Chapter 1: A Train of Thought
Pain was the first thing the woman known to a few as Dana Moreau experienced, but pain was an old friend. A pained growl pulled itself from her throat as she called on the Dark Powers she had mastered to tame the pain and anger at her situation to drive her forward.
'Dark Powers… wait a minute?' She thought as she pushed her black cloak out of the way and getting to her feet. "What the hell just happened here, Psion?" She asked herself before realizing what she said and what she could feel. "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?!" She shrieked.
"Dana, what are you yelling at?" Dana turned to her husband and stared for a moment, the man was dressed in what looked like an upgraded form of Clone Trooper armor from Attack of the Clones minus the helmet. "What the hell? Psion?" He asked as he stared into eyes that were a very mottled color of dark green and sulphuric yellow.
"Somehow, Jedi…" She mock-sneered. "Now where the hell are we?" She turned to look around at the world.
"Definitely not somewhere where we want to be." The pair turned towards the new voice and the man hauling himself upright. Dressed casually in jeans, shirt, jacket and Akubra, his height, standing over the other two, and brown-red hair made him distinctive, but the katana, sais and throwing knives that complemented his own pair of pistols were enough to spark a memory in the two force-users. The man staggered to his feet before turning his attention to his companions. "Not exactly how and where I was expecting to run into you two again."
The man in clone armor turned on recognizing the voice.
"Jason? Please don't tell me this is where I think we are?" Alexander himself was wearing the distinctive Clone armor, slightly shorter than Jason by an inch, on his waist was a utility belt on which hung his lightsabers, interchangeable blaster and various other necessities.
Dana on the other hand was clad in all black, her armor jointed and more metallic than the plastoid armor worn by her husband. A small lock of red-gold hair could be seen from under the raised hood of her cloak; standing at 5'9, her eyes blazed a sulphuric yellow like a pair of miniature suns.
"Wish I could, Alexander. But this is definitely Pandora." He pointed towards the smoking wreckage across the icy landscape. "And that, I would guess, has half a dozen very pissed off Vault Hunters right about now."
"How do you think I feel, Jason?" Dana hissed, her eyes were now flaming miniature suns under her hood. "Now that my headache is gone, it's clear to me that all of my powers have returned. Allow me to reintroduce myself. I am Darth Psion, Dark Lady of the Sith," she said with a dark smirk. "And it's clear my husband is now Jedi Master Alexander Moreau."
To demonstrate some of her powers, Psion picked up a ruined piece of the train and threw it at a rock formation with the Force. The piece quickly became embedded in shattered rock.
"Dana, stay calm… or as calm you can be right now," Alexander requested.
"In case you forgot Jedi, and, uggh this is confusing, I'll sort it out later," she growled. "Right now, let's deal with helping the Vault Hunters."
"No arguments here. Trust me, this is not somewhere we want to be without backup. Even with your bag of tricks." Jason commented
"Indeed not," Already, Alex could hear the annoying voice of a familiar robot, a voice that was making Psion's teeth ground audibly.
"Oh, by the fallen Lords of Korriban, why him?" Psion snarled.
"Hey, I don't like this anymore than you do, but you want to try and navigate without a guide? Besides, he might come in handy down the track." Alex pointed out
"I'm well aware of it, just don't complain if I smack him around," Psion growled as she and her companions made it to the wreckage of the train.
Jason snorted. "Like I'd ever do anything other than fall to my feet and worship your every move." He said sarcastically.
"Just remember, I'm not as forgiving as I was back on Earth, nor are you sheltered by distance any longer," Psion said with a smirk.
"Perhaps, but I still have a few tricks up my sleeve."
"Now now, be nice you two you are on the same side," Alex rebuked gently.
"Fine, suit yourself… I'll take out my rage on someone more deserving. CLAPTRAP SHUT IT, YOUR VOICE IS ALREADY ADDING TO MY FOUL MOOD," the Sith Lady roared at the boxy machine that was now in sight.
Of course, this had the effect of causing Claptrap to talk even more. "Ah, more badass minions for me to use to take my revenge on Jack! Bow before your master, minions!"
Psion's already thinly stretched patience snapped. Blue-white lightning exploded out of her pointed fingertips to engulf the annoying robot. Using the grasping coils of the energy blasing from her fingertips, she picked up and slammed the robot into the ground three times, before shoving it into the side of the train with enough force to leave a Claptrap shaped impression in the side.
"Call me a minion one more time and what Captain Flynt did to you will seem like a nice hug in comparison, GOT IT?!" Psion ignited the ruby crossguard lightsaber at her side and held it up so that the robot could see it.
"Of course, minion!" Claptrap said brightly.
Psion's rage pulsed and lightning poured from her fingertips into the robot for a moment, stopping it, she then slammed him once more against the train and grabbed her anger in a vice, squashing it back under control.
"If I could flay a robot, I would… be thankful that we need you or there'd be pieces of you all over Pandora," she snarled.
Claptrap looked to have something else to say, before Jason gave him a light kick. "Maybe best to not aggravate the ill-tempered, homicidal, ice-hearted woman with a heart of pure rage, you think? At least not so much in one go."
Muttering, Claptrap turned back to the nearby Vault Hunters, who had watched the scene with a mixture of shock and awe.
Psion retracted her lightsaber blade though she kept it in her hands, she gestured to her husband to do the talking as she wasn't feeling very diplomatic at the moment.
"Well this is not the day I was looking forwards to," Alex said. "Well, I suppose I should introduce myself, I am Jedi Master Alexander Moreau, the furious woman over there is Lady Darth Psion, and my wife." He pointed at his other companion "He's our friend Jason. Jason Davis."
Jason nodded slightly. "I'm guessing that you're all Vault Hunters, judging by the train that just blew up. Vault Hunters seem to have a knack for leaving destruction in their wake."
The hulky commando, bearing several Dahl insignia, shrugged. "Not our fault, we did get attacked. Anyway, This is Maya, Gaige, Salvador, Zero, Krieg and I'm Zero." He gestured in sequence to a tall blue-haired woman with tattoos running down her arm, a short schoolgirl with a mechanical arm, a short, heavily muscled man with a bandage over his nose, a tall, black-suited and helmeted individual and finally a tall, massively strong man that bore a definite resemblance to the psychos that all three remembered seeing before their sudden arrival.
"Good to meet you all, perhaps we should get out of the cold for now?" Alex suggested.
"Onwards to my place min… EEK!" A sizzling whip of plasma sliced the air just in front of the robot in warning as Psion lashed out with her lightwhip. "Umm, onwards," Claptrap led them down the ice shelf towards a door in an icy grotto. The small group trooped inside, seeing the minimalist surroundings; no one was exactly thrilled but all understood that any place of safety right now was far better than none. Shutting the door behind them, Psion looked around, even now the only thing visible under her hood was a loose strand of red hair and her eyes burning like twin suns.
"Well, my day keeps getting better," she growled quietly. Finding a nearby burning fireplace, she summoned the closest available intact chair and sat down in front of it, seemingly absorbing the heat.
"Cold?" Alex asked.
"What do you think? I'm not the one in an environmental suit," she grumbled.
"And your little force tricks can't help counter that little issue?" Jason snarked.
"They are, the discomfort I can draw on and make me more powerful, doesn't stop me from feeling the cold though."
"Just remember Jason, it's far more hazardous to poke her buttons right now," Alex reminded.
Jason looked incredulously at Alex. "In case you haven't noticed Alex, we've been thrown through time, space and dimensions, crashed onto Pandora, arguably one of the most dangerous places in existence, are being hunted by an enemy that has a hell of a lot of advantages over us, with the planet's entire climate and ecosystem being solely engineered to kill us and we have, right now, a grand total of seven allies, 1 of whom is a half crazed robot with a suicidal streak and the rest can only barely be marginally classified as sane, given that either chose to come here or willingly live here. Poking Psion's buttons is, by far, the safest thing I've done today."
"Well, you had it easier than me, I have two sets of memories running through my head right now and I was right smack in the middle of fighting off a CIS incursion, I'm surprised I didn't get a major unhealthy tan from the sheer number of laser bolts that passed by my face in the last hour."
"I was nearly assassinated at the same time, Jason, by 50 Jedi. Considering I am here, it is obvious who won and why I am unhappy," Psion snarled.
"Well, just suck it up, you two. It doesn't matter where we were and why. We're here now and we're going to work out why and kick the living hell out of Hyperion while we're here, so we don't have the damn time to wallow in the past, clear?" Jason said coldly.
"Perfectly, I'm not wallowing Jason, just remember I'm trying to sort out who I was before everything became muddled and mixed between my two sets of memories, writing about and experiencing things are very different… The Dark Side is indeed a powerful tool, and it takes a lot of effort to control one's anger when it is magnified in an endless reinforcing cycle." Psion spoke in a much calmer voice.
"Good, because we don't have time to waste and I'm sure our good friends here would like some questions of their own answered."
"No arguments here," the burning orbs that passed for her eyes dulled into a more controlled sulphuric orbs. "Besides, I have more fitting and willing targets to vent my anger on here on Pandora."
Maya raised an eyebrow. "Given you've only just got here, who could you have to kill already?"
"We'll see, but I'm certain Handsome Jack will be a most pleasing target," Psion said with a smirk.
"Going after the big guys straight up, huh?" Axton asked.
"Going for the top was always my plan, the title of Darth is one held by a very few and select number."
The Vault Hunters exchanged nervous glances. "Lovely. So, now what?"
No one got a chance to respond as the roof above broke and a creature blasted down, snatching Claptrap and ripping out his eye before swinging back out again.
"I guess we have to go get his eye back," Psion grumbled.
"Yep. Not like we have anything better to do, anyway." Jason shrugged.
Psion pulled her modified DL-44 blaster from its holster and checked both the power pack and gas cartridge before nodding.
"Come on, let's deal with that oversized Bullymong," the Dark Lady said.
"Why didn't I have a gun?" The Jedi groaned to himself as he drew a lightsaber though keeping it unlit for the moment.
"Because you like to get up close and personal with your prey." Jason grinned, pulling his signature sniper rifle and readying it for combat before checking his own various high-tech blades.
"Very true, speaking of," the Jedi said as he ignited it, his personal and distinctive gold blade erupting from the hilt with the classic SNAP-HISS. "Well, that's still working," he said to himself.
Jason snorted. "You have to drown that thing to kill it, I'd imagine. Still plenty of ice around, so you'd best be careful."
Maya's eyes were wide as she looked between the two Force-users' weapons. "What on earth are those?" she demanded. "I mean, that gun looks awesome, but an energy sword? That's just incredible."
"It is a lightsaber, this is the weapon of the Jedi, not as clumsy or random as a blaster...An elegant weapon for a more civilized age," Alex explained.
"*Cough*plagiarism*cough*" Psion mocked playfully. "Yes, the Jedi do love their lightsabers."
"Don't you start," Alex grumbled at his wife. "But yes, every Jedi has a lightsaber, some have two or variants like mine or Psion's. You will never see a Jedi with a red bladed lightsaber."
Everyone glanced over to Psion and her lit crimson crossguard lightsaber. Confusion was definitely the most obvious expression on the faces of the Vault Hunters. Jason shrugged.
"Red lightsabers are like a warning. There are very few people that can see a red lightsaber and be happy to know that person's around. Let's just say that those with red lightsabers seem to be very short-tempered and nasty if you piss them off."
"Yes, it's considered a symbol of how we construct our lightsabers. The crystals within for the Sith are synthetic, the Jedi with very rare exceptions use natural made crystals," Psion added. Psion turned and sighed at Claptrap running into various parts of the room.
"Apart from the excruciating pain, this is great! I've been waiting for a mighty Vault Hunter to help me reach Sanctuary! I will be your wise leader, and you shall be my fearsome minion! Ahahaha!"
"Ok, that's enough." Jason said swiftly, making a sudden gesture as blue energy surrounded him. Claptrap was suddenly hauled upwards, also surrounded by the same energy, as Jason walked to the door, opened it and threw Claptrap straight outside. The clattering as Claptrap bounced off the various walls was nicely supplemented by his screaming, which faded as Claptrap found a cliff edge and fell off it. Jason turned back the others and shrugged. "Better that than have him dismantled by an irate Site Master."
"I am not that low a rank Jason. I am a Lady of the Sith," Psion replied. "The Sith are many in my time and I clawed my way up the ranks. Wait… what was that you just did?" She wondered.
Jason grinned, still flaring blue energy. "You have your Force powers, I have my biotics. A nice little surprise for most enemies, they're not exactly well known. Element Zero is such a useful compound."
"Should I call you Seven of Nine," Alex asked with a smirk as he walked towards the door.
"Only if you want me to freeze time for you while your wife dismantles you." Jason replied as he followed, letting the field fade. "Believe me, even you two haven't encountered anything like this."
"Why would she dismantle me?" He wondered. "I'm not stupid enough to piss off the likes of Darth Psion if I can help it."
Gaige laughed. "Haven't you learned yet? All men piss off their wifes from time to time."
"Amen, sister." Maya high-fived Gaige and Axton smiled sheepishly.
"She's got a point there. And some days, it really doesn't take much."
"Did the IFF on your turret fail?" Alex asked, teasing Axton. "Wouldn't want to piss off the missus indeed."
Axton declined to answer, settling for a cold, thousand yard stare on the Jedi that had precisely no effect whatsoever. Salvador sniggered, enjoying Axton's misery. Thankfully, the others didn't comment, other than hiding sniggers of their own. Finally, Zero sighed.
"We must be off. Our/guide will not assist himself/ despite our wishes."
"Agreed," the Jedi said as he led the way out of the building into the snow. Walking off and looking down, the Force User sighed at the sight of Claptrap at the bottom of the cliff. "Down we go," he said. "What, we just jump? Lighter gravity or not, I'm not envious of hitting the bottom."
Jason shrugged and shoved him off. "You'll bounce." His eyes widened, however, as he saw the bullymongs that had been stalking Claptrap turn towards the Jedi and leapt off himself, sniper rifle already beginning its song of death as he fell.
Psion smirked under her hood and reached for the necks of the Bullymongs with the Force and began throttling them mercilessly. Several loud cracks announced the breaking of their necks and the end of said group of critters.
"That's one problem solved," she said with satisfaction as she jumped off the cliff. "Move it, Jedi."
"JASON!" Alex yelled, as he spat out the snow and ice in his mouth as he clambered back to his feet.
"What, it's always easier to do something unpleasant when you don't know it's coming. Now you've done it, you know that you can easily survive it without harm, suck it up princess." Jason shrugged as he pulled Claptrap out and knelt beside him. "Now Claptrap, if you continue to call us minions, I will take my sword, give you a reprogramming you won't ever forget, THEN I'll give you to Psion for her entertainment. Is there anything unclear about what I've just said?" He asked pleasantly.
Claptrap shook but managed to answer, "Not at all."
"Good." Jason straightened. "I suggest you save that to your long term memory bank, because we won't be having this conversation again."
"Please forget, I do so look forward to our time together," Psion said, infusing her voice with all the malice and power the Dark Side gave her.
Alex chuckled, finding a small amount of humour in this. "Doesn't work on droids, remember love? Because they're outside the Force?"
"Oh I know, but it's not a Force suggestion, it's more a form of using the Force to augment and change my voice. I've had to be very clever and thorough in my control over the Force."
Any further conversation from the pair was interrupted by a very unwelcome voice. "Hey kiddos, Jack here, President of Hyperion. I don't think you guys got the message. You see, this is how it works. Vault Hunter shows up. Vault Hunter starts searching for the Vault. Vault Hunter gets killed. By me. You seeing the problem here?"
"Jason, can you make that two way?" Psion asked.
"Give me something hard." Jason snorted, already fiddling with his ECHO as Jack continued speaking, before nodding at Psion.
"Hey Jack, I see the problem, it's you."
"And who the fuck do you think you are?" Jack snapped.
"Your worst nightmare, Jack. My name is Psion, I gotta wonder with someone who calls themselves Handsome, makes me wonder why they need a mask. Makes me wonder what they're hiding… or rather compensating for," she added suggestively.
Jack was quiet for a moment before replying with the forced calm that indicated he was trying to control his temper. "You're about to die and you really think insulting me is the best thing you can do?"
"Physical pain heals, psychological lasts much longer and is harder to heal. Besides, I'm not dead yet, and I doubt that, if 50 Jedi couldn't kill me in an ambush, you could do any better." Psion pulled a memory stick from her belt, the recording of the assasination attempt the Dark Lady had survived. "Send this file to Jack please," she requested of Jason.
"Oh, I'll do you one better." Jason grabbed the stick and beckoned Gaige over before whispering in her ear. Her face lit up and both were swiftly fiddling with their ECHOs before nodding back to Psion.
"Take a look, Jack, see exactly what you've made an enemy of. I'm not someone you want to cross."
3667 BBY
Alderaan
Psion was standing on the edge of a cliff as she watched the planet burn under the onslaught of the Sith armies, the Republic forces were beaten back and were trying to regroup in the wilderness of the planet. At the moment the Lady of the Sith was paying more attention to the very obvious presence of the Jedi attempting to sneak up on her.
Rolling her sulphuric eyes, she decided to turn and walk down the path where the Jedi were waiting for her in the various bushes.
'50 of them, several of them Jedi Masters and this is the best they can do?' she thought.
The Force screamed a warning as a Jedi sprang at her from behind, his lightsaber aiming for her heart. Psion shifted to the side and grabbed the Padawan, using her bare hands to break his neck, his lightsaber was flung by her powers to skewer two more. The rest charged her in that moment and she blurred into action, she used her stiffened fingers to collapse the windpipe of another Jedi before drawing her own crimson crossguard blade, distinguishing her from all the others using yellow, green and blue sabers.
Her lightsaber spun and hacked all around her, each move flowing into the next with liquid precision, each defending maneuver doubled as an attack as Jedi fell around her.
The leader was the best of the lot as he pressed her hard, their blades flashing so quickly afterimages were left in their wake. Still Psion controlled the pace and flow the entire time as the very land became a weapon, fallen lightsabers buzzed around under her will, forcing the other Jedi to defend or be skewered by the weapons of their fallen comrades. Lightning poured from Psion's hands to wrack their bodies in painful torrents of dark power, until she stood facing a cowering Padawan. Deciding not to mince words or risk a future enemy being a major pain in her ass, Psion just broke every bone in her body with a massive telekinetic wave that shattered trees and rocks in her path.
Present
Pandora
Everyone was stunned speechless at the sheer ferocity that Psion had unleashed, even Jack was quiet. Finally, he managed to speak.
"Is that supposed to impress me?" His shaking voice didn't do much to support his words, however. No-one could really blame him. It was one thing knowing one of your companions could unleash utter destruction, it was quite another actually seeing it.
"No, it's supposed to make one thing clear… don't fuck with me."
Jack laughed, a bit of his bravado coming back. "Lady, I'll fuck with whoever I want and there isn't a damn thing you can do about. Enjoy your remaining few minutes." He disconnected before anyone could say anything, but everyone could feel the chill coming from Psion and the expression on Alex's own face spoke volumes. The only noise that could be heard was the whistling of the wind through the icy cliffs around them.
"So shall we get his eye back?" Psion wondered.
"That's about to get a bit more complicated." Jason pointed out.
"What, he's going to send constructors after us or deal with Knuckle Dragger?"
"Not exactly." Jason said grimly, looking at the Helios station above, which was happily firing its moon-cannon. "Those are moon-shot rounds." He sighed. "RUN!"
As the rounds rained down on them, the group took off, racing across the canyon floor towards the opposite exit. Suddenly Claptrap perked up.
"My eye just turned back on. I can see a handsome master and his badass acolytes." He trailed off, his voice becoming noticeably less confident. "Which means whoever has my eye...IS VERY CLOSE!"
A sudden roar heralded the arrival of the beast with Claptrap's eye and the group finally got a decent view of the monster. 60 feet high and covered in white fur, the bullymong snatched up a fallen container and hurled it at the group.
Psion raised a hand and grabbed the container with the force and began bashing the large Bullymong over the head with it. She lost her concentration, however, when she was suddenly shoved sideways, just staggering out of the way as a moonshot exploded where she had just been.
Axton, who had clearly just hit her, yelled at her. "Don't stop moving, are you crazy?"
Fighting a massive opponent was one thing, fighting them without being able to utilise cover and having to stay on the move with artillery fire aimed at you was something else altogether.
"Some of my powers take concentration," Psion retorted. She unleashed a blast of lightning from her fingers at Knuckle Dragger as she moved. "Any ideas, Jason?" She called.
Jason's eyes flicked around the battlefield, analysing any possible weaknesses, before he found one. A small grin crossed his face. "Actually, I do. And we won't even have to waste a shot."
"I'm all ears, being the one reciving orbital bombardment isn't my idea of a good time."
"Funny you should mention that." Jason's grin turned cold. "Reckon you could snatch Claptrap's eye off that thing?"
Psion grabbed the eye with the Force and tugged it into her grasp.
"Eye eye, my friend," she quipped.
"Then the rest is simple. Throw that thing on the other side of the canyon and get out of the way."
The Sith Lady did as he instructed before throwing herself out of the way. The others followed suit, leaving Jason standing in the middle of the battlefield alone. He fired a single shot, getting the monster's attention.
"You lost or something, moron?" He taunted. The bullymong roared, charging straight at its perceived victim. Jason stood still, waiting for it, before side-stepping at the last second, just avoiding the twisting claws. Twirling around, both opponents stared at each other, rage apparent in one while the other stood calmly. With a feral roar, the two clashed once more, though it would be more true that Knuckle-Dragger attempted to hit Jason, while he continued to dance around the attacks, barely avoiding them while staying in the same rough area. Finally Jason glanced up and asked, "Did you order a delivery?" With a flicker of blue light and pseudo-motion, he simply disappeared, just as a moon-shot round slammed into his position, far too close for Knuckle-Dragger to survive.
"Because I think it's coming Express." Jason's voice came from on top of a nearby Hyperion container.
"Well that's a different way of 'mooning' someone," Alex quipped, getting a smack upside from Psion.
"I hate to interrupt, but we are still receiving orbital fire. Anyone got any ideas on that?" Gaige pointed out.
Psion stretched out her hands as the same time Alex did, catching the next series of projectiles with the Force and flinging them back at the moonbase.
Axton followed the resulting flashes as Helios desperately attempted to shoot down their own projectiles. "Well, that ought to keep them busy for a while."
"Let's get out of here, now," Psion grumbled. "I suppose we do need to fix his eye."
Gaige and Jason got grins that were just slightly demented as they advanced on Claptrap, eyes wide with mischief. Claptrap, somehow sensing the danger despite being blind backed up, hands spread. "I think ocular surgery is best left to the professionals. I have a friend in nearby Liars Burg that would be well suited for this.
"Are you suggesting we aren't experts?" Gaige asked with the quiet voice that every male knew immediately preceeded a woman about to lose her temper. Claptrap, with extraordinary vision, given both his current lack of it and his earlier interaction with Psion, ran screaming, for once right towards the nearby Hyperion barge that was in fact the correct direction.
"Fear an angry redhead," Psion said with a smirk at Gaige.
"Fear an angry woman." Alex whispered to Jason.
"When confronted with both together?" Jason asked, a faint smirk on his face. The pair looked after Claptrap. "That bucket of bolts might have some brains after all."
"Wow, will wonders never cease, come on let's get to Liar's Berg," Alex said.
They caught up to Claptrap, cowering at the door of a crashed Hyperion barge, shuddering in obvious fear. Jason sighed, "Give me a sec with this."
Suddenly, a face flickered on the screen in front of them. "Let me get that for you." A sudden amount of clicks and flickering lights and the sealed door unlocked, revealing the barge's interior, but everyone was seemingly more interested in the new arrival.
"I didn't know we had a guardian angel," Psion said.
Jason rolled his eyes. "So, you're the mysterious Guardian Angel of Pandora, I take it."
"I am. The Vault Hunters I expected, but you three are something new altogether. How did you get here, and why?"
"I have no idea, but this whole thing is ringing all sorts of sirens in my mind," Alex said.
Jason slapped the back of Alex's head. "Be nice." He turned back to the image. "Pretty good hacking work there. Even I couldn't have hacked it that quickly. How did you pull that one off?"
"I am an AI connected to everything on the planet. Opening a door is child's play for me. I'm glad you're all together, you'll need each other, and the Crimson Raiders, if you're going to stop Handsome Jack."
"If you're connected to everything, can you tell me how the Moon Base is doing?" Psion asked.
"Smoking slightly and listing to port." Angel deadpanned. "Quite a trick, redirecting moonshots like that.
"We all have our talents," the Dark Lady said mysteriously.
"Of course. Please, help yourselves to the supplies and equipment here. You will need it to reach Sanctuary and the Raiders. I know you have no reason to trust me, but I am here to help you."
Jason shot a glare at Psion and Alex, silencing them before they could speak. "Thank you Angel, we appreciate it. I've no doubt we'll speak again."
She smiled slightly. "Of course." Her image faded out and the Vault Hunters swarmed the various boxes and chests inside the barge. Jason hung back, clearly deep in thought.
"Credit for your thoughts?" the Jedi asked.
"My thoughts exactly." Jason said, turning to stare at the pair of telepathic force users.
"Finding money you mean?"
Jason's stare became even more unamused as he waited for the usually sharp pair to understand what he was thinking, literally.
"Ok, what?" The Force User projected into his mind.
"We have to be really bloody careful here. We all know what Angel actually is, but who else is listening to what we're saying and talking with her about?" Jason's frustrated thoughts shot back at them both.
"Right, Jackie boy, I hate this planet, never thought I'd hate a world worse than Felucia," the Jedi grumbled.
"Exactly. We've already changed things just by being here, what do you think Jack would do if he worked out we know everything that's likely to happen?"
"Put all his effort into killing or capturing us," Psion added. "We've already made his list by damaging his Moon Base."
"Exactly. He'll want to stop us from getting any stronger. We've already proven we can shrug off a full salvo of moonshots, so what's he going to go after instead?"
"Sanctuary? Vault Hunters? What else could he go after?" Alex wondered.
"Precisely. Deny us a base of operations and the biggest source of intel on his operations. Not to mention remove the festering thorn from his side that the Raiders represent. Moonshots might not make it through the shield immediately, but they will eventually and there's nothing stopping him from sending his Loaders into the city. He might be clinically insane, but he's still smart. Smart enough to put two and two together. A lot of people died because of his cunning. We have the chance to stop that, but only if we outwit him. And that means giving him as little information as we can help. Until we can cut Angel away from him, that goes for her too. So, loaded comments like those are going to arouse suspicion in Jack's mind, and he's already suspicious enough."
"Fair enough, no more loaded comments or hints. We'll beat him, we always did," Alex said with a smile.
"We had constant respawn ability and a lot of other advantages there. We can't rely on that this time around. Jack cut off the original Vault Hunters, he can do the same to us. Rule 1: Assume nothing. Treat everything with suspicion. And make sure you leave some of your tricks in reserve. He needs to know as little about us as we can manage. The Vault Hunters are an effective bunch, we need to let them carry some of the weight too. Working together, we'll have this in the bag. But we need to work together, not show off all the time. I pulled that stunt so Jack knew to take us seriously. That doesn't mean we should do such things all the time."
"Except for driving cars, that's all for them," Psion said with a emphasising glare at Jason.
"What? It's effective. Don't like it, don't ride with me." Jason chuckled.
"Ram happy hopper," the two Force Users stated.
"Also, make sure to grab some local weapons. Those blasters only have so much ammo, after all and we have no idea if we can recharge your lightsabers."
"We have enough spares for the lightsabers as needed, speaking of local," Psion said. "Hey Gaige, I was wondering if I could get your opinion on something," she called.
"Sure, what's up?" came the cheerful call back.
"I was wondering, did you design that arm yourself?" Psion asked
"Sure did! Pretty awesome, huh?"
"Yea, even the best Sith medical replacements barely come as close, you must be really good with machines and technology."
"Well, I did build the most awesome robot ever." Gaige grinned, flexing her arm slightly and digistructing a floating robot out of her arm, one clearly optimised for combat.
"Wow. he's awesome, makes me wish we had you designing our war droids," Psion said in part envy. "The reason I ask, was I was wondering if you could take a look at this," the Sith held up her DL-44 blaster. "We weren't expecting to end up on Pandora and my ammo supplies are limited."
"Huh." Gaige grabbed the blaster and began poking around in it, swiftly examining the power packs once she extracted them. "This is tech I've never even heard of before, let alone seen." Holding her arm over the pack, she scanned it thoroughly. "Is there some kind of gas in this thing?
"Yes, and that's part of the problem, every 50 shots I need to replace the power pack and gas cartridge."
"Hmm. Got a spare of this and maybe a spare weapon too?" Gaige asked brightly. "I'm not certain what exactly I can do with this, but maybe a digistructor could replicate it. Going to take some experimenting though."
"I do have a stripped down version as a backup weapon," Psion said, passing it from its hidden holster and a gas cartridge. "Careful though, the gas is highly ionized,"
"Wonder how similar that is to the old laser tech we used on Elpis?" Claptrap interrupted, rolling over with the intention of grabbing the weapon.
"It works by focusing the cohesive light beam passes through the gas, giving it greater destructive energy, as for you, don't touch, I wouldn't trust you with a blaster this powerful," Psion said, using a hand to block Claptrap.
"Still, even if we can reproduce power packs for those, it won't be instant." Jason picked up an elemental SMG and looked down its sights. "This will do nicely in the meantime." He nodded over to a pair of assault rifles in a box. "I'd grab those too. Better fire rate than that blaster too and keeping some of these guys at range is always good."
"Sounds like a plan," Alex said as he passed the other to Psion. He quickly familiarised himself with the action and magazine before nodding. "Ok, let's hit the road."
(Author's Notes)
W: This is a story that my friend Sharnorasian Empire and I have been planning for well over a year and we've finally managed to put our thoughts together. For those that haven't followed the character, it's basically her, her husband and I being thrown into the Borderlands universe in the bodies of a Sith, a Jedi and a N7 Sentinel with sniper skills. Jack is going to have no idea what hit him. Everything you've dreamt of doing to Jack to mess with or torture him for the cruelty you see him do in game, we're going to do to him tenfold.
SE: No joke, Warchief is one of the best snipers I've seen in games like Unreal Tournament and Borderlands. Tenfold? You must be in a good mood. I'm going to do things to him that would make Ramsey Snow (from Game of Thrones) cower in fear.
W: Yeah, but you're always been less patient than me. Now you finally get to take it out on someone.
SE: Oi! I'm not that bad at all.
W: There's a SCII game that springs to mind that might counter that point.
SE: THAT game? As I explained, that was a miscommunication and accident. Besides we won.
W: Yeah, yeah. Anyway, hope you guys enjoy this new and crazy work of ours. This one's shaping up to be a lot of fun to write. No idea how far we'll run yet, I'll have to drag SE's sorry ass to take a look at some of the other parts of the Borderlands universe before we know that. Please read, review and let us know what you think of this.
SE: And check out our other co-authored project: Chronicles of the Draconic Knight, speaking of dragging sorry asses… ;).
W: You did want to work on this one. But you can't rush if you want quality.
SE: Fair enough, not all of us can get koala-ty down under :P. Enjoy everyone and our banter too.
W: See what I have to deal with, everyone? Until next time.