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Cerulean Stars - Chapter 77
🕑 Added 2024-09-06 15:45:08 +0000 UTCCerulean Stars - Chapter 77
Stardate 48276.2 - April 11, 2371 - 21:15:50
“I really think it's time you explained everything.” Quark said to Grilka as they walked back through the door of her manor.
“You do not need to know.” Grilka stated with a shake of her head that left Quark suspecting the Klingon woman hadn’t been paying nearly as much attention to what was going on in the meeting hall as he had.
“I really don’t think Gowron would agree with you about that.” Quark muttered, having gotten the feeling that the Klingon leader was nearly as much of a schemer at heart as he was.
“The council deciding to consider the issue may have been the best we could hope for under the circumstances.” Grilka snapped, turning a glare to Quark as she began to pace back and forth across the heated stone floor of what Quark was pretty sure was the living room.
Taking a moment to watch the Klingon woman, something about the nervousness she was radiating made Quark suspect this may have been as far as her plan for saving her house went. Given the time table involved that wasn’t exactly surprising of course, and it was moderately impressive that she had gotten as far as she had. But that still left him in more than a bit of a bind.
“I sense a but in there.” Quark floated cautiously.
“Before he died, Kozak squandered much of our family's wealth.” Grilka finally offered with a tired sigh. “He incurred several large gambling debts, made unwise investments in a number of failed ventures. And as a result, the House has been weakened severely in power and influence.”
An unfortunately common story for Ferengi without the lobes to know when to walk away Quark knew.
“Worse.” Grilka continued with a grimace. “Much of the debt is owed to D'Ghor, who will no doubt push the Council to deny our request so he can gain the title of our lands and property. With the holdings of our combined Houses, his family will become a very powerful influence in the Empire. To the point he may even earn a seat on the Council.”
“In which case, he would be sure to support those Councilors who helped him earn said seat.” Quark followed with a nod, that sort of ‘favor for a favor’ the way politics tended to work regardless of species. “And I assume the debts are what gives D'Ghor first claim on the house's assets?”
“Unfortunately, yes.” Grilka admitted with a sour look on her face.
“Then that's where we start.” Quark said as a multitude of potential plans began to form in his head. “I'll need to see all the financial records of our House, and I mean all of them. D'Ghor's too, if you can arrange it. Grand Nagus willing, I'll be able to find some way out of this in them.”
And if worse came to worst, he might be able to pay off the debts himself. He'd hate to do it of course, but his lobes were telling him there was the potential for long term profit in the air.
“That is not how we do things here.” Grilka scoffed. “We are Klingons. We do not dirty ourselves with filthy ledgers looking for some financial trick to solve our problems.”
“Figuring out some way to pay off the house's debts isn't a financial trick.” Quark said as he rolled his eyes at her.
Though of course, he mused to himself, who could say for sure what else he might find in those files that could be helpful in solving the problem in other ways.
“Or are you going to try and tell me it's not Klingon to pay back debts?” He finished, shooting Grilka a look that said he wouldn't believe her if she did.
“Of course we do.” Grilka insisted with a growl that told Quark he was getting a little too close to the edge of acceptability.
“Then there should be no problem letting me look over the ledgers.” Quark said, only to pause as a possible source for a solution to the other end of his problem presented itself. “Oh, and a subspace communications link I can use to contact Deep Space Nine could also help some.”
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Stardate 48277.0 - April 12, 2371 - 02:31:12
The chirping of a priority communications request dragged Raine back to the realms of wakefulness.
“Computer, lights, twenty percent.” She ordered as she leaned over the side of the bed and grabbed around for a T-shirt so she wouldn't flash whoever from her list was on the other end.
“Okay.” She muttered as she finished struggling into the garment. “Computer, on screen.”
“Brooks!” Quark exclaimed in relief as he appeared on the bedroom’s wall screen, looking oddly at home in some sort of fur lined robe. “Thank the Nagus. You need to tell me everything you know about schmoozing up to Klingons.”
“Hello Quark.” Raine greeted the Ferengi with a tired wave, making sure to let her annoyance show with a thick coat of sarcasm as she did. “It’s good to see you and your snazzy new outfit on my screen at zero three hundred in the morning.”
Quark looked down at himself at her comment, seeming to take a moment to actually judge the quality of the robe he was wearing now that Raine had brought it up.
“I suppose it’s not too bad, all things considered.” He murmured before looking back up at her only to scrunch up his brow as the rest of what she had said finally seemed to register. “It’s that early?”
“Yes, Quark.” Raine returned in a deadpan as she fought back the urge to yawn. “Time differences are a thing when on planets.”
“Probably should have remembered to check that.” Quark grumbled half to himself in a rare show of contrition.
“But about what I asked?” He continued with a hopeful lilt in his voice.
“You realize I hold the rare honor of being one of less than a dozen people to die from something other than assassination during the Khitomer scenario, right?” Raine asked, giving Quark a look she hoped conveyed just how bad an idea going to her for advice on this probably was.
“I thought you mentioned beating that?” Quark inquired, scrunching his brow at her in confusion.
“Posthumously.” Raine corrected with a grimace at the memory. “As in, I beat it by dying in a way that the Klingon lead found honorable enough to honor the Federation in turn.”
“Oh.” Quark muttered with a sudden paling of his features.
“Why are you asking me instead of Jadzia anyways?” Raine asked, tilting her head slightly as she tried to figure out just what angle Quark might be playing.
“I know she’s friends with a few.” Quark began with a frown. “But this is really more of a high brow diplomatic sort of issue.”
“Curzon literally helped negotiate the actual Khitomer Accords.” Raine informed Quark as she shot the Ferengi on screen an odd look, having figured he of all people would have heard about that before now given all the late night tango games the Ferengi had played with the Trill.
“So if you want someone who’s not a Klignon that can help you navigate the complexities of Klingon culture, she’s probably your woman.”
“That said.” Raine continued with a glare at Quark for contacting her before the other more important people in his life. “Call Pel, she’s been worried sick about you and Natima in between keeping Rom from trying to claim your assets.”
“Rom’s trying to claim my…” Quark started only to trail off mid sentence as a look of confusion flashed across his face. “What do you mean, me and Natima?”
“She’s not with you?” Raine double checked as a sudden worry hit that maybe things had gone a bit farther off the rails then she had assumed.
“No?” Quark confirmed in a questioning tone as a look of concern settled onto his face.
“She disappeared a few hours after you did.” Raine explained as her mind began racing to try and figure out what she might have missed. “Scans of the corridor where it happened found remnants of a Klingon transporter signature, so we just assumed she had been taken by the same group that took you.”
“I'll ask Grilka.” Quark said with a frown.
“That reminds me.” Raine began as one of the realities of her job reared its head. “Are you going to want to file charges against Grilka for kidnapping?”
“No.” Quark told her after considering the question for a moment. “Make sure Odo knows it was just a minor cultural misunderstanding.
Which they both knew would annoy the Changeling, since a culturally driven kidnapping was, after all, still a kidnapping.
“If that's all?” Raine floated as she gave the Ferengi an expectant look.
“Yes.” Quark said, beginning to turn away from the screen only to stop half way and turn back. “Er, you wouldn't happen to know anything about Klingon divorce, would you?”
“Ask Jadzia.” Raine repeated drolley. “Because it's likely Curzon slept with at least one married Klingon in his time.”
“Goodnight Quark.” Raine finished. “Computer, end call amd set lights back to night mode.”
With that she flopped backwards into the bed, desperately hoping as she did that she'd at least be able to get a couple more hours of sleep before she needed to get up for her shift.
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As the screen went dark, Quark briefly debated immediately following up on Raine's suggestion by contacting Jadzia, however the lie that he had forgotten the time difference wasn't likely to hold up if he tried to use it again.
And unfortunately experience had taught him both Jadzia and Raine were the type to hold a grudge to the point they could be nearly as petty as a Cardassian in the lengths they would go to to get back at someone who had annoyed them.
With a sigh he got out of the chair and went to hunt down Grilka, finding the Klingon woman sitting at a table in the living room hunched over a respectable stack of high security padd’s.
“So, um.” Quark began uncertainly, not sure how to soften this in a way that wouldn’t risk offending the overly proud Klingon. “Is there any chance you and Tumek grabbed Natima a bit after you grabbed me and just forgot to mention it?”
“The Cardassian woman?” Grilka responded as she looked up to stare him in the eye, continuing once he gave a nod. “Her testimony wasn’t particularly needed given the circumstances. And I judged it best not to bring your lover along to throw further doubt on our marriage.”
He supposed it was good she was able to read in between that much of his story, but if it hadn’t been her, the only Klingon he knew of that might even remotely have an interest in Natima was the other party in this.
“Is there any chance D’Ghor might have?” He asked cautiously.
“There would be no honor in using underhanded methods like that to disparage our marriage.” Grilka answered him with a roll of her eyes.
“He wouldn’t have known you planned to marry me.” Quark pointed out, noting what she said wasn’t really a no if he considered that D’Ghor might not be honorable.
“True.” Grilka admitted with a grimace as she began to consider the question on a deeper level. “In which case I suppose it might be possible that he took her to try and prove to the Council that Kozak died dishonoring our marriage.”
“Why do you ask?” She inquired, narrowing her eyes at him in a way that suggested she at least had some idea.
“I was talking to one of my Starfleet contacts on the station.” Quark admitted with a nonchalant shrug to cover his building worry for Natima. “And it looks like she was taken by another Klingon a few hours after you took me.”
“D’Ghor.” Grilka growled, clutching the padd in her hand tightly enough that he could hear the metal creak slightly.
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Author’s Notes: Poor Grilka, always trying to think the best of other Klingons.
Comments
Massgamer
Grilka gonna learn soon that D’Ghor is far from an honorable Klingon, and Quark is likely gonna surprise himself about how far he will go to save Natima. Also, always trust Rom to try and take advantage of his brother being put in a sticky situation to get ahead, lol.
