Hounds of Orion

Cameron took his time piloting the Squire up the steep ridge slope towards the start of the agility course. Frustrations aside, the ascension part of the process was something he genuinely enjoyed. Looking out about the pine trees from the windshield of his mech, Cameron could get a bird's-eye view of the Ru’Dan’s forested landscape. The planet itself was small, nearly a quarter the size of Ketris, and had been terraformed only a century ago, leaving a tiny patch of land of around one thousand kilometers as the habitable land among the rolling waves of black ocean water. The air was engineered to be cooler, and a thick fog was permanently rolling through the area of the valley they were camped out in, surrounded in all directions by tall craggy mountains and insulated by blackwood pines.

This was a place straight out of a piece of art. A breathtaking landscape so few had ever laid eyes on. It was a shame that its beauty only lasted until Cameron reached the peak of the ride, turning the Squire to look down a steep drop off leading into the forest below. He sighed heavily, before flicking the mic down on the headset, tuning the frequency to broadcast to Logan’s audiocaster.

“Alright. I’m here,” He said wearily. “Let me know when you have visual.”

There was a few moments of dead air before the merc’s gruff voice crackled into Cameron’s headset. “Alright kid, I got eyes on. Let’s see what you got. Here’s hoping you don’t kiss a tree branch going eighty.”

“Yeah… Here’s hoping.”

Cameron took a moment, gathering himself, imagining the long path leading down from where he currently stood, to the finish line. His wrecks had be around the same area every time, around the halfway mark, so if he made it past that section, he still had a few kilometers to go before reaching the finish line.

“But that's a problem for future me,” he whispered to himself, as ready as he could be. With a sigh, he gripped both steering yokes, pushing the throttle to its limit as the Squire burst forth off its high perch, rocketing down the embankment at nearly a hundred kilometers an hour. He felt the metallic rumbling of the mech’s pounding feet even out into a smooth vibration as the boosters on the bottom of its feet switched on, transitioning into a high-speed skating glide as he broke into the tree line.

“Well, there’s your issue,” Logan’s voice crackled over the headset, fighting to be heard above the high-pitched hum of Squire’s boosters, “You’re coming in like a bat out of hell into the treeline. How do you expect to dodge shit when you’re full throttle like that?”

Cameron didn’t respond verbally, instead, Logan received his answer by watching the kid go to work, looking through a set of high-powered binoculars to see Cameron beginning to weave in and out between the trees with ease. He didn’t avoid the obstacles as much he seemed to glide around them, flexing and molding the Squire’s usually uncompromising size to suit his needs, keeping his speed up while dipping left and right through the smallest of openings. Logan’s jaw dropped open in shock, going to switch his headset off, and turning to Marcus who had a similar look on his face as he too watched through his own set of binoculars.

“Are you seeing this shit?” Logan asked the former servant, unable to take his eyes off Cameron’s prodigious piloting skill.

“He’s fast,” Marcus said under his breath, barely above a whisper. “H-How in the world…”

“I’m just as confused as you are… He’s treating that squire like a scout class,” Logan said, continuing to watching, unblinking as Cameron approached a large pine, beset on both sides by a series of giant boulders. If he had to guess, this was the spot where he’d wrecked so many times, evident by the streaks of paint on the bark, and the splintered cracks at the base. He could feel his mouth go dry as he realized the kid wasn’t letting up. In fact, he seemed to increase his speed. Logan was sure Cameron was redlining the Squire now, flicking his headset down to speak into it.

“Cameron you need to slow it down, you’re not going to have time to-”

He stopped, mid-sentence, unable to continue his coaching as he saw the Squire leap into the air, turning sideways as it slid between to opening of the tree and the boulder. The ten meter tall mech landed with a thunderous rumble, the boosters in its feet already going full blast, allowing Cameron to slide down the mountain reminiscent of the snowboards from the classical Earth sport.

It was silent then, save for Cameron whose voice came out clearly over the headset for all to hear.

“Hell yeah! Finally!”

Logan and Marcus looked at each other, expressions of shock on both of their faces, before Logan cleared his throat finally finding his voice.

“Kid… get your ass back to base. Now.”

***

Cameron was all smiles as he pulled to a stop outside of the garage, not even letting the Squire fully power down before he’d popped up from the top hatch, watching Logan and Marcus hurry over to him at a brisk jog. He smiled wild, holding his arms up triumphantly.

“Did you see that?! Please tell me you saw that.” He said, looking at Logan.

“I saw you treat a giant four ton mass of steel and hydraulics like it was a hover racer,” Logan said, his tone chastising, though even he couldn’t hide the grin the stretched itself across his face. “When the hell did you learn to do that?”

Cameron shrugged, before climbing down the rungs towards solid ground, speaking as he descended. “I watched the booster activate a few weeks ago, while Aurora was testing their output. Figured if I could navigate the course while going full tilt, then I should have no problem doing it without. All my wrecks happened while I was trying to navigate that tree and boulder section, but as you can see, I’ve found a viable solution.”

Logan turned to see a clearly irritated Aurora, staring daggers at Cameron. “So this is your fault eh?”

“My fault?!” She shouted in response, looking incredulous. “He’s the one running the boosters so hot, they’re likely fused to the feet, and this is my fault?”

Logan shrugged pointing in Cameron’s direction, “Yeah but he did something awesome so I can forgive that.”

Aurora’s mouth dropped open as she made a shrill squeak of disbelief, before storming off in a huff muttering to herself. “Idiots. I am surrounded by idiots.”

Cameron watched the mechanic go before looking back at Logan, who was shaking with laughter. There was an electricity that went through him, making it hard to keep his happiness hidden, as his body remembered the excitement of the course. “So I take it I did well?”

Logan wiped a tear from his eye as he nodded, turning his gaze to look at Cameron. “Kid, in all my years, I’ve never seen someone pilot a Squire like that. If you’re half as good in an actual A.R.M.S. unit, then… by the stars. I can’t even fathom it. Especially at Alpha class? Forget about it.”

Cameron watched as Logan practically salivated at the prospect of the high-paying jobs they could pull off in the future, leaving it up to Cameron to be the one to stay on topic for once. “Speaking of which, didn’t I hear you say that if I could clear that course, then we could take a job?”

Logan’s eyes went wide for a moment, before he nodded. “Oh, yeah, that’s right. Let me just -” He looked around his person, searching for something before the clearing of a throat drew both his and Cameron’s gaze to Marcus, who was standing before them holding up a manilla folder.

“I believe you’re looking for this,” He said, handing the folder to Logan, “You left it on the observatory when he came in.”

“Is that it?” Cameron asked pointing at the folder, to which Logan nodded with a smirk.

“Yes it is kid. You’re first contract,” He walked over and handed Cameron the folder before continuing to speak, “We already called it in and agreed to take it. We’re gonna pack up the essentials tonight and meet the client planet side in two days.”

Cameron raised an eyebrow in surprise. “Really? Damn, you move quick. You sure this is something I can do?”

Logan nodded definitively, “Absolutely. It’s an easy job, with decent pay and a promise of relatively simple combat to get your feet wet. Besides, Ill be right there next to you should things go south.”

“Seems to good to be true,” Cameron said, leafing through the opening briefing. “What exactly are we doing?”

Logan’s grin widened, “Pest control.”