Paint and Powder

A Star Trek anthology by Andrew Joshua Talon

DISCLAIMER: This is a non-profit fan based work of prose. Star Trek: The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager et al are the property of CBS Television, and creation of Gene Roddenberry. Please support the official release.

Akashi: "Negotiations"

By Andrew J. Talon

2377

Deep Space Nine

Quark would never admit it to anyone, but he did enjoy the quiet times when the bar was closed. Not as much as when it was full and there were plenty of profits flowing into his pockets, of course, but there was a serenity to it. It made him appreciate the noisy times all the more.

"Just like the wise man said," he mused... Before a female voice interrupted him.

"'It's the quiet moments that lets a man appreciate what he has and want still more,'" she said. Quark looked over at the bar entrance, scowling a bit. A familiar green-haired catgirl shipgirl AI stood there, in her white and tan outfit. She was a lot taller than before, and curvier.

Not that Quark was going to let her know he cared about that.

"And the quiet is gone," he muttered, as Akashi flounced in. The AI chuckled merrily, as she plopped herself down on the stool in front of him.

"Is that any way to talk to your favorite business partner, nyah?"

"Favorite? Bah!" Quark scoffed. "You sold me out!"

Akashi looked affronted.

"Me? How?" She asked. "I was all in on Rom's baseball league, you know! And the betting system too, nyah!"

"You were in it for twenty percent you said, and you took forty," Quark accused. Akashi huffed.

"You tried to hack me down to fifteen! You paid for your mistake properly! Be lucky I didn't get really nasty, nyah!"

"There is nothing nastier than filching a Ferengi's profits," Quark said defiantly. Akashi snorted.

"What if I'd cut off your lobes, nyah?"

Quark shook his head rapidly.

"I could afford new lobes!"

"You could do that anyway!" Akashi sighed, exasperated. She leaned over the bar and scowled intently at Quark.

"You just keep giving me the cold shoulder all over me doing something as harmless as robbing you," Akashi said, "it's not like I broke your heart or anything, nyah."

Quark continued to clean the glass, glaring intently into space. Akashi stared for a moment longer. She blinked.

"Wait... That dinner reservation...?"

Quark shot her a venomous glare.

"You robbed me and then didn't even bother to show up to gloat about it," Quark stated coldly. "I mean, really. A female robbing me with her wiles... I could accept. But robbing me like that-?"

"I didn't mean to, nyah!" Akashi said defensively, "I got called away! I was still part of Starfleet, ya know, nyah!"

"And so you come crawling back, to try and patch things up, is that it?" Quark growled. Akashi nodded.

"Basically, yeah, nyah!"

Quark huffed. Akashi pouted, and pushed her larger bosom up.

"I mean, I did get these for you, after all, nyah," she crooned.

Quark looked her up and down, considered...

"Those are nice," Quark stated, "but you still cheated me."

Akashi sighed heavily, crossing her arms under her breasts. She'd paid a pretty strip of latinum for them in her gynoid, she was going to show them off damnit.

"... All right, I'm sorry," Akashi admitted. "You still cheated me."

"You cheated me first."

"We're keeping track?" Akashi asked.

Quark fixed her with a very serious look.

"I always kept track when it was you," Quark stated, setting the glass down.

Akashi's cheeks flushed. She looked aside, biting back a purr.

"... You know," she said, "we could... Renegotiate things. Right now, nyah."

Quark frowned.

"... Naked negotiations?"

"Aren't those the best kind, nyah?" Akashi asked.

Quark, the very picture of reluctance, heaved a dramatic sigh and nodded.

"Well, if it's naked negotiations, I suppose I can hear you out."

Akashi beamed, and took him by the hand.

"I knew you'd see things my way, nyah."

"Yeah, keep telling yourself that," Quark scoffed, as they headed off to the holosuites.

Because Greedy Cat with Decent Ferengi is an OTP I can get behind.