Welcome to the Borderlands

Crashing Into Elpis

As the group continued onwards, Athena asked, "so what're we doing with this canon, exactly?"
Jack explained, "basically a huge gun that shoots supplies down to the moon's surface like at a thousand miles per hour. We're gonna get in one of those containers and escape that way."
Wilhelm asked, "that safe?"
Jack said, "I dunno. Be a pretty cool way to die though, huh?"
Aurelia said, "I'd rather meet my end in a dignified manner, thank you very much."
Owen thought, 'getting shot out of a canon to the moon. Brick would've loved this.'
Colonel Zarpedon yelled over the comms, "they're at the Moonshot Cannon! Move in!"
More Lost Legion soldiers attacked the group as they made their way to the room that launched the Moonshots, running past some cowardly Loader Bots along the way.
They jumped down an elevator shaft into a larger area.
A voice rang out, "be cleansed with heat!"
Jumping down to fight them was a large red mech-suit like Zarpedon's, shooting flames from its hands!

Jack said, "uh…. Kill that guy, I guess?"
The Flame knuckle, as was written on the suit, started shooting flames everywhere it walked!

Jack yelled, "son of a taint!"

The Flame Knuckle's fiery attacks were fierce and unrelenting, causing the group to scatter and take cover behind various crates and machinery.

Athena quickly assessed the situation and shouted out orders to her teammates, "Jack, Nisha, and Timothy, focus on distracting the Flame Knuckle and drawing its fire away from the rest of us. Claptrap and Wilhelm, provide cover fire and keep the Lost Legion soldiers at bay. Aurelia and Owen, we need your help taking this thing down."

Aurelia smirked confidently as she drew her cryo sniper rifle from its holster and took aim at the Flame Knuckle's exposed fuel tank.

Aurelia smirked as she said, "fire knuckle, meet an ice queen…."

Owen nodded and activated his wrist-mounted hacking devices, quickly scanning the Flame Knuckle's systems for any vulnerabilities. He spotted a weakness in the suit's cooling system and sent a signal to his drone to target it with a laser blast.

As the drone fired, the Flame Knuckle turned its attention to the small machine and blasted at it with a stream of flames. But the distraction was enough for Aurelia to take her shot, hitting the fuel tank with a cryo round that froze it solid.

The Flame Knuckle roared in anger as it tried to move, but it's frozen fuel tank prevented it from doing so. Jack, Nisha, and Timothy took advantage of the opportunity and unleashed a barrage of attacks, chipping away at the suit's armor and exposing its vulnerable circuits.

Wilhelm and Claptrap continued to fend off the Lost Legion soldiers, keeping them at bay with a barrage of bullets and grenades. Athena joined Aurelia and Owen in focusing their attacks on the Flame Knuckle's exposed circuits, using their combined skills to disable the suit's systems and bring it crashing to the ground.

The group breathed a collective sigh of relief.
Jack said, "man. That guy…. Really liked fire. Elevator's over there. Let's go."
The group knew they had to act fast if they wanted to escape with their lives. They quickly continued to make their way to the Moonshot Cannon, hoping that their plan to launch themselves to safety would work.
The group made their way to the elevator, but when Jack tried to get it down, it wouldn't move. Something must've been blocking it.
So Jack had Wilhelm and Timothy go up using some construction equipment to figure out the issue. Timothy did so reluctantly, since he was afraid of heights.
They found out that it was a dead Loader Bot blocking the elevator.
Jack commented, "yeesh, he got wedged in right. Eh, no big deal though. They can't feel pain."
Claptrap said, "actually, we do feel pain. In slow motion. It's horrible. That Loader Bot must've had an agonizing death that he wished was quick."
Wilhelm suddenly laughed as Nisha smirked. Owen, Athena, Timothy and even Aurelia look unnerved by their reactions as Claptrap just looked confused.
Jack said, "anyway, just bash him outta there."
Wilhelm happily did so, and the elevator went down, allowing the others to get on it.
Jack said as they went up, "ugh, these loaders bum me out. No wonder Dahl took us over so easily. I need more soldiers. Badasses. Like you guys. Even Timothy and Fragtrap over there."
The group arrived at the Moonshot Cannon. It basically just looked like a gun.
Jack said, "woo! We made it! Alright, we just gotta get into a moonshot container-"
"The greed of Hyperion shall not-"
A Lost Legion soldier had run into the room, guns blazing!
Jack yelled, "-after we kill this asshole!"
Nisha quickly killed the asshole with a shot between his eyes.
Jack said, "whoo, thanks."
Nisha winked and said, "don't mention it, handsome."
Jack gave a light blush before he said, "er, ahem, anyway, now we just gotta…. Oh for- what the? The autoshot controls are damaged!"
Aurelia asked, "and what does that mean?"
Jack said, "it means someone has to launch this thing manually. Alright, new plan: I'll stay behind. I need you all down on the moon. You gotta find that jamming signal and shut it down. Otherwise we'll never get control of the moon base and we can kiss that Vault goodbye."
Owen asked, "are you sure you wanna stay up here on your own?"
Wilhelm asked, "follow up question: will we get paid if you bite it?"
Athena and Nisha nudged Wilhelm in the sides.
Wilhelm asked, "what?"
Jack said, "it's fine. You've saved my life a couple of times. I'm repaying the favor. Besides, I'm a hero, cupcakes. Self-sacrifice is part of the job. Might wanna resupply before we send ya down. Use those vending machines over there."
The group quickly restocked on ammo and insta-healths.
Jack then said, "we need to get a moonshot container up here. Normally we'd load some supplies, but this time; you're the cargo."
Jack quickly had a container big enough to hold all seven Vault Hunters loaded up.
Jack said, "okay, this container ought to do the trick!"
Everyone but Jack climbed into the container.
Jack said, "alright, I'm closing the container. Watch your limbs."
Jack sealed the container up tightly, so none of the air would get sucked out.
Jack began to load the container into the moonshot bullet as he said, "loading you into the delivery chamber. This is gonna be LOUD. And slightly awesome."
Owen said, "if I die, I'm leaving everything I own to my Dad…. And maybe Scooter…. Since he could use my tools."
Timothy gulped in fear as he desperately searched for a seatbelt around the container.
Jack said, "alright, we're ready to fire! Whenever you're ready, I'll shoot you to Concordia. It's the biggest town on Elpis. I know someone there who can help you find that jamming signal."
Owen grew a little excited. Concordia was his hometown. His dad still lived there at the old shop. He hoped he'd get to see him while on this journey to open another Vault.
Just as Jack was about to launch the Moonshot….
"There he is! Open fire!"
A bunch of Lost Legion soldiers showed up!
Jack groaned, "oh crap!"
He quickly slammed his fist down on a button, launching the Moonshot towards Elpis as he began to fend off the Lost Legion troops attacking him!
More of the Dahl ships attacked the base as the Moonshot sailed towards Elpis!
It slowly entered the planet's atmosphere, but a distance away from Concordia.
Timothy and Claptrap screamed in fear, Wilhelm laughed like a maniac, Nisha groaned sickly, Athena and Aurelia remained stone faced and Owen yelled, "and I thought fighting the Destroyer was crazy!"
….
The moonshot had crashed into Elpis. Everyone had gotten knocked out, but slowly came to as a woman's voice spoke out in an Australian accent.
"Hello? Hello? Hello, thought you might be salvage. You're about to die."
The group slowly stood up as they listened to the woman talking on their comms. They saw her face on their ECHO devices. A woman with short blonde hair with a bandana and purple headband, a large scar on her cheek, bandages on her nose and other cheek, a pink vest of some kind over a black T-shirt that showed her slightly scarred stomach, gray pants and boots, tattoos on her arms and spiked brackets.
Her name was listed: Janey Springs.