Tales of Deep Space Nine

Chapter One: Unknown Intentions

As Quark was washing the glasses in his bar, Doctor Julian Bashir and Chief Miles O'Brien walked downstairs, wearing clumsy white suits.

“I told you, you should say Houston instead of Deep Space Nine when reporting to the flight control center...”

Chief O'Brien walked between the crowded tables towards the bar, where Quark stood.

“I'm sorry, Chief. But I could hardly concentrate wearing that suit... I can't believe they walked the Moon with it.”

They both placed their helmets on the bar, bringing attention to Quark. “So, plasma leaks on the refinery level again?”

“Very funny, Quark.” O'Brien replied sarcastic. “We actually just relived the mission to the Moon.”

“The Moon? What's so important about walking on a moon?”

“Well, in the 20th century, the people of the United States were in a cold war with the Soviet Union. They challenged eachother by what they called the “Space Race”. Each country tried to impress the other by showing what they were capable of launching into orbit. The Americans were the first ones to reach the Moon, which marked a milestone.”

“And they did that in hazmat suits?”

“Well, actually...” O'Brien interrupted Bashir by pushing him in the side.

“Two root beers, please.” O'Brien ordered.

“Root beers, root beers. They don't drink anything else there on Earth, do they?” Quark mumbled when he walked to the replicator.

“Quark!” Odo said, which just walked in the bar.

“Eh... what's wrong now?”

“We just recieved a load of Tullaberries from a Karemman freighter. They were on your name.”

“Well... maybe you could get them for me?”

“I am not your packing mule, Quark. You have plenty of personell here to do so for you, if you are too lazy to do it yourself. Doctor, Chief.” Odo greeted when he left.

“Isn't he too harsh on you?” O'Brien asked Quark.

“Nah, I don't know him other than that. You'll get used to it, trust me.”

“So, what is this that I heard about a special Federation ship being assigned to the station?” Bashir asked.

Quark looked around him, and then bowed to the Doctor. “Not just a special Federation ship... a prototype!”

“Why so suspicious?”

“Ah, you know... the Maquis, they're everywhere. I don't want to take responsibility to what happened to the Defiant earlier, ya see?”

Bashir nodded understandably, and then looking at his root beer.

“I heard that it will bring Admiral Noosa and Commodore Thoo to the station. The captain would be... Vice-Admiral Rex.”

Both Bashir and O'Brien looked up when Quark said.

“Vice-Admiral Rex? Captaining? He... wait, she hasn't done that in in more than 20 years! Always in the Advisor Council, but now captaining...” O'Brien replied surprised.

“Well...” Quark began, “at least a paying customer I hope...”

“Data scans for Ion trails are negative, no Jem'Hadar ships have passed in atleast... two days.” Dax said, while interacting with her science terminal.

“Well, then I can only hope they'll stay away. I don't like to get injured if we lose an upper pylon again.” Nerys said, while walking to Sisko's office.

Sisko was throwing over his baseball from his hand in the other, repeatedly. A soft jingle was hearable in the office.

“Come in.” Captain Sisko said. Colonel Nerys stepped inside with a PADD in her hand. She layed it on Sisko's desk afterward.

“The results of the Ion scans by Dax. Nothing was found yet, which means that no Jem'Hadar ship has passed in approximately two days.”

Sisko studied the displayed results carefully, and then gave them back to Nerys. “Good work, Colonel. Inform me on any updates you will get.”

“Will do, sir.” Nerys said, as she walked out of the office. At the same time, Dax hurried inside.

“Benjamin,” She said with a worried sight. “I detected something rather unusual, you should come and see it for yourself.”

Sisko stood up from his chair and followed Dax to the science console.

“See... here! An unusual high concentration of Quantum particles.” Dax said.

“Maybe they could be weapons?”

“Absolutely not, it's some kind of trail, not a cluster.”

Sisko watched up and looked to the bridge. He was thinking of what this could be at all.

“Captain, the concentration is coming closer...”

“Closer?”

“Yes, about a speed of... Warp 20.93...?” Dax said, confused.

“That's Transwarp... are they Borg?” Sisko asked quick.

“Very unlikely, it's coming from the coordinates of the Badlands. The Maquis?”

“It's not Borg, nor Maquis, sir. It's... Reman...” O'Brien read from his console.

“Reman? At a speed of warp 20.93? First, how do they get here, and second, how are they capable of reaching Transwarp?” Sisko asked around in Ops.

“I don't know, sir. Not even the Romulans are able to reach these velocities. It might be a malfunction of the ship identification.” O'Brien replied.

“Or...” Dax replied. “it might be a trap.”

“From who?” Sisko asked.

“I don't know exactly, I'm guessing Jem'Hadar, but they are never seen in the Badlands.”

“Doesn't surprise me. The Maquis have chosen it for a good reason, so why not the Jem'Hadar as well?” O'Brien said.

“Because we should have detected them by now. The wormhole doesn't just open for nothing.”

Sisko hesitated, but then came to a temporal decision.

“I'm going to contact StarFleet Command, you keep monitoring whatever is approacing us.” He said, then walking back into his office.

Quark was overlooking his bar. The number of customers was on the daily average. He watched them gambling at the Dabo tables. He saw Garak, the Cardassian, sitting at a table in a dark corner.

“Hello, Quark.” He heard in front of him. He looked up, and saw a Tyran female sitting at the bar.

“Mareel?! What are you doing here? If Odo sees you, he is most likely to...”

“It's okay, Quark. I'm not here to seize the station again. I'm here to do... business...” She said.

Quark's mouth changed into a little sympathetic smile, as he bowed to her.

“What... business...?” He asked.

“I want to discuss it somewhere private, if you don't mind.”

“But ofcourse, follow me.”

The Ferengi walked from behind his bar towards his own quarters, with Mareel following.

“Well, what do you need?” He asked, while he poured some drinks in a pair of glasses.

“One thousand self-stealing stem bolts. I will pay you 50 bars of Latinum for it.” She said, confidently.