Thanks to all those who are still with me....if you're just joining us the notes and disclaimers are in the prologue.
Ch. 6
"Revale introduced me today to one of the dabo girls. Said she was half Vulcan," Maddie laughed as she got ready for bed in their current quarters on board Milo's ship.
"The crew of this ship is certainly diverse," Janeway muttered to herself as she listened to her daughter's day. Since arriving, Kathryn had only left the quarters she'd been assigned a few times, and even then, she'd been beamed to the places Milo wanted her to go like the medical bay. Her quarters were spacious, but it was a cell regardless of how nice a cell it was.
Fortunately as it turned out, Madelyn had seen much more of the ship. Either the Orion girl, Revale, or the half Cardassian, Stefan had arrived each morning they'd been on the ship and escorted her elsewhere. After the first three days, Revale had been allowed to start bringing Madelyn places other than the parlor as business aboard the ship was slow due to the workup for the auction. Kathryn hadn't exactly been thrilled to find out Madelyn now knew how to play dabo and tongo, but there wasn't much she could do about it either; at least her baby-sitters hadn't seen fit to expose her to anything too risqué as yet. As odd as it was to think that her six year old daughter may learn how to out bet Tom Paris, it was the personal tidbits her daughter had been able to pick up that were of more interest. Without realizing it, Maddie had learned all sorts of things, and by extension, so had Kathryn.
Revale had been on the ship and under Milo's 'care' for as long as the Orion could remember. Her life here, as entertainment, was all she had ever known, and while he never seemed to understand her interest, Milo rewarded her with new books whenever he was pleased with her. She'd even stayed for a few minutes one evening after dropping Maddie off to ask Kathryn a question about current Earth literature. She'd hurriedly excused herself when Kathryn had asked her to stay, though.
Stefan was still more of an enigma. Madelyn said he never talked much, but that he'd been with Milo for several years. As soon as he'd been old enough to 'get away from his mother and her people' as he'd put it, leaving Madelyn even more confused as he refused to speak further about it. Kathryn immediately thought of him as a child born of rape. His half Cardassian features and the idea that he'd not gotten along with his mother's people made her think he must be from one of the border colonies. He was about the right age to have been born during the war with Cardassia. When Maddie told her that she planned on asking him about it again, Kathryn had told her it was rude behavior and to not bring it up again. The last thing she needed was for Maddie to antagonize her watchers.
"And I ran into a Ferengi today," Maddie continued as she brushed out her hair.
"Just a Ferengi?" Kathryn asked, using a cloth to wipe off as much of the excess massage oil on her skin as she could. "You sure he wasn't part Klingon or something?"
"No, Mama, you don't understand, I ran into him." She clapped her hands together to illustrate her point. "I was kind of worried, but Revale said not to be. She said he was just a tailor and that he was leaving the ship tomorrow."
Kathryn froze and stared at her daughter, an idea forming in her mind. "Did she say anything else about him?"
"Not really." Maddie shrugged unconcernedly. "Just that it was only the second time she'd ever seen him."
"Maddie, where were you when you ran into him?"
"In the corridor, of course," she answered with the air that her mother wasn't too bright for having asked such a question.
"No, honey," Kathryn knelt beside the bed, putting her hands on Maddie's knees. "Where in the corridor? Was it this deck? Was he near a door?"
"Yes, he had just come out of a door, that's why I almost ran into him."
"And did you see inside? Did it look like a gaming room, or did it look like this room?"
"There's no gaming rooms on this deck, Mama. Stefan told me; it's only guest rooms."
Kathryn bit down on her tongue. If she tried to rush her daughter, she'd never get the full story. Taking a breath, she tried again. "So you ran into him on this deck?"
Madelyn nodded.
"Do you remember where? How many doors down from this one?" Kathryn quickly added the second question, hoping for a more specific answer.
"It was the opposite side of the hall," Maddie said, thinking out loud. "And we passed…four doors…two on each side."
Exhaling a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding, Kathryn hugged her daughter. "Thank you, honey. That's just what I needed to know."
Despite having figured out the locking mechanism to the door two nights previous, Kathryn was still surprised to find there were no guards in the corridor outside her room. Apparently, Milo felt pretty secure about his merchandise. Moving with purpose down the corridor, she had to admit, even she hadn't tried escaping before now because they were on a ship. Where was she going to go? The threats against Maddie notwithstanding, she'd resigned herself to waiting for this auction to have a plausible chance for both of them to escape. But now, if she could just convince a Ferengi that there would be profit in helping her, she could at least get word out to the Federation, to Starfleet…to Chakotay.
The past hour while Maddie had been falling asleep, Kathryn had been reviewing in her mind all the rules of acquisition she could think of to help support her case to the Ferengi. Out of all the species for her to have to trust to help her, a Ferengi would not have been her first, second, or third choice, but it was what she had. And she at least knew what the bottom line would be to convince him.
Latinum.
Straightening her shoulders, Kathryn rang the chime on the fifth door and prayed to anyone who would listen to let it be the correct door.
The doors slid open, allowing her entrance to a parlor slightly larger than her own room. She stepped far enough into the room so that the doors slid shut behind her. Sitting on the couch, facing the door lounged a gaudily dressed Ferengi. Kathryn inclined her head slightly. "Good evening."
"Even on this ship the females wear too many clothes," he said with a note of disgust as he stood and walked closer to her. "Did Cyronius send you to me?"
"In a manner of speaking."
He circled her, eyeing her speculatively. "You are nothing more than a hew-man, what would you be doing here?" He stopped in front of her his eyes lit with excitement. "Do you give good oo-mox?"
Biting back the disgust she felt at the thought of caressing the Ferengi's lobes, Janeway managed to ground out her words in an almost polite tone, "No. I have a business proposition for you."
His entire demeanor changed in an instant, straightening away from her, reassessing her as he stepped further back. "But this is Cyronius's ship."
"My name is Kathryn Janeway. I'm an Admiral with Starfleet, and I am being held here with my daughter against our will. I need your help."
The Ferengi grimaced. "That doesn't sound very profitable to me."
Janeway grit her teeth. "I can make it worth your while. All you have to do is deliver a message for me."
"Worth my while?"
"Yes, I can arrange for you to be paid handsomely for your assistance."
"How much?
"Enough."
"Ha!" he exclaimed triumphantly, "enough…is never enough."
"Rule of acquisition number ninety-seven," Janeway retorted, raising an eyebrow.
"Ah…but do you also know rule number ninety-four, Admiral?"
Janeway smiled tightly, refusing to vocalize it.
"Females and finances don't mix," he spat out and strode past her to the bar, taking out a bowl and several bottles and containers. "Janeway….Janeway… you know, I have heard of you."
"Then surely you know that I could be a valuable…customer." Janeway watched as he poured several contents into the bowl and they began to froth.
"New customers on a ship like this are dangerous, and I have a very lucrative deal with Cyronius." He finished making the drink and inhaled the fumes coming off the top of the glass. "Like an aphrodisiac bouquet. Care to try it?"
Kathryn raised her hand to ward off the beverage, even more wary now of its contents. "What if I offered you a better deal than Cyronius?"
"A better deal?" he stood up straighter. "I'm listening."
"I understand that you own a clothing business, yes?" She waited to receive his nod, thankful for the random details Maddie had shared with her. "Surely a businessman of your…prestige…has heard of the starship Voyager." He nodded again. "Imagine the profits you could make if the captain of that ship publicly endorsed your exquisite craftsmanship as the best in the Alpha Quadrant."
He took a large gulp of the bubbling red liquid before answering. "The Voyager ship has a crew of over one hundred. I want them all to endorse me."
"I wouldn't be able to guarantee that." Kathryn shook her head. "But I can guarantee the entire senior staff." She reached out to grasp his arm when he seemed to be mulling it over. "All I need is for you to transmit a message to Starfleet; surely that's worth the promotion of your store by seven renowned…celebrities."
She almost choked on the last word as they had all, in fact, tried so hard to not become celebrities of any kind. She'd also caught a whiff of the drink and hoped its contents would not spontaneously combust.
The Ferengi pushed the drink aside and leaned towards her over the small bar. "What exactly would this message have to say?"
"Yes, Kathryn, please tell us."
Kathryn spun towards the side door of the parlor as Milo Cyronius emerged from the adjoining room.
"What exactly would this message say?"