Rule 95: Expand or die!
Nausicaan raider Maoth'ai
Shuttle Bay
„And everyone else is wanted by the Bajoran authorities?"
Ravennah Tel'Koa, kaghan of the Maoth'ai looked around, amused and annoyed at the same time. Besides herself, there were only three crew members in the shuttle bay. „Not everyone, but those not wanted on Bajor are wanted by the Federation", Ariev replied. „The station may be Bajoran, officially, but it's run by the Feds. Better safe than sorry." „Why do we have to go to that station anyway?" Maahir, the ship's pilot, asked. „Because we don't want to cross the entire quadrant to get to Ferenginar. The Maquis raids are getting worse, and even independant freighters are checked all the time", Ravennah sighed. „And we can assume that also goes for Nausicaan raiders", Ariev added. Maahir rolled his eyes. „Not that we wouldn't draw attention with a different ship." „That's why we will take the shuttle", Ravennah replied. „Deep Space Nine is the last stop before the wormhole. You can bet the Ferengi have enough interest in the territory on the other side to frequently stop by. And we have, if neccessary, a short cut to Breen space."
The door of the shuttle next to the trio opened and a suspiciously scaly Klingon stepped out. „Can we get on the way now? I didn't plan to stay sober all day." Ravennah turned to him, then looked back to Ariev and Maahir. „Agreed. And after all, we don't get the chance to get drunk on a Fed station every day."
Deep Space Nine, Promenade, Quark's
„Buuuut... why did you give Brunt your information? I, er, I thought you think he's going to fail? And now you're helping him win the bet against you?" Rom pulled his head out of the replicator he was repairing and watched Quark with obvious confusion.
„No lobes and nothing between them..." Quark sighed, more to himself. He put two glasses on a tray and ordered a waiter to serve the drinks, then he looked back at Rom. „Though it appears to run in the family, I'm not stupid", he said. „Before I went to see Brunt yesterday, I talked to Moogie." Rom stopped searching his toolbox and a wide smile appeared on his face. „Oh, Moogie! How is she? Did she like her vacation with Zek?" „Yeah, yeah, everything was fine", Quark shoved the question aside. „The point is, she was on Risa with Zek. For four months!" „Wow, I wish I had that much time for vacations!" Rom found the tool he had been looking for and got up to continue his work. „Rom, how stupid exactly are you? Don't you get it? She was on Risa. With Zek. Zek wasn't even on Ferenginar for the past four months. And you bet Brunt was not on Risa. The Nagus didn't send him here. Not to exploit the gamma quadrant or any other reason." He grabbed a bottle to fill Morn's glass, then continued. „Zek didn't talk to Brunt for months, and he had no idea he was here." „Hm", Rom said. „Maybe, er, maybe he just... forgot?" Quark closed the bottle and put it back on the board behind him. „Zek maybe, but Moogie wouldn't have forgotten", he replied. „No, I'm sure there's something going on here and I want to know what it is. Either Brunt wants to exploit the gamma quadrant alone - in which case I want my rightful share of the profits - or there's something bigger behind his story. It is suspicious enough that he even agreed to a deal with me, without Zek being involved."
Rom had just grabbed his tools to move on to the next task when Dr. Bashir and Miles O'Brien finished their darts game and came over to the bar for a syntheale or two. „What's going on around here today anyway?" the Chief asked when Quark began to fill their glasses. „What do you mean?" He glanced around. „For my taste, it's certainly not enough." O'Brien nodded to one of the tables near the dart board. „Interesting audience today." Quark placed the glasses in front of O'Brien and Bashir and briefly looked over. „What's interesting about that? Two guys drinking blood wine. You see that all day since the Rotarran docked for repairs." „Two half-Cardassians drinking blood wine, that is not exactly ordinary", Bashir pointed out. „So what? As long as they pay, they can be five-headed hadrosaurs if they like." Quark shrugged and began to mix a cocktail. „Oh come on, Quark!" O'Brien began. „Even you don't see that every day, a half-Klingon and a half-Vulcan..." „Wrong!" Quark interrupted and took a new glass. „Half Romulan. They're half brothers, too. But who cares, if they pay in full, right?" „How do you...?" Bashir started, but didn't bother to finish his question when the Ferengi just pointed at his ears. „Arrived with a shuttle about two hours ago", he explained while juggling two bottles. „Probably traders from Breen space, or miners on vacation."
„Seeing how un-interesting they are, you listened pretty closely", the Chief smirked. Quark finished his cocktail and put the two glasses on the counter for a waiter to pick them up. He leaned closer to his guests. „To know that, I don't have to listen at all", he told them. „Why do you think you see people like them so rarely?" „You tell me", Bashir replied. He reached for his drink, and so did O'Brien. „Think about it. Do these two look like they are very popular on Cardassia? Or Qo'noS? Or Romulus?" Bashir and O'Brien shook their heads. „Do they look like they are very popular anywhere else?" Quark continued. Again, Bashir and O'Brien shook their heads. „Exactly. But there is, in fact, a part of space where people like them are very welcome. And that's the territory of the Breen. You Federation people think Breen aren't the socialites of the quadrant, and that's true for the most part. But they are very interested in trade and workers. They like their isolation for the sake of cultural purity..." „Wait a second, didn't you say a Breen made one of your rules of acquisition?" Bashir interrupted. „That sounds like cultural exchange to me." O'Brien just listened and put his empty glass back on the counter. „Yes, actually that's right. The 95th rule, 'Expand or die', was written by a Breen", Quark confirmed and reached for a bottle. He began to fill the chief's glass. „Let me put it like this. The Breen like to culturally influence others. They just don't like being influenced at all." He reached for Bashir's glass to refill it, too. „And that is why the Breen are more open towards people that lack real cultural roots. People that have nothing to influence them with."
„Then I assume these two are friends of the Breen, too?" O'Brien's glance followed two guests who had just entered the bar. „I didn't even know that's genetically possible..." Bashir muttered, surprised. Quark just shrugged and returned to preparing cocktails. „What are they?" O'Brien whispered to Bashir. „He's clearly part Andorian and from the color, I'd say... Orion", the doctor quietly replied. „And she? Cardassian, Klingon... But the teeth?" He stopped and watched for a moment. „Looks Nausicaan to me, but all I can say for sure is that it's a genetic mess." „Tsk, nothing is impossible in Breen space", Quark stated louder, barely interested in the conspirative conversation. He handed a waiter some glasses and turned back to Bashir, who was still trying to figure out the genetic mystery. „And you, stop staring at my guests like that. It's bad for business!"
Deep Space Nine, Habitat Ring
Carefully, Brunt peeked around the corner of the corridor. No-one in sight, but he tried to move quietly nonetheless. Meanwhile, he regretted having left the promenade in the first place; after all, murder was less likely there than in the loneliness of his quarters. But after that oh-so-correct security chief had denied his request for personal bodyguards, it seemed appropriate to storm out of the office and into the turbo lift to express his outrage. On the way to his quarters, Brunt had considered asking Captain Sisko for political asylum. But then he had realized that would make him a loser like Quark. The Federation wouldn't simply grant his request. He would have to admit that he had done business with the Syndicate; that he had thought he could outsmart them, and then got caught concealing 100 bars of latinum. And then the Federation would ask him to testify against the Syndicate, and then the Syndicate would still and even more devotedly try to kill him. And he'd be exactly where he was now. So the only option remaining was to silently disappear through the wormhole, into a new quadrant and a new life.
Finally, he reached the turbo lift to return to the promenade. Brunt stepped in and hoped no-one would join on the way down. The Syndicate had their agents everywhere. One couldn't be careful enough. Frozen accounts and random stock purchases had proven to be effective to disguise his steps, but when - not if - the Syndicate figured out what tricks he was using, he'd better be far, far away.
His silent prayers were heard. The turbo lift didn't stop on the way and he reached the promenade alone. Here, the liquidator felt a bit better. Bajoran securities were working extra shifts lately, to stop any conflicts between Starfleet officers, civilians and Klingons before they could escalate. Brunt took a deep breathe, put on the invisible mask of superiority and walked over to Quark's bar.