Commander Lacey Shepard sat at her desk preparing for a mission when there was a knock on her door.
"Enter." She looked up and grinned as the scarred bounty hunter, Zaeed Massani walked in.
"Zaeed, have a seat." She pointed to the couch. "What brings you to my room this time?"
"Got an interesting ping on the extranet, Shepard. Some goddamn paper pusher wants bounty hunters to help him find something. Although he referred to me as a vault hunter." Zaeed shrugged. "Damned if I know what that means."
Shepard tilted her head at him.
"Vault hunter? Hmm."
"Ever hear of the Hyperion Corporation or a planet called Pandora?"
"No, can't say that I have. Where is Pandora?"
"According to the message, far beyond the Far Rim. I don't know, Shepard. It sounds dodgy. What do you think?"
"Well, how much is this guy going to pay you?"
"That's the only reason I'm even thinking about this. I could bloody retire hundred times over."
"Well, I guess the only question is, when do you leave?"
Days later in the borrowed Normandy's Kodiak, Zaeed was approaching Pandora. It was mostly a desert planet, giving it a distinct brown color.
"What the bloody hell?"
Zaeed was pulling into an orbit pattern when he noticed the large crack on the surface and a cloud of purple mist flowing away from the planet. In orbit around the planet was a moon. Between them was a space station with a huge eye in the middle of two long rectangular branches, making the station look like a giant "H" in space. Zaeed was staring at the station when he realized he was receiving an alert that someone was hailing him.
"Hey buddy. You finally made it. Zaeed, right? Welcome to Pandora. Vault Hunter. Took you long enough."
"Yeah, I bloody well made it. You know how long it takes to get here from Sol? And why do you keep calling me 'vault hunter?' I'm a goddamn bounty hunter."
"Bounty, vault, who cares? It's all the same to me. Name's Jack by the way."
"Okay Jack, why'd you bring me here? What's going on?"
"All in due time. I need you to get to the planet's surface and meet up with rest of the team. Then get on the shuttle to Helios."
"Hey jackass. I like to have all the information before jumping into a situation. So, bloody tell me.."
"WOULD YOU JUST PLEASE...look, there's a bit of an issue that I could use...oh son of a taint. Gotta go."
The communication cut off abruptly. Zaeed lowered his head into his hands and sighed.
"What did I get myself into, goddamnit?"