a deviation,” Dedmon explained.
“Please!” Conoveh encouraged. “Take the time you need. I’ll return once you have confirmed your course of action.” Zsarian Conoveh then turned sharply and confidently exited the room using the same doorway as before.
Amused and sure how the next conversation would transpire, Xavial pulled the comm out of his pocket, slapped it on his arm, and opened his usual secure link with Armitage Bek. Dedmon knew there was no way he could ensure the walls of the Onarai vessel were not listening. So he settled for the knowledge that at least no one outside this ship would be privy to the discussion.
“I trust we have a deal, yes?” inquired Bek immediately upon opening the connection.
“Not quite,” Xavial responded. He spent the next few minutes detailing the request and direct statements from the Onarai CEO, fully expecting Bek to refuse such a fool’s errand.
“Do it,” Bek said flatly.
“What?!” barked Dedmon. “First, why would we do this? Second. Why would you send me to do this and expect me to walk out of there alive?”
“Please, my friend,” Armitage injected calmly. “Meditative breaths if you require them,” He added, just shy of a mocking tone. “For starters, I know you to be capable, effective, and nobody's fool. You are always prepared and you have yet to fail in any capacity since entering the Aileron offices. Additionally, I am always prepared for contingencies and we will suffer no losses on this endeavor. I assure you. Proceed with their request and follow up with me once the contract is finalized.”
To the chagrin of Xavial, the comm disconnected abruptly. Clearly aware of the conversation, Conoveh immediately reappeared in the conference room with a smile that was undoubtedly amused at Dedmon’s predicament.
“Have you completed your check-in?” Zsarian inquired as he approached the table, placing three empty credit transfer cases on it.
A visibly perturbed Xavial Dedmon simply stared back at the CEO with a fury burning just below the surface.
“Here is how we will proceed,” the CEO began. “We know you have arrived with a credit transfer case containing the 20 million acquisition cost. We have already taken the liberty of retrieving it from your ship.”
Immediately, the door slid open behind Dedmon and Valet Orinian entered, walked past a surprised Xavial, and placed the transfer case on the conference table.
Conoveh continued as his valet separated the credits into the new transfer cases, “As a show of good faith, we will split the payment as follows. The 15.4 million owed to Singularity will be placed in this 1st case here. In this second case, 2.1 million will be placed as your personal compensation for placing yourself in harm’s way on our behalf. The remaining 2.5 million will be accepted and noted by Onarai Logistics as received payment pursuant to your acquisition contract.”
Not easily distracted, Xavial was unusually irritated at this collection of changed directives and perceived pressure from both sides. Dedmon stood sharply and snatched up the two new credit transfer cases, turned to leave, and barked as he exited the conference room, “I will not be going unarmed.”
A partial response could be heard as he approached the lift amidst the auto-closing of the conference door , “Of course! The coordinates will be sent to your—“
Fueled by anger, Dedmon found his way back to the hangar and swiftly boarded his corvette, tossed the transfer cases on one of his tables before he made his way up the levels and though the door leading to his two-man bridge. Pulling up the coordinates that were, in fact, already present in his system, Dedmon powered up, received clearance for takeoff, and exited the Onarai cruiser. Once clear, he ramped up his intrastellar drive and pushed off for the edge of the Lyra system.
[—]
I hope you enjoyed this preview of Disposable Dagger. I’ll be sharing information about its release in the coming months. In the meantime, if you’d like to dive into the universe the story takes place in, please consider picking up a copy of Broken Hourglass at https://kielenki.ng/bh
Thank you for reading!
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