Star Trek
The Ferengi
By: Derek Kestner
Based on Star TrekTM created by Gene
Roddenberry
Captain Log, Stardate: 51632.6.
The U.S.S. Bozeman has docked
at Deep Space 9 where we are picking up our new security officer, Lieutenant
Michael Sheffield. I read his file
earlier and it seems that the young officer has had a promising career up to
this point. I hope that he will join
this family easily. It is now
oh-two-hundred hours. We should be
leaving DS9 in another fifteen or so minutes.
“Commander Sisko, thank you for
being so patient in this matter. I hope
to see you once again,
“Aye, sir,” Welch and Derek said together. Not long afterward Welch said, “All moorings cleared.”
“Course set, Captain,” Derek said.
“Engage, warp five,” Bateson ordered.
Two hours after the ship had left Deep Space Nine, Derek’s shift ended. He stood and let his relief take his place. He proceeded to the turbolift and ordered it to his quarters. While he was on it a voice over his comm link said, “Foreman to Kestner.”
Derek tapped his communicator. “Kestner here. What do you need Brad?”
Brad’s voice said, “I thought it would be nice to get to know our new security officer so I thought we could play cards in my quarters. Say eighteen hundred hours?”
“Sure. I’ll be there,” Derek said. “Kestner out.”
Derek proceeded to his quarters where he quickly ate his supper. As he was getting ready to leave for Brad’s quarters a flash of light announced Lady Q’s presence. She wrapped her arms around him and said, “Hey.” She gave him a kiss. “I missed you.”
“I missed you too,” Derek said giving her another kiss. “But, uh, I was just going to a card game at Brad’s. Would you like to come along?”
“Well, I don’t know how to play cards, but I am a fast learner,” she said. “Sure, I’ll come along.”
He took her arm in his then walked down the hall to Brad’s quarters and stepped inside. A small group of people were sitting around a card table. Derek said, “I don’t believe you know everyone here do you?” Lady Q shook her head. He pointed to each of them as he said, “That’s Wizz Dayton, Karl Hayter, Captain Scott, Commander Bush, you know Brad and Whitney, and I believe that this is Michael Sheffield, our new security officer.”
He walked over to the security officer and reached out his hand and said, “Hello. I’m Lieutenant Commander Derek Kestner.”
The security officer took his hand and said, “Lieutenant Michael Sheffield, sir.”
“No uniform, Michael, you can call me Derek. And this,” Derek said referring to his companion, “is Q.” Michael and Lady Q shook hands.
“Well, I’d be most glad to ye if’en we started tha game,” Scott said.
“Of course,” Brad said. They all took seats while Scott proceeded to pass out the cards. For the first game Derek helped Lady Q out. That game Scott won. The next couple of games Lady Q didn’t need help and won them. By the end of the evening all of them owed Lady Q. After they had finished their games Scott pulled out some Scotch whiskey.
“This,” he explained, “is an old Scott-family recipe. It was handed down for generations. Ye’ll find no better than dis here.” He began to poor each one of them a drink to let all of them try it. Derek admitted that it did taste good. He didn’t drink often, but this was a very good drink.
Derek looked at the chronometer on the wall. It said: twenty-one-hundred hours. “Sadly, I must be getting back. Michael, it was nice meeting you. Brad…uh…Whitney, thanks for inviting me,” he said as he stood.
Lady Q stood with him. “Yes, it was lovely. I will be by again. Goodbye.”
Derek held out his arm and escorted her down the hall until they were standing outside his quarters. “I really enjoyed being with you tonight,” Derek said.
“I did too,” Lady Q agreed.
“Well, I gotta get to bed. I hope that I can see you soon,” Derek told her.
“You will, I promise. Bye Derek.” He leaned down and kissed her. She then snapped her fingers and was gone. He turned and walked into his quarters, a smile on his face.
“Captain Bateson, a Ferengi ship has come into sensor range,” Derek reported from his station on the bridge the next morning.
“Magnify viewscreen,” Bateson ordered.
Derek pressed a few prompts on his control board and said, “Viewscreen to full magnification.” On the screen was the brown hull of a Ferengi starship.
“They’re
hailing us, Captain,”
“On
screen,” Bateson ordered. The image of
the Ferengi ship melted away and was replaced by the large eared face of the
Ferengi. “This is Captain Morgan Bateson
of the Federation Starship
“This is the Ferengi Starship Good Money, I am Captain Mog. I have been assigned to escort you and the Volshin starship to the outpost,” the Ferengi said.
“Very well, we look forward to our arrival. The Federation wants this to be a short conference where both sides benefit from the deal,” Bateson said in his most diplomatic voice.
“As do we, Captain Bateson, as do we. Just follow us, Captain, and no harm will come to you or your ship. Good Money out.”
“Andy, follow the Good Money. I’ll be in my Ready Room. Call me when we reach the outpost,” Bateson ordered. Bateson stood and gave the bridge to Commander Bush then walked into his Readyroom.
Commander Zo’lar, Captain Bateson, Ambassador Grog, Lieutenant Commander Derek Kestner, Lieutenant Commander Brad Foreman, and Lieutenant Michael Sheffield along with two security guards for Bateson, Kestner, and Foreman, sat around the large council chamber. Ambassador Grog sat quietly as Commander Zo’lar and Captain Bateson argued. He smiled at the thought of them arguing over the Ferengi, but he didn’t really care who won, or even if they fought each other, all he cared about was getting a profit out of it.
After a couple of moments he said, “Gentlemen, all of us here are respectable men from respectable races. You argue about the Volshins trade routes. By arguing over that you are both wasting my time, when you could argue over such things later. What we’re here to do,” he turned to Bateson, “is making sure that the Ferengi and the Federation stay strong allies,” he turned to Zo’lar, “and open up relations with the Volshin Empire.”
Grog sat quietly for a moment, watching the faces of the two sitting before him. He smiled to himself. The men sitting before him could care less about profit. All Captain Bateson and his crew were concerned about was peace and bettering themselves. Zo’lar on the other hand, was concerned about how he was going to achieve honor. As far as he was concerned Grog could care less about either of them, but he was forced to smile in front of them.
“Ambassador, the Volshin wants are similar to the Ferengi’s we give you something, and you give us something. Ambassador Grog, your people have a large amount of philosphate, which we use to power our ships. In turn, we will offer you a large amount of latinum.” Commander Zo’lar explained to the Ferengi.
Grog asked, “Gold pressed latinum?”
Zo’lar replied, “Absolutely.”
Ambassador Grog nodded. “I will contact my government and relay the message.”
Grog next turned his attention to Captain Bateson. “Captain Bateson, the Ferengi government wishes that you would move a few of your Starbases from out borders. It makes us feel that the Federation is trying to spy on us, which I’m sure you are not.”
“Well, Ambassador, I don’t know how the Council will take it, but we will relay the message,” Bateson said.
“Very well. We have
been here too long. I suggest for now,
we leave and rest until out next meeting tomorrow. Until then, gentlemen,” Grog said. He stood, followed by Captain Bateson and his
party as well as Commander Zo’lar.
Bateson and his group were the first to leave followed by Commander
Zo’lar and Grog. Bateson led his party
to the nearest transporter room and beamed back to the
Commander Zo’lar was sitting quietly in his command chair surrounded by the best men in the Volshin Empire. He had a task before him that he was sure these men could accomplish. He thought of the mission that the Zar had put before him. If he failed, he must destroy his ship, with him and his crew inside, for they would never be accepted in their society again…but he would not fail.
“My Lord, the task force is ready to beam down,” his gunner reported.
“Good. Beam them down, and tell them not to fail,” Zo’lar said.
“Of course, my Lord,” the gunner replied.
Derek sat in front of the 3-D chess board across from Michael Sheffield. Michael moved a piece. Derek thought for a moment, thinking over Michael’s previous move. He then moved another piece and smiled to himself, he had him. Michael moved his next piece then said, “Checkmate.”
Derek studied the board then conceded to defeat. They stood and shook hands. “That was an interesting game. Remind me to let you play Brad. I believe you could take him,” Derek told Michael.
“All officers to the Bridge,” a voice said over the comm system. Derek and Michael turned toward the door and headed for the nearest turbolift. Within seconds they were stepping onto the Bridge. They quickly walked over to their stations.
A Ferengi man was on the screen. He was saying, “Captain Bateson, if you value the Federation-Ferengi alliance, I suggest you find out who captured our representative and bring that group to justice.”
“I can assure you Commander Prang, we will find out who did this. Once we have found the Ambassador we will get him back and hand him and his captors over to you,” Bateson said.
“Very well, Captain Bateson. See that you do,” Prang said. With that the viewscreen changed to the Ferengi outpost.
“Go to red alert. Mr. Kestner, we will begin by searching the Volshin starship,” Bateson said. They both nodded. “Mr. Dayton, hail the Volshin ship.”
“Aye, sir,”
The Ferengi outpost was replaced by the face of Commander Zo’lar. “Commander, I trust you herd about the Ferengi Ambassador being kidnapped last night?” Bateson asked.
Zo’lar nodded. “Of course, I was just about to send my apologizes to the Ferengi Commander when you called me,” Zo’lar said.
Bateson nodded. “Of course.”
“Of course, Captain Bateson, we will not hesitate in any investigation that you conduct,” Zo’lar said.
“Well,
thank you very much, Commander. If we
need it, we won’t hesitate to ask for it,” Bateson said. “
Once the Ferengi Outpost was back on the screen Bush said, “Captain, he did it, but we do need to eliminate every other possibility.”
“Counselor, did you pick up anything on him?” Bateson asked.
“I’m sorry, Captain, I didn’t. I’ve found that the Volshins can hide their thoughts and feelings pretty well,” Rickman said.
“Alright, I want the sensor reports of the past four hours gone over, find out what happened,” Bateson ordered.
Derek and Dennis went straight to work, going over all the sensor readings from the past four hours. When he had finished, Derek said, “Captain, I’ve gone over them twice, there’s been no other ships on the sensors.”
“Confirmed, Captain,” Dennis reported.
“Scan the Volshin ship,” Bateson ordered.
Derek got straight to work on this. It only took a couple of seconds before data was appearing on his board. When he had gotten all he needed he said, “Captain, something is blocking my sensors on certain areas of the ship.”
Bateson walked up to stand behind Derek and looked over his shoulder at the readouts. “That’s strange; it’s almost as if they don’t want us to see that part of the ship, which could mean that the Ambassador is there.” Bateson turned and walked back to his chair, thinking. He said, “Wizz, hail the Volshins and put them on screen. I want to see what lies they can come up with for it.”
“They’re on
screen, Captain,”
Bateson looked at the screen and was met by they face of Commander Zo’lar. “Yes, Captain Bateson? How may we help you?” Zo’lar asked.
“We were wondering if you could explain the reason we can not scan an area of you ship,” Bateson said.
“Ah, yes, of course. You see, we are carrying a substance called
denobite. We have found that it blocks
sensors. We were brining it as part of
the agreement,” Zo’lar explained.
“Yes, well,
thank you, Commander. Again, if we need
your help, we won’t hesitate to ask.
“Captain, I believe he’s lying,” Derek said turning to face Bateson.
“We know that,” Bateson said.
“But do you know how he’s lying?” Derek asked.
“No,” Bateson answered.
“Ambassador Grog said that his people had a large amount of philosphate. He just now said that they were carrying a large amount of denobite. I have seen what happens to the five hundred meter radius of matter that surrounds the point that philosphate and denobite. It’s not too pretty.” Derek explained.
Bush asked, “What happens?”
Derek replied, “All matter becomes unstable and may explode if philosphate and denobite come within two-hundred meters of each other.”
“Good work, Mr. Kestner. All we need now is proof,” Bateson said.
“Captain,
don’t the Ferengi usually keep all that is said at their Trade Meetings for
future reference?”
“Yes, of course. We can contact the Ferengi and see if they won’t give us the recording,” Bateson said. “Contact Commander Prang.”
“Aye, sir,”
The face of Commander Prang replaced the Ferengi Outpost. He said, “Have you any progress to report?”
“Not yet, Commander. We have a request of you,” Bateson said.
“We will grant any reasonable request,” Commander Prang said.
“We request the voice recording of the Trade Agreement that we attended yesterday. We discussed some information that may be vital to our investigation,” Bateson told the Commander.
Commander Prang was silent for a moment thinking, and then said, “If you would beam down to the outpost we will be most glad to let you listen to it here,” Commander Prang said.
“I also request that Commander Zo’lar be allowed to come also,” Bateson said.
“Of course, Captain Bateson. It shall be allowed,” Commander Prang said.
“Thank you,
Commander.
“Aye, sir,”
The outpost was replaced by Commander Zo’lar’s face. “How may we help you, Captain Bateson,” Zo’lar asked.
“We request that you join us down to the outpost. The Ferengi have things that they want us to hear,” Bateson told him.
His face was expressionless as he said, “Of course, Captain, we would not miss it.”
“Thank you,
Commander. Until then.
The doors slide open and they stepped inside. Bateson said, “Transporter room.” Within seconds they were standing on the transporter platform getting ready to beam down. Bateson ordered, “Engage.”
The three of them suddenly disappeared off of the transporter platform and reappeared on the Ferengi Outpost. Commander Prang was standing in front of them ready to greet them. He said, “Welcome again, Captain Bateson. We would like to know why this meeting was called.”
Bateson pointed to Derek and said, “Lieutenant Commander Derek Kestner here thinks he has the answer to our mystery.”
Commander Prang looked from Bateson to Derek, “You think you know the answer?”
“Yes, sir, Commander Prang. I will explain it all in the Conference Room,” Derek said.
Commander Prang nodded. “Of course, please.” He ushered toward the door. Bateson and his party quickly followed the commander to the Conference Room. Once they were inside Commander Prang said, “Ok, Mr. Kestner, please tell us who took the ambassador.”
“Yes, sir,” Derek said. He was quiet for a moment then said, “Would you please play the tape from out meeting?”
There was a silent moment then the voice of Ambassador Grog said, “All of us here are respectable men from respectable races.”
“After this,” Derek said.
After a few moments the voice of Commander Zo’lar said, “Ambassador, the Volshin wants are similar to the to the Ferengi’s, we give you something, and you get us something. Ambassador Grog, your people have a large amount of philosphate, which we us to power our ships. In turn, we will offer you a large amount of latinum.”
Then the voice of Ambassador Grog said, “Gold pressed latinum.”
“Stop tape,” Derek said. The tape stopped,
“I still do not understand what all of this has to do with Ambassador Grog?” Commander Prang asked.
“Please, Commander, I am coming to it,” Derek said. “The next day, we hailed Commander Zo’lar, because we had scanned his ship and had found that a part of the ship we could not scan. He had this to say…”
Kestner put a tape in the computer and Commander Zo’lar’s face came up on the view screen. He said, “Ah, yes, of course. You see, we are carrying a substance called denobite. We have found that it blocks sensors. We were bringing it as part of the agreement.”
“Stop tape,” Kestner ordered. Immediately, the screen shut off.
“I still don’t understand,” Commander Prang announced.
“Nor do I,” Commander Zo’lar said impatiently. “This is all a bunch of wasted time, when we should be looking for the ambassador.”
“Ah, Commander, but you already know where he’s at, don’t you?” Kestner asked.
“I don’t know what you mean, Lieutenant Commander. Are you accusing me of kidnapping the ambassador?” Commander Zo’lar asked.
“Well, if you will only give me a moment,” Kestner said. “I have seen the effects of denobite and philosphate when they are in the same area. The matter five hundred meters around them becomes unstable. Therefore, he must not be carrying philosphate, but denobite to obscure or sensors from finding the ambassador. They were never planning to make a deal with the Ferengi.”
At this Commander Zo’lar jumped up. “I can’t believe that you would accuse the Volshin Empire of such a thing.”
“It’s not like the Volshins haven’t pulled something similar to this before,” Kestner said.
“Very well. This is outrageous. We did still the ambassador, for the preservation of our race!” Commander Zo’lar shouted.
“Very well, thank you Mr. Kestner. Mr. Sheffield, you will escort Commander Zo’lar to the brig, where we will hand him back to his own people. My apologizes Commander Prang, the Federation will come again at another time.”
“Captain,
Commander Zo’lar is in the brig,”
“Very good, Mr. Sheffield. For your first mission, you performed pretty well. I guess we’ll have to keep you,” Bateson said.
“Captain, the Volshin ship has warped off, headed back for the Volshin border,” Kestner reported.
“Very well, follow them. When they get across the border, we’ll beam Commander Zo’lar back over to them,” Bateson said.
“Aye, sir,” Kestner said.
End