Chapter 7
In the outer fringes of the solar system, an ancient spacecraft drifted through the vast void. It resembled a massive arrowhead, and the distant light of the solar system's parent star faintly glinted off the purple-pink hull of the vessel. The interior was a massive hive of activity. Creatures moved to and fro, each with jobs to attend to.
This was the Seraph's starship. Within its protective walls, two generations of Eridians had grown and worked. A third was reaching adolescence, and they were the most eager to leave the ship in search of a home. They had listened to the words of their leader, Hyperius, who said the Seraphs would return home in all due time; the youths, however, were steadily growing impatient.
They would soon get their wish sooner than anyone thought.
Within his private chamber, Hyperius sat in a meditative pose atop a very throne-like cushion. Meditating served a dual purpose for him; it not only triggered his regenerative powers to nearly cancel out the effects of aging, but it also cleared his mind of the thoughts that frequently tormented him. The Seraph general like to meditate for a solid month every few months. He did not like to be disturbed.
On the far side of his chamber sat a console, which was directly connected to the main console in the starship's bridge. Whatever messages or warnings appeared on the main console also appeared on this private one. It rarely showed any messages.
A small red light started to blink on the console, accompanied by a soft beep.
Hyperius' brow furrowed at the sound. He tried to block it out, but the incessant noise threatened to break his meditation. His tattoos pulsed white, and Hyperius felt his mind flow through the floor and into the console through Phase Shift. He navigated his way through the maze of cybernetic pathways. Eventually, he found the warning message. His reaction to what it displayed broke his meditation. The Seraph general nearly ran over to the console to ensure he wasn't wrong. "How..." he mouthed, his eyes wide in disbelief. "More importantly... Who?"
The message said the following: "Error Detected: Unauthorized access to PW. CPC removed. Weapon disabled."
Hyperius quickly donned his golden armor and strode out to the ship's command bridge. Sure enough, he found the same message. His mind cycled through possible explanations. Had the weapon malfunctioned somehow? Was it not as powerful as his calculations indicated? Could something have survived? None of those answers made sense.
"You're awake rather early, sir," a gruff voice addressed the Seraph general. From the sound alone, Hyperius knew who it belonged to.
"An urgent matter interrupted my meditation, Voracidous," Hyperius said blandly, his attention focused on the screens before him. After several minutes of checking diagnostics and inputting commands, he said, "It appears we will be returning to Pandora much sooner than anticipated."
"For what reason?" Voracidous questioned, his brow furrowed.
Hyperius tapped a few keys, sending the commands out to various parts of the starship. "The impossible has happened," he answered.
Maya awoke with a tired groan. Her limbs felt heavy, and her head throbbed with an incessant pound. She went to grip her temple to ease the pain, but felt her arm blocked by a sheet. She realized she was in her cot within Crimson Raider HQ's living quarters, an addition that was built shortly after the events at the Vault.
"Rise and shine, princess," Axton greeted. He stood propped against the far wall. His look betrayed the sarcasm in his voice. He pushed himself away from the wall and walked over to the cot. "How do you feel?"
"I've been better," Maya grumbled. She rubbed her temple with the heel of her hand. "How long was I out?"
"Two days," Axton answered bluntly. "Headin' on three."
Maya gawked in disbelief. "You're serious?"
Axton nodded. "We were beginning to get worried. Seems like whatever happened in that underground chamber did a number to you." He knelt down closer to Maya's level. "Speaking of which, what did happen to you?"
Maya tried to recall the events, but found her memory strangely blank. "I... don't know," she said after a moment. "I remember looking at that crystal core, and then... you right in my face. Nothing in between."
Axton only nodded in response, though he was certainly thinking of something. "Well, knowing you're back is a relief," he finally said.
The remark didn't settle well with Maya. "What happened while I was out?" she asked.
"Nothing out of the ordinary," Axton shrugged as he rose. "Gaige's working on extracting the data from that black box we took from the satellite. Tannis is still in that lab, doing God-knows-what. Other than that, not mu-"
"Guys!" Gaige cried from another room. "You're gonna want to see this! And you're not gonna like it!"
Axton rose, a slight scowl on his face. "Guess that means she got the data from that box, then," he grunted. "Let's see what's up." He trudged off towards where Gaige was. Maya followed shortly after.
Gaige was seated by one of the monitors in the Headquarters' Situation Room. The data box from the Hyperion satellite was hooked up to it by a jumble of cables. Currently on the screen was an aerial view of Sanctuary. The Vault Hunters, as well as Mordecai and Lilith, gradually filtered into the room.
"Glad to see you're back on your feet, kiddo," Lilith said to Maya, a tight yet warm smile on her face. She turned to Gaige and asked, "What'd you manage to dig up?"
"This," Gaige answered simply, gesturing to the monitor. "That's almost all of what's in the data files. Just hours upon hours of video of Sanctuary. There's some other data I haven't gotten to yet, but this is, like, 90 percent of it."
"So Hyperion's been watching us all along," Axton growled, his hands balled into tight fists. "That two-faced son of a bitch! I knew we couldn't trust him!"
"I'd be more surprised if he wasn't keeping an eye on us," Lilith shrugged. "Still, I thought we were on better terms with Hyperion." She sighed, her hands on her hips. "From what you said, Gaige, I figured this would be more important."
"I'm not done yet," the Mechromancer said with a grimace. "These videos can be analyzed across all spectrums. Infrared, UV, X-ray, you name it. Plus, Hyperion could potentially tag each and every person living in Sanctuary and be able to track were they go." She let that information sink in for a moment. "That's why I called you here."
"Okay, now that's closer to what I was expecting," Lilith said worriedly. She rubbed her temple with a groan. "Can you figure out if Hyperion's tagged anyone?"
Gaige shrugged. "I'll see what I can do." With a crack of her knuckles, she turned her attention to the monitor and began typing away.
A period of silence followed before Maya finally spoke up. "Something doesn't make sense to me," she said. "Why would Hyperion want to track us? We're on fairly good terms with Blake, he has no need to spy on us."
"Maybe he just wants to be positive we aren't doin' anything fishy," Mordecai offered with a shrug.
"I don't think so," Maya continued. "It doesn't sound to me like Blake wants to keep track of someone. I think he's trying to find someone. If he just wanted to watch over us, why would he need several dozen satellites to do it?"
Zero nodded, a hand on his chin. "She has a good point," the Assassin mused. "If that's the case, we must ask: Who is Blake after?"
Lilith thought for a moment, then frowned. "I might have an idea who it is," she grumbled. She turned to Mordecai. "Remember the prisoner we took a few weeks ago?"
The sniper scratched his goatee. "The Crimson Lance chick? What about her?"
"I got a bad feeling that whatever this is about involves her," Lilith explained. She started off towards the exit. "I wanna see if she knows anything."
A/N: Sorry for the delay and the shortness of this chapter. As my senior year of high school draws to a close, I'm finding less and less time to write. I'll to be my best to update as frequently as I can. As you can probably guess, I'll be introducing a few more familiar characters in the coming chapters. Things are getting interesting.
As always, feedback is much appreciated.