A short female stalked into Quarks, a dark expression blanketing her face.
"Double shot of blue moon," She sat on a barstool, clearly agitated.
The Ferengei bartender obliged, providing her with a small glass of thick liquid.
"Thanks," She took one long drink, then set her glass on the bar. "Nice stuff."
Quark nodded, then gestured with his head. "So... are you with the Gamma envoy?" He asked causally, rearranging bottles under the counter.
She hesitated. "No," Nervous. "I'm from Alpha," She shook her head.
"Well," He persisted, "I'm Quark, and I'm the local entertainment ensurer."
"Interesting, what services do you have around here?"
He smiled -maliciously-thesaurus-. "Aside from the bar, the holosuites are our only other accomodation."
"Holosuites? Pass, thanks." She began to rhythimically tap her finger on the titanium bar. Bored, apparently.
"Well, we have gambling. And I don't believe I got a name."
"I try not to gamble whenever I can avoid it. Uh, I'm Mira Turerri."
"Mira. Nice name. So, you don't gamble, you don't like holosuites, and you have an excellent taste in drinks. What do you do for fun?" Quark leaned personably on the bar.
She looked at him out of the top of her eyes. "I don't do fun right now. I'm looking for someone." Mira looked around, as if mentioning it would cause that person to appear.
"Well, if you're looking for information, you've come to the right place. You know my brother Rom has some excellent sources."
Mira sneered up at him, changing her attitude quickly. "I didn't say I wanted to buy information, I said I was looking for someone. I'll find her with my own methods."
Quark shrugged, unfased. "Who you're looking for or how you're looking is no concern of mine. Merely being helpful."
Mira raised an eyebrow. "Helpful. Right." She turned as another alien walked into the bar, with a smooth face and a quick stride, Mira immediately sensed he was a suspicious person.
"Quark?" He demanded, the addressed Ferengei looking up at him boredly. "Why are there Pillen officials gambling in your bar?"
Quark shrugged nonchalantly. "How should I know? I serve whoever asks for a drink." He gestured to Mira. "Like this young lady here."
Mira raised an eyebrow at Quark, then looked up at his demanding friend. "What? I just wanted a drink!"
"And you are?"
"Mira Turerri. How does it matter?" She looked at him defiantly.
"I am ships security officer, Odo. I make it my business to know everyone who associates with...him." He looked at Quark accusationaly.
"I wasn't iassociating/i. I was just talking." She glared at the Ferengei barkeep.
Quark shrugged.
"Well, watch your purse around him. You should never trust a Ferengei." Odo narrowed his eyes, then stalked out of the bar.
Mira raised an eyebrow then looked back at Quark. "Nice guy. Friend of yours?"
"Hardly." Quark scoffed. "He makes sure to pick on me and my honest little business."
"Right, got it." She didn't look convinced, but decided to ignore him. "Have you seen a tall brunette human in here recently, maybe a little distracted, clothes like mine?"
The Ferengei shrugged. "Maybe I have. Maybe I haven't. That information is confidential. Ferengei policy."
"Policy, then. Okay, how's 50 gold pressed latinum for 'policy'?"
He looked up hopefully. "80?"
"Don't push it. Now it's 40."
"But surely--"
"30."
"Alright!" Quark threw his hands up. "I'll settle for 60, fair price."
She grinned slyly. "Deal. Now, my info?"
He leaned in for confidentiality, and noticed her breath smelled faintly of peppermint. iUgh, humans. No sense of smell./i "Well, I'm not saying anything, but--"
Mira leaned in threataningly. "Just spill, ears."
"But," He resumed. "I imight/i have seen a tall brunette in here a couple of weeks ago, with clothes like yours... and a blue pendant? Very shiny-- glowy?"
"Pendant?" Mira looked confused, but shook her head and signaled for him to continue.
"Well, she ordered a drink-- blue moon, actually. Anyway, I asked her what her name was, and she asked me why did I need to know? and then I asked if she came with the Vulcans, and she seemed... amused." He shrugged, "Then she left. I asked Odo about her, but he said--"
"That's enough, I know where she is." Mira stood up quickly, and made as if to leave.
"Ah," She turned back to face Quark. "My payment?"
"Oh, yeah." Mira dug in her pack and pulled up a piece of paper. "Give this to the guy in cargo, he'll--"
"Ah, we deal only firsthand, miss Turerri." He smiled innocently.
Mira growled, but then sighed. "Whatever, just a sec and I'll go get it out of the hold."
"And how do I know you wont try to leave?"
She threw up her hands. "Then send a guard with me! Come with me yourself, I swear I'm just going to get the latinum!"
He stepped out from behind the bar, "I'll take you up on that, Mira." "Rom!" He shouted back behind him, causing a pinched-face Ferengei to jump and drop several plates. "Fool! You must be more CAREFUL. Watch the bar while I... escort this young lady to the hold.
"Yes, Quark!"
"Bumbling fool." Quark muttered as he and Mira left the bar. "Can't do anything right."
Mira was quiet for a moment before speaking hesitantly. "Did... did you ever consider trying to help him? He is your brother, after all."
He looked offended. "iHelp/i him?! I'm a Ferengei, not a Huian!"
Mira shook her head. "You've gotta give him a better chance..." She looked like she was about to say something, but trailed off and looked down. "He probably looks up to you?"
Quark looked at her like she was crazy, but she was too deep in thought to notice. He settled for scoffing and crossing his arms.
As they walked on, Mira was so distracted that she didn't notice that she was on a coliision course, and before she knew it, she had slammed into someone who was now crushing her legs with their torso.
As she scrambled to get up, she started apologetically babbling. "I'm so sorry! I didn't even see you! I should have been paying more--"
"--my fault, I was reading while I was walking, and that's never--"
Mira looked up at whoever she had run into, and felt her face grow hot as she saw him babbling senselessly and trying to gather up his papers. "Here, lemme help, it's my fault..."
She trailed off as he looked up at her, finally able to construct an intelligible sentence.
"Are you hurt?" His Indian accent had more than a touch of concern to it, and she felt her blush go deeper.
"Only my pride, and that will heal. Uh, I'm Mira." She smiled.
"Good to meet you. ...under the circumstances." He smiled too. "Julian Bashir. Station's medical doctor."
"Yes, and I'm Quark. Now that we all know eachother, can we be going?"
Mira looked up at him in irritation, then smiled apologetically at dr Bashir, who offered a sympathetic grin. "Well, I gotta go attend to some business, but..." She looked embarrased. "Well, anyway, sorry about the crash." Mira stood up and offered her hand to Julian.
He gratefully took it and stood, his papers back together, albeit in misorder.
"I'm sorry, too. But I'm glad I got a chance to meet you." Another grin, and another blush from Mira. He nodded then walked off on his merry way, whistling.
Mira looked at Quark, who was tapping his foot impatiently. "Ready?"
She grumbled, but stalked off toward the hold with Quark none too far behind.