The walk back to the Fenris was one filled with excitement and joviality, and as the group of pilots made their way up to the elevator dais, Cameron couldn't help but to ponder as to the reasons of the others levity. For Cayde and Royce, it was likely the prospect of joining a GAC. For Logan, it was probably because that GAC was about to have two million silver to fill their coffers, should they live long enough to spend it. Cameron, on the other hand, had a much more simpler reason to be in high spirits; He was finally going to be back in the Headsman.

  'Aw, you missed me already?' Aeia asked, her voice taking up the bulk of Cameron's thoughts.

  Cameron had to fight to role his eyes, and make it look like it was paying attention to conversation taking place in front of him, while simultaneously responding the A.I. stuck inside of his head.

  'I was wondering where you got off to," he thought, 'You've been radio silent for nearly a week now.'

  'A girl needs her beauty sleep, ya know,' she said with a girlish giggle, 'Besides, you looked like you had your hands full already with your little... reunion. I didn't really feel like adding to your plate.'

  'What more could you add?'

  'Just some... observations I made during my little sabbatical. And a couple of questions to go along with them. But they can wait a little while. Right now, we need to focus on your first official job as a GAC owner.' She practically squealed the last part, and Cameron couldn't help but to smile, happy that his A.I. was at least pretending to be enthusiastic.

  'Yeah... We also need to make sure those upgrades get installed on the Headsman before we make planetfall,' he said, 'By the way, you could of at least told me we were gonna be buying the whole fucking store. Took hours to get all of those packages into the hanger.'

  'What can I say? I like nice things. And I'll be sure they're all put to good use.'

  'Of that, I have no doubt, Aeia.'

  ***

  The smiles and jokes continued as the group made their way inside of the ship. That was when the conversation died, as half of the party was too busy looking around at the ship's interior.

  "Jeez Bossman," Royce said with a whistle as he peered down the hall towards the expansive hanger bay, "This sure is some swanky digs."

  "Agreed," Cayde said, sliding his finger through one of the designed grooves of the wall, "Where'd you get a ship like this?"

  "The Fenris?" Logan asked, "I've had her for nearly a decade now. She was an old cargo freighter that was being used to run contraband from EarthGov to the Kalinar Reach, when it got picked up by some GACs operating as peacekeepers in the area. Some old friends of mine pitched in and helped me buy her at auction and outfit her for my needs. Took a ten million silver pipe dream and turned it into a mere hundred thousand silver weekend project."

  "Sounds like some good friends," Cayde said.

  Logan shrugged, giving a half smile, "They're alright. We started piloting together around the same time. Did a few jobs as a trio and decided we'd stick out together for a while to see how far we could go. When we all hit Beta-Primus, they wanted to form a GAC. I didn't. So... we decided to part ways, but not before they could help set me up to go solo. The rest is history."

  Cameron cocked his head to the side, watching Logan intently as he exposed a shred of his past. Over the course of the nearly full year he'd spent with the man, he couldn't recall many times that Logan had been forthcoming with information as to what he'd done before returning to Ketris.

  "I didn't know you were part of a team before," he said, "Why didn't you ever tell me?"

  "You never asked," Logan said with a shrug, before turning and beckoning Cayde and Royce to join him as he began making his way down one of the long corridors opposite the hanger, "Enough of that though, let's focus on the future, not the past. Cayde, Royce, come with me. I'll show you where you'll be bunking and after that we'll get your units hauled over. All the private quarters are taken, so you'll have to share space in the squad bay."

  "What else is new..." Cayde said with a sigh, as he and Royce followed after Logan, the two of them bickering quietly to one another before turning a corner, leaving Cameron alone once again in the bowels of the ship.

  He sighed, rolling his head from side to side, stretching his neck as he reflected on the events that had transpired over the past couple of weeks. From coming back to Arsius as a relinquished ward to Logan, to Aurora's injury and his removal from the team. Then the chance encounter with Priya and his "debut" in the Scouting Scrap at Fletcher Kahl's party. And now, his reunion with Logan and the formation of the Hounds of Orion. In less than a month he'd gone from a busted up Alpha class pilot, to the owner of his own GAC, with a lucrative contract, a soon-to-be souped up mech, and a disturbing amount of beautiful women taking an interest into his personal goings on.

  "Not bad for some backwater exile," He mused to himself.

  'Hyping yourself up again?' Aeia asked.

  "So what if I am?" he said aloud, "We've been through a lot recently. A little pat on the back isn't so bad."

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  'Just make sure you don't bruise yourself while you do it.'

  He rolled his eyes and turned on his heels, strolling towards the hanger as feelings of excitement and childish glee bubbled up from his chest.

  "How about we stop worrying about me congratulating myself for not suck starting a railgun from all the bullshit I went through recently, and instead worry about how we're gonna get this mountain of upgrades on the Headsman, hm?"

  She giggled inside of his head, despite the callous morbidity of his self-deprecating joke.

  'Sounds like a plan to me.'

  ***

  It took a while, but eventually, Cameron was able to sort through the myriad of boxes and crates lining his bay in the hangar, and organize the parts based on where exactly on the Headsman they were going to be installed. He'd finally sorted the last pallet of mods in the pile marked INTERNALS when the sound of footsteps ringing out on the metal grating caused him to turn and see Aurora was hobbling her way towards him, tufts of her bright blue hair-the bulk of which was hidden underneath a blanket of gauze wrappings-bouncing cutely with every step.

  Cameron smiled, taking a few steps towards her, "I can meet you half way you know?"

  "Don't you dare!" she called back with a huff, continuing to limp her way over to him, "I have head injury, I'm not paralyzed."

  Cameron threw his hands up in surrender, smiling as he backed up into the Headsman's bay once again, waiting for her patiently.

  "Thanks," she said appreciatively, her breath heavy as she hobbled past him, scanning over the various piles of parts.

  "So this is what half a million silver gets you."

  "Seems like it," he said, walking up to stand next to her, "All this shit just to bring Headsman up to Beta class. It's only now that It's right in front of me that I realize just how much I was missing out on by sticking just the base model."

  "It also goes to show just how good you were with the base model. With all this crap, I can only imagine what you'd do on a battlefield once I get these parts on."

  "Pfft," he scoffed, "I'm not gonna make you do all of this while you're recovering Aurora. I can figure it out."

  "No you can't," she said, a little quieter than before.

  Cameron raised an eyebrow, looking at her, confused, "Yeah I can, really, it's no troub-"

  "Cameron, I said no," she cut him off, and even though she wasn't looking at him, Cameron could hear the conviction in her tone, nor was it lost on him that she'd used his full name. An uncomfortable silence fell over the room, as both of them quietly stared at the upgrades, and in that moment of tense observation, Cameron could swear he could see the young mechanic trembling.

  "I'm sorry Aurora... I wasn't... I mean, I didn't-"

  "Don't apologize please. For anything," she said, her voice barely above a whisper. Cameron felt her shift towards him, and, before he knew it, her hand had found his own, their fingers intertwining tightly. His heart skipped a beat, as a fluttering warmth swelled in his chest. The feeling was fleeting however, as a lingering shame slowly wormed it's way in when he realized what she meant when she'd said the word 'anything'.

  He exhaled deeply, clutching her hand tight, "Aurora, I..."

  "I know it was an accident Cam," she said, "And believe me, I understand why you kept it secret. Or... why you kept her secret, I suppose."

  "If I'd know how dangerous it'd be to keep that secret, I never would have done so."

  "Hindsight's always twenty-twenty, Cam," she said, sniffling slightly, "And as much as we pick at each other, I don't think I could stand knowing that one of the few people I've come to care about in the past few years, someone who's gone through maybe as much loss as I have, was kicked out because of me."

  Cameron could feel her tiny hand squeeze tightly inside of his own as she continued to speak.

  "We nearly lost you once... To lose you again because I got hurt trying to help, and Logan threw a fit is about as stupid as it gets."

  "You didn't lose me, Aurora. I'm here now aren't I?"

  "Yeah... You are. But it's different now isn't it? We're not some scrappy band of misfits going job to job. We're an organization now, with people who depend on us. And these people... they don't know all the history or the skeletons in our closet. They're just here to work. Even that Priya chick. As much as I dislike her, that doesn't mean I want to put her in danger. But there's all this... bullshit involved. All these plots and schemes. We have an EarthGov ambassador investigating an assassin who committed a war crime on you. There's a possibility that that assassin came because of some political shit from your home world, which likely means your family isn't safe. And to top it all off, you have an A.I. living inside of your head, which isn't exactly stable at the moment... No offense."

  "None taken."

  "It's just... it's a lot. It's scary. It reminds me of my home before I left, and that place is little more than ashes right now. I don't want to abandon one family, just to lose another. I can't."

  "You won't" Cameron said, his words sounding like a binding oath. It was these words that finally caused her to turn and face him, looking up at him with wide eyes, glistening with unshed tears and filled with a sense of fear and uncertainty.

  "How do you know?" she asked, her lower lip trembling slightly, "How can I believe that, when everything else is pointing towards the contrary?"

  He smiled softly, reaching up with a thumb to wipe the tears from her eyes, "Because I'm a stubborn asshole."

  Her eyes widened slightly at his words, and then, she laughed. Hard. Alternating between holding her stomach that was spasming from levity, to her head that was pounding from lack of air.

  "Cam," she said after a minute, looking up at him, face flushed, "Be serious for once."

  "I am! Have you ever known me to be anything else? I can pilot with the best of them, sure, but I'm not one to quit just cause shit goes sideways. Trust me, I'm not planning on going anywhere. I got too many scores to settle, and I can't do that without the best mechanic in Free-Space behind me."

  Her smile brightened, and though he couldn't be sure if it was the laugher, the tears, or something else, Cameron was almost positive she was blushing. But as quickly as it came, it left, replaced instead by her furrowed brows and a questioning look.

  "And what about after those scores are settled? What then?"

  "Let's cross that bridge when we get to it, eh?"

  It took her a moment, but eventually, she nodded, her smile returning, if a bit softer and more reserved than before.

  "I can live with that," she said, sniffling and releasing her grip on his hand to wipe her eyes, "Enough of this sappy shit then. I suppose I better get to work... Boss."

  He shook his head, eyeing her coolly, "I'm not about to let you work on heavy machinery with a recovering head wound."

  "Oh don't worry about me," she said, waving a hand dismissively, "I figure if it's alright with you, I'll get little miss yoga pants in here to help. She knows how to TIG weld, right?"

  Before he could respond, Logan jogged through the doorway, datapad in hand, waving it like a banner.

  "Kid!" he called, "We got it! Contracts signed and sent! They even hooked us up with some logistical stuff too! Cayde's and Royce's units are being transported from a storage facility as we speak. Should be leaving port here in twenty."

  Cameron could only nod, before leaning down to whisper into Aurora's ear, "If she doesn't she better learn quick."