A/N: I am aware that this story doesn't follow canon, as the first recorded contact with Ferengi didn't happen until TNG. However, at this point in time, I really don't care. I've already started the story and I'm not about to stop now. Perhaps by the time I've finished I'll be able to think of an explanation as to why this contact wasn't mentioned. Perhaps by the time I've finished this chapter I'll have come up with an explanation. Perhaps I just thought of one and now can't wait to finish so that I can tell it. But for right now, just go with it. I really just wanted to write a story about the Ferengi. Quark is my favorite DS9 character. Don't know why.

Oh, also, I just got "The Complete Atlas of Star Trek", which will definitely be a big help in my writing! It's really cool, though it would be even cooler with a huge foldout map that I could put on my wall.

"I don't like being unarmed," Malcolm said, as he and Kamea made their way to the torpedo bay. It was awkward going, without the turbo lifts, but Kamea managed to find all the emergency ladders and hidden access panels. Malcolm was quite impressed, actually, with the ease with which she was able to move about the ship.

Kamea, who was several feet ahead of him, her head cocked in a listening attitude, turned to look at him. "You aren't," she said. "You've got your hands, your feet, and your head. You don't need any other weapons."

He sighed. He felt naked without his phase pistol, but a quick trip to the armory had revealed that it – like everything else – was useless. The dampening field had robbed them of all of their technology, and Malcolm didn't like this feeling of being unprepared. "I'd feel a lot better with a phase pistol, anyway."

She rolled her eyes and turned back around, muttering something under her breath. He couldn't quite make it out, but it sounded as though it was in Hawaiian, and he wouldn't have understood it even if he had heard what she said. One of these days he was going to learn to speak Hawaiian, just so she couldn't do this to him anymore – for he'd noticed that whenever she didn't want someone to know what she was saying, she switched to Hawaiian.

He was also beginning to realize how very little he knew about her. She continued to surprise him, and he couldn't help but wonder what other surprises she had in store for him.

He watched her as she walked – very carefully, one foot placed cautiously in front of the other, her ears perked to hear even the slightest sound. The question of who to take point hadn't really even needed to be discussed, as she was the most logical person. Her senses were much more finely tuned that Malcolm's, and with Enterprise only running basic systems, it was difficult to navigate through the mostly darkened corridors.

"So when exactly did you encounter these Ferengi creatures?" he asked. The silence had become unbearable. He knew it was essential in order for her to hear whether or not anyone was approaching, but it was driving him crazy. It didn't often drive him crazy, but when he was with Kamea, his mind had to be occupied. Otherwise, he had inappropriate thoughts.

"About six years ago," said Kamea. She crouched low to the ground, examining something on the deck plating. She ran her fingers along the edge where the deck met the wall, then rubbed her fingers together. "I was working at a depository in the Helaspont Nebula. Ferengi used to come in all the time, trying to negotiate deals." She stood and gently sniffed the air.

"So they're businessmen?" They rounded a corner, into yet another dark corridor. But Kamea didn't seem at all fazed by the complete lack of light.

"You could call them that," she said. She stopped suddenly and glanced over her shoulder, then continued walking.

Malcolm turned also, curious if he could see what she thought she had heard, but of course he couldn't make out anything in the dim light, so he hurried after her. "You don't seem to think too highly of them."

She stopped again, leaning forward slightly to peer around another corner. "It's their treatment of women that I disagree with."

He moved to go around the corner, but she held out her hand to stop him. Unfortunately, in the darkness, he wasn't able to see it, and she had to grab him by the back of his uniform. She hauled him back and threw him against the wall, amazingly without making a sound, and kept him pinned against the wall with one hand. He knew that it was pointless to struggle, as she could very well rip out his rib cage if she wanted, so he stayed still, waiting for her to release him.

Suddenly the most ear-splitting shriek Malcolm had ever heard knocked everything else from his mind. It was so high that it was painful, and Malcolm collapsed to his knees, his hands over his ears, trying to block out the sound.

Kamea, whose ears were more sensitive than his own, was surprisingly alert. In the dim light, he could barely make out her form, but he saw her wave her arm. A dark shape flew by, and quite suddenly the shrieking stopped.

"What the bloody hell was that?" Malcolm asked, as Kamea held out a hand to help him to his feet.

"A Ferengi," Kamea said, peering around the corner once more. "That's what they do when threatened." She grabbed him by the wrist. "Come on. I think he's headed to the cargo bay."

This is stupid, Trip thought, and not for the first time, as he sat at his powered-down station on the bridge listening to Hoshi and T'Pol discuss these aliens that Kamea had called "Ferengi". We're not doing anything. We're just sitting here, basically going, "Hey, weird-looking guys, please come and take all our stuff." We can't even communicate with Malcolm and his guys, so we have absolutely no idea what's going on.

He glanced around the bridge. Travis was still fiddling with helm control; Trip had been helping him for a while but soon got too frustrated to continue and left the young ensign to his own devices. The captain was pacing back and forth in front of the view port, and Trip was sure that he was going to wear a hole in the deck plating. T'Pol and Hoshi were at T'Pol's station, examining the star charts and the Vulcan database, scrambling to uncover as much information as possible on the area of space they had accidentally wandered into.

"We seem to be here," T'Pol said, pointing to something on her console. "Between these two stars. But this area of space is largely unexplored. However, according to the database, there is an M-class planet no less than ten light-years from this spot."

"The Ferengi home world?" Hoshi asked.

T'Pol nodded. "It is the logical conclusion." She pushed some buttons on her console, and though Trip couldn't see what was displayed, he saw the screen change colors, illuminating T'Pol's face in a different glow each time. "Odd…" she said. "The database acknowledges that a planet exists, but there is no further information."

"Kamea seemed surprised we hadn't heard of the Ferengi," Hoshi said.

Trip could feel T'Pol's frustration, even from several feet away. "Yes, well, I'm not quite sure we can trust Kamea's information."

She was wiggling into his brain again. He could feel a buzzing at the base, almost like an itch at the back of his neck. Unable to take anymore, he abruptly rose from his seat and wandered over to where the captain was continuing to wear a hole in the deck plating. He was also murmuring to himself, but Trip couldn't make out anything that he was saying.

"Captain," Trip said, his eyes darting back and forth, following Archer's movements, "maybe we should've gone with Malcolm and Kamea. I mean, we've dealt with these guys before, too."

Archer continued as though Trip hadn't even spoken. "There has to be some sort of diplomatic solution," he said. "And there has to be some way out of here."

Trip tried again. "Captain? Maybe we should go try and rendezvous with Malcolm. Form some kind of plan of attack."

"After all," Archer said, completely ignoring Trip again, "if nothing on our ship works, then their ships wouldn't work either."

Trip watched the captain pace for a few long moments before returning to his station. He didn't like feeling useless, but without any power, his chief task of monitoring the engines was pointless. He supposed he could go help Travis with the helm console, but he wasn't sure how much longer he could stand being on the bridge. For some reason, he was irritated, and everyone was driving him crazy.

He stood again. "I'm going to see if I can find Malcolm," he said, to no one in particular, as it didn't appear that anyone was listening. And when no one responded to his declaration, he stalked off the bridge and into the captain's ready room.

They were close. Kamea could smell him. She dragged Malcolm behind her as she wound her way through the dark corridors towards the cargo bay, determined to keep on the Ferengi's trail. He wouldn't be able to lose her. Perhaps an ordinary human, but not her. She had long ago learned how to take care of herself, how to hunt one out before she was hunted herself. It had been so with the Andorians, the Rigellians, and the Klingons. But at least with the Klingons, she had been able to negotiate a deal. Safe passage to the Gamma quadrant in exchange for boosting the range of their transporter was a pretty fair trade, in her opinion.

She stopped so suddenly that Malcolm didn't have time to stop and ended up crashing into her, knocking both of them to the floor and making enough noise to alert every Ferengi within running distance to their presence.

Which is unfortunately exactly what happened, for when Kamea regained her bearings, she looked up and saw a Ferengi standing over her. His pointed teeth were bared in a malicious smile, and when he opened his mouth to let loose with a blood-curdling shriek, she knew she had to act fast.

"Tork?" she asked, screwing her face into what she hoped was an expression of recognition.

The Ferengi looked just as confused as she hoped she did. He shook his head. "No."

She shrugged. "Too bad." She stretched out her leg, nailing him square in the groin with her foot. When he doubled over in pain, she got to her feet. "Should have said yes."

She hauled the Ferengi to his feet and promptly shoved him against the wall. "What do you want?" she asked, placing the palm of one hand flat against his shoulder, right where it met the neck. "And don't lie to me. I don't like it when people lie to me."

The Ferengi's response to her question was to shriek, which Kamea should have realized was coming. Despite the throbbing pain in her head, she managed to summon enough strength to pinch the Ferengi's throat, rendering him unconscious.

"Well," she said, looking down at the unconscious Ferengi, "at least you didn't lie to me."

Malcolm clumsily got to his feet and shuffled over to her. "What did you just do?"

Kamea looked at him. "The Vulcan nerve pinch. Highly effective." She grabbed him by the wrist again. "Come on. We've got to get to the cargo bay."