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

Chapter 6

Soon after Hyperius began his warpath against the Eridians, he came to realize an important – and tragic – fact. In order to truly defeat the old regime, all remnants of it must be destroyed. That included everyone who lived during the old regime's reign. Hyperius' plan called for outright genocide, but he believed so strongly in his ideals that genocide was something he could bear.

The weapon he designed to fulfill that task had a beautifully simple concept: Eradicate Eridians, leave everything else intact. He first considered a bio-weapon, but multiple failures at creating a supervirus made his dismiss the idea. What the Seraph general eventually thought up was an ambitious piece of weaponry, even for Eridian standards. It would become one of his masterpieces of destruction.

The weapon he designed was, fundamentally, a heavily-modified pulse emitter and receiver. Upon activation, it would release powerful pulses of energy that could travel over huge distances. The extraordinary thing about it was that the weapon could be calibrated to target specific things, ranging from organic life in general to a specific species. It took many years and a few lives to develop, but it had not been tested in full-scale.

It became, essentially, a glorified bomb. Because it didn't annihilate itself upon detonation, it could be reused, which was one of its many perks. It fired a continuous series of pulses after being activated. The first pulse identified where the targets specified in the calibration are; the next, much stronger pulses completely destroyed those targets. The only catch with it was that it took a massive amount of energy to detonate. For this reason, a Seraph crystal fuel cell was developed, which could supply that energy when needed for a while.

Hyperius hid the weapon in one of his old laboratories far underground. It was far away from his main base of operations, so no one would suspect a thing. There were some quirks with the weapon, but Hyperius was confident enough to play it as his trump card, his final gamble.

His eyes were glued to the video feed before him. His mental countdown had reached ten seconds. He subconsciously gripped the armrests of his chair tighter and tighter. This has to work, he thought. If it fails, all of this will be for nothing.

Five seconds.

Four.

Three.

Two.

One.

Zero.

At first, nothing happened. Then, a faint bubble of light flashed out from the edge of Pandora, then collapsed back in. About a second later, another flash, brighter and slower, washed over the planet. From Hyperius' perspective, it was appallingly silent, like the ghost of Death itself. He could almost hear the terrified screams of his brethren on Pandora. Most of them were innocent civilians, bystanders who didn't concern themselves with the affairs of warring factions.

A single tear rolled down the Seraph general's cheek. "It is done," he said, his voice hollow.

The bridge of the Seraph starship feel eerily silent. There was no cheering, no celebration. Hyperius' crew had undoubtedly watched the same scene unfold before their eyes. They knew the plan. They knew what they signed up for. They, too, sat in silence. Some of their mouths hung slightly agape, but all of their eyes were transfixed on whatever screens were in front of them.

"My brethren," Hyperius spoke over the intercom. He did his best to fill in the void of emotion he felt. "The deed... has been done. All of our hard work has finally yielded a reward. Our great struggle is over at last. The tyranny of the Eridian Monarchy is over. The age of the Seraphs... has begun.

"Now, we must begin the process of rebuilding what has been lost." The Seraph general's voice became slightly more passionate, empowering. "We must repopulate. That is why I equipped this vessel with incubation chambers. We will give rise to the next generation. We will teach it, shape it, and empower it to carry out our mission, as all of you have done so far. When the time is right, we will return to our home and rebuild our great civilization... as it should be."

Hyperius heaved a sigh and slumped back into the captain's chair. It took more effort that he thought to sound motivational considering the emotions he felt. His brow was furrowed slightly. His life's work, his dream, had finally been realized.

So why did he feel so... empty?

"That," Tannis finally said, her tone surprisingly even, "is a bomb."

All three of the Vault Hunter's heads snapped to face the doctor. "What?!" they shouted in chorus, bewilderment plastered on their faces.

"Why the hell did you bring out a freaking bomb?!" Gaige hollered, waving her hands. "What if it's still armed?!"

"I-I-" Tannis stuttered. She paused, regained some of her composure, and started again. "My curiosity got the better of me," she said as evenly as she could. "I wanted to see what it was. You all know how fascinated I am with Eridian technology."

"That doesn't solve the second problem," Axton grunted, his face contorted in frustration. "What if this thing is armed? What if it decides to go off?"

Tannis approached the spiky bomb and examined the screen off to the side. "Judging from this," she said after a moment, "there is nothing to worry about."

"What makes you say that?" Gaige asked apprehensively.

"This screen is asking for several inputs," Tannis explained, her attention still on the screen. "It appears this device must be calibrated and set to detonate with a timer. Even then..." she trailed off as she read more of the characters. "Even then, it would still not work. It seems the power supply is drained."

Maya cocked her head in confusion. "Then why is it pulsating?" she asked.

Tannis shrugged. "There is some power remaining, but not enough to trigger a detonation." The doctor crossed her arms. "I wonder..."

"Why do I hate it when she says that?" Axton groaned quietly as he rubbed his bridge of his nose.

Tannis eyed the screen for a moment, then the bomb. She mumbled something to herself, but the Vault Hunters didn't hear it. The doctor tapped one of the boxes on the screen, and the pulsing abruptly stopped. Then, panels on the front of the bomb slid outwards, revealing a shining pink crystal suspended by a series of rods. The crystal was shaped like a polyhedron, and it was about the size of a basketball. All four sets of eyes looking upon it widened.

"Is that the power core?" Gaige breathed. "It's... beautiful." The shining light died down gradually.

"It is," Tannis affirmed. She was equally enthralled with the crystal. "I've never seen anything quite like it." She reached towards it, but an oppressive heat made her quickly withdraw. "It's very hot."

"I can tell," Maya mused, noticing the distortion of her view from the rising hot air. She could feel the energy radiating off it the crystal, and not just the heat. She could feel much, much more. She shuttered slightly. "Even drained, it's still highly energized."

The remark finally drew Tannis' attention away from the crystal. "How can you tell?" she blinked.

"I-I don't know," Maya said, a look of confusion settling on her face. The energy from this crystal felt very similar to that of the Vault Key, except impossibly greater. The Siren was somewhat surprised that the crystal hadn't shattered under the emense amount of energy it contained. "I can feel the energy coming off of it. It's... it's huge."

"How much energy are we talking here?" Axton dared to ask.

Maya shrugged. "My best guess... Enough to wipe an entire city off the map. And then some."

If the others weren't in awe yet, they certainly were now. "You're kidding..." Gaige said.

"No, I'm not," Maya said, shaking her head. "And that's the scary part." The Siren approached the spiky sphere and eyed the crystal within it more closely. "If this thing has that much power when it's drained..." She didn't need to finish her sentence; her point was made.

"...So what're we gonna do about it?" Axton asked after an eerie moment of silence. "We obviously can't leave this thing here. Who knows who could find it after us."

"I don't think we can take this bomb with us, either," Tannis said. "It appears the bomb is anchored to the pedestal." She gave it a slight push, and the spiky sphere remained put.

"Then we remove the core," Axton said slightly impatiently. "If it can't work without the core, then we take it."

"Yeah? And put it where, exactly?" Gaige countered. "If that core's even remotely as energized as Maya says it is, it'll melt though any container we put it in."

While the Commando and the Mechromancer argued, Maya's attention was focused on the crystal. The mental tugs she had felt before were now strong pulls. It was as if they were talking to her, telling her things about the crystal. They told her it was dangerous, far too dangerous to keep around.

They told her it had to be destroyed. Maya listened to them.

As if in a trance, Maya's arm slowly rose out in front of her. She cupped her hand and her Siren tattoos shined, though they shimmered a more purple hue than normal. Her eyes glowed the same unusual color. The familiar Phaselock bubble of energy formed in her hand, as well as around the crystal itself. She drew her hand towards herself, and in doing so, she pulled at the crystal. With a sharp snap, the crystal freed itself from the rods around it. She pulled the crystal closer, until it was almost arm's length away from her face. Even from that distance, she could feel the heat radiating off of it. It felt... gentle, like the warm flames of a fireplace. She held it there for a few moments, and the core dimmed as she did.

The snapping sound caught the attention of the others. They all exchanged uneasy glances at the sight before them. They all thought the same thing: What is she doing?

"Maya?" Axton tried to get the Siren's attention. Little did he know that her ears were filled with shouts, all demanding the destruction of the crystalline power core.

"Maya," Axton said as he stepped forward, this time more firmly. He received no response.

With a growl, the Commando marched over and grabbed the Siren by the shoulder. "Maya!" he demanded, getting dangerously close to her face. The grab broke whatever spell had befallen Maya, and she yelped in surprise at how close Axton had gotten. The Phaselock bubble vanished, and the crystal clattered to the floor.

"Wha..." Maya seemed dazed, almost sleepy. "What happened..?" She looked at her hand in confusion, then at the faintly-glowing crystal. Her brow furrowed slightly. "Did I... move that?" she asked.

"Yeah, you did," Axton said evenly. "You don't remember doing that?"

"No..." Maya shook her head lazily. "No, not at all..." She gazed at the back of her hand, watching shades of blue and purple swirl around in her Siren tattoos. She felt exhausted, yet the entire left side of her body felt tingly and hot, particularly around her markings.

A look of concern settled on Axton's face, but he remained quiet.

"Well, there is some good news," Tannis chirped, her tone slightly too cheerful for the moment. "The power core is not nearly as hot anymore." As if to prove her point, she clutched it with both hands. It still felt warm to the touch, like a stone left out in the Sun.

"Well, I guess that takes care of some problems," Gaige shrugged. She offered a hand out to Tannis. "I can take the core. From the looks of things, Maya shouldn't be down here much longer."

"Gaige's right," Axton agreed. "We should get her back to Sanctuary. She looks like she needs some rest."

"I'm fine, honestly," Maya protested, but she didn't object when Axton picked her up.

"This isn't a discussion, Maya," Axton said, a smirk on his face. Maya wanted to argue, but she felt too drained to offer any more protests. Tannis handed Gaige the crystal power core, and the Vault Hunters began the long ascent back to the surface.

A/N: Hey, look at that. Another chapter posted in a timely fashion. Motivation be praised.

I felt a need to post this chapter as soon as I could because I felt the questions I left at the end of the previous chapter needed answered. Thus, I provide some of the answers. The main plot starts to kick in next chapter, so stay tuned.