Cerulean Stars - Chapter 123

Chapter 123 - Grand Opening - Part 1

Stardate 48511.5 - July 6, 2371 - 16:44:24

The grand opening of Quark’s Treasure was without a doubt something Raine had been looking forward to since she had heard about it. There was going to be gambling, exotic food, live music, and if rumor could be believed a cadre of Orion dancers.

Her only real disappointment with the whole thing was the fact that T'Rel was still on Romulas so unable to come as the Asari's plus one. Something that was truthfully beginning to worry Raine given her knowledge of potential events to come.

“I'm nearly fourteen, mom.” Saya groused, crossing her arms and glaring at Raine over the back of their couch. “I don't need a babysitter.”

Raine gave a slightly overdramatic sigh before shaking her head. “That's certainly a shame. From what Ben told me Jake was really looking forward to being able to show off his cooking skills to someone other than his dad for once.”

Saya flinched. “You asked Jake to do it!?”

“Don’t worry though.” Raine idly reassured her daughter as she took a moment to test the stability of her new heels with a light spin before nodding in approval when they didn’t so much as creak in protest at her weight. “I didn’t actually call it babysitting, so you’re safe on that end.”

Not that she thought Saya actually had much of a chance with Jake at this point given how thoroughly the boy seemed to have friend zoned her daughter. But at this point trying to get Saya to see that seemed like just as much of a lost cause.

“So what do you think?” Raine asked, walking out of her bedroom to fully show off the outfit she had decided on for the opening.

She’d decided on a strapless shimmery red cocktail dress that looked somewhat Jessica Rabbitish in its style. It moved well, breathed well, and pushed up her boobs in a way that experience told her was sure to draw the eye.

“How the heck are you keeping that up?” Saya muttered, her earlier annoyance seemingly put aside for the moment.

“Electrostaticlly bonded space tape.” Raine answered without missing a beat. “I could do a full gymnastics routine and the girls would stay just as secure as when I put the dress on.”

“You'd never let me wear a dress like that.” Saya groused.

“Sure I would.” Raine said as she walked over to the table where she'd left her combadge and took a quick moment to affix it to her hip. “But only after you turn eighteen.”

Pushing herself up off the couch to stand at her full 157cm height, Saya put both hands on her hips and glared up at Raine. “That's not fair and you know it! I bet grandma let you wear whatever you wanted.”

Raine was barely able to stop a laugh from escaping at that, and she matched her daughter's defiant gaze with a knowing one of her own. “Your grandmother had me wearing those horrible grey and tan civilian issue jumpsuits till I went off to Starfleet Academy.”

The cringe on Saya's face was more satisfying than it probably should have been.

“You don't mean the standard replicator pattern ones, do you?”

“The very same.” Raine confirmed with a grimace at the memory.

There were practical reasons for their use on a starship of course, but that didn't mean they weren't utterly loathed by Starfleet children everywhere. Luckily for Saya's sake, Raine had decided to be the cool mom on that front. Because she had saved up her replicator credits to get her daughter higher quality outfits while growing up.

“That's not fair.” Saya grumbled, letting her arms drop. “How am I supposed to argue against that?”

“You're not.” Raine returned smugly. “That's the point.”

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“Raine!” Quark greeted the Asari happily as she stepped off the transporter platform.

“Quark.” Raine returned, as she took a moment to look the Ferengi over.

Gone was his normal almost patchwork looking outfit, a style the Asari knew he had favored for attempted branding reasons. And in its place was a Ferengi style suit of golden silk with a number of stylized silver QE's embroidered strategically on it.

“Like the suit?” Quark asked with a toothy grin. “Natima and Pel thought it was a good time to go all in on the new Quark Enterprises branding.”

“It works for you.” Raine admitted honestly since the outfit matched the general Vegas vibe he seemed to have decided on for the ship's retrofitted interior. “Though probably not for when you're manning the bar.”

“Don’t worry.” Quark laughed as he motioned for her to follow him out of the somewhat posh arrival room. “I’m leaving my Bar with its original color palette for brand purposes.”

Raine nodded in understanding, following behind the Ferengi. “Surprised you’re greeting everyone yourself, thought things would be a bit more busy with all the ships showing up.”

She still didn’t know how Quark had managed to pull in those kinds of numbers, but she imagined Odo was having a minor fit trying to figure out whatever questionably legal thing Quark was trying to slip through the cracks during all this.

“VIP arrival platform.” Quark offered as they passed into a richly appointed lounge where Raine could make out a handful of richly dressed Ferengi, a couple Bajoran’s, a scattering of other races, an uncomfortable looking Sisko, and a number of scantily dressed waitstaff. “Reserved for my esteemed business partners, diplomatic representatives, and those who can afford the steep price of a latinum level package.”

The nostalgia of dealing with Quark never really got old, and as much as Raine appreciated the way the Federation did things, the blatant push and pull of the Ferengi economic system really did have a charm of its own.

“I’ll leave you to your greeting then.” Raine offered, holding back a giggle at the uncomfortable look on Sisko’s face as he listened to a stylishly dressed middle aged Bolian woman talk to him about something. 

Quark followed her gaze and grinned. “Sesia Vadehino, representative for one of the Bolian banking clans. Her family’s a key investor in our Cardassian end equipment sales.”

Raine furrowed her brow in thought as she recalled some of the sector reports she’d been getting the past few months. “You mean the ones going to Natima’s group?”

“Of course not Commander.” Quark rejected, looking almost hurt at the suggestion. “All my business arrangements are with upstanding Cardassian citizens and made with full approval of the Cardassian government.”

Which might as well be directly telling her that he was smuggling something, but her instructions from Admiral Toddman had been to ignore anything to do with the Cardassian Dissident movement unless it directly threatened Starfleet personnel, ships, or facilities. So she wasn’t going to pry any further.

Tossing her one last toothy grin, Quark walked back out towards the transporter chamber leaving Raine to grab a tall stemmed glass of Bajoran spring wine from a passing waitress before heading over to save her commander.

“Brooks.” Sisko exclaimed happily upon noticing her approach. “Have you met Madam Vadehino?”

“Not directly.” Raine admitted as she slid in next to him and offered the bald headed woman a smile. “But I have heard of her, Sesia Vadehino from the Bolian banking clans, right?”

“Yes.” Sesia confirmed with a nod. “And you would be Raine Brooks, are you here in an official position like the Commander here, or?” She left the word hanging as her eyes flicked across the Asari’s dress.

“Other.” Raine admitted as she took a sip of her drink. “Invitation wise though, it’s probably because I’m one of Quark’s business partners.”

Sesia blinked in seeming surprise before recognition flashed across her features. “Oh! You’re that Asari, aren’t you? Quark has been quite vicious in going after groups using your species imagery without proper licensing. If you can believe it, it’s actually what brought him to our clan's attention in the first place.”

Now it was Raine’s turn to blink in surprise. “I really didn’t think my people were that big of a thing.”

Sesia waved it off. “Oh they weren’t, at least, not outside of the Collector circles. And really, nobody but other Collectors really care what they think. But then a few years back the Grand Nagus of all people put in a custom order and suddenly derivative works were popping up all over. It was one of the more interesting blips that year in the holotrading stocks…”

It was clear after nearly a minute of non-stop chatter that the Bolian woman was a talker, and a quick glance over to where Sisko had been showed the man had taken her distraction as an opportunity to make a quick escape.

Letting out a silent sigh and promising eventual vengeance on the man, Raine turned her attention back to the other woman in wait for an opportunity to escape her social grasp.

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The rapid clicking of a cooking knife momentarily stopped as Jake held up the cutting board and used the edge of the blade to slide the now sliced peppers into the skillet in a way that reminded Saya very much of the times she’d seen his father cook.

“You know.” He mused as he glanced past the portable stove and various other equipment Saya had helped him set up on the island countertop. “I’m still surprised your mom had all this ready to go.”

“It’s a holdover from our time on the Malinche.” Saya shrugged. “The replicators there were really bad, so mom was always cooking stuff so we’d have something that didn’t taste like cardboard to eat.”

Unfortunately she was pretty sure she hadn’t inherited her moms skills with food preparation, since the few the older Asari had attempted to teach her had ended with the fire suppression system kicking in. Which was why she was sitting on a stool across the counter from Jake and making very sure not to do anything that might mess up what he was making for her.

Jake gave a nod of understanding. “Ah, yeah. We had that same problem on the Saratoga, so the first time the ship stopped by Earth, dad beamed down to dig out some old cooking equipment from grandpa’s old storage unit.”

“Couldn’t he have just replicated some new stuff?” Saya inquired, frowning at the thought of how much extra work that must have been.

“Heh.” Jake chuckled softly. “Mom asked the same thing, and Dad nearly went orbital going on about how much proper pan seasoning matters.”

He glanced down at the skillet for a moment before looking back at her with a worried frown. 

“Er… Your mom doesn’t cook stuff that would be poisonous to humans in this, does she?”

Saya shook her head. “Mom only really knows human recipes.”

She'd tried experimenting with an Orion dish once for Saya's tenth birthday, but the less said about that the better.

“Pretty much the same with dad.” Jake said as he resumed his work. “Though the last few months he's been trying out Bajoran dishes too.”

“Ohhh. Bajoran's great.” Saya bobbed her head. “They always go all in on the spiciness.”

“Yeah.” Jake agreed with a grin. “A lot of their stuff combines really well with Cajun because of it.”

Her current favorite was the mokera stuffed giant Bajoran shrimp that they’d recently started serving at a couple of the Bajoran restaurants on the promenade. 

“You know.” He continued as he slid the now sliced onions into the skillet. “It’s really too–”

The door chime interrupted before he could finish whatever it was, and they both glanced over to the door before Saya hopped off her stool. “I’ll get it.”

Jake frowned. “Are you sure we should answer it?”

“It'll be fine.” Saya reassured him as she walked over to the door. “Mom says Odo has his people pulling double duty for Quarks big thing.”

Tapping the control to open the door, Saya found herself blinking dumbfounded at the short haired leather clad woman standing on the other side of the doorway. A second of silence passed as she tried to figure out something to say before she blurted out the only word she could think of.

“Dad!?”

“Hey kiddo.” Jellaa waved. “You gonna invite me in?”

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Author’s Notes: And thus we begin Jake Sisko’s very bad no good week.