Wild Eagles Squadron
The Wild Eagle Squadron was a starfighter squadron of the Terran Confederation. It was formed in 2667 under the command of Major Todd Marshall, and was assigned to the TCS Concordia. It was comprised of four members who were tasked with test-piloting the Confederation's newest heavy fighter, the F-95 Morningstar.
The members of the Wild Eagles were:
- Major Todd "Maniac" Marshall
- Captain Maria "Minx" Grimaldi
- Lieutenant Markham "Crossbones" Colt
- Lieutenant Jeffrey "Talon" Burkheimer
The Wild Eagles' service to the Confederation during the Morningstar test flights was wracked with setbacks. Upon the squadron's arrival on the TCS Concordia, Captain Grimaldi's starfighter experienced a jump drive failure that left her stranded in space. Colonel Christopher Blair volunteered to rescue her in his F-57 Sabre as the Morningstar could not yet retrieve ejected pilots. Blair succeeded in rescuing Grimaldi, who destroyed her crippled Morningstar to prevent its capture by the Kilrathi.
The Wild Eagles proceeded to test-fly the Morningstar during the Concordia's operations in the Canewdon System, even taking the starfighter into combat missions when required.
During the trials, Captain Grimaldi, who was secretly sympathetic to the clandestine Society of the Mandarins turned traitor and committed herself over to the treacherous Terran organization, intending on meeting with the enemy with a fully-loaded Morningstar. Burkheimer and Colt quickly caught onto this deceit and attempted to stop her, but Grimaldi set off an explosive device placed on the Concordia's flight deck to cover her tracks. The resulting explosion injured Chief Technician Janet McCullough and Lieutenant Burkheimer, the latter of whom would never fly a starfighter again; Lieutenant Colt was killed in the blast. Colonel Blair and Marshall attempted to disrupt Grimaldi's mission, though she evaded her pursuers as the Morningstar fell into enemy hands.
The betrayal of Captain Grimaldi, Burkheimer's injuries and the death of Colt marked the effective destruction of the Wild Eagles Squadron.
Later that year during a Special Operations mission led by James Taggart, Captain Grimaldi herself would die at the hands of Mandarin agent Zachary Colson during the destruction of the Mandarin base at Ayer's Rock and Colson himself was in turn killed by Blair; Major Todd Marshall remained the only original member of the Wild Eagles Squadron to still be active on the frontlines as of 2681.
