Marvin calmly walked down the hall, waved to the security guards and entered the small observatory overlooking the massive test chamber. It was strangely quiet.
In fact, there was noone around at all.
What the hell? Marvin thought, incredulously.
He expected the usual hive-of-activity. Nothing was going on. He glanced out of the window. The glowing aqua light of the alien weapon was no longer. The massive test chamber was completely dark. The tools had been left as if there was an evacuation...
Marvin went to a chemical tank attached to supply one of the cutter torches.
The valve was still on. He cranked it to the "off" position, anger growing.
Marvin stormed into Dr. Ulrich's office, but, he found it empty. Dr. Ulrich's framed degrees no longer hung on the wall. In fact, it appeared as if he had never been there... at all. The only thing that remained was his name stenciled on the door and the nameplate of the desk.
Marvin suddenly realized.
It was happening.
Again.
He felt duped, like some kind of rookie pacifist.
Hopefully he could find this swindler... and teach him a lesson...
Heartless appeared on the pedestal near Dr. Ulrich's desk. Her holoform's glow was of a darker red, not the usual transparent or pastel pink color.
Marvin looked at her...
"Do you know about this?" He said, blazing.
"Unfortunately yes... I tried to tell you, but that doctor disabled me... with some kind of virus. I have fought it back and locked it up in a virtual pandoras box, thankfully. God knows what would have happened should it leak into the ship's systems."
"We really need a second AI back here, Wilson was a great buffer against these types of things..." she sighed.
Marvin was fuming, he trusted Dr. Ulrich and he ran away with Marvin's money like some entitled rich kid with their trust fund.
"Do you know when he left?" Marvin said.
"Recently, I believe, I questioned him when I saw his shuttle in today's docking manifests, which is when he injected the virus."
"His shuttle was going to Yaren Base..." she said, with a slight bit of hope in her voice, anger subsiding.
We can catch him... Marvin thought, vengefully.
Marvin raced to the bridge, the bridge staff was relaxing, as usual...
They turned from their consoles and saw the wild-eyed Marvin, knowing immediately what he wanted them to do.
He sat in his puffy, padded chair, not calming any.
Marvin thought I could ping Yaren, and see if they have a shuttle in their manifests... but if Dr. Ulrich can hack into my ship... he could surely hack into a measily Corsair installation's communication system.
He would personally charge in, guns blazing.
Helm, full cruise speed to Yaren. Now.
The helmsman silently accepted and the Glorious Advance jolted forward, stars racing by. Freeport 11 became smaller and smaller in the rearview panels.
The ship reached Yaren Base in the matter of an hour, and Marvin quickly boarded his shuttle, the Stranger In A Strange Land. He also grabbed his Detroit Python Blaster Pistol, and shoved it into his jacket's imperceptible pocket. The shuttle rocketed at full speed to Yaren Base, and arrived in the docking bay. The Corsairs there eyed him wearily, but not with hostillity as he was known in the area for bursting in unannounced when something or someone struck his nerve... or fancy.
He calmly stepped out of the shuttle, the cold deck of the docking bay quaking under his boots. He checked the second docking bay, which was completely occupied by a Corsair Titan, and the third was empty. The fourth, however, had quite an old shuttle in it. It was green in color, shaped almost like a upside down V.
The landing ramp was open, but the ship appeared dark.
Marvin went into it, the old consoles were glowing. He checked the passenger manifests... and found one.
Mister Ulrich.
Hah.
He wasn't even a doctor.
Unless his doctoral thesis was on embezzeling non-profit funds...
Marvin hid behind some large canisters in the dark, silent, cargo bay. He peeked around the canister and pulled out his gun. The ramp was directly in front of him, but he was just out of the light of the deck below, which filtered into the ship in a wide shape.
Ten minutes passed...
Marvin ducked as he heard voices nearing. Whispers.
"We must leave, now!" Marvin heard what sounded like Ulrich say.
The hired captain of the ship didnt appear to be in a hurry... he had a large beer in his hand.
Dr. Ulrich grabbed him, pulled him over to the small window in the docking bay, any larger and the 3 suns of Omicron Delta would burn any foolish enough to pass infront of it.
"See that?" He yelled, and Marvin knew what he was pointing to, the colossus floating in space, vengeantly smiling at Mr. Ulrich.
"That is my former bosses ship, and it isnt here by coincidence." Mr. Ulrich said, inpatiently.
"I will pay you double if we can leave... immediately."
The captain looked convinced, and Marvin slid closer and further behind the large canister he was hiding behind. He turned off the saftey of the blaster and slowly pulled it out.
Marvin heard the footsteps clank up the metal ramp, and near to where he was hiding. He slid on the silencer, hopefully not waking up any Corsairs once the job was done.
First, the Captain, a burly, aged, bearded man, passed Marvin... and then... "Doctor" Ulrich.
Marvin jumped and rolled behind the two.
They began turning, but Marvin squeezed the trigger twice in quick succession. Two bullets passed through Ulrich's head, one continued into the captains, who was directly in front of Ulrich.
Both of them fell, the captain's lifeless body knocking over a canister of oil in the process.
Marvin hit his mark perfectly. Ulrich's forehead had a square-shaped hole in it. Marvin looked around the bloodied floor, and spotted his target.
The nuero-net chip was made of diamond, and, while now it could be sold to a scrapyard as a blood diamond... Marvin pocketed it and quietly left the ship, and non-shilantly walked out of Yaren's Docking Bay #4.