The harsh dry winds whipped viciously around the hooded and cloaked figure that wandered the sand dunes of Pandora's western great desert. The Traveler had been drawn to this desolate planet due to the legends of the great vaults that housed glorious treasure and endless riches, these things were trivial to the man who sought them, what he was after more than anything was the hunt for the treasure and the challenge it brought. He was currently looking for a train station that according to his echo device should be just a few hundred yards ahead of him. As he crested a sand dune he was greeted with a vast open landscape dotted by large jutting rock formations that vaguely reminded him of the spears of fallen warriors on a battlefield, stuck in the ground spearhead forward. There glistening at the bottom of the dune like a diamond in the rough was the train station sitting next to a mag-rail. The man kneeled and swung a large rifle off his back and brought it up to his shoulder. Peering through the scope he scanned the area making sure there were no bandits lying in wait, he looked to the left and he saw a small cloud of dust billowing out from behind a light runner. Whoever was driving it was being chased by two bandit technicals. Like a clap of thunder the figure atop the sand dune fired once, clambering the next round by working the well worn and maintained bolt he lined his next shot up just as the first connected to the head of the driver, the technical swerved and flipped over itself coming to an abrupt and violent halt. The tall figure threw the rifle back over his shoulder and started sliding down the dune, the cars racing up towards the station shots being fired from both the light runner and the remaining technical. In one swift motion he took cover behind a small rock, swung the rifle back and braced it against the rock taking aim and firing. The bullet traveled through the engine block and into the gas tank before erupting into a glorious fireball engulfing the technical, the light runner came to a screeching halt and the driver a slender tall blue haired woman with light blue tattoos going up her left arm hopped out, she held at the ready a compact submachine gun pointed right at the Boulder. "If you're a bandit come out now with your hands up, I'll make your death quick." The tone of her voice was quick and sharp. "If I was a bandit would I have saved your ass, besides I've had plenty of chances to kill you already…. How about this I'll put my rifle down and you holster your gun. We can talk this out like civilized people." The man retorted in an almost smug fashion. As he finished his sentence a psycho came running from the train station behind the blue haired woman, the man leapt over the bolder throwing the rifle down and unholstering a large revolver with three quick shots he dropped the psycho. Two shots to the knees then one to the head as it fell to the ground all while the man was in the air. He landed, twirled the gun around his finger then slid it back in the holster. "Think we might have to talk later, looks like more are coming… tell you what bet I will kill more of them than you." He spoke as he took cover behind the runner and grabbed the rifle quickly snapping the scope off, the woman nodded and opened fire. In about 5 minutes between the two of them they killed roughly 35 bandits 15 of which were psychos. "Damn, you may have beat me… wait hold on" He fired once into a dead body."That makes 18 for me, 17 for you. Since I won the wager tell me your name." The man holstered his pistol, the rifle discarded once it ran out of ammo. The woman scoffed a reply, "18 for me, 17 for you but name's Maya. You're a damn good shot." "I know, nice to meet you Maya my name's Vincent, you waiting on the train to Opportunity too?" Vincent gave a mock salute before grabbing his rifle and beginning to search the bodies for ammo and money. "Yea? You heard the echo cast from the CEO of Hyperion?" Maya asked before picking up some magazines for her smg and a few wads of cash. "Yep…. I heard it right
before I crashed on this planet, took what I could from my ship and started heading towards the nearest station. That was about 3 days ago. I'll tell ya I've been all over this galaxy but I have never come to a planet like Pandora." Vincent stood up putting the scope back onto his rifle and taking out a cigarette as he sat down on a bench laying the rifle across his lap he flicked his thumb and a small green flame appeared. He took a long drag staring idly at Maya's left side and the tattoos that adorned it. Maya returned the stare looking at the old rifle, she'd been around and seen many weapons but never anything like that, she figured it had to be a Jakob's. "I'll tell you about my tattoos if you tell me about that rifle you got." Maya spoke up, breaking the strange yet comfortable silence, she leaned against a pillar and crossed her arms. Vincent tilted his head back, cigarette loosely hanging from his lips, for the first time she got a good look at Vincent's eyes, they were cold and distant she had seen the same eyes in many men… the eyes of a killer, except his had something else lurking in the brilliant greenish yellow hue of the iris, something soft and warm. That's when Maya took in the rest of this strange man's features. A long scar ran from his left eyebrow down to his jawbone that was covered in a thick 5 O'clock shadow, his jawline sharp and rugged, a strange symbol rested on his right cheek though it was hard to see thanks to his unkemptness. "Sounds like a deal to me, Miss Maya." Vincent gave a half grin before continuing," I got this rifle a long time ago, won it in fact, in a duel with an old friend who called himself Saladin, Lord Saladin… you see he found it and took a liking to it. Now where I come from these rifles used to be all over the place but over the years they disappeared replaced by modern tech. If I remember correctly they were made for military use way back when. I've modified it here and there but it's still as reliable as the original." Vincent sat up straight as he spoke, looking over the rifle admiring the craft of it and his own handiwork. He looked up at Maya and pointed at her left arm, cigarette smoking between his fingers. "Your turn lady, what's the story of those markings?" He asked, taking another long drag and leaning back. "Well that one's simple, I'm a siren." Maya smirked smugly and winked at Vincent who looked confused and unimpressed,"Like the old legend of women singing songs and luring men to their death, cause if that's the case then I'd ask you refrain from singing, I rather like living." Vincent put the cigarette out and waited for Maya to explain further. Maya chuckled,"No not like that, I'm surprised you've heard of them though not many know of the Greek legends…. No, I am one of 6 beings born with the power of the Eridians, quite frankly everything about us is pretty vague so I'm hoping to find someone who can teach me more than the monks of Athenas." Maya moved to sit next to Vincent who moved his rifle giving her space to sit. "Fascinating, so you have like super powers or magic or something?" Vincent asked, turning his head to look at her. Before she could respond a train horn blew and in a matter of seconds a mag-train pulled into the station and opened its doors inviting the duo in.
On the inside there were many booths and small tables, people who looked like they were from all walks of life sat enjoying the company of those they were with, it was a strange scene on Pandora. Rarely do you see people who you are not readily trying to kill or eat you. Maya and Vincent both walked for an empty looking booth, She slid the door open to reveal a teenage girl with a robotic arm and a haggard man who looked to be in his late twenties or early thirties, the girl sat staring out the window while the man rested his head on the table snoring softly. "Oh, Hi there. If you want to sit here you can. I don't mind and I don't think Axton will either. I'm Gaige by the way, nice to meet you two." Gaige stuck out her metal arm and motioned both Vincent
and Maya to sit down. "Nice to meet you Gaige, I'm Maya and this is Vincent." Maya smiled briefly and sat next to her Vincent closed the door and set his rifle next to it before sitting down next to Axton. "So where are you two from?" Gaige asked, clearly happy to finally have someone to talk to. "I'm from Athenas, it's a small planet pretty far out there but it's peaceful which is nice." Maya spoke smiling thinking about her home. "Far away, a place unlike any in this galaxy. It's Old and dying… better that it would be forgotten than remembered." Vincent spoke softly, his head turned slightly watching the landscape change from rough sand dunes to endless expanses of marshland. "Well I'm from Eden-5 and let's just say things didn't end too well for me there, so here I am. Met up with this guy and hired him as a bodyguard, his name is Axton and he was in the Dahl Military for a while but that ended poorly for him so now he is here and we both want to be vault hunters." Gaige's voice trailed off as an alarm began to blare over the loudspeakers waking up Axton. "Wh-What's going on" Axton sat up looking to his left seeing Vincent then Maya. Grabbing his rifle Vincent stood up and opened the door. Stepping out a bullet whizzed past his head in the next instant Vincent drew his revolver and put a hole through the head of a Hyperion soldier. Shouldering his rifle he let 5 rounds ring out dropping 5 enemies, Maya stepped out and began to tear through Combat loaders and Hyperion soldiers alike. Axton was next out of the booth giving supporting fire allowing his new found allies time to get cover and reload. Gaige summoned Death Trap who tore through the enemies ahead leaving a bloody trail to follow. As the group pushed forward through the train countless rounds were spent and bodies dropped like flies. Along the way, Vincent, Maya, Gaige and Axton met up with 2 other prospective Vault hunters, One called himself Zero the other Salvador. Together the 6 pushed forward and broke the line of Hyperion troops, soon they came to a door that opened up revealing the main control room filled to the brim with high ordnance explosives. "Fuck, get down" Vincent yelled covered in blood and oil he threw his arms out to attempt to cast a shielding spell but as the spell finished the train erupted cascading out towards a large and barren plain of ice, the shield surrounded only two of the six vault hunters.