Eagle X, Mission 21: CTRL

Part 4: Liam

The Strike Shuttle landed with a thump that vibrated through the hold. Liam did a quick inspection of his Embrine 400b rifle. Everything was in order. Scott growled as the giant felarnian moved beside him. Liam looked up, feeling small beside the seven feet of fur and muscle. At 6', he was short in comparison to the average felarnian and canamarian. Even the raiel towered above him. Standing there, waiting for the shuttle to settle, Liam suddenly felt miniscule in the grander scheme of things.

The yellow light by the bay door turned green.

"Ready to roll, bossman," Nubia said as she and Blockade joined Scott and Liam. Her voice was a mix of smooth butter and a twang common among Earth Space pirates, originating in the ancient American South.

Nubia and Blockade were new members of Eagle X. A packaged deal, a team like Liam and Scott. Her tactical combat gear was spray painted alternating patches of electric pink and neon yellow, the Eagle X eagle stenciled on her shoulder. Blockade was a big wall of a man. At 6'5 and clad in heavy assault gear, he could shrug off a grenade to the chest. Nubia was 5'7 and had to look up to meet the men's eyes. Despite her size, she'd made quite the impression in her five months with the group. She was a natural leader, which was why Liam approached her, and she fought with style.

She tossed a lock of her braided silver-tipped auburn hair out of her eyes and patted her partner on the shoulder. Blockade grunted and put on his helmet, covering his colonist pale skin and shaggy blonde hair.

Nubia whistled. "Looking good, tank!" She smiled and lowered her goggles, the pink and yellow working well against her dark brown skin. "Should we be expecting trouble?"

"No," Liam said.

"Always," Scott growled at the same time.

The two looked at each other. Liam shook his head.

"We have history with the Song Brothers," he explained. "We do business in good faith, but tall and irrational over here picked a fight with them the last time we met in person."

"A felarnian versus a raiel?" Nubia asked. "I'd pay to see that fight."

"Save your money. I won," Scott chuckled.

"Yeah, he won and the brothers put a price on our heads and bounty hunters on our asses."

"Sore losers," Scott mumbled under his breath.

"No, you reacted like you always do and jeopardized everything."

"We're fine."

Liam jacked a round into the chamber of his rifle and turned to Nubia.

"We should probably expect trouble. If it comes to violence, shoot to maim, not to kill. We need these guys."

Scott chuckled.

"Idiot." Liam turned on the shortwave comms link. "Hitman, we good?"

"Yeah, Spider. It's all clear up here. No sign of a ship or workers though. Place is like a ghost town."

"Great... Alright, team. Code names from here on."

"Copy that," Nubia and Hitman said at the same time.

Liam pointedly looked at Scott.

"Raven?"

"Copy that, Spider."

Liam nodded and turned to Blockade. The big man grunted and gave a lethargic affirmative nod.

"Ok. Hitman, we're heading out. Keep your eyes open and warn us the moment you see any sign of danger."