Chapter 1: Repair
ECHO-LOG #119:
Sent by: Lilith [firehawkECHOpnd]
To: cathater_axECHOhie ; blueforceECHOpnd ; salvadorgunfriendECHOpnd; 01011010ECHOnet ; gaigecarvupECHOed5 ; SPEAKERBOXECHOpnd ;
Subject Matter: Return to Pandora
Lilith: Hey Killers! To make this short: We need you back here on Pandora. As fast as you can. The Vaults have to wait. We just came face to face with a... well... it was... an alien creature...
Patricia Tannis: I would advise you not to use the phrase 'creature' all too liberally, as it clearly undercuts the power and importance of whatever it now was, but if any of you ever heeded any of my advise it wouldn't be half as much fun to provide it. Judging by the semblance to statues found on Pandora this alien is bound to have close connections to the Eridians, although it is still way too early to tell decidedly if this was a real Eridian. For now I will name it The Watcher and I will furthermore refrain from using toothpicks until...
Lilith: Yes, erm, thank you for your well-grounded input, Doctor Tannis. Sorry, we're all still a wee bit shaken. Anyhow, head for Pandora. God only knows what's going to happen, but we best be prepared. We've accomplished quite something down here, but we can't exactly replace the six biggest badasses Pandora has ever seen...
Mr. Torgue: Are you talking about the Vault Hunters here? THAT MEANS YOU'RE ABSOLUTELY MOTHERF***ING RIGHT! If I remember correctly, we were handing out the OFFICIAL CERTIFICATES right after the tournament...
Lilith: Jessup! Get him out of here! And close the fucking door when you leave! No one enters this damned building until I tell you otherwise or you can kiss your sorry ass goodbye! [Deep Breathes] I'm sorry. Toil and trouble on our end. So, well, hope to see you soon. We'll keep ourselves busy!
Maya had always thought she knew Sanctuary well. After all, the so called city measured less than a square mile. She was aware that the buildings were merely welded on top of a spaceship, but as long as the engines kept them aloft, she hadn't put too many thoughts into the matter.
Upon her return however, she had learned of the network of engine rooms, hallways, crew quarters and storage rooms underneath the dusty streets. Climbing down into the bowels of Sanctuary for the second time now, she was relying entirely on signposts to get around the maze of rusty corridors. Flickering lamps lit the metallic tunnels, hardly high enough for a grown person to stand upright, the walls were coated in sturdy vents, leaking ductwork, badly isolated wires and control panels which kept an air of dignity and importance even under layers of dust and cobwebs.
The D.S.S Sanctuary had been buried in the ground for several decades and it showed. Badly. Whole sections of the ships interior were still blocked by earth and rubble. What had once been a mining vessel capable of hyperspace-jumps, had degenerated to a levitating platform with a rickety city on top. The only thing that actually worked, tirelessly and well, was the main engine and it only did so, because Scooter worked almost as tirelessly to keep it running. The mechanic constantly lamented, that no one, especially no females, ever really appreciated, that he kept the whole city from becoming a rather big grease spot in the Highlands, but if Maya had learned one thing on Pandora, it was that the universe simply wasn't a just place.
However now the Helios Space Station was gone from the sky, the remaining Hyperion-troops were laying down their weapons by the hundreds and the Crimson Raiders had time to muse and start to fix things, which had been held together by tape and dried spittle during wartime. And their flying city was definitely priority. It would be nigh impossible to restore the spaceship to its former glory, but turning it from a hovering town into a true flying fortress was a different matter.
Maya ducked under a rusty vent and entered the core room. It was a big, circular hall, filled to the brim with floodlights, cables, power-tools, schematics and stale pizza. Two deputized mechanics were lying in a corner, snoring and ignoring the sounds emanating from the adjacent tunnels and crawlspaces, hammering, the screech of metal saws and the buzz of welders.
"Scooter?", Maya called. The chief mechanic wasn't in sight, but during his time in the maze he had infamously developed the eerie skill to hear almost any word spoken inside the machinery.
It took less than a minute for Scooter to wriggle himself out of a crawlspace, warily putting his cap back on his head and brushing the worst remnants of rust and grease off his jacket. "Ye know, them say all these midgets around here got mutated or shit while digging for Dahl. But ye know what I think? I think Dahl brought them here on purpose! 'Cause no normal man can never work inside these damned crawlspaces!"
"I reckon they used drones for maintenance", Maya replied. "What's you status?"
Scooter scratched his neck with a wrench, while grabbing a piece of pizza with his free hand. "Status? Oh, really? I reported just yesterday. What she thinking we do down here, we can't all be inked witches with magical powers, things take their time." It took some effort, but he managed to rip a piece off the pizza and started to chew. "No offense, sorry, but Lily is starting to get on me nerves. Hard. Like Skag-crashing-against-yer-front-bumper-at-full-speed-hard."
"What kind of yesterday are we talking about?"
Scooter blinked in surprise. "Yesterday in like less than 12 hours ago."
"It's closer to a Pandoran-yesterday. You've been down here for three regular days. The lot of you. Do you ever sleep?" Maya was feeling a pang of worry. If the mechanic of all people collapsed from exhaustion, things could get a little hairy. There was no way of replacing him.
"Now that ye speak of it... I took some quick naps in the crawlspaces... I mean, ye're already lying on yer belly and stuff. Must've been a wee bit longer than me thought."
"So, what did you do in the last couple of days?"
Immediately the mechanic was back in his comfort zone, unfolding a big, blue schematic of the ship. "Alright, let's see. We've cleared decks four and five in Quadrant 2, they should be inhabitable by now, actually. In the center we dismantled a lot of electronics we won't need anymore. Ground-analysis, grinders and anything else from the mining business. Using the salvaged material to rig up all the handy stuff: Radar, deep space communication, motion trackers, all them beauties. Main engine is fully ready. Stabilizers fixed, no more twisting and turning when the winds get rough. Horizontal boosters are a big problem, cause they're hard to repair under the circumstances, but we got three of them running. Ah, yeah, three out of forty-five, but hey, if we'd have to make a little trip to the south we're definitely good to go."
"Anything else noteworthy?"
"Found a mummified Varkid. That was kinda creepy, but, well, happens and as far as me knows, old Shin Gutter is done puking so that's that." Scooter shrugged and pried loose another piece of pizza. "Got one little request though."
Maya smirked. "Fresh pizza?"
"That would be a bonus. Nah, what I was about to ask, it's about weapons, ye see, cause them guys what build this marvel weren't exactly intent on shooting things out of the sky, they wanted to get close and familiar with the dirt. So, this beauty ain't got no weaponry heavier than a rocket launcher. And as we are getting ready for war once more, I recommend we get ourselves some big ass guns."
"Oh. And where do you recommend we get them?" Lilith had mentioned by the bye that Scooter was lobbying for a salvage run he wasn't allowed to make until the machinery worked without him, but as Maya had just arrived a regular week prior she didn't know the details.
Scooter grinned. "I'd like to salvage the Soaring Dragon. There's at least one big anti-ship gun we know of and I'd bet the wreck holds some more capital weaponry. And it ain't as if there's anyone left on Southern Shelf who would have made the run. But we need to be fast nonetheless", the mechanic continued and suddenly he sounded unusually serious. "Because this being Pandora no one can tell ye when this ice will melt and leave all them guns and all the fuel and whatnot on the bottom of the ocean. I mean, it would only take a day, and I don't need to trudge along, but someone better go there and at least secure the guns somehow, cause I tell ye once, ye don't want to recover nothing from waters that hold sharays."
Maya preferred not to investigate in terms of sharays. "Alright, I'll talk with Lilith." Actually, she would be willing to do the salvage run herself. Seeing everyone at work, citizens, Raiders and especially her fellow Vault Hunters, made her itchy and restless. Everyone was out there doing something, accomplishing something. And she was here, in Sanctuary, acting as Lilith's second-in-command, giving orders, coordinating missions on the ground, bartering with the smugglers. Although she was certainly allowed to leave whenever she wanted, it felt like the monastery all over again.
Yeah, leading from the top was dull business.
On the other side of the room, a lanky, thin man, wrapped in a red sash, crawled from a vent, dragging a mess of entangled cables with him. "Hey, Scooter, mind to come along? Davis is trying to bring the computer systems in Quadrant 3 back to life, but I'd really prefer you to be there in case the kid screws up."
"Mordecai?!" Maya couldn't keep herself from shouting out loud. Granted, she hadn't seen the sniper since returning to Pandora, but she had thought him to be off on a look-out mission or something...
Mordecai turned and flashed her a wry smile. "Hey there, Maya. Nice to see you back."
"What the hell are you doing down here?"
"Well, Scooter needed thin and scrawny people to navigate the crawlspaces and Lil' has given him permission to basically impress anyone fitting the description. Which of course includes my humble self." The sniper made a face, but laughed quickly. "At least it's interesting and meaningful work and it definitely keeps me sober."
"Just yer bird is kinda unnerving", Scooter chimed in. "Flying around the maze, scaring people to death..."
Mordecai shrugged. "As far as I know, no one has died yet because of Talon and what's wrong with a young little bird being curious?"
"I won't answer that", the mechanic grumbled. "Alright then, report is over, we gotta go back to work and you can be damn sure we do it properly!"
"That's good to hear. Keep up the nice work, soldier."
Scooter gave a wry grin. "Don't do that, will ye. That sounds too much like Roland."
Maya lowered her head. "Sorry."
"Well then, don't forget me little request." And at an impossible speed the mechanic weaved back into the crawlspace and the last thing Maya saw of him were his worn boots. Mordecai gave her a nod, before following Scooter.
The siren ducked out of the core room, heading back to the hatch that led to sunlight and fresh air and the city of Sanctuary. She reappeared on town square, from below the obelisk. The sun was setting and the air was fresh and clear. Somewhere in the distance Claptrap was beat-boxing. People were coming and going, chattering, but the depressed and pessimistic mood was mostly gone. While walking over to the Crimson Raiders HQ Maya heard excited gossip about goods flown in by the latest smuggler transport ("Tomatoes! God, I almost forgot that they are not supposed to be blue."), about the latest episode of Moxxi's Circle of Slaughter ("...threw his empty Tediore straight into the cockpit of this Copter! Ka-boom! That was like amazing.") and about the local fauna and its impact on human life ("A Thresher ate my cousin."). A Raider was pulling guard duty at the entrance of the HQ and saluted, when Maya entered.
The first floor was eerily quiet, since Tannis had relocated to Digistruct Peak. All the better. Maya could let her guard down, at least concerning insane xeno-archaeologists with syringes trying to get a tissue sample at all the wrong moments.
Upstairs, Lilith was sitting on the edge of the Holo-Table, talking into an ECHO: "You can try that, but I tell you, save the resources. If you're lucky, she finds the tracker and leaves it in the wasteland. If you're unlucky, she finds it and pins it to a Stalker. No, I'm quite sure she will be back. I mean, you were... Oh, you weren't. Right. Well, it was as much an epiphany to her as to us. Probably more so. How often have you been saved from certain death by an almighty alien? Hm, impressive. I recommend you quit drinking. Yes, she can get her weapons. What's the fuss anyhow? This is Pandora and if she's not armed when she leaves, she'll be when she returns! For crying out loud, there are operational firearms in the Skag-heaps." With an annoyed movement Lilith ended the conversation and turned to face Maya. " 'Sup?"
"You're letting Athena go?", the blue haired siren asked.
Lilith heaved a deep sigh and threw the ECHO on the next table. "If we're supposed to trust each other, we can just as well start straight away, can't we? Not to mention I don't like to have her around. Just... bad memories. And I'm sure she will come back, if you're worried about that."
"Why?"
"I can't put my finger on it, but this alien thing affected her more deeply than she is willing to show."
"Any ideas what she'll do with her time on the loose?"
"How am I supposed to know? Probably itching to get back at killing people. Anyhow, Sanctuary. How is Scooter and everybody else down there?"
A/N: For clarification: The above will form the frame story for a series of short stories, involving... basically everyone. Maya and Lilith will get a mention in most of them, but rest assured that all the chapters will be connected in one way or another. Also, this is my first piece of English writing, so every criticism concerning grammar or spelling is highly appreciated. Thanks for reading :D