JMJ

Chapter Twenty-Seven

The Surprise Host

Quark hoped Bennar was not listening, because he sure felt far more nervous than he looked. As he glanced at the younger Ferengi, he saw that Bennar's entire focus was on the entrance of their host. Quark could say at least that he was pleased that Lek continued to be a man with distaste for drama, because Quark was certainly in no mood for it.

As he appeared there was no ceremony. He just appeared. He looked the same as ever. He hardly looked like a person that hid the mind of an intellectual killer, but of course that was what made him more dangerous. All the real experts on secrecy and elimination were the best at appearing inconsequential. Even in build he was more stocky than lean. Although not unfit, he did not look like much of an agile pursuer as a consequence. His eyes were more stereotypically beady than most Ferengi, and although he never looked unconfident, he certainly did not appear arrogant. He looked more like a guy running a shipment business than anything close to an assassin, except that most shipment bosses were far more arrogant in Quark's experience. Again it just all played so well into Lek's favor.

The man himself walked in coolly and casually; though there was just that glint of a predator off the hunt that Quark had come to know too well over his interesting life.

After a quick scan of the pair, Lek said simply with eyes on Quark, "Krax is dead."

After a blank pause, Quark said, "You killed him?"

"No. I can't say this was in the least bit as exciting as our last escapade even if just as foolhardy. The outcome was far more predicable. Family in-fighting."

"Well, tell me!" insisted Quark. "Which family member? When did he die? How long have you known?"

"If my information is correct," Lek said with the slightest indication of displeasure with Quark's impatience, "and it is, he was assassinated by Meegs several years ago."

"Years," Quark repeated, unable to hide his astonishment.

"Another eliminator," said Lek; this time he smiled.

Quark smiled too though somewhat forced as he imagined the entanglement of two opposing eliminators. It did not paint a pretty picture in his mind.

"Why didn't you contact me earlier?" Quark then asked.

"I had an encounter with Meegs. He offered me a deal. I told him that latinum was not my profit. Plus, I don't normally work for people that are that mentally unstable."

"You told him that?"

"He didn't like that very much, if that's what you're asking," said Lek with a shrug, and he motioned for Quark to follow him inside the small ship. "Things had to be sorted out."

"For a year?"

"I didn't discover Meegs immediately in the first place, so no. Unless you know where your party is, it often takes time and patience for the right opportunity to find and take hold of a situation, now doesn't? As a man of profit you should know that."

He did not look back at them as he talked through the corridor, though the pair hesitated.

Quark looked at Bennar and Bennar frowned back. Bennar seemed to not trust Lek or Quark at this point, but Quark only nodded for Bennar to follow. They could be beamed off. Nog had made certain of that. Just a slip of an emergency beacon in Quark's breast pocket and Nog would instantly have them back; though not necessarily safe.

It was hardly a ship. Really more of a transport pod, like a small apartment with a cockpit and a narrow passage that led to cargo, bunk room, and extrication station with hardly a bath. Nothing else. Lek took them to the bunk room where a small table was set before the low cot bed. It was not a Ferengi ship, but it looked like it had once belonged to a Clarusian if the indications of water-safe modifications were correct to flood the place in water for their comfort out of a walking fishbowl. It had long since been gutted and replaced with mostly furnishings of Tarahong with only a few Ferengi specific flourishes.

The trio sat. Nothing was offered to them except the ability to take a load off their legs, and even that was a lot for Lek to offer from what Quark understood.

"Who's this?" asked Lek with only mild curiosity as he half-indicated towards Bennar.

"Just a crewmember. Bennar's his name. This is his first time out of the Alliance."

Bennar bowed his head.

"My condolences," said Lek without explanation.

It could have merely been a joke or it could mean something far, far deeper. Quark himself took it as a warning, but it was far too soon to tell.

Lek glanced at the little blue bauble at Bennar's throat briefly, and then smiled with just a hint of pity. Of course, he would know what a Hidden Profiter was, and probably had long before it was public information. It seemed the whole universe had known before Quark had.

However, even with the fact that Quark's conversion was also quite public, he was glad at the moment that he had taken his gree-lily pad jewel off for the trek for something smaller and less ostentatious that could slip under his undershirt. He wore in fact a very typical suit coat that was made after the fashion of his old proprietor style at DS9. It was patterned in blue with red-squares growing smaller inwards and larger at the shoulders and seams and along the back. A silver buckle with crimson strap was at his chest and a classic Ferengi charm at his throat. Whether what he wore separated him from the simply clad Bennar, he doubted it, but he still felt disguised somehow in it.

If Lek's intent had been to kill Quark, however, he could have easily done it already without a second thought about appearances, but Quark could not shake the thought that Lek was no longer working for him. Not that Lek was known for shifting sides easily; that was why Quark had picked him out as an eliminator in the first place, but there had to be more to this than explaining about Krax. If the situation was delicate, he could have contacted him in so many other ways without anyone understanding their communications except himself and Lek. This was too personal. Too… invasive.

Could he possibly in any way be controlled by a Keeoopii? Quark could not believe Lek out of anyone in the universe would allow such a thing to happen to him, but the fear lingered despite himself. Lek's gathering of thoughts disturbed Quark more than anything no matter how careless or bored Lek appeared to be.

"So… twenty bars of latinum, right?" asked Quark. "You may not have killed him, but the fact that you came to tell me what did happen is of more use than you killing him yourself, so the deal's still solid the way I figure it."

If it was any other Ferengi, it would have been the latinum from their agreement that Lek would be here about, but Quark was not even pretending with his tone that it was. It was just that the silence was unnerving him.

"For five more, I'd like to hear why Meegs had Krax eliminated," said Quark with a shrug.

"Do you care about the Alliance?" asked Lek suddenly.

"Do you?" Quark reflected automatically back.

Lek did not answer Quark, but answered his own question, "You don't act like you do. You act like you're helping to end it."

Quark stiffened. "I didn't know you cared about the Alliance enough to mention it yourself."

"Just because I'm not interested in politics doesn't mean I don't care about the Alliance," remarked Lek. "Besides, it is good to know what's happening to one's own people for self-interest whether or not it's latinum."

Quark paused again. "True. I can respect that from a man in your line of work, and I suppose I can't deny you patriotism for the home-planet last time we worked together."

"So, what I want more than five extra bars of latinum," Lek pressed, "is what you're doing?"

"Who wants to know?" said Quark suspiciously.

"I do."

"Well, isn't it obvious?" Quark chirped. "I'm going to Freecloud in the tradition of entrepreneurship on the Arka Days."

"To find Belongo and hire him, yes, everyone knows that."

Quark's face fell. "Everyone?"

"Everyone who matters."

"Ah."

"Meegs's cohorts are on it already."

"So, you're offering to help us pick up Belongo… before they do?" asked Quark.

Lek rolled his eyes. "Belongo is dead."

Silence. Quark stared very hard at Lek and swallowed hard despite himself.

"But I thought he was in the custody of Starfleet! How could they let that happen so soon? He barely got out today, didn't he?"

"A clever ruse with official Tower signatures ensured that Belongo was kept 'safely' with his new captors until out of Starfleet's attention. It's not like Starfleet was going to escort him back to Ferenginar."

After thinking on this a moment, Quark cleared his throat back to sobriety, and trying to keep his voice steady, he began again, "Well… then what did Meegs want Krax dead for?"

"Krax was too old-fashioned for him. The Keeoopii and Ferengi contract was on the way towards being destroyed through Rule of Acquisition Number 17, and Meegs wouldn't even let him try."

"Well, there is the paradox of Rule Number 284," Quark could not help but remark. "Even if I believe one could certainly make an exception with the Keeoopii."

"I'm not here to talk philosophy. The only philosophy I believe in is what can and cannot be done."

Lek glanced briefly at Bennar again, and Bennar squirmed unhappily.

"And right now what cannot be done is me picking up Belongo on Freecloud," agreed Quark. "But you said you didn't believe that I was out here to do that anyway. Then what is that you theorize that I am doing out here?"

"Escaping the Tower of Commerce."

"No," said Quark. "I—"

"The Tower of Commerce told you to leave."

"What do you mean, it told me to leave?" Quark laughed combating the chill up his spine.

"You're just as much a part of the Keeoopii scam to take over as everyone else. Including myself for a time."

Quark swallowed hard on his suddenly very dry throat.

"Control does not have to be about mind-eating parasites and technological advancements," Lek added.

"There's the old-fashioned time-honored tradition of bribing and blackmailing," said Quark innocently.

"Exactly, and Ishka controls the Tower of Commerce, and she didn't want you there."

"Look," said Quark quite honestly, "my mother's not in the habit telling me her plans. If that's what you want from me, you'd be better off going to her yourself. Besides, I have a reason to be suspicious of your motives."

"I'm still on your employ as far as I figure it, and let's just say this has become a personal matter. Don't let me hear you say that I don't have personal matters. I've followed up on them before."

"I can believe that."

"As for going to the Tower, it would take me far more than latinum to get me there. The whole capital is as programmed as a holoplay. All that has to happen is for everything to play itself out, and whoever is there is set into a role."

"The Keeoopii have everything that under control?" Quark said, and he nodded gravely. "Then… what about Moo— I mean, my mother?"

"She knows she's under their control, but last I heard she has not been merged. Blackmailing, as you said though, is a very useful tool."

"Rom!" gasped Quark. "They threatened her with what they did to Rom. They proved their power, right?"

Bennar held his breath and stiffened, clenching his teeth.

Lek nodded grimly.

"And that's why she wanted me gone."

"The mergers wanted you gone," said Lek somberly. "They wanted to make it look like you were fleeing before the chaos started, and to make it look like you know what's going on, so they can blame you for it."

Zek's little luncheon pricked Quark's mind and he tried not to let it tremble his insides even if he knew he was not fooling Lek about anything he was feeling anymore if he ever was.

"Okay," said Quark steadily. "And my mother thinks she's got everything under control then? What about Ooaseel?"

"I'd be more concerned about your wife, if you were going to concern yourself about any other female."

Quark glared darkly.

"She's under the employ of her brother."

"What does that mean?" Quark spat between his teeth.

"Gloobram is part of the plan."

"You said everyone's part of the plan," said Quark. "That doesn't mean that Gloobram or his sister is in on anything on purpose."

"She's keeping an eye on you."

Quark paused, but only very briefly. He pushed towards the point that he wanted to know first.

"Do you know where Meegs is?"

"I know exactly where Meegs is," said Lek. "The problem is that he knows exactly where I am."

Quark huffed. "So… he knows where I am."

"He already knew where you were, and since Belongo is out of the way, that just leaves you. I just ran into you before he could pick you up in Freecloud."

"You are under his employ?" challenged Quark.

His throat felt dry as he spoke, and he tried to think fast how to respond. What to do, what to say. Was Lek a double agent? Could he hope that Lek's loyalty to his planet was as strong as he alluded to on their last misadventure for a triple cross? There would be no motive in his helping Meegs willingly. He was a man of action, of test of skill, and certainly of freedom, and nothing about Meegs or the Keeoopii could offer Lek more freedom than he already possessed, because the price was one's freedom to use one's freewill.

One could argue latinum was freedom, but to Lek it was more the feeling of being alive on a chase without rules and without boundaries, except the ones he made for himself and his relationship with the universe, which was more than some Vulcans had, Quark had no doubt. He could be described as freedom incarnate, but then if Meegs, or his cohorts, were as smart as they acted like they were, they might have figured out a way to have that over Lek.

"Every man has his price," after all…

But as Quark mulled over these with an outer dark and calculating façade, Bennar suddenly stood bolt upright obviously the only one in the room falling for Quark's false business-like coolness.

"Then what are you waiting for?" the young Ferengi demanded with the clarity of a Starfleet cadet or even a young and foolhardy freedom fighter from Bajor who had not yet seen true carnage in battle. "Kill us, if that's what you intend!"

His bravery was commendable. His rashness was irksome.

Quark closed his eyes and pursed his lips.

"Relax, boy," said Lek. "There's no reason to waste energy on this."

"Why? Do you expect us to believe that you're on our side still?" demanded Bennar.

"Bennar," said Quark quietly folding his hands over the table. "Sit down."

Slowly Bennar obeyed, but he let out a horrible huff.

"What do you intend to do with us?" Quark asked returning to Lek. "Or… should I ask what does Meegs intend to do with, and more importantly… is there room for negotiation?"

"It's not my fault."

"Oh, I'm sure it's not your fault," sneered Quark. "It's just good business. I understand." And he laughed.

"Would the idea of having four Keeoopii in your head ready to perform a sprinkle-bug jig* on your brain be enough to make you do something you wouldn't normally do?"

Quark stopped and stared hard, listening with a wide gaping face. "Seriously?"

"Dead seriously."

"There are literally four Keeoopii in your head," Quark vaguely pointed his hand up at the broad cranium of the eliminator, "ready to perform the Dance, if you don't do what they say?"

"Why not?" asked Lek dryly.

"Why doesn't Meegs come and get us himself instead of all this waste of time as Bennar already asked?"

"You obviously don't understand the Keeoopii," Lek retorted. "They thrive… no. Need— they need, Quark. Like a decent creature needs air, the exaggerated emotions of others, is their breath. Think how much they have on me. Humiliation, fear, rage, helplessness, and Meegs was himself raised by Keeoopii more than Belongo or Krax much less a mother. He's almost convinced himself that he needs those things as much as they do. He's not a Ferengi. And Meegs did all this to watch us all miserably squirm, and to distract your Starfleet pilot enough for the mother ship to beam up the rest of your crew."

Quark's mouth dropped. He had nothing else to say.

And Lek, well, Lek merely laughed.

He laughed like a man in despair, and Quark could not really blame him despite the anger that bristled behind his own fear. His breath was quickening and he gripped the edge of the table with hard nails digging into the glossy surface.

Then without warning everything changed. The room they were sitting in became broad and cold, and empty. A sound of a computer program shifting or ending came distinctly into his ears. This was a holodeck, and the person standing before him was not Lek. His first thought rather than registering who this was, was the idea that Lek must be dead too. Who it was, however, was pretty clear soon afterwards. It was Meegs himself beneath the hologram.