Erratic Nerd Writings

{{Really enjoying writing this story; reliving some fantastic memories while creating new ones.   Thanks go out to the man behind the original Kaz, too, as he helped me nail down some "smoker lingo", and gave me some pointers on Kaz's speech patterns.  This will probably end up being a novella/full length novel, so hope you folks are in for the long haul.}}

The bridge of the Enterprise was a tense, but operative, silence as the ship cruised along at high warp.  Kaz had his hands clasped in front of him, his chin resting against them, as he stared at the viewscreen. 

“Any signs of pursuit?”

Selorus spoke up from his science console, where he was going over the data the probe had fed to his station before it was destroyed.  “Negative, sir.”

Kaz spun around to where Kanor still stood behind him on the deck, absorbing everything that had just happened, and his current situation.  The Commodore pushed back the seat restraint arms and stood up, reaching up to unfasten a clasp that was on the right breast of his uniform.  It seemed to secure a flap of the burgundy uniform, and as it fell down, a white under-tunic was revealed that seemed to be made of thinner material.  He looked straight at Kanor as he came around his chair.  “We need to talk.”

“I concur.  Somewhere more private?”

Kaz looked down at the still unconscious Ensign Munson on the floor.  “Vulcan nerve pinch?”

“Yes.”

Kaz’s eyes looked for the blades Kanor had been carrying earlier, but didn’t see them, of course.  “Going to keep this a non-violent encounter?”

Kanor’s tongue shifted in his mouth before he responded, but he nodded his head.  “Offensively, yes.”

Kaz thought about that for a moment, again dueling gazes with Kanor, his hands clasped behind his back. 

“Skid, you have the conn.  Alert me if we make any headway on figuring out what the hell that thing was, and follow standard departure of a hostile zone procedures.”

Skid turned in her chair at the engineering console, her emerald eyes narrowing as she looked at Kanor.  “Sir, might I insist on a fully armed security detail to accompany you…”

“I think Mister Kanor has already demonstrated a fully armed security detail isn’t exactly the best way to handle the situation.  Besides, as of now, we have no Chief of Security anyways.”

“Then I volunteer myself to accompany you, as…”

Kaz turned to face Skid more directly, his voice…softening a little.  Not quite ringing with authority.  “I need you here, Skid.  I’ll be fine.”

She wasn’t happy, her full lips compressing together tightly, but she nodded without saying anything further.

Kaz turned back to Kanor, and indicated the turbolift by the communications station with a hand.  “After you.” 

Kanor headed over to the turbolift and stepped in.  As he turned around, he saw Kaz exchange a look with Ensign Drei at Communications.  There was something going on there.

As the doors shut, Kaz gripped one of the control rods and twisted it.  “Deck two.”

Kanor clasped his hands behind his back as he looked over at the Commodore.  “You and Lieutenant Drei are dating?”

Kaz’s brow furrowed slightly, but he inclined his head in acknowledgement.  “We are.  You’re pretty observant of relative strangers, it would seem.”

Kanor grunted.  “I kind of have to be.”  He paused, looking ahead at the closed doors as the lift descended.  “I don’t have others I can rely upon.”

Kaz looked up and over at the tall bounty hunter, drawing something out of a pocket in his black uniform trousers.  “That’s a shame, then, Mister Kanor.  Regardless of species, people aren’t meant to be solitary.  We draw strength from a society.”

The lift stopped, and the doors swished open onto the deck of Kaz’s office.  Kanor wasn’t really sure how to respond to that, so simply followed Kaz as he stepped out of the lift in front of him and started heading down the corridor.  Kanor heard a metallic clicking noise of some kind, and then detected a burning odor as smoke started curling up in a thin line from Kaz’s hand.

“Are you injured?” Kanor asked.  He lengthened his stride easily to step past Kaz, in case there was some threat he had missed up ahead, somehow. 

Kaz frowned up at him as he stopped in the corridor, holding a small, white cylinder up to his lips and inhaling slowly.  Kanor’s brow furrowed in confusion.  The end of the cylinder flared with burning embers as Kaz inhaled from it, and Kanor realized it was the source of the smoke, as well.

“Of course not, why?”  Kaz saw the line of Kanor’s gaze, and the confusion on his face, and held the cylinder up for Kanor’s inspection as he pulled it away from his lips.  “It’s called a cigarette.”

Kanor was even more confused.  He had never heard of it before.  “What is its purpose?”

“To smoke?  You light it, and inhale through it.”  Kaz laughed, lifting the cigarette back up to his lips to inhale on again, before reaching out to ash the cigarette over one of those mysterious troughs that lined the side of the corridors along the floor.

“It enhances your ability to breathe?  I did not know humans used such devices.”  His eyes widened as he watched Kaz flick the cigarette over the trough.  “THAT is what those are for!”  He watched the ash fall, accumulating on an already considerable pile.

Kaz was openly grinning, now, as he reveled in Kanor’s reaction to such a trivial thing.  “Oh, I’m not human, I’m a Metron.  And…far from it.  It contains a blend of some mild narcotics; lighting them on fire and inhaling the fumes imparts a…well, a soothing stimulant, a high.”  He took a hit from the cigarette, and then pulled it from his lips to look at it appraisingly.  “It’s actually lethal, over the long term, to humans.  Does quite a number on their lungs.  Great hobby, right?”

Kanor frowned, his nose crinkling, as he stepped back from the puffs of smoke Kaz was exhaling through his lips and nose.  “Why would you partake in such an activity, then?  Are your lungs that different from humans?”

Kaz shrugged.  “Because I like it?  And to be honest, I don’t really know.  I’m most likely the first of my kind to enjoy them.  They were fucking banned and eventually disappeared entirely from Earth centuries ago.  Oh, sure, there are other cultures that practice, or have practiced, ‘smoking’ in different forms, but these tobacco-infused cigarettes from Earth, this design, are unique.”  Kaz took another long, deep hit from the cigarette, pulled it away from his lips, and closed his eyes, keeping his mouth closed as he savored the sensation.  He exhaled, finally, and opened his eyes with a grin, twin streams of smoke jetting out of his nostrils.  “Want to try one?  They’re addictive.”

Kanor shook his head violently, having lifted a hand up to cover his mouth, his gaze following the clouds of smoke as they were sucked in by ventilation in the corridor’s ceiling.  Kaz tossed the remaining stub of the depleted cigarette into a pile of ash in the trough as he looked to Kanor expectantly, his eyes almost looking…excited.  “Absolutely not.”

Kaz shrugged, reaching into his trousers again for a second one, and lighting it with a small metallic rectangle that seemed to create a small flame upon activation.  “You have no fucking clue what you’re missing.  I have these specially made right here on the Enterprise, using the exact same methods they used back on Earth all those years ago as much as possible.  They’re damn good.”  He continued walking down the corridor to his office, attempting to blow the smoke away from Kanor’s direction, at least, as they moved.

Kanor tried to taper down his revulsion for the activity, now that he knew what was actually going on in the process, though he doubted he was doing a very good job at it.  “I did not realize Metrons were venturing outside of their own space.”

“There are several aboard the Enterprise, actually.  Lieutenant Drei is another one, for instance.  But…we’re not exactly representative of the Metron society as a whole.”  The doors to Kaz’s office whisked open as they approached, and Kanor was impressed to see Doctor O’Neil, the Deltan, and the two bodies were gone already, though there was still blood spilled and the signs of their struggle before.  Kaz crossed to his desk and flipped one of the switches on the controls to the left side on the desk’s surface.  The wall on Kanor’s right parted, revealing a more relaxed seating area.  Two couches, some upholstered chairs, and a low-level table, as well as small end tables strategically placed. 

“Have a seat.”

Kanor, still keeping in mind where he was and under what initial circumstances had brought him here, moved to one of the chairs that faced the doorway to Kaz’s office, and was closest to the edge of the aperture the parted wall had revealed.  The seat was very comfortable; he instantly didn’t like it.  The material of the upholstery was red, and was made of what he thought was called “velvet”.  His nostrils flared as he picked up a faint, lingering odor nearby.  It took him a few seconds to place it as the same smell he had detected upon Ensign Drei when they had passed in the corridor while he was being escorted here before.  It seemed to be coming from one of the couches.

Kaz settled in a chair nearby, noting the specific location Kanor had settled into.  He took one last drag on his current cigarette, and then crushed it into a small dish, apparently designed for that exact purpose, on one of the end tables closest to his chair.  He rested his hands on the arms of the chair as he looked at Kanor.

“You collected the package the Federation posted the bounty upon; stolen designs and prototypes from a science installation.”

Kanor crossed his arms over his chest, his back ramrod straight in the cursed chair that was entirely too soft and cushy.  “I did.”

“I believed the plans to be non-militaristic and mostly scientific in nature, thus their posting for just anyone to bring the designs back to them for a hefty fee.  They would have kept information like that under tight wraps if it had been top-secret type of research and development with military applications.  However, they must also be fairly advanced or quite far along items if they were going through the damn trouble to post a bounty on the information’s recovery.”

“I concur; I came to the same conclusions myself.  I determined that band of pirates were the culprits after some digging, but since the items in question weren’t really something they were known to actively pursue for themselves in the past, assumed they were acquiring them for someone else, or simply for their monetary value to the highest bidder.  When no offers were made through the black market for any such items, I tracked down their ship.”

“As did we.  Since they were sitting around in uninhabited space, lightyears from conventional and unconventional shipping routes, it’s also safe to assume they were waiting for a trade-off.”

“Which is why I went aboard to extract the package before they could, and I might lose the trail.  The question is-who were they trading the items off to?  And whether or not it was that ringed monstrosity we just ran into.”

Kaz nodded.  “We were hiding behind the moon, waiting to see who would be arriving to the exchange.  Information can be a currency all on its own; the Independent Fleet could have used that information.  However, when we detected weapons fire…”

Kanor nodded as well.  A sound tactic; the Enterprise was no pushover, and even if they had encountered something beyond a Constitution class starship, they had an entire Fleet of allies to return to or call upon for backup, in theory.  However, no one had expected that spiked ring to appear.

“And now, here we are.”

Kaz smirked.  “You, alive; me…without the target of my damn jaunt out there in the first place, but a whole other sort of clusterfuck to figure out.”

“You-for the moment-holding me captive.  I don’t even know where we’re heading.  I can’t say I’m pleased about that.”

Kaz reached for another cigarette, scrutinizing the stiff, arms-crossed Kanor, even as the bounty hunter glowered back at him.  He fiddled with the cigarette in his hands for a moment, not lighting it, before leaning forward in his chair.

“Alright, Kanor.  It’s obvious you have some trust issues…”

“And you don’t have enough, clearly.”  Kanor turned his head to look over at the mess in front of Kaz’s desk pointedly.

Kaz followed Kanor’s gaze, and made a conciliatory gesture.  “I don’t typically like Klingons.  In my experience, they’ve always been fucking belligerent, bullies, or needlessly bloodthirsty.”

“You certainly know how to circumvent my trust issues.”

Kaz couldn’t help but grin at that.  “Hear me out.  While you’ve certainly been…violent, and direct, you haven’t been reckless.  I’m sure you could have killed Ensign Munson up on the bridge when he arrived.  You could have killed everyone in this room after I left earlier.  You could have assaulted any number of my crew at multiple times, taken a hostage…”

“That was my intent before.  With you.”

Kaz inclined his head.  “I suspected as much.  Consider me…what is it you folks go on about all the time?  Honored?”

“I wasn’t expecting you to use the stylus in such a fashion.”

“I’m not often the fist-throwing type.  I hate weapons, generally.  Either way, as I was saying, all of that…but you didn’t.  You were willing to listen, and discuss matters.  I suspect you picked up on some of the…internal matters aboard my ship, and could have used them to your advantage.  Hell, during our encounter with that crazy ringed thing, you probably could have gotten out of the shuttlebay in the confusion.  Instead, once you got to the bridge, you simply…observed.”

“I needed to know what I was up against, what was happening out there.  Your crew seemed competent enough in handling the ship, and you have capabilities I do not.”

“How DID you get up to the bridge, by the way?  Munson didn’t look like you had assaulted him earlier, and if Doc O’Neil had been accosted in some way, I would have had her screaming at me before you stepped foot on the bridge.”

“I have methods I use.  They are effective.”

Kaz went to go extract another cigarette, only to realize he had one out already he hadn’t lit yet.  Instead, he pulled out the flame-device to light the cigarette he had been holding.  “You’re a hell of a lot more succinct when you’re talking defensively, have you ever noticed that?”

Kanor frowned, his nostrils flaring.

Kaz waved the hand holding the cigarette dismissively, wisps of smoke fluttering about in the air.  “What I’m getting at is…you can take a step back.  Use your head.  Observe, analyze.  You’re not always rushing in, guns fuckin’ blazin’, shoot first and ask questions later.”

“Believe me; you do not want to witness me in a battle rage.”

“I don’t doubt it.  However, you’re not ALWAYS in a battle rage.  You observe, you think before you charge off.  You analyze, strategize.  You’d be surprised how uncommon that is in our business.”

“I collect bounties.  You are a mercenary.  There are a LOT of differences.”

“Not really.  You collect bounties, a singular area of being a mercenary, because you don’t have the abilities to broaden your business.”

Kanor growled.  “If you are implying…”

Kaz ashed his cigarette and waved his other hand around.  “No no no…I mean…alright.  Bounties.  You go and collect something or someone for someone else, who then pays you for the return of said thing or person.  Cut and dry, pretty much.”

“Essentially, yes.”

“Nothing wrong with that.  The Independent Fleet takes on bounties sometimes; our meeting, for instance, of course.  However…we can also take on a hell of a lot more.  Cargo hauling.  Scientific data gathering.  Transportation of important guests, or even whole groups of people.  Why, we actually just completed a mission a few weeks ago where we…”

“Cargo hauling is tedious, and generally not cost-effective.  My ship does not have the sensor suite to handle in-depth scientific data gathering.  And I hate people.”

Kaz leaned back in his chair and lifted his half-burned-away cigarette to his lips for the first time, looking at Kanor.  “Exactly.  You don’t have the abilities to do things other than collect bounties.”

“I chose to collect bounties because it is the most cost-effective way for me to utilize my skills.  I choose what jobs I want to take, and what ones I don’t.  I choose when I work, and when I want to go off and have me some Orion slave girls.  I travel to and from the destination alone, without having to deal with anyone else.  If the job calls for dealing with others, it is usually combative; I’m good with combat.  I’m good at hunting things and people down.”

“Kanor, let me ask you something.”

“You’ve already asked me several things.”

“What, are you billing by the question?”  Kaz took another long hit to his dwindling cigarette, ashing it again.  “You make enough money to…what, keep your craft flying, keep your body going, and maybe toss some towards a fucking hooker or a pet project or something every once in a while, right?”

Kaz paused, looking at Kanor expectantly, but Kanor simply stared back at him, his face impassive.  He was not going to answer the question.

“Right.  I’m going to assume that’s roughly damn accurate, then.”  Kaz shifted in his chair again, propping his elbows up on his knees.  “You saw the ringed thing engage the pirate’s raider ship first.  Why do you suppose they did that?”

“Simple.  The pirates were clearly the lesser threat.  In removing them first, they could then focus all their abilities on the greater threat, the Enterprise.”

Kaz grinned as he sat up to crush his cigarette in the dish on the table; he then lifted a leg to drape it over the other, settling back in the cushions of the chair.  “You would think of it tactically.  How does that account for the communicative and scanning beams they initiated first?”

Kanor shrugged.  “Demands for surrender, scanning for valuables, maybe?”

Kaz held up an index finger, his grin seeming to broaden.  “OR…they specifically targeted the pirates because they were expecting to interact with them in the first place.  The fucking pirates didn’t respond satisfactorily, so they scanned the ship.  They didn’t find what they were looking for, so…”

Kanor frowned.  “Possible, yet it seems unlikely.”

“Why would you say that?”

“How would the pirates have communicated with them in the first place?  Your own Ensign Drei said it; he wasn’t even sure if that was a communication, he had never seen anything like that before.”

Kaz conceded the point with a reluctant nod of his head.  “True; however, if the ringed ship had hired those pirates in the first place, perhaps they had given them some sort of device that enabled the two of them to communicate with each other.”

Kanor shrugged.  “Alright; if that were the case, why the scan, then?  And why the destruction?  If they hired them, why would they not use them, or even gang up with them against the Enterprise?”

“You saw the way they destroyed that ship; I doubt they needed the fucking pirate’s guns to take us on.  And if you hired someone, and they failed…it’s conceivable they simply determined them unnecessary to keep around any longer.”

“And the scan?”

“What exactly were the contents of that package you retrieved?”

Kanor scowled.  “I didn’t exactly get a chance to go through them extensively; someone caught my ship in a tractor beam.”

Kaz waved his hands dismissively again.  “Yes, yes…but what did they look like at a glance, at least?  You DID check them, didn’t you?”

He shrugged.  “Data, plans, things like that.  Again, I didn’t notice too much, but it seemed to be what I expected.  Nothing of great military value.”

“Well, I think they were scanning for that package.”

Kanor shook his head.  “Not possible.  There were no tracking devices on that package, I verified that myself.”

Kaz rested his elbows on the arms of the chair as he pressed the fingertips of his hands against each other in front of him.  “Mister Kanor; I’ve never seen anything like what we encountered back there.  We weren’t even able to determine some fucking basic engineering functions of that monstrosity, as it appears to be composed of materials AND technology we’re not familiar with.  I’m not entirely gloating when I say the Independent’s databases are quite extensive, and I’ve personally added even more to ours here aboard the Enterprise than the rest of my compatriots have in the Fleet.  Now, I understand you’re a well-travelled individual; but you didn’t seem to be any more familiar with that damn thing and where it’s come from than we were.  And you’re going to try and tell me it’s not possible there’s not a tracking device of some kind aboard it?  With a straight face?”

Kanor frowned, but realized the Commodore had a point.  “It is still unlikely.”

“I’d say it’s very possible, in my fucking opinion.  I think they scanned that pirate ship, and didn’t find what they were looking for, so they turned to us, the strangers in the area.  Now, if they would have scanned this ship, they would have most likely discovered we had what they were looking for; whether or not they decided to be nice about it, we’ll never know.  After that little shitstorm, I’m not willing to gamble on their benevolent nature with the hundreds of lives aboard my ship.”

“A plausible theory, yes.  What does this have to do with me, and how much money I make, again?”

Kaz smiled a slow, beguiling smile.  “Even if I simply let you go, ignoring the bounty, letting you collect the money and go about your merry way…I’m fairly confident they’d track you down in search of their package, Mister Kanor.  I don’t know about you, and I hope you’ll forgive me for saying…I don’t put much confidence in your…Lollipop, was it?...surviving the encounter in good shape.  Or in your well being after whatever those things that direct that spiked collar in space realize you don’t have what they want any more.”

Kanor was silent, absorbing it all.

“So; here’s what I propose.  We work together on this.  You have the key component of the whole matter, but I have the resources to tip things a lot better in our favor.”

“And if I say no, you what-kill me?”

Kaz shrugged.  “I’m sure I could.  Even if it wasn’t me, personally; I doubt even you could fight off a ship of hundreds all by yourself.  Even if you did, and escaped, it wouldn’t be for long.” 

“And if I were to escape, I’d still have whatever that thing is most likely coming after me.”

“Probably.”

“They’d come after you, first.  All I need to do is turn the item in and collect my bounty while you preoccupy them.  I can be quite innovative in the matter of escaping if my life depends on it.”

“You think I wouldn’t point them in the direction of your hybrid ass immediately to save my ship and my crew?  And do you REALLY think you could avoid an entire organization of mercenaries hunting you down for retribution for the rest of your life?  As I mentioned, I don’t like senseless slaughter.  It’s wasteful.  We can all benefit from this if, instead of killing each other, we simply work together.”

“What would be the nature of this ‘working together’ you propose?  And how would we settle the payment?”

Kaz’s eyes narrowed a little as he mulled that over.  Kanor got the impression he was also trying not to smile. 

“I’m going to take a wild guess you wouldn’t enjoy being treated as a visiting dignitary of some sort; state room, access to leisure facilities…”

Kanor gave him a scathing glare.

“I figured as much.  Well, as it so happens, I have a chief of security position available…”

“Just like that, you’d offer me a position amongst your bridge crew, not to mention access to sensitive information and areas of the ship?”

Kaz laughed.  “Hardly.  However, as you were so eager to point out before, the security training of my so-called security force is sub-par.  Part of that was intentional, thanks to Mister Fucking Sh’lan, and part of it was his own incompetence.  I have…other measures in place to account for some of that, but it is a glaring issue you’ve given me the opportunity to address.”

Kanor couldn’t help but feel a tug of intrigue at that.  “And in what fashion would I be able to address it?”

Kaz shrugged.  “Training sessions.  Evaluate procedures and personnel, and then work on improving them.”

Kanor frowned.  “I would not have nearly enough time to train everyone and redesign your security procedures.  Plus, you DO realize this would afford me an excellent opportunity to subvert your ship and its crew in the future.”

Kaz waved a hand dismissively.  “Yes, that’s not what I meant, of course.  Nor would you have access to everything to be able to do so anyways…”

“Which would be a large impediment to the process and why it would be essentially useless.”

Kaz sighed a little.  “Okay, more like…an inspection and evaluation, then.  You, with an escort of my choosing, inspect different personnel and security procedures currently in place, and make notes on how to improve them, make note of weak areas or holes…that kind of thing.  Make suggestions for a training curriculum, maybe even a rough outline or something.”

Kanor’s lips pursed in thought.  “That…could work, possibly.  How would this involve the ringed ship, however?”

“I’d share whatever information about the thing as we discover it, and you’d be allowed onto the bridge when we go back to investigate it.”

“I would want to be included upon any excursions that take place to the structure, or any meetings that occur with its occupants.”

“Done, so long as it does not endanger my crew or our mission.”

“I would also want to be involved in discussions concerning the object.”

Kaz seemed more reluctant about that one.  “Within reason, yes.  You realize, of course, there will be more people involved than just those aboard this ship.”

Kanor frowned.  “The rest of your Independent Fleet members?”

“The Brass, as it were, yes.”

“And how would the rest of your Fleet react to my presence aboard your ship, let alone your involvement?”

“You’d be accorded the same respect as an official advisor and temporary attaché to the mission.”

Kanor wasn’t quite convinced.  “Because everyone is all friendly and happy in your Fleet, especially to outsiders.”

Kaz frowned.  “I won’t lie; there will be people who won’t like your presence or involvement.  There will be even assholes who won’t be too thrilled about you, due to that tiny killing incident earlier, and will actively treat you hostilely.  You will, however, be aboard my ship, at my insistence.  That will be fucking respected, even if grudgingly.”

Kanor nodded, seemingly satisfied.  “That seems more believable.”

“You realize, Mister Kanor, this means your actions will directly reflect upon me.  I am taking responsibility for you amongst my peers; therefore, consequences of your actions will directly impact my ship, my crew, and me.  I take that very damn seriously.”

Kanor’s eyes narrowed.  “You will find, Commodore, I, too, will take that seriously.  I repay the respect shown to me unto others.”

“Then we shouldn’t have any problems with that.”

“I am not looking to be aboard your ship for an extended period.  How long are you planning on investigating this…ring?  I have the package; I could collect the bounty now.”

“If I’m correct, and that ship was after it, we don’t know why.  The reasons why could be very interesting, especially to those who posted the bounty in the first place.”

Kanor scowled.  “Blackmail.”

“Not at all.  We give them their package, just like you would.  However, information, Mister Kanor, is extremely valuable.  Why settle with just the base amount of the bounty, when we can offer the Federation who took it, and why, at a premium price?  No one else will be able to provide that information to them, and, more importantly, we’ll be in the know ourselves.  So, in regards to how long…however long it fucking takes to get those answers.  Who, and why.”

Kanor shifted in his seat, finally acceding Kaz’s purpose was sound, and potentially very lucrative, though it left a bitter feeling in his mouth.  “Which brings us to the payment.”

“That is where we were when we were so rudely interrupted before, isn’t it?”

“Fifty percent.”

Kaz scowled.  “Oh c’mon, that is not where we left off.  You agreed to thirty.”

“That was before you enlisted my services in whipping your security forces in-line, and my time in finding out the answers to your questions.”

“Wait; this is for both the bounty AND the information selling?”

“Of course, why would they be separate?”

“Because we fucking offer them separately.  The bounty and the information sale are separate transactions.”

“Gathering the information seems like a risky endeavor, then.  What if they’re not interested in buying?  Or worse, can’t afford it?  We would have wasted all that time and effort for nothing.”

Kaz shook his head, holding up his left hand for a moment.  “Ahh, but that’s where you’re wrong.  For one, knowing what’s going on in the galaxy is invaluable, especially if those it concerns directly are fucking clueless themselves.  Secondly, you’d be surprised how eager to pay for sensitive information some people can be.  They’ll scrounge up enough.  It doesn’t happen often, but when they don’t want to, or they can’t, we have other ways to turn a profit off of that information ourselves.”

“Still sounds…unreliable.  Fine, fifty percent on each.”

“Not a fucking chance in hell.  I’ll give you the fifty percent on the bounty, that’s primarily you, seeing as how you have the merchandise currently and could, theoretically, keep it that way, or at least make it very costly for me to retrieve it.  The information will primarily be the Enterprise and the Independent Fleet as a whole.  Ten percent.”

“The bounty part we can agree upon, at least.  The information, however…”  he paused.  “Forty.  I’m still providing you a valuable service with your security situation.  And I removed your opponent, Sh’lan, and one of his allies.”

Kaz scowled.  “He was not my ‘opponent’.  Your security advisement is not THAT valuable.  Twenty-five.”

Kanor smiled.  “You haven’t seen my security advisements yet, nor how they will affect your ship positively in the future.  Thirty-six.  Final.”

Kaz’s upper lip curled slightly, revealing his clenched teeth.  “What, do you have fucking Ferengi blood mixed with that Klingon and Vulcan, too?”

“No, just human.  Do we have a deal, or not?”

Kaz took a deep, slow breath, glaring at Kanor, before finally exhaling noisily.  “Fine.  Fifty fifty for the bounty, and thirty-six sixty-four for the information.”  Kaz leaned forward in the chair to extend his right hand towards Kanor.  “Why the hell thirty-six, why not thirty-five?”

Kanor grinned broadly as he leaned forward to take Kaz’s hand and shake it, sealing their deal.  “Simple-one extra percent.  Just because.”

Kaz couldn’t help but feel the corners of his mouth tug upwards at that answer, but he shook his head slowly before tilting it to the side slightly.  “Human, really?”

“Indeed.”

“How’d that mix come about?”

“We are doing business together; we are not going to be sharing a bed.  I do not swing that way.”

Kaz snorted as their hands separated.  “Just means more for me, then.”

“Two last concerns.”

“You’ve already practically bankrupted me in this endeavor.”

“First, I want my items returned to me.  All of them.”

Kaz inclined his head.  “Fair enough, as long as you don’t use them against us.  You will find me quite pissed the fuck off if you do.”

“Lastly, my ship.”

Kaz leaned back in his chair, reaching down to pull out another cigarette as he looked at Kanor through narrowed eyes.  “I hope you’ll understand if I insist upon it being moved to our cargo bay for now.  Until this endeavor is finished.”

Kanor frowned, but nodded his head once, curtly.  “As long as I have uninhibited access to it at all times, and no one else.”

Kaz lit his newest cigarette and took a deep drag.  “Very few others, let’s put it that way.”

Kanor grunted.  “I want to be present if anyone else boards my ship, then.  Will I be informed of who these others might be?”

“If you ask nicely.”

Kanor snorted, arching his right eyebrow.

Kaz smirked, taking another hit of his cigarette.  “Well?”

Kanor growled, his lips parting slightly to show clenched teeth as he snarled.  “Fine.  Please.  If only so I don’t shoot when she’s boarded and ask questions later.”

Kaz ashed his cigarette, wagging a finger admonishingly.  “Remember that part about using them against us?”

“Very well.  I’ll use my bare hands to inflict pain upon whoever enters.”

“Wasn’t I just fucking praising your tendency not to jump to violent solutions so quickly a few minutes ago?”  The hand that wasn’t holding his cigarette dug down near his belt and produced an old-styled communicator.  With a practiced flip of his wrist, Kaz popped a metallic grid-like cover up, and proceeded to activate a button with his thumb.  “Kaz to bridge.”

“Skid here, Commodore.  Having fun with our guest?”

“He doesn’t swing that way, Skid.  Besides, Drei would be quite upset if I were spreading my sexiness around.  What’s our situation?”

“What’s your situation, sir?”

Kaz looked up from the communicator towards Kanor as his other hand moved his cigarette to his lips for a quick puff.  “Go ahead, Commander, it’s fine.”

“Procedures completed, still no signs of enemy pursuit.  Was just about to have Jax send us home.  And Lieutenant Selorus has some things he’d like to go over with you.”

“Sounds good.  Mister Kanor will be staying with us for a while, Skid.  Is cargo bay three empty?”

“Not entirely.  Cargo bay five is, though.”

“Very well.  Have Kanor’s ship moved to cargo bay five, then, by tug.  No one is to go aboard her for now, is that clear?”

The tone of Skid’s voice expressed her displeasure, but she responded anyway.  “Aye, sir.”

“Jax, you have the conn; bring us home.  Skid, bring Selorus down to my office with you.”

“Aye, sir.  We’re on our way.”

Kaz closed the metallic grille on his communicator and replaced it on his belt.  “Would you like some quarters arranged for you while you’re aboard?”

Kanor frowned.  While he did not like the idea of being separated from his ship for extended periods of time, having quarters aboard the Enterprise would most likely alleviate some tension between himself and the crew, as well as give the illusion the Enterprise folk had more control than they actually did over his situation.  “I…suppose so, yes.”

“Splendid.  I’ll have one of our ambassadorial suites prepar…”

“I would prefer regular quarters versus a…suite.”

Kaz’s lips puckered.  “Hrm…alright, though you don’t know what you’re missing, I’m telling you.  Again.  You just don’t appreciate the finer things in life, do you?  Officer’s quarters, then.”

Probably to keep him closer to those Kaz trusted most, as well as away from the mass crew.  At least they wouldn’t be as opulent as a suite.  Kanor ignored the verbal jabs.  “That would be sufficient.”

“Excellent.  I’ll have Skid escort you to them once she arrives.”

Kanor cleared his throat.  “My possessions?”

“Ah, yes.  Skid will be able to take care of that, as well.”

“She does quite a lot, it would seem.”

“She IS my XO, as well as the Engineering guru.  Keeps things in line down there with the boys.”  Kaz got to his feet, taking one last pull from his cigarette before putting it out in the tray with the rest.

Kanor followed suit, also getting to his feet.  “Where, exactly, is this ‘home’ you referred to?”

“Independent Fleet space.  I need to report in, and, unfortunately, enlist some additional assistance.  We were not prepared to interact with something on the scope of that thing back there.”

“You think your Fleet will be able to?”

Kaz shook his head.  “I didn’t say that.  More resources, however, are definitely an absolute.”

The doors to the office whisked open, revealing the Romulan Science officer, Lieutenant Selorus, and Commander Skid.  Kanor was very happy the Deltan’s pheromones seemed to have dissipated.