Welcome to the Borderlands

The Road to Sanctuary

We see the boat sailing across the water towards Three Horns Divide, where they'd soon be able to get to Sanctuary.
As Felicity has put the ship on autopilot for now, since Claptrap was not a good pilot, the group were all situated below deck in the cabins quarters.
Owen said, “well, at least we're finally on the right path.”
Axton nodded as Gaige said, “I'm just glad to be out of that cold!”
Zer0 said, “indeed, it sucked ass.”
Maya said, “I don't think we would've gotten through that as well without you there.”
Owen replied, “just trying to help people and take down Handsome Jackass.”
The others all laughed.
Owen then asked, “so…. What're your guys’ stories? I'd prefer to know more about my allies.”
Axton sat forward, explaining his story first.
He said, “I'm from Hieronymous, originally. Spent ten years with the Dahl military force, even reached the rank of sergeant. But I eventually found myself pursuing personal glory and disregarded orders, which led to numerous compromised missions. My wife, who also happened to be my commanding officer, Sarah, simultaneously divorced me and discharged me. She made it a point that this would lead to my death by firing squad, and ‘ordered’ me not to flee to any of the numerous border worlds beyond Dahl's reach. Taking her not-so-subtle suggestion, I went AWOL, using my skills and turret as a mercenary. I had recently heard a radio advertisement about the whole Vault Hunting gig.”
Owen said, “you remind me a lot of my buddy Roland. Used to be Crimson Lance before he took the blame for something he didn't do and had to hide out.”
Axton looked at Maya and said, “what about you? Sirens ain't exactly prevalent.”
Maya sighed and explained, “I got my powers back when I was a baby. I was given to the Order of the Impending Storm, the ruling order of monks on my homeworld of Athenas. I trained my powers in secret until I became an adult, when the monks revealed me to the public as their goddess and savior. I wasn't fond of the Order's short leash. I wanted some adventure and found myself interested in traveling to Pandora to learn more about my Siren lineage. Eventually, I realized that the Order was using me as a threat to extort money and obedience from the people. After killing my handler, Brother Sophis, I headed to Pandora to finally satisfy my curiosity about Sirens. The Vault Hunting was an added bonus.”
Owen said, “heh, you and Lilith would get along.”
Maya asked, “is she a Siren too?”
Owen nodded and said, “a damned powerful one.”
Salvador said, “my turn! I'm a local to Pandora! Born and raised! I love me some violence…. But only against bandits and criminals. So, I was recently about to be killed by the people of my hometown of Ovejas for my actions, when a Hyperion strike team showed up. After killin’ ‘em all, I got interested in the new Vault while ‘interrogating’ the last guy and leaving him to crawl back to Hyperion on a single arm.”
Owen thought, ‘he reminds me of Brick a little….’
Maya asked Zer0, “what about you, tall, dark and fancy?”
Zer0 simply said, “I seek a challenge/ When I heard about the Vault/ I saw said challenge.”
The others could see that Zer0 was a man of few words. And based on his mask and name, he didn't want anyone to know about his past.
Salvador said, “I doubt Krieg can explain his deal….”
Krieg exclaimed, “salt the wombat with honey!”
Salvador continued, “so let's move on to Gaige!”
Gaige stuttered, “oh! Well, uh…. I'm from Eden-5. Was supported by my parents, namely my dad. I like to ECHOcast about my life. I've always found the history behind the Vaults, Eridium, and Pandora to be pretty cool. Anyway, I originally created Deathtrap as th3 Mechanized Anti-Bully Deterrent Test, or Project DT, and as a science fair project to combat bullying. Heck, I also amputated my left arm with a particle saw and replaced it with a robotic one I built as a way to control DT better! But my rival, Marcie Holloway, was a contestant in the science fair as well, and used her father's money to buy her way through the competition! It wasn’t fair! She even stole my designs and sold them to Eden-5's police force! On the day of the science fair, Marcie's dad bribed the judges, helping her win first place with a defective robot based on Deathtrap's first blueprints. DT here is a fourth revision of my plans, and placed third! Marcie then shoved me! But, this caused Deathtrap to identify her as a threat. He attacked with his digistruct claws, which…. Okay, she exploded! Like, a water balloon filled with blood! It even got all over me! It was an accident! After the auditorium was cleaned up of…. What was left of Marcie, I was escorted to the principal's office and faced expulsion and arrest! I called my dad, he created a distraction so I could evade arrest, which apparently consisted of a golf cart and lots of gasoline. Dad said I had to leave Eden-5 so the police couldn't find me. After we said goodbye, I bought a shuttle ticket to Pandora to become a Vault Hunter like I wanted to, and used an escape pod to cover my tracks. While ECHOcasting during my journey, it turns out my two subscriber count had jumped to 20,000 because the science fair incident had been reported on the ECHOnet and people found my channel; I explained what had happened and the subsequent fallout. After landing on Pandora, I got on this train and stowed away.”
Everyone was quite shocked by how crazy Gaige’s story was.
Axton awkwardly said, “well…. Welcome aboard.”
Gaige said, “thanks! So, what about you, Mister Cyber-Hand?”
Owen leaned back and said, “five years ago, I came to Pandora to find a Vault like I'd always wanted to. I made a lot of friends. Roland, Lilith, Mordecai, Brick, Moxxi, Marcus, Scooter…. Ernest…. Helena…. And Claptrap. I went through a lot with my friends. But then I helped the wrong Jackass…. Jack hired me, Claptrap and a few others for a job on Elpis, my home. But everything that happened led to Jack becoming the asshole we all know him as. One of the only positives was meeting Felicity.”
Felicity said, “I was a military grade AI that Owen helped gain a new body and freed from being erased to create a new machine for Hyperion. I was so grateful, I've been working with him ever since.”
Owen said, “and for the last three years, we've been working with my old friends to stop Jack and his forces….”
Everything was silent for a few moments.
Salvador finally broke the silence and said, “well, you've got some more amigos here to help, eh?”
Owen looked at everyone.
Axton said, “yeah. We can all see this Jack guy is nuts. And once he's done with Pandora, he'll probably go to other planets afterwards.”
Zer0 said, “yes he will, indeed/ Handsome Jack is a mad man/ He needs to be stopped.”
Krieg exclaimed, “strip the Handsome flesh from his handsome ass!”
Gaige said, “yeah! What he said!”
Maya said, “we're with ya, Owen. You saved our asses with Knuckle Dragger and have helped us get this far…. We'll return the favor.”
Owen smiled and said, “spoken like true Vault Hunters….”