Marla Loren Janssen was a P-Sec systems analyst stationed on the Aegis VII mining colony.
Biography[]
Early Life[]
Marla Janssen was born in the Scandinavian sector of Earth, but when she was just ten years old, her father took a job on Mars and moved his family there. Already somewhat bookish, Marla became a recluse in this literal alien environment. She spent all of her spare time and money on computer tech which was an area that she excelled in at school along with Math and Physics.
When she was thirteen, Marla's parents became suspicious that their daughter seemed to have a lot more money than her weekend job should have been able to pay. Their investigations unfortunately led to involvement by the police and within weeks, Marla became the youngest person on Mars to ever be arrested for 'Grade 1' hacking. She was taking orders and payment from anonymous clients on the net, hacking into the central government's database to alter records for these clients.
Three years in Mars juvenile prison put Marla on the straight and narrow. She was released. Her record was sealed and on her sixteenth birthday, she promptly began working in the Mars shipyards as a systems designer and QA officer. While there, she met Bram Neumann while he was on leave to visit his wife. He told Marla that she could earn more and have an easier life with P-Sec, whom he just happened to know that they are looking for a new control op on Commander James' squad.
Marla followed up on the lead and within days, she was offered the job. Marla since worked on two colonies with James' squad. Since his divorce, she and Neumann developed a casual relationship.
The Second Aegis VII Incident[]
It was implied that she and Abraham Neumann are in a relationship. She had an interest in Unitology and the Marker for mostly secular reasons. She devised that the markings on it are a code for DNA and it infected dead bodies, mutating them. Throughout several of the comics, she was seen steadily working on deciphering the text on the Marker while Neumann joked about her luck at it since the Church failed to decipher it for centuries. Eventually, Marla discovered the text's meaning, but was too late, as the Necromorphs emerged to overrun the colony upon the planet crack initiated by the USG Ishimura.
After reuniting at her apartment, Marla set out with Neumann to investigate the situation. Though hindered by the colony-wide blackout that ensued upon the planet crack, they would quickly realize the the extent of the threat they were facing, later discovering all other P-Sec personnel dead and later reanimated as Necromorphs. They then resolved to escape to the Ishimura with as many survivors they can rally despite Captain Mathius's no-fly order. Eventually the group made it to the hangars, where they found it overrun with other desperate colonists.
The relief would be short-lived, however. Disaster struck when first shuttle to take off carried too many passengers, and was then hijacked by a colonist who was outraged at the pilot's attempt to land back on the planet to lighten the weight, causing it to crash and destroy the remaining docked shuttles. After the shuttles were destroyed, Marla came up with a plan to radio up to the Ishimura and call for help, bypassing the problem with the communications by heading straight for the communications needle. With Neumann in tow, they managed to reach the needle after a lengthy trek, but when they arrived, they discovered that Corruption had grown upon the equipment and was causing interference. At this, Marla broke down in tears, as the extent of the damage the Corruption had caused the equipment appeared to be irrevocable, but she was quickly comforted by Neumann. Upon investigating the needle, they discovered a large biomass of Necromorphs bound to the wall by the Corruption. Neumann was distracted by the sight of Vera Cortez, his former partner, being fused to the Corruption.
Though Marla managed to regain Neumann's attention, a group of Slashers had emerged to attack the pair. In the race out of the room, she struggled to reach the door and was impaled through the chest by a Necromorph. In a last act of selflessness, she activated the door lock, much to Neumann's dismay, and sealed herself in with the other Necromorphs, saving him.
The final page of the Dead Space comics shows a pair of faces merged into Corruption that appear to belong to Neumann and Marla, implying that Neumann went back to the room within the communication needle where Marla had died to forever rest alongside her.
Gallery[]