Chapter 2

4 Months Earlier

Quark was staring at two of the most beautiful sights he had ever seen, a dabo table taking money and his newest dabo girl Trier, with her long black hair, long green legs and beauty a man would die for, she was only second to his own moon on the list of things he wished to possess. Now only was she beautiful she was a great dabo girl, she distracted all of the men, and befriended all the women, since she arrived profits from the tables were up 38. His moon was closer by the day and hopefully he would conduct business there with her at his side.

"Quark!" only the loud shout of Ro Lauren woke him from his day dream

"I'm sorry what can I get you ?"Quark replied in his tried and true voice for dealing with customers

"How about 40 metric tonnes of Recilium ore" she replied steadily

Quark once again thanked his lobes Odo was gone or he would already be in the holding cell by now

"40 tonnes of Recilium ore" she repeated in a sterner voice

Quark gave a small shrug and simply said "Recilum ore ?"

"Oh come on Quark you know very well what Recilium ore is and you also know that usually only the Orions use it in their ships. But this shipment wasn't for the Orions was it Quark"

"I really don't know" he replied still in his normal servile tone

"The shipment was the first goodwill gesture for the new trade agreement with the Laertes government who wanted the ore to try and design new more efficient engines using both anti matter and Recilium. Now their shipment has gone and it may threaten trade with the Laertians. Now i know you had something to do with it and i simply want the ore back no one will be arrested if the ore is returned"

Quark who in his few dealings with Ro Lauren had learnt that it was best to let her get out everything she wanted to say, so he had kept quiet but now he was ready to respond

"i have no idea what happened to the ore or who stole it. All i know is that it wasn't anything to do with me"

"Quark every theft on this station has something to do with you and I will prove it. Now where were you at 22.00 hours last night?"

"I was here in the bar from 8 yesterday morning until after 1 this morning. Running a business isn't easy you know"

"Any witnesses to prove you were here at 22.00 hours ?" she replied in a suspicious tone

"Well one or two people but they may not be trustworthy characters?"

"Who Quark?"

"There was Bashier and Ezri who were having a quiet meal upstairs from 8 until 11, Nog and Thane were at the bar with a couple of young Betazoids for most of the night, and Commander Kira came at half 9 to tell me that my request for a permanent docking permit had been approved"

"No one else how about a couple of admirals, the Kai or even the president of the Federation Council" she replied in a serious tone

"I didn't see them but it was quite busy, are they suspects because I may be able to recognise them you never know, if you need me for an identification I would be very willing"

"Oh shut up Quark, you know perfectly well who stole that ore now where is it?"

"Why would I want ore that can only be used by the Orions?"

"You have plenty of contacts in the syndicate"

"Not since you sent them all to prison, no one in the syndicate will deal with me, I'm lucky I wasn't killed over the stunt you pulled" some fake anger slowly rising in his voice "Now can you leave me alone to run my bar in peace"

Slowly Ro Lauren left still looking around the bar probably just in case Quark had hidden the ore under one of the tables. But the ore wasn't anywhere near the bar. Quark had seen to that, he made sure there was never any connection between him and the ore or the people who were stealing the ore. He had told Ro Lauren the truth about no Orions wanting to deal with him, but why did he need lots of Oriens taking a share of his profit when Trier knew every Orien captain in the quadrant and all of them seemed to want to do her a favour, she had such a hold over these supposedly powerful men, the skill she must have in bed.

Later after he locked up the bar he went into the back room where Trier was waiting for him. There they both entered their own half of the access code to their account. The ore profits were already waiting for them. The idea came to them a couple of months after Trier started working for Quark. One night after a long day they had split a bottle of slug brandy, a fine drink which for some reason very few species seemed to enjoy except the Ferengi and the Orions. But this was no ordinary bottle, it was royal reserve, 100 years old, the last of a case sent by his brother, the other 19 earned substantial profit. They talked and drank and soon both began boasting of their contacts and quite quickly the thought occurred to them that there was substantial profit to be made.

They came to the agreement that Quark would provide the initial capital and profits would be shared 60 40 in his favour because of this. Trier would use all of her contacts to produce as much profit. Trier being Trier demanded certain conditions on of them being neither had sole access to the account and that they would know when to stop. So they agreed that when the set amount was reached they would stop and go there separate ways. The set amount would allow Quark to buy his moon and continue up, it would also allow Trier to be free and do what ever she wanted. The latinum in the account was impressive and with the ore profits they were nearly half way to their target. Trier seemed happy at the progress of their venture but Quark knew that profit makes more profit and they needed to reinvest what they had earned to make more profit if he wanted his moon soon.

But for the next two weeks they would have to forget the account as Quarks brother Grand Nagus Rom was visiting to take part in a series of negotiations to form a permanent agreement between many races to provide mutual support in the case of another invasion bent on taking the alpha quadrant. Most of the quadrants powerful species would be here, so would representatives from some of the most powerful Gamma quadrant species to sign the Galactic Damage Treaty to defend against threats which could affect both quadrants. Both of these would protect against the Dominion rebels and the Borg.

But with every major security force in two quadrants having a presence on the station there would be no chance of getting away with any criminal activity, plus the contacts to be made were invaluable to future profit and the chance to buy his moon. Who knew he might even set up his moon in the Gamma quadrant as he did know the most about trading with the Gamma quadrant and with this treaty there was bound to be increased trade.

This would also be the first time in history the Orion syndicate was invited to this type of event, as they were becoming too powerful in the quadrant and had shown there first ever signs of wanting to become part of a mutual treaty, even the Orions lost profit in the Dominion war. This was making Quark step carefully and every precaution possible was being taken to prevent incident. There are many people who would want a shot at the Orion leaders and many people at the meeting the Orions would want eliminated.

With all the security crime was not only unwise it would be impossible, it also wouldn't be profitable as all trade traffic was suspended for the whole conference and only diplomatic or residents would be allowed on the station. No trade meant no cargo, which meant nothing worth stealing. Tomorrow Rom arrived, the prodigal son of DS9 had returned.