Disclaimer: I do not own the Borderlands franchise, nor anything related to it.

Chapter 1

Some went so far as to call it a true civil war. As far as the Eridian Royal Council was concerned, it was nothing more than an act of defiance, the work of an egotist done through the hands of his supporters.

None could deny, however, the absolute chaos that engulfed Pandora and Elpis on that day.

At was almost as if a bubble of spacecraft surrounded the planet and its' moon, enclosing the carnage that raged below them. Huge flagships traded laser blasts while swarms of smaller fighters engaged in dogfights. Explosions lit up like fireworks, a dazzling display of utter destruction.

There was a clear sign of dominance, however. Huge, dark-purple carriers easily outnumbered the slightly smaller pink-ish flagships. One side was certainly winning this battle. Unless a miracle happened soon for the losing faction, defeat was imminent.

It was on Pandora's surface, however, that the decisive battle was being waged. Along an icy mountain pass, the two factions were locked in a stalemate. While the Eridian Guardians engaged the enemy's machines, soldiers exchanged laser fire from covered positions. On the plateau near the summit, two titans struggled to dominate the other. One resembled a gargantuan dragon, with six legs, a pair of odd wings, a hide of stone, and a cone-like tail. The other was a true abomination, a blob of tentacles and spikes with a single, glaring eye.

From this eye, the abomination fired an intense beam of purple energy at the dragon. The dragon screeched in pain and retaliated with a torrent of fire. The abomination was gradually being pushed towards into huge Vault glyph. A portal spanned the interior of the giant arch, and purple energy ebbed and flowed across its' stony surface. Most of the abomination was already inside the portal, but its' tentacles held it firmly in place. They were gradually being severed by Eridian soldiers one-by-one.

Eventually, the last tentacle was cleaved, and with a horrid shriek, the abomination was sucked into the portal. The portal quickly closed to prevent it from escaping, and the energy flowing along the Vault glyph ceased. It collapsed, its various segments landing with hard thuds in various places on the plateau. The soldiers cried a cheer of triumph, and their huge dragon's roar carried for miles. The enemy forces were wiped out, at least in this area.

A dropship, decorated with the Eridian Royal Insignia, swiftly descended upon the plateau. It hovered just above the ground, and with a flash of light, a slender Eridian materialized. The Royal Family's traditional colors, deep blue and silver, adorned in her ceremonial armor. Her flowing blue cape snapped in the cold wind. She approached the group of celebrating soldiers, and a heavily-armored Eridian, presumably the Commander, walked quickly to meet her.

"Your Highness!" the Commander called out before bowing briefly before her. "I wasn't expecting your arrival."

"Excellent work, Commander," she greeted. She gazed upon the celebrating soldiers, who were too endulged with their own business to notice her arrival. "How many casualties?"

"Too many, My Queen," the Commander reported, shaking his head. "The Seraphs put up a bigger fight than we expected, given their limited resources. We weren't prepared for their fortifications." He straightened up. "But, Phase 1 worked. The Destroyer is sealed within the Vault. It won't be getting out any time soon."

The Eridian Queen nodded in acknowledgement. Her brilliant blue eyes traveled over to the huge dragon, which was currently staring at the flagships in the sky. "Seal the Warrior, like the rest of the weapons," she said as she turned. "Then we can begin Phase 2." The Commander bowed again as another flash of light engulfed the Queen. The dropship rose, then rocketed off into the sky. The Commander turned on his heel and gave orders to his soldiers.

It would be a long trek to Mount Hellsfont.

The Hyperion Corporation, it seemed, had turned over a new leaf. Who would've guessed that would happen after the death of its infamous dictator of a CEO?

With Handsome Jack dead and his Warrior destroyed, the burden of running the Hyperion Corporation fell, naturally, onto Blake's shoulders. He had foreseen, but had not anticipated, that outcome, but he was prepared for it. He, like most of Hyperion's higher-ups, saw no purpose in focusing so intently on Pandora. Though the trade of Eridium had been outrageously profitable for the company, Handsome Jack's obsession with abusing the element had turned many of them away from it.

Blake introduced a flurry of changes within the Corporation soon after his promotion. The only Hyperion force that remained on Pandora was for maintenance and defensive purposes only. After all, Pandora was still a bandit-ridden wasteland of a planet, and those unfortunate enough to have to live there must be protected. The only remotely suspicious thing he had done was installing an array of satellites in the planet's upper atmosphere. Blake claimed they were strictly for security purposes, but the Vault Hunters were skeptical.

The Vault Hunters themselves faced a problem: With no more Vaults within easy reach, what was their next target? Of the planets highlighted by the Vault Key's internal map, only a few were within a reasonable distance for possible looting. Of course, the group didn't have a ship capable of interstellar travel, and even if they did, they hadn't firmly decided on a destination. It was a problem they kept in the back of their minds as they went about their day-to-day business.

Blake, in an effort to establish a good standing with the Crimson Raiders, frequently offered jobs for the Vault Hunters to do for him. They were rarely anything extraordinary. Usually, they involved clearing out a potentially problematic bandit camp or retrieving stolen Hyperion equipment. The Vault Hunters, though dubious, didn't complain; Blake paid handsomely, both in hard cash and in quality gear.

It was during one such seemingly-routine mission, however, that shattered the sense of normality that had fallen over Pandora. Chaos would return to the savage planet, but, then again, isn't chaos what Pandora is (in)famous for?

[I have a small but urgent task for you,] Blake began his pre-recorded message, as he usually did. On the receiving end of his message, a Commando, a blue-haired Siren, and the Mechromancer listened intently to his slow drawl. [One of the satellites I sent into orbit around Pandora months ago has malfunctioned and, as such, crash-landed on a small island off the coast of the Highlands. I doubt the satellite will be salvageable, but I want you investigate the crash site. Retrieve the satellite's data bank and return it to me as soon as possible. The approximate coordinates of the crash site are included with this message.]

"A fallen satellite, huh?" Gaige remarked, switching off the ECHO receiver in the Crimson Raider Headquarters. "Should be fun." She hopped out of her chair and strode towards the door.

"Only you would find something like this 'fun'," Axton quipped. Gaige gave him a knowing smirk. "I bet you just wanna see what you can salvage from it."

Gaige chuckled. "You know me too well, Ax," she grinned. "I also wanna see what exactly that satellite's been recording. Blake never told us why he sent those things into orbit in the first place."

"Judging from what he's willing to pay us," Maya said, "that data's valuable." Indeed, Blake offered to pay each of them a lofty sum for such a simple job. "If he's up to no good with those satellites, we need to know."

"Wouldn't be surprised if he was," Axton said, stretching his arms. "So, do we wanna wait for the others to get back, or head out now?" The other three Vault Hunters were busy dealing with the latest activity of a rising bandit leader.

"I imagine they'll be tied up for a while," Maya said, her hands on her hips. "The Prankster's an elusive guy, and if I know those three as well as I think I do, they won't be back until he's dead." She wasn't far from the truth when she said that.

"Besides," Gaige commented, "the debris field will probably be huge, even if the satellite remained intact during re-entry. It'll likely take us a while to find that data bank." The Mechromancer received a pair of looks from her companions.

"She'll probably explode if we don't go right this instant," Axton said, rolling his eyes. Gaige punched him in the arm playfully. "Let's get going, then." The trio quickly packed their supplies, grabbed their guns, and teleported to the Highlands via the Fast Travel station.

The island that the satellite had crashed on was only a few miles long, so finding the crash site wasn't too difficult, especially because of the plume of smoke rising from it. The satellite had remarkably remained mostly intact, though it was severely damaged. Some of the trademark Hyperion yellow paint was still visible underneath the extensive scorch marks.

It took almost half an hour of poking, prodding, and a bit of brute force to retrieve the data bank. The black metal box was still hot to the touch, but Gaige was confident that its' contents could be read. All she needed was the proper hardware to read it, which, if she didn't already have it, could be built within a few days.

Axton had watched Gaige as she made her way to the data bank, but Maya had wandered off. Something felt... odd... about this island. Mental tugs pulled her towards some unseen destination. She had felt something similar when the group stormed through Hero's Pass to confront Handsome Jack and face the wrath of his Warrior. She felt a similar, but much more faint, feeling from the Vault Key. Here, she heard whispers, like faint music in the wind, within her mind. She was certain that an Eridian relic was somewhere on this island.

The mental tugging and the whispers eventually led her to the middle of the island. The tall grass that covered most of the small island stopped growing in a large circle. Sand covered the barren ground in a thick layer. The whispers on Maya's mind told her that whatever she was seeking was underground, but there was no sign of anything on the surface.

"Maya?" Axton called out once the data bank had been retrieved. The Siren, however, didn't hear him; the whispers had drowned his voice out. It wasn't until he physically shook her that the voices vanished. "Hey, we've got the data bank," he said, looking intently at her. "Let's get out of here before it gets dark."

"No, not yet," Maya said, her voice barely above a whisper. She shook the Commando's grip off, and she slowly walked to the center of the sand circle.

"What?" Axton asked, taking a tentative step forward. "Why not? There's noth-"

"Something is here," the Siren interrupted him. Her eyes blazed with intent. "An Eridian artifact, or something similar. I can feel it. Whatever it is, it's underground." She dropped to her hands and knees and began to dig in the sand.

"You're serious, aren't you?" Axton asked, more to himself than to Maya. Whenever she got that look of determination, he knew better than to challenge her.

After thoroughly examining the debris of the satellite, Gaige went to see where Maya, and now Axton, had gone off to. When she saw the pair digging in the sand, she couldn't help but laugh, "What are you two doing?"

Axton shot her a glare. "Shut up and dig," he said blandly. The two stared at each other for several moments before Gaige finally shrugged. She summoned her robot companion, Deathtrap, and the pair began to dig in the sand as well.

Author's Note: For those of you who have read my previous story with a very similar title, this story is, basically, a re-write. I wanted to start over, to integrate some different ideas into the story. Many of the key points in the later chapters of my previous story will remain, but the introductory material and plot points will be changed.

I want to craft a better story this time around. I hope you enjoy. Feel free to comment on or critique what you see; both help me improve my writing, which means it'll be more enjoyable for you, the readers.

Until next chapter-

-ID Zeta