What REALLY Happened To Marcus

The Shadow War has recently ended, and things on the station are calm
for a change. Marcus returns to his quarters one day, to find a strange
man emerging from one of the darkened rooms. The man stands in the
shadowy doorway.
"Who are you?" Marcus snaps warningly. "What are you doing here?"
"Relax," the man says. "You've got nothing to fear from old Centauri."
"You don't look like any Centauri I've ever seen."
The man smiles. "You know, I get that a lot around these parts..."
"What are you doing here?"
"I came to make you a proposal," Centauri says. "I've been keeping an
eye on you, Marcus, on your performance. And I must say, I'm
impressed. Centauri's seen 'em come and seen 'em go, but you're the
best, my boy, the best! Dazzling! Light-years ahead of the competition."
"Thanks, but that still doesn't explain--"
"Just getting to that." Centauri smiles at Marcus. "How would you like to
fight a desperate battle against incredible odds?"
Marcus ponders it. "It has been kind of slow around here, lately..." He
shrugs. "Why not? How long will it take?"
"I'll be able to bring you back in about a year or so, give or take a few
months."
"Sounds good."
"Great! Oh, say hello to my assistant, Beta."
A hand reaches out of the shadows, and Marcus shakes it, crying out at
the shock he gets.
"Come along, then," Centauri says, leading Marcus away. "My car's
parking in the docking bays."
"What about Beta?" Marcus says. "You're just going to leave him here?"
"Of course," Centauri answers. "That's why he's here. He's a
top-of-the-line, state-of-the-art Beta Unit, put here as a courtesy
replacement for while you're away."
"Hey!" Beta calls out to them as they leave. "While he's gone, can I boff
Ivanova?" 

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