UEES Eagle’s Talon

UEES Eagle’s Talon is a UEEN vessel that is credited with the rescue of the surviving pilot of a San'tok.yāi that crashed on Yām'ping in 2941. The Eagle's Talon had been operating as part of a UEEN destroyer group when it received a message from a covert UEE reconnaissance outpost that had detected the explosion of a Xi'an packet ship in the Yā'mon system, resulting in the crash landing of its escorts. MPUVs dispatched by the Eagle's Talon found that two of the four escorts had been completely destroyed, and failed to save the third pilot when their rescue equipment triggered an explosion in the vessel, killing all members of the first rescue team. The second team was able to locate the surviving fourth pilot, who was rescued and returned to the Xi'an Empire.

While the Xi'an-Human Cold War had long since ended, relations between the two Empires had remained strained: indeed the first sighting of the San'tok.yāi in 2934 was believed to be an orchestrated response to the trade disputes of 2933. The rescue mission on Yām'ping was the first time humans had come close to the new Xi'an front-line fighter. While UEE Military Intelligence were disappointed with the decision to prioritise rescue operations over studying the fighter, the incident had a positive effect on Human-Xi'an relations despite the casualties.