Cerulean Stars - Chapter 73

Cerulean Stars - Chapter 73

Stardate 48253.1 - April 3, 2371 - 09:09:00

“According to Quark.” Odo began as they stood in front of the second floor entrance to Quarks. “The Klingon Kozak pulled a knife on Natima when she stopped by the bar after she finished helping the Chief fix a problem with the station's communications array.” 

“The Bajoran's finally cleared her for station assistance work then?” Raine inquired, having been so swamped with other issues she hadn't really been able to keep up with all the small station things she had used too.

“Surprisingly, yes.” Odo grumbled. “But upon seeing Kozak pull a knife on Natima, Quark apparently had a rare streak of bravery and rushed him trying to grab the weapon. In the resulting fight, Quark ended up stabbing Kozak with his own blade.”

“But you don't buy it?” Raine floated, trying to work out how to explain to the Changeling that for everyone's sake that was probably the story they wanted to go with.

“The forensics weren't right.” Odo agreed with a nod. “And Kozak was so drunk I doubt he could have fought a mannequin.”

“So what do you think really happened?” Raine inquired, knowing Odo wouldn't be here talking about it with her if he didn't have some theory.

“I think Kozak pulled a knife on Natima, Quark tried to talk him down, and the Kozak charged him only to trip and fall on his own weapon.” Odo told her with a frown. “But what I don't understand is why Quark and Natima are lying about it.”

“Natima probably warned him what would happen if he didn't” Raine offered, easily able to see how someone as well versed in various academic subjects as her could have figured it out.

“What would happen?” Odo proded, narrowing his eyes slightly at Raine as if to he wanted to directly order her to explain but knew he no longer could.

“If Kozak died dishonorably while trying to kill Quark, that dishonor would transfer to his family, and there's a high chance they would show up and try to kill Quark to avenge that dishonor.” Raine explained, giving the Changeling a 'what can you do’ shrug.

Odo let out a clearly annoyed growl at that thought.

“This is why I hate Klingon law, one of the most bare bones systems in the quadrant, with entire unwritten books full of additional rules that only the Klingons themselves know about.”

“You take care of Quark if he gets too big of a head, and I take care of any Klingons that show up?” Raine floated, fully suspecting that Odo would jump at the chance.

“It would certainly be more efficient that way.” Odo agreed with faux reluctance.

“Great.” Raine said as she gave the man a smile. “And I received some good news for you, Professor Na'Tal will be arriving at the station next week.”

Odo shot her an annoyed glare.

“You're not Starfleet.” Raine told him as she matched his glare with one of her own. “So she'd be forbidden by both law and oath from sharing anything she might see in your head with others.”

“You're not going to let this go, are you?” Odo asked her with narrowed eyes.

“No.” Raine admitted without a single ounce of shame. “But I'm also willing to admit you can very likely out stubborn me. So how about a deal to save us both what would otherwise be a very annoying week?”

“I'm listening.” Odo put forward in a tone of clear suspicion.

“When Na'Tal gets here, spend at least an hour talking to her about the issue.” Raine began, almost certain one way or another the old Vulcan woman would steamroll him if given even half a chance. “And if after that you still have reservations I'll let the whole issue drop.”

It was clear from the look on Odo's face that he could see the trap for what it was, even if he didn't know enough to figure out the exact details of its operation. But of course, Raine knew seeing the trap didn't necessarily mean someone wouldn't run into it anyways thinking they could beat it.

“If it'll get you to stop bothering me about it.” Odo grudgingly agreed as he turned to look back at Quark. 

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If there was one thing Quark had learned in the past three years of financial success, it was that smart driven women were apparently his good luck charm.

He had even gone back over his entire financial history just to be absolutely sure, and the way each one of his major successes seemed to line up with having a professional or romantic relationship with such a woman had been a shock to see graphed out on a display. As had the follow up one’s showing a comparative amount of financial ruin following shortly after those relationships had ended.

At the time he had chalked it up to the Ninety Fourth Rule of Acquisition at work, but there were exceptions to every rule. And the great joke that was his life apparently decided he should be an exception for that one.

Given he was currently getting nightly Oo-mox from two beautiful women however, he had decided upon discovering that fact that he could live with it.

“I don't like it.” Pel muttered as she drummed her fingers nervously on the arm of his couch. “Stories like this can backfire really easy.”

“If it were anybody but a Klingon I would agree.” Natima acknowledged with a half nod. “But Klingons care more about the story than they do the facts.”

“That matches up with what I've seen.” Quark confirmed as his mind went back over the various Klingons that had bragged their way through his bar over the years.

“But where's the line?” Pel asked Natima with a frown. “Klingons are Klingons, if Quark makes the story too big won't they take it as a challenge and want to fight him?”

“I'd really rather avoid that.” Quark confessed, fully aware he wouldn't last a minute in a real fight with a Klingon. Not that that was a bad thing, after all, people like him usually paid others to risk their lives.

“What about hiring a bodyguard?” He floated as he followed that trade route of thought to its logical endpoint.

“Expensive, at least if you want quality.” Pel said as she looked over the spreadsheets on her padd. “With the Bajor Eight expansion, Holosuite upgrades, and in progress equipment sales to the Cardassian dissident movement we only have twenty-three bars liquid.”

Which really wasn’t that bad given his various income streams, but you never knew when one or more of those might suddenly dry up, so it was best not to rely on them for important matters, like protecting his life.

“Speaking of which.” Quark continued as he turned a worried look to Natima. “Are the Romulans keeping up their end of the agreement?”

“Surprisingly the Sub-Commander appears to be a Romulan of her word.” Natima admitted as she passed a padd over to him. “The first shipment of communications equipment should arrive on Kelvas Prime in a little over a week.”

“Glad to see my lobes haven’t failed me.” Quark returned with a relieved grin. “I’m sure it’ll be monitored of course.”

“But for the movement's purposes the Tal’Shair are better than the Obsidian Order.” Natima agreed with a nod.

“Still think we should have tried to go with the Breen for that.” Pel muttered sulkily, a fair complaint given they actually produced better stealthed communications systems and did so at a cheaper price than the Romulans. 

But Quark had dealt with enough Breen over the years to know the unpredictable way they would stab you in the back made it far too dangerous for this particular venture. And that was without taking into account the high likelihood the Obsidian Order had ears listening for deals just like that within the Confederacy.

“So, are we yes or no on the Bodyguard?” Pel inquired as she began to rapidly work through something on her padd.

“No.” Quark admitted, having mentally gone over the few names he knew that might be willing to take the job with the percentage of their liquid capital they could spare, only to come up blank for any of those he actually trusted to do it. “But earmark a bar for upgrading the security on my quarters anyways.”

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Stardate 48264.7 - April 7, 2371 - 14:46:19

Raine had suspected Grilka would show up eventually, though the fact that it had only taken her four days to arrive was more than a bit impressive given the Klingon homeworld was nearly 180 light years away from Deep Space Nine. Though she supposed it was possible the woman had already been on her way to try and hunt down her erstwhile husband.

“Who are you?” The older Klingon with the woman inquired with narrowed eyes upon seeing Raine standing on the other side of the upper pylon’s docking collar.

“Lieutenant Commander Raine Brooks.” Raine informed him as she took a few steps forward to stand directly in front of the old warrior, her attempt to match eyes and be intimidated somewhat stymied by the fact the Klingon had a good eight inches on her. “Head of Starfleet security for the Bajor sector.”

“You may rest assured Commander.” Grilka interjected as she waved the older Klingon man back. “My visit is unlikely to be as long or as troublesome as my former husbands.”

“So you’re not planning to try and kill Quark then?” Raine asked hopefully, pretty sure that could in fact go either way depending on a number of factors most of which she wasn’t aware of given her limited understanding of deeper Klingon politics.

“That is still to be decided.” Grilka confessed after considering the issue for a moment. “I had rather hoped to avoid it though.”

“I suppose that’s likely the best I will get given the circumstances.” Raine admitted with a grimace, fully aware that any other answer at this point would be a lie. “But keep in mind that despite Starfleet’s presence here this is a Bajoran station. And the Bajorans aren’t currently a party to the same ‘no fault’ agreements the Federation is.”

Which even then only let Klingons get away with killing someone under some very specific circumstances, but it was very much not the time or place to lecture this particular pair of Klingons on the intricacies of various legal agreements.

“We are aware of this.” Grilka offered, rolling her eyes slightly at the obviousness of what Raine had just told her.

“Great.” Raine drawled as she took a few steps back to indicate the two were free to continue into the station. “In that case, welcome to Deep Space Nine.”

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Author’s notes: Shorter chapter today, and I have a busy couple weeks coming up. But I’m going to continue trying to get out as many chapters of this as I can on the normally scheduled release days.