“What do you mean no one knows?” Cameron asked, scoffing with incredulity. He turned to look at Logan to see if he could help shine some light on the situation, but he too was unable to give a firm answer.

“She’s telling the truth kid. Omegas are the great big mystery of The Fleet.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Cameron asked. He felt a peculiar sensation in the pit of his stomach as he voiced his question. Some sense of uneasiness that bubbled up inside of him, like he was looking for some taboo knowledge that no one was supposed to know. Nevertheless, Logan obliged his curiosity with the best answer he could muster.

“I’ve been in The Fleet for fifteen years kid, and I’ve only seen two Omega class pilots. And even then, it was because I was attached as reserve unit with a team of Gammas. I…” He chewed at his lip, searching for the right words, “I don’t know how to describe them kid, but they’re not human. They can’t be.”

“Why do you say that?” Cameron probed, eyes wide and ears open, ready to receive any information he could gleam from Logan’s memories, grateful that as he looked past the man, the end of their path was still far off in the distance.

“Because no human could survive what these guys put themselves through,” Logan said, his voice hushed slightly, “There’s a certain point where technology becomes so advanced it’s indistinguishable from magic and when I watched these two fight… magical was the only way to describe it. At base Alpha class, if you can hit a hundred miles an hour, then you can count yourself lucky that you got one of the fastest A.R.M.S. fresh off the assembly line. At Beta class, the average movement is closer to two hundred miles an hour. And it only goes up from there.

“So what, they were moving at like 1000 miles an hour or something?” Cameron asked, still trying to grasp the gravity of power these pilots supposedly held.

Logan shook his head, looking directly into Cameron’s eyes, speaking softly, as if his words were meant only for him.

“That’s the thing kid. I can’t tell you how fast they were going because I didn’t see them. None of us did. One minute they were standing there sizing each other up, the next, they were gone. But we heard them. For half a minute, it sounded like the sky itself was being split open. They were moving so fast, that our eyes, and those of our units sensors couldn’t track them. There was some weird… pressure the built up in the air around us, and it nearly pinned my Crusader to the ground. I thought I was gonna die. But just as quick as it started. It was over,” He said, snapping his fingers to emphasize the swift conclusion, “And suddenly, we were looking at one badly damaged Mech, and one heap of melted slag.”

“Holy shit…” Cameron said, under his breath.

“Took the words out of my mouth, kid.” Logan said, nodding slowly. “I can remember when it was over, the other mech had turned to look at us. And then, it simply turned and walked away. There were thirty of us there kid. Twenty Gammas and ten Betas and that pilot could have cared less. We weren’t worth it. But we were lucky that day.”

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

There was a silence among the trio as they seemed to absorb the gravity of Logan’s words. It was only when they fully stepped off the platform and onto the non-moving ground, that Cameron spoke up.

“I’m not gonna lie… That sounds pretty fucking awesome.”

“Right?!” Aurora said, causing Cameron to do a double take from the fact they had actually agreed on something.

Logan couldn’t hide his amusement, quietly chuckling and shaking his head, “I guess you had to have been there,” Then he shrugged, and nodded his head towards a large opening in the stations center wall, strewn with a series of flashing neon lights that spelled out “Monty’s Mechs” in bright flashing letters.

“We’re here kids,” He said, raising his voice to be heard over Aurora’s aggravated groan.

“Ugh! Why are we here? I hate dealing with Monty!” She cried out, glaring daggers at Logan.

“What’s wrong with Monty?” Logan asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Shall I list my grievances alphabetically or chronologically?” She asked, not giving Logan a chance to reply before diving into her rant, raising a finger for every issue she voiced, “He smells, he’s cheap, he sells second hand parts at wholesale prices, he once tried to hawk an oxygen recycling system that had cracked valves which I spent a month and a half trying to fix so you wouldn’t suffocate when out on a contract, AND he shamelessly checks me out every time he sees me.”

Cameron was speechless as he watched Logan take Aurora’s ranting full force, letting her get everything off her chest before finally responding.

“Two things,” He began, “First of all, I didn’t know he made you uncomfortable because you don’t tell me these things. If you want me to, next time he does it, I’ll drag him out into the street and hit him with so many rights, he’ll be begging me for a left,”

Cameron could see a tinge of blush appear on Aurora’s cheeks as Logan gave his proclamation, quietly huffing out “You’re not my dad,” under her breath.

“Second,” He continued, ignoring her comment, “He’s the only that has the units I found for Cameron.”

Aurora rolled her eyes, scrunched her nose, and crossed her arms, thumping her foot in a way that reminded Cameron of a pissed off bunny. If he hadn’t heard some of the things that left her mouth in the short time of him knowing her, he’d almost think it was cute.

“Fine,” Aurora said after a moment, causing Logan to crack a smile. The man turned to Cameron then and raised an eyebrow.

“Ready to find your soulmate?”