Eagle X, Mission 15: The Singapore Incident

Part 8: Liam

"What are we doing, Spider? This is bullshit!"

"You think everything is bullshit, Raven," Liam observed. "How about you download a thesaurus app?"

"He might have a point this time, boss," Patricia added.

"Don't start agreeing with him now."

"Yeah, don't agree with me," Scott grumbled. "It pisses me off."

"Do the math." Patricia displayed the numbers on her datapad. "If Eight of us head up to the command deck, there are bound to be a few casualties. If the two of you go alone, you'll take the ship with a few cuts and bruises."

"We were asked to stay under the radar, kittens."

"Stop that shit," Scott growled. He hated being compared to common house cats.

"The Djinn is paying us to stay low profile. If we run up there and show what we can do, people will get suspicious. We don't want that, so we follow their lead."

"Like I said, bullshit."

"What's bullshit is operating with such limited information."

"That's my fault," Patricia said. "Asian Seas Transit might offer subpar services, but their encryption is top tier. I was nearly into the nexus when I was booted out. I was able to snatch a handful of security logs before the door slammed shut."

"So you can't crack it?" Liam was surprised. Patricia was a top tier cracker, there were very few coders on her skill level.

"Tsk, funny. I can crack it, I just need direct access to the nexus."

"I'll keep that in mind." Liam shook his head. Neither sibling believed in modesty when it came to their ability. "Here they come. Remember, we follow their lead."

"Right," they said in unison. One was sarcastic, the other sincere but wary.

The strike team consisted of a group of volunteers armed with a hodgepodge of weapons and armor salvaged from whatever the survivors could find. It was a bad sign that there were more charging bull tattoos among them than assault rifles. They were woefully ill-equipped, but determined to take back the ship. What they needed was combat armor, the chance of success would have been much higher. Light armor would stop a 10 yield round as long as it was fired from a distance.

They moved like soldiers, and carried themselves like soldiers. Liam wasn't surprised to learn the majority were ex-EC military. Dominicus Station was a popular port for mercenaries looking for work. They were freelancers in the right place at the right time. Coupled with the CEO's Executive Service guards the survivors had two dozen fighting men and women.  As they joined Liam and his team in the lobby, he noticed that two had managed to find EC marine fatigues. Gathered together, Liam wondered how many people would have survived the Flesh Farmer attack without their skill.

Sergeant Maldonado watched proudly as the group formed up. "Listen up, boys and girls. A group of hijackers have taken control of the ship and dropped us off the map. It's because of them the farmers found us, and hundreds of people are dead. We're taking this ship back, then we'll find a safe harbor.

From the security footage Renegade was able to grab, we know these people are ruthless, efficient, and heavily armed. We can assume the command crew is either dead or being held hostage. We'll only have one chance to catch them by surprise, so we have to be quick and decisive. Because after this they'll be expecting us. That makes this assault crucial."

"Good, Sergeant, I have a few thoughts on our best opt-"

"Sorry, Spider. I do appreciate the intel your people were able to provide, but Captain Carlyle has marine training, and is acting commander of the CEO's Executive Services. I believe he's the most qualified to lead this op."