Rule 121: Everything is for sale, even friendship.
The Flaxians had left the scene and Brunt began to realize he could breathe. But as soon as he made use of this re-discovered ability, he also realized that he was alone with three pretty shady individuals now, and that he owed one of them 12 bars of latinum and a finger. A contract was a contract was a contract, though only between Ferengi, he thought. But there was little chance he'd be able to talk his way out of this debt.
„Kaghan Ravennah Tel'Koa, sorta loyal business partner of the Breen Confederacy", Ravennah introduced herself. She looked and sounded bored and kept playing around with her dagger. „Brunt... F... C... A..." Brunt replied in a hesitant attempt to be polite. He stepped back a bit when Ravennah came closer, and hit the wall. Before he could even think about evading, she had grabbed his wrist and pressed his arm against the wall; the hand next to his lobe now. She smiled and lifted the dagger. „Your choice", she whispered. „Will it be the index finger, the ring finger? You never know which one you need in the future." Cold sweat appeared on Brunt's forehead. „How much... would I have to pay... for... anesthetization?" he stuttered. He hadn't expected to accomplish anything with that, but Ravennah turned to her companions. „Ariev?" The half-Romulan pretended to look thoughtful. „Oh, I'm afraid that might be difficult", he said slowly. „Our shuttle has no sickbay, and the risk for breaking into the medical facilities of this station is not justified by the gain." Dh'amon stepped closer to Ravennah and Brunt. „I suggest we do it the easy way", he said, grinning at his fist. „Clean, quick, and just a small headache you won't mind." „We could simply skip that part", Ariev added. „We pick the finger, a clean cut, deal done."
Brunt decided to just give in to the inevitable. The sooner it would be over the better. „Alright... alright... Just... make it quick..." he gasped. To his surprise, Ravennah didn't only pull back the dagger, she put it back under her coat. A bit confused, Brunt looked up to her. She let go of his wrist and his journey toward utter confusion was complete. He looked at his own hand, now free, then back to Ravennah. She didn't see a need to explain herself; she just grinned. „I... thought... you'd do it... now?" Brunt began, but stopped when he realized his confusion could actually grow worse. Ravennah's finger traced his lobe carefully. „The Flaxians are gone, silly. We can stop acting now." „Er... what?" Brunt replied. He did indeed feel silly, as he had no damn idea what was going on. „Oh." Now Ravennah seemed surprised, too. „From the homeworld, yes?" she asked and let go of the lobe. „Guess it's all a bit different there. We should continue our business over a Kanar." She grabbed Brunt's arm and dragged him to the door of his quarters.
„When Nausicaans made first contact with Ferenginar, there was a little... misunderstanding", Dh'amon explained when they had reached the sofa in Brunt's quarters. „The universal translators were not too effective back then, and some important parts of the Nausicaan language were lost in translation." Ravennah, more laying than sitting on the sofa, next to Brunt, watched his ear curiously. „We have over 90 terms for war and conflict, but we lack less... hostile words", she continued to explain. „What comes closest to a declaration of friendship, or at least absence of hostility, was translated word for word - I'll cut off your finger. But that is slang. It basically means 'I'll do no major harm to you'. No-one got it back then."
Ariev took a bottle of Kanar from the replicator, threw it over to Ravennah and addressed Brunt. „You want a drink?" Slowly, the Ferengi nodded. „Ant juice, no shells?" Ariev turned back to the replicator. „I hate shells, personally", he said. „Grinds so much between the teeth." Brunt was about to express his surprise about an alien knowing so much about ant juice, but Ravennah was quicker. „I assumed a Ferengi, so far from homeworld, would know the phrase 'cut off a finger' and you would know what our deal really was." She leaned over to Brunt, still watching his lobe. „I... only owe you... 12 bars of latinum?" he concluded. Ravennah nodded. „That, and dinner", she grinned. Brunt stared at her in shock. Did he get that right? She wanted him to go out with a clothed female? Since this clothed female and her friends had just saved him from the Flaxian head hunters, he felt it was not a smart move to voice his disgust, so he swallowed it and just asked: „Why that?"
Ravennah's finger moved up his arm, toward his ear. „Rule of Acquisition 214 - Never begin a negotiation on an empty stomach", she replied. „And we have a lot to negotiate." Brunt wanted to object, but he was much too stunned to have heard a Rule of Acquisition, correctly quoted, from a clothed female - and not even a Ferengi female. „Yeah, I know, Rule 94", this female sighed. „Females and finances don' mix, bla." Her finger reached Brunt's neck; he swallowed. If that finger would find its way to his lobe, it was quite possible he would agree to some quite stupid things.
Frantically, he tried to find a more or less polite excuse to not have dinner with the female. If Quark saw him with this person, there's no telling what he'd tell the Grand Nagus! A liquidator of the FCA, strolling around with a clothed female in public! Even doing business with her! Something like this could easily cost him his job. And when Brunt's thoughts arrived at this conclusion, he also realized that he would need a job in the future - as long as this genetically undecided group would keep the Orions away from him. A quite uncomfortable dilemma - but refusing the dinner was clearly the wrong thing to do, as long as the Flaxians were on the station. „And... where... do you... want to go?" he asked, hoping she'd say it was just another misunderstanding or a joke. She didn't. But she also didn't say what Brunt had feared most, Quark's.
Ravennah sat up and opened the Kanar bottle, with the side effect of not targeting his ear with her finger anymore. „I haven't had Bolian soufflé in ages", she said after taking a sip. „Or isn't it customary in the Bolian restaurant on the promenade if females chew the food for the males?" (somewhat confused about the meaning here. "Or is it customary?" or "Or is it not customary?") Brunt just stared at her, mouth wide open, almost dropping his glass of ant juice. „She's joking" Ariev disillusioned him. „But the Bolian restaurant seems a good choice. We've been there earlier today." Dh'amon nodded. „The tomato soup is a dream", he said. „And the audience doesn't watch their pockets." Brunt faked a smile. „Alright, Bolian it is..." he sighed.
Dh'amon got up from his chair. „Good, then it's settled, I guess." He looked over at Ariev, who also got up. „We'll go throw the Flaxians out of an air lock, just in case. Won't take long." The brothers walked over to the door, had no notable trouble with Brunt's expensive alert systems, and disappeared to the outside.
„They'll be back?" Brunt turned to Ravennah. „I... wanted to get some sleep..." „You paid 15 bars of latinum for protection", she told him. „So there'll be a night watch. But no worries, they won't disturb you." Brunt was still not so sure he liked all this, but he nodded. In case the remark about the air lock had been a joke, it wouldn't be the worst thing in the universe to have bodyguards around at night. „Can I... ask you something?" he made an attempt to change the topic. „Sure." Ravennah drank from her Kanar bottle and waited while Brunt was searching for not too insulting words. „Did you have to scare me like that?" he asked, a bit shocked about his straightforewardness. She grinned instead of spitting out death threats. „No, I didn't have to", she said. „Let's say it's a bad habit of mine, to play around. But you can be certain about one thing..." She moved a bit closer, looking into his eyes. Something about the way she looked at him let Brunt know she was really serious this time, but he couldn't pinpoint what exactly it was. „It wasn't my intention to scare you", Ravennah continued. „It's just... for fun. You know as well as I do that no-one expects people to take a Ferengi's side. And if we, my crew and I, play such games, they are always staged, and we always know who'll win before we start playing. And that winner is always the Ferengi and never the other side. You must admit, it is fun to see the stupid faces of the losers." Slowly, Brunt nodded. Thinking back, the faces of the head hunters had been priceless. Maybe, his luck had finally changed and he would really get out of this alive...
„About the negotiations tomorrow..." he began, carefully watching his bodyguard's reaction. Dinner was one thing, but actually doing business with a female was a whole different story. „We'll talk about that tomorrow, after dinner", Ravennah interrupted and got up. Brunt followed her to the door, still looking for an elegant way out of this situation. „You know, Rule 94, and in my line of work..." he tried again when they reached the door. „Yeah, I know", Ravennah replied, unimpressed. Before Brunt could finish his sentence, he found himself with his back against the wall and the female holding his wrists like iron handcuffs. „But no-one needs to know about our business, right?" Hastily, Brunt nodded, as much as he could with his limited range of movement. „It's just, you know... I could lose my job if someone finds out... I don't even know you, how can I trust you then?" he stuttered. The female grinned. „Well, looks like we'll both break a Rule of Acquisition", she smiled. „I'll trust someone wearing a better suit than me, and you'll trust someone taller than you." She kissed his forehead, let go of his wrists and left the room without another word.