Marvin sat in his chair on the bridge of the Glorious Advance. He stared out of the forward primary windows at the planetoid known as Epsilon III. Barren landscape, a bit of movie sets left over from some loopy Outcast Don operation. No life, not a soul.
Detecting a slight wobble in the planetoid's orbit, Heartless chimed in and broke the silence.
It must be the MNS-Fortune.of.the.Night. Right on schedule'¦ Marvin commented.
Ready, Heartless? Marvin said
Aren't AI prohibited on these slaver ships? She said.
Technically yes, however they're technology is very aged. As aged as their ship. He laughs and continues.
This particular slaver owes me on a bad slave, you know. The one that tried to overload the reactor? Marvin said, thinking back on it.
Ah yes. Heartless continued, The one who's brain you splattered all over the reactor shielding. She said, almost matter-of-factly.
Well we're going to pay him a visit he will never forget. Marvin said with a chuckle.
Marvin felt that old, familiar feeling of cold as Heartless entered the fabric of his mind. She wasn't actually going into his mind, just in the layer of sponge-like data foam between the skull and his brain. Comfy. She said as she settled and the cool presence in Marvin's mind dulled.
The Shuttle Stranger In a Strange Land rocketed through space and sling-shot just above the planetoids atmosphere.
The Fortune of the Night is coming into view. Heartless said as the large, aged 'Slave Liner' came into the line of sight of the shuttles ~200 degree window view. Its turrets lie stationary. Numerous other shuttles, freighters, fighters and even a Conference-Class Gunboat. Marvin queried the ships identification via the neuro-net. It came up as the ZGB-Clemency.
Marvin had V.I.P. access to the ship's bay, a special perk of being such a loyal customer. The old doors opened, silenced by the dead of space. The shuttle barely fit in the clearance zone, but it sat down comfortably near stacks of boxes, various cages, all with markings of various destinations and origins. It was quiet and empty. He took an elevator up to the V.I.P. booths. There was a small security checkpoint. Here goes'¦ Marvin thought, surprised to actually be nervous. The guard at the booth chomped on a doughnut, Sunbucks bag lay nearby. Marvin was patted down, x-rayed and questioned yet again about the titanium-palladium reinforcing surrounding his bones. Marvin repeated the same explanation he's always given, every single time he's came on the ship. The service sure hasn't gotten any better. He thought smugly. It was a brightly lit hallway, paintings dot the walls sparingly. He took a left into his empty, spacious V.I.P. booth with a panoramic view of the show floor. He could see the vague outlines of the other booths surrounding the rim of the wall near the ceilings, but all of the windows were tinted on all of the booths to promote privacy. No doubt he's had more than his fair share of Government and top military brass.
'Our first item', the announcer started'¦
'A shy, underworked female who used to serve on one of the Bretonian Royal Liners. She knows her way around people's pocketbooks.' '¦ '¦
The show ended with the 20th 'item' and Marvin ended up buying 10 of them, 3 males and 7 females.
'Well that was an awful selection' Marvin commented as he exited the V.I.P. booth.
'Is it time?' Heartless almost whispered into both Marvin's ears and his mind.
Marvin was the first to leave, it was a security and anonymity effort on the slaver's part so that no patron'¦ 'customer' could see each other, perhaps identifying them. As soon as he exited the hallway, another booth's door slid open.
'It is the time' Marvin said
Heartless retrieved the overload codes acquired from the black market for the Slave Liner's engine type ' it was a tough bet. These ships are so old they could have had their engines replaced long ago.
Marvin reached the shuttle bay, quiet as when he came in. The shuttle was waiting there. He sat in the pilot's cockpit and connected with the ship, wirelessly. He felt Heartless leave him and intrude into the Slaver's ship, flowing through the connection lines between the Shuttle and the dock. She input the codes into the engines computer mainframe. After a few seconds the complex algorithms responded. Armed. She returned to the shuttle, and to Marvin and whispered
'Done'.
Marvin released the shuttle from the dock and increased power to the engines. Heartless sensed what he was about to ask. She 'detonated' the virus. Space around the Liner's engines appeared to tear. A massive shockwave radiated outward. Fires spurted up on them, spreading more toward the bridge area. The ship's hull cracked and bowed, explosions appearing laterally, most berthed ships being caught in the fire, associating explosions followed. The Conference was luckier, however and broke free from the berth'¦ Racing toward Marvin's shuttle. They were nearly crossing the horizon of the planetoid, to the point they couldn't see the liner any more. A final explosion reverberated through space, and a smaller, more subtle one following.
Marvin smiled as space quieted down. 'I hope that'll teach that scumbag while he's burning in hell'¦'
He returned to the bridge of his Juggernaut, as they scanned for escape pods'¦ survivors. Witnesses. He was confident they were all dead, as he set course for the Theta Jumphole.