After the close of the interstellar war with the Tevarin in 2542, famed war hero and ace combat pilot, Admiral Riposte, noticed the burgeoning xenophobia and speciesism across known space. Consequently, he founded the non-discriminatory and non-profit citizen militia, Dauntless Universal Exploration & Security (commonly known as Dauntless or DUES)
Being a security and defense organization has given DUES a reputation for being a force for integrity, good service, and secular justice, but there have always been many critics who saw DUES as a force exclusively for status-quo. What is known of the original founder, before his mysterious death in 2546, is the usurpation by the Empire under the UEE supreme leader, General Messer, was not well-received by Admiral Riposte or the other core leaders of DUES.
It is well known that DUES is responsible for many of the anti-corruption, defense, and security activities that played a major role in the eventual overthrow of Messer by Congress (as well as thousands of corrupt leaders across the UEE), but what seems to be a consensus with the mercenary and more ethical drug-running community is the notion that the core leadership was always directly engaged in anti-Imperialist dark-ops and that Admiral Riposte lived long into the Messer regime spearheading critical data bust operations.