Tournament - Quark vs. Morden

[Twogunkid]

“DS9 control to Quark’s Treasure, you are clear for docking at pylon 5.” Dax smirked, somehow the Ferengi were managing to return from dropping Nog at Starfleet Academy

 

“You seem too eager, Old Man. I’m sure the Constable has something exciting to tell us about their trip…” Sisko was cut off by several alarms blaring

 

“Captain, I’m picking up a massive wormhole fluctuation. It’s reading is unlike anything I’ve detected so far, it’s forming right on the location of Quark’s shuttle. I’m attempting to lock a tractor beam.”

 

“Chief, I want you to transport everyone off that shuttle now. All hands yellow alert.” The yellow alert alarm sounded. “Mr. Worf, I want The Defiant prepped and ready for battle in case this is a Dominion ploy. 

 

 

---

 

 

“Babylon Control to Captain Sheridan, we’ve got a jump point forming 2000 kilometers out.”

 

“Can you identify the craft?” Sheridan looked to his commdot and away from his study of Centauri history in regards to Narn.

 

“Negative. I’m sending Starfuries to check it out right now. Ivanova out.” Sheridan began to make his way to Babylon control as quickly as possible.

 

 

---

 

 

“It’s no good Captain, the shuttle seems to be being drawn into the wormhole further. It’s playing havoc with the transporters. I can’t get a lock on them.”

 

“Wormhole appears to be stable Captain, the shuttle should be able to push itself out with sufficient impulse power.” Jadzia looked at the readings, “but it looks like the shuttle’s impulse engines are shot, it doesn’t have the power to pull itself out. It’s going to be pulled in.”

 

Sisko looked to his officers. “Mr. Worf, beam the senior staff aboard The Defiant. We’re going to tow that shuttle out of there. Major, you are in command of the station.” 

 

 

---

 

 

“The ship doesn’t match any known configuration.” Ivanova explained to Sheridan as he entered Babylon Control, “What’s more is it looks to be dead in space.”

 

“Anything on the comms frequencies?”

 

“Negative Commander”

 

“All right, have the Starfuries tow it to Bay 10” Sheridan looked to Garibaldi, “and have a full security team waiting for them.

 

 

---

 

 

“The wormhole appears stable Captain.” Dax looked across the various readouts while punching in a course to take the Defiant into the opening.

 

“Alright old man, one-quarter impulse ahead.” The Defiant moved into the blue wormhole to find itself looking on Quark’s shuttle being towed by a squad of small craft towards a space station of somekind. “Open hailing frequencies. This is Captain Benjamin Sisko of the Federation Starship Defiant. We have encountered a subspace anomaly and are attempting to rescue that shuttle you are towing. We come in peace. Loop and broadcast that on all channels. Let’s not start a fight if we do not have to.”

 

 

---

 

 

“Commander another ship just exited Jumpspace. It looks like it is human, but it doesn’t match any known Earthforce designs.”

 

“Deploy Starfury wings 2 and 3, I want 4 on immediate standby in case this turns hot.” Sheridan looked around, this was beyond strange. 

 

“Commander, we’ve got a message from them.” Sisko’s message was broadcast through Babylon Control. “Well, let's send our reply back.”

 

 

---

 

 

After a tense few minutes while communication frequencies were cleared up it became clear that this was a meeting between parallel universes, but interestingly enough, the connection seemed very stable. Bajor now not only had a connection to the Gamma Quadrant, but another parallel universe. Of course, the Federation, Earth Alliance, and Minbari Federation would need to work out the specifics of travel between the two realities. This would not deter the Ferengi Alliance from being the first Alpha Quadrant species to send an ambassador to Babylon 5.

 

“Look Quark, as your Nagus I command you to go seek out the profits of this new universe. Think what this could mean for Ferengi civilization. Latinum from beyond the universe. Think of the profits.”

 

Quark did not like being bullied by the Nagus, but the possibility of promoting his bar even if it was stuck under Rom’s management on DS9 in a whole new universe did have potential. After all, there was the 75th Rule of Acquisition to consider: “Home is where the heart is, but the stars are made of Latinum.” Quark looked at the spinning space station as his shuttle approached and docked with the station. This was nothing like DS9 or Terrok Nor before it. It seemed primitive in comparison. Rotary gravity. “This bunch of rubes should be easy for me to make a profit off of,” Quark thought to himself.

 

 

---

 

 

“Mr. Garibaldi will see you to your quarters Mr. Quark,” Sheridan was distrustful of this new ambassador, “Until further diplomatic channels can be arranged, the Ferengi Alliance will be treated as member of the League of Non-Aligned Worlds, and”

 

Quark cut the commander off “Makes perfect sense, after all the 35th Rule of Acquisition is ‘Peace is Good for Business.’ The Ferengi Alliance is seeking a mutually beneficial arrangement to sell goods and services to all fine people here. No sense getting involved in a system of shifting political alliances.”

 

“Speaking of Captain, I can’t help but notice you are using old plasma weapons. We could certainly arrange…”

 

“Ambassador, I’m sure my government would be interested in discussing such matters with you at some point, but right now, I think it best you settle in.”

 

 

---

 

 

Weeks had gone by, none of the ambassadors seemed overly interested in the Ferengi delegation, they were more impressed by the Federation and the Klingons, but he had finally made a meeting with Ambassador Kosh of the Vorlons. He hadn’t wanted to discuss economics at all. He had only asked Quark “Who are you?” multiple times. The Ferengi threw up his hands in frustration.

 

“I am Quark, son of Keldar! What do you want? I don’t understand!” The Vorlon seemed to recoil at his question and turned to exit.

 

“Understanding, is a three edged sword” the Vorlon said as he cryptically exited. Quark slumped down. Another failed meeting. Quark had felt Grand Nagus Zek had made him ambassador as a punishment. Other Ferengi came and did business freely, he was missing out. 

 

“You know Ambassador, I’m reminded of the 45th Rule of Acquisition, ‘Expand or Die,’ your people truly have a knack for philosophy.” Quark looked up and saw a man with slicked black hair and a smile.

 

Quark immediately did not trust this man. A Hu-Man quoting the Rules of Acquisition certainly knew more than he was letting on. “And what do you want with me Hu-Man? I’ve seen you talking with Ambassador Molari.” Quark said, straightening up as he remembered he represented the Ferengi Alliance.

 

“That’s what I was going to ask you, what do you want?”

 

“What do I want? There’s only one thing any Ferengi wants: more.” Quark said. “You’ve read the rules, you know a Ferengi without profit isn’t a Ferengi at all. You still haven’t told me what it is you want from me.”

 

“I represent certain associates Ambassador, and I’m certain they would love to do business.”

 

Will Quark see through Morden’s half-truths and lies, or will the Ferengi Alliance be sucked into the web of the Shadows?

 

 

---

 

 

I had a lot of fun writing this for the contest. Great prompt.

[Callisto]

Learn More About
Quark
Read more about Quark at Wikipedia
Official Site: Paramount Television Links: Quark Wikipedia page Quark StarTrek.com page StarTrek.com

Morden
Read more about Morden at Wikipedia
Official Site: J. Michael Straczynski Links: Wikipedia

[Twogunkid]

I went through a couple scenarios and crossovers. I considered Dukat vs Morden, but that struck me as a little too much of Dukat's Pa-Wraith storyline. I had another scenario which was Vir and Rom end up swapping responisbilities but I didn't like it and it didn't turn out as funny as I would have hoped. Then I thought about serious Quark episodes and thought, y'know he and Londo share some traits as being highly traditional members of their race and thought Morden and Quark would be a good matchup.

[Fox]

OMG, a tournament entry!  How exciting!  I figured we were about to go the whole month without one.

I haven't even read it yet, and I can say for certain that as of this moment it's in first place!

 

[Twogunkid]

9 hours ago, Fox said:

OMG, a tournament entry!  How exciting!  I figured we were about to go the whole month without one.

I haven't even read it yet, and I can say for certain that as of this moment it's in first place!

 

Default? The two sweetest words in the English language!

 

For real though, I would like to see some competition. I liked the challenge.

[patrickthekid]

Great idea for a match. Not sure who would win here.

[RakaiThwei]

...I'm gonna go with Quark.

[Fox]

That was a fun read.  It's been forever since I've seen an episode of either show, but it all came swimming back like I had just watched it.

Great job using character dialogue to move the scenario along.

Thanks for the entertainment

 

[Twogunkid]

Glad you liked it.

[JohnnyChany]

On 8/14/2021 at 10:33 PM, Twogunkid said:

Default? The two sweetest words in the English language!

 

For real though, I would like to see some competition. I liked the challenge.

I will happily throw my hat in the ring as soon as I can find a good pairing I want to use.

With that aside, a fantastic start to the monthly challenge. Although I was always more of a TNG fan and watcher, it was a good read.  

[Culwych1]

Great entry; a fun read. 

Unfortunately not familiar with Morden so can't really comment on who wins. 

[DSkillz]

Haven't really watched DS9 or Babylon 5, but the story looks pretty good. 

[Callisto]

Match Final Results

Member Ratings:
5.00 - Venom 2009
5.00 - patrickthekid
3.80 - SSJRuss
4.20 - DSkillz
4.00 - Fox

FPA Calculation:
5 Total Votes cast
22.00 Total Combined Score
22.00 / 5 = 4.40 Final Rating on the match

MATCH SCORE
Quark: 7
Morden: 0

[Fox]

Both @patrickthekid and @Venom 2009 participated in this months tournament, so their ratings cannot affect the Tournament score.  That's in the rules - you can't rate your competition.

 

Member Ratings:
3.80 - SSJRuss
4.20 - DSkillz
4.00 - Fox

FPA Calculation:
3 Total Votes cast
12.00 Total Combined Score
12.00 / 3 = 4.0 Final Rating on the match

 

[RakaiThwei]

On 8/22/2021 at 8:45 AM, Callisto said:

MATCH SCORE

 

Quark: 7
Morden: 0

Talk about a landslide for Quark here!

[Twogunkid]

20 hours ago, RakaiThwei said:

Talk about a landslide for Quark here!

People put faith in the Ferengi to see through a deal that seems to good to be true.