The Deal is the Deal

Posted on Wed Jan 25th, 2023 @ 2:59am by Commander Ash Randall

656 words; about a 3 minute read

Mission: Short Treks
Location: Starfleet One
Timeline: 2431-03-11, 13:30

Ash returned to the eatery, as quickly as she could, and was disappointed by what she found. The tackle box and slave collar were gone.

"Well, that sucks." She muttered, under her breath, while she took a look around her to see if anyone may have just moved them out of the middle of everything and then left them behind.

Nope.

No sign of them and, going on the assumption that whomever picked up one, also picked up the other, Ash pulled a tri-corder from her utility belt and began doing a scan for the slave collar and its payload of drugs. "Shouldn't be too many of them on the station..." She mused, quietly, while she worked to fine tune the scan and weed out what she knew were not what she was looking for. After a couple minutes of marching, back and forth, along the promenade, the tri-corder beeped once as it locked onto a 95% match and Ash moved off, in the indicated direction, at a trot.

--A few minutes later--


"Possession is eleven-tenths of the law!" The Ferengi announced, to Ash, rather loudly, his voice echoing down the empty access corridor. Ash eyed the Ferengi for a second or two. She'd spent some time on Ferenginar and knew the laws of Acquisition all too well.

"Rule of Acquisition 219." Ash replied back, quietly, to a look of surprise from the Ferengi. "Return the tackle box and keep the collar. With any luck, the Nausicaan it belongs to won't pull both your ears off when he comes for it." The Chief Engineer added, just as quietly, and motioned for the Ferengi to hand the tackle box over. The Ferengi frowned at Ash's statement, at first, but then thought he saw some advantage to be had in a negotiation where he was certain he held all the cards.

"Are you implying that you would tell the Nausicaan I have the collar?" He asked, with a toothy smile, trying to maybe shake the confidence of his furry adversary by calling into question the, highly touted, Starfleet ethics and code of conduct.

Ash shook her head, in the negative, unfazed by the insinuation.

"Of course not." She replied, with her own, predatory, smile. "I'm guaranteeing it if you don't give back the tackle box." She added, while nodding, slowly, in the affirmative and, again, motioned for the tackle box to be handed over.

"Maybe we can make a deal?" He asked, still hanging onto the box while Ash shook her head in the negative.

"I've already stated the deal. Hand over the tackle box and keep the collar. Maybe the Nausicaan comes for it and maybe he doesn't but you'd rather be dealing with me than the owner of that box." Ash told him, the predatory smile fading away as she spoke.

The Ferengi was silent, for several seconds, and then shook his head.

"You can't bluff me out of what's, rightfully, mine! Nice try!" He said, very loudly, his voice, once again, echoing down the empty corridor, then turned to walk away but was stopped, cold, in his tracks by a low, rumbling, growl that issued from the small, felinoid and made the very walls of the corridor vibrate in sympathy

"The deal is the deal." Ash told the Ferengi, from very close behind him. "And, you would rather be dealing with me than the owner of the box." She added, while she reached around and, gently, took the tackle box from his hands.

"That's not a rule of acquisition." The Ferengi admonished, quietly. "You're as good as stealing that from me." He added, a bit louder, while he hazarded a glance over his shoulder. Seeing no one was there he breathed a sigh of relief and then cursed, as he felt warmth someplace he shouldn't have and looked down at the wet spot on the front of his pants and the small puddle at his feet.

-END-

 

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