Rom had finished all of his snail juice, and he had received no response from the Grand Nagus. No visual contact from Maihar'du either.
Perhaps my offer wasn't high enough. Rom thought.
He let out a sigh, as he got up and returned the empty glass to the replicator. He watched as it disappeared, and thought of only one word. Moogie.
Yes. That's it. He thought. Mother has always been on my side. There's nothing she wouldn't do for me.
Now that the coded subspace signal seemed to be working, he began typing a message.
He felt certain that Quark must be looking for him at this time, as well as the Jem'Hadar.
Spurred on by fear, he frantically thought of how to spell each word, as appalling thoughts ran through his mind.
The Jem'Hadar were merciless, he knew. Imagining searing pain radiating through his body, as they would slowly vaporize him, made his fingers tremble.
Soon his heart began racing as he heard footsteps nearby, but he managed to get the message through. He hurriedly pressed a button to send his message as the buzzer sounded.
It was Quark. "Rom! Are you in here? What are you doing? Gul Nekar is looking for you. He was expecting his sem'hal stew and yamok sauce a half hour ago!"
Rom didn't answer, and rushed to put away his latinum, hiding it under the bed as quickly as he could.
"Rom!" Quark snapped, " That's it! I'm coming in!"
Rom realized he dropped a few of his latinum bars, and he began picking them up, just as the door opened.
Quark stared at his brother, stupefied for a moment, then he came to his senses.
"What's going on here?" Quark asked, a hand on his forehead.
"Uhhh... Just thought I'd give a bribe to the Nagus."
Quark squinted. "Fifteen bars? For what?"
"Well... maybe Zek would help me. Have Maihar'du send a shuttle to pick me up if I gave it to him."
Quark laughed. "Fifteen!? Are you really that foolish? Zek wouldn't help you even if you had fifty bars!"
Rom glared at his brother. "Yes, he would! You know the Nagus likes me!"
Ignoring him, Quark glanced at the monitor built into the wall.
"Who else did you contact?"
"Umm. Our mother."
Quark brought up the log entry with just a tap. He squinted again as he tried to read it, and sighed in disgust.
"Rom! How will she be able to read this!? It's so garbled, and not just your grammar, but your spelling is absolutely atrocious!"
Shaking his bald head, Quark added, "If you tried sending this to the Nagus, he most likely got rid of it."
Rom came over and viewed the message.
"It doesn't look too bad! If our mother saw it, she would most definitely understand." Rom replied, defensively.
Quark rolled his eyes. "And what have I told you about contacting people!? I'm already in enough trouble as it is.
Trust me, it isn't easy thinking up believable excuses to calm a suspicious Jem'Hadar!"
Rom stared dumbfounded at his brother.
"Don't tell me... Did Weyoun notice my absence?"
Quark nodded. "Now don't just stand there, let's get back to the bar!"
Rom protested as Quark pulled him out of his quarters by the arm.
"Now," Quark said, as he practically dragged Rom down the corridor, "I need to figure out how to fix the problem you caused. Make some excuse to our mother, and explain that it was all a mistake..."
Rom listened as his brother rambled on. They both stopped talking when they reached the Promenade, and went to the bar.
A Jem'Hadar soldier was the first to approach them. Quark caught his gaze, staring as bravely as he could into that cold grey reptilian face, the white flowing into his neck through a thin tube.
"You both were gone for some time."
Smiling, Quark held up both of his hands placatingly. "Allow me to explain... You see my brother, fool that he is, got confused about my instructions to fix the replicator in the bar, and he thought he meant his quarters, so there he goes-"
"You go back to work, Ferengi. This one comes with me." The Jem'Hadar interrupted, grabbing Rom's arm.
Quark's forced smile quickly fell. His voice wavered as he took a timid step toward the soldier.
"Now just wait a minute-"
Instinctively, the Jem'Hadar thrust a blaster into Quark's chest.
"What... Whatever you say..." Quark said weakly, retreating with his hands up in surrender.
Rom stared helplessly at Quark, as he turned back to the bar and addressed his customers.
Rom tried to keep up with the tall Jem'Hadar as he strode toward the turbo lift his arm hurting from the soldier's grip.
He gasped as he was shoved in, falling back against the steel wall.
The Jem'Hadar told the computer to take them to Ops.
Rom's stomach lurched as the turbo lift jolted upward.
A few Cardassians glanced at them as they entered Ops, and Rom was taken up the stairs to the station office.
The doors opened, and he was pushed inside. Rom stumbled toward the desk where Dukat was sitting. Weyoun stood beside him, now staring at the Ferengi in curiosity.
Weyoun gave a nod to the Jem'Hadar soldier, and he immediately left the room without a word.
"Why don't you have a seat, Rom." Weyoun said smoothly, indicating a chair in front of the desk. "There are a few questions we'd like to ask you."
Rom gulped.