Negotiation

Posted on Wed Dec 2nd, 2020 @ 12:47am by Captain Rhenora Kaylen & Chief Petty Officer Remal Kajun

Mission: Healing of Minds
Location: Marketplace

A short time later Captain Kaylen Rhenora strode into the marketplace - looking for Remal whom she had promised to meet for lunch then a leisurely browse of the market. She was looking for some decor to suit their quarters as well as for the odd piece for their beach house on Bajor.

She spied Remal and young Bonnie in a market store having a...discussion for lack of a better word with a Ferengi who seemed to be getting more frustrated by the minute.

"Find anything interesting?" She commented, hoping to break the altercation.

Bonnie had slipped behind Remal as he defended her pocketbook. When she heard the Captain she freaked out internally while externally she peeked out from behind with a grin. "I found an old Earth computer, I mean really old." She was giddy to the point of being a school girl again.

Remal smiled at his bride. "We were just concluding a sale for this, this, what is this anyway?" He asked the lobbed man before him.

"The Ancient Earth Computer?" Vornick replied, rubbing his ears most salubriously.
" A rare gem that is indeed, there are only a handful known to exist…" he started, hoping to pick up the sales pitch where he had left off earlier.

Rhenora tuned out as the sales pitch tuned in, wandering around the store to see if there was something other than dodgy replicas and cheap imitations.

Remal suddenly became a man of two minds as he watched his beloved walk away. While he wanted to stay and barter with the flustered Vornick on behalf of Bonnie, he also desired to return to the main reason he beamed down to this sweat box of a shoppers paradise to begin with. He watched her meander away then turned his attention back to Vornick and Bonnie who were waiting on him to say something.

Flustered but bold he almost shouted "3 strips if it works. Two slips and no more if it doesn't. He eyed Bonnie, "Is that good by you Lt. Durnell?" She smiled and nodded to show her gratitude.

Vornick was clearly gruffed at being controlled but he knew the true value was in the sentimentality but profit was profit. He watched as the giant hurried off to catch the blonde haired female and silently hoped he wouldn't have to conduct business with him again.

Rhenora watched the exchange from the other side of the store, pretending to look interested in the mostly dusty and dodgy wears. She looked up as Remal caught up with her, having clearly beaten the Ferengi at his own game.

“ Impressive, remind me to keep you close if I find anything other than dodgy imitations in this place” She retorted with a smile, giving him a kiss as he sidled up to her.

"Duly noted." He responded with a smile. "Long story short, there was a Ferengi who visited the monastery and loved to quote the rules. I simply paid attention just in case." He added in a smarmy, hushed tone.

She continued to browse, most things were clearly copies, some better than others, however there was a rather good impersonation of a Bajoran Orb that piqued her interest. Copies of such previous items were a dime a dozen and Rhenora was sure this would be no different. Some even had orbs that lit up and rotated within the casket. Only the true Orbs provided a connection with the Prophets though - and that was the true test.

“ See something you like?” Vornick was beside her in an instant, stroking his lobes again in anticipation. If he could get a pretty price for this it would be off his hands and someone else's problem entirely.

Remal was also curious about the Orb at least until he heard the Ferengi once more grace their presence, then he was just irritated. "We were just looking. Besides haven't you other customers to hound?"

Vornick looked around, knowing he was getting dangerously close to crossing the line between attentive and bothersome. He really did want to Orb gone, and soon. Not to mention the other thingy that Slag had sold him. He had no idea what it was but he paid dearly for it so he would sell the same way.

"I was merely making sure no further property of mine was being damaged" he retorted and straightened himself up to his tallest height.

" How much for the timber box?" Rhenora asked strategically. If it was a fake, it'd look good in one of the many cafes on the Liberty

Gentle giant that he was, Remal watched Rhenora as she put on her poker face. He had seen it many times over the years. She wanted something, and she would get that something and little would stand in her way. Besides, there was something compelling about the Orb, fake or not, like it was calling out to them. He stood ready to barter on her behalf should she need him, but for now he was prepared to watch her work her magic.

"3 bars and it's yours, I'm told it's thousands of years old, and one of it's kind. A truly delightful and unique item" Vornick slathered.

Remal scuffed, "And where do you get your information from, a Troglibyte puppet dealer on the street corner? It's a replica if I've ever seen one. 2 slips, 3 if you wrap it." He let his outburst overshadow Rhenora's dealings and was almost sorry he had, but as a man of conscience he hated the idea of getting ripped off. "Besides, it's probably stolen." He muttered to Rhen only.

"Probably, either way it's either one fake less or we find a real one and do the Prophets a favour" she scoffed back at him.

"Slips?!? I'm talking strips. Read my lobes. 2 strips nothing less. I'll sell it to the next passerby" Vornick countered, having the decency to look offended.

It was bars a moment ago, he must be desperate to unload this thing onto the nearest sucker. Remal thought to himself. “Looks like he doesn’t subscribe to rule 194 very well.” Remal whispered knowing full well the large eared man could probably hear him.

“ And which one is that?” Rhenora whispered back - fully aware she wasn’t across the Rules of Acquisition….should probably do some research on that.

Remal smiled, “It’s always good business to know about your customers before they walk into your door. If he understood what he had and who we really are he would be trying to sell it to anyone else but us. Or rather, you.”

“ Me? I’m just a random person looking for trinkets” She said in a mocking tone, knowing full well her reputation generally preceded her. Thankfully she was in civvies and unrecognised so far. She did however take a fancy to the ark the replica orb was housed in. The carving was both intricate and eloquent.

Vornick was growing increasingly impatient with these customers and with trying to rid himself of thos merchandise. They were Bajoran, the first to walk through his territory in weeks and one of them was quoting scripture like he had the lobes. But Vornick knew there was a difference between knowing the rules and practicing the rules. He also knew his merchandise and his target customer. She was his clear target and the annoyingan next to her had to go. He needed a distraction of some sort. Where was that lackey when you needed him?

"Well you do have the ridges," he touched his ear lobe, "and the ornament." He added indicating her earring loops, a clear symbol of the Bajoran people.

"You know I can hear you right?" Vornick admitted. "So, I can tell you love this thing. 4 strips and it's yours. I'll throw in the contents for another 2. Come on," he grew smug as heoved to separate the woman from the man by putting an arm around her. "What do you say we draw up an invoice together?"

“ 4? I can pick one of these up across the street for 2” Rhenora retorted, wondering just how far she could go with the haggling. It wasn’t her comfort zone that was for sure. Remal however seemed to be enjoying her discomfort.

“ 2 or I walk over there and buy his” She finished, making a show of turning on her heel.

He eyed her intensely and stroked his lobes. "That logic machine across the street does not have what I have, you can rest your clothed caboose on that fact. I will settle on 3 plus tax, take it or leave it. Your choice." He tone had a finallity to it, indicating he was done bargaining.

Rhenora debated whether to walk out or not. 3 plus tax for a fake was a steep price. There was a very small chance it was the missing Orb in which case it was priceless.

"2 strips, 3 slips not an iota more" Rhenora pulled the exact amount out of a small bag and waved it under his nose. "Take it or leave it and I give it to the large lobed one over there".

It was a lot more latinum than he had seen in quite some time, not since that incident on the moons of Meridia. And rule 18 stated a Ferengi without profit is no Ferengi at all. "Deal. But there will be tax. Local law I'm afraid." He lied. "Shake on it? Like the hewmans do?" He held out his hand sideways and slightly limp.

"A Vulcan Tax?" Rhenora raised an eyebrow at the small ferengi and waved the latinum under his nose with one hand and caressed one of his lobes with the other.
"No tax…." She whispered into his ear, her voice low and seductive. There was more than one way to win against a Ferengi. "And I'd like that small wooden box over there, it would mean very much to me"

Remal almost let out a belly laugh as he struggled to contain himself. He knew his wife could charm the pants off of him but he had never imagined she was such a charmer to others. He watched on as the Ferengi quivered in the tailored suit under the masterfulness of her touch.

Vornick pulled away quickly. This one was a shrewd minx of a woman but he had one more play up his sleeve. Knowing she wanted this box so bad he still had a play to squeeze just a bit more profit out of her. "You really know the right string to pull, but my lively hood is at stake here and my hands are tied. I cant let it go for less than 3 or else my family will starve and you wouldn't want that on your conscience now, would you?"

The Bajoran paused in her ministrations to his ears, a pouty look upon her face. She was enjoying the effect she had on him.
"2 strips, 4 slips" she whispered, allowing her breath to tickle the ultra fine hairs in his ears. "Or do I need to stroke someone else's lobes? You wouldn't want me to do that would you?"

That was enough to send him over the edge. Rule 94, females and profit don't mix. "Deal. Fine. 2 strips and 5 slips as agreed. You drive a hard bargain, and you'll watch my child as they go hungry tonight." If he had children, which he didn't.

"4 slips" she corrected, standing to her full height "and have them beamed to my quarters. 2 strips is enough to feed your family for a year so don't try the hard sell. Deck 2 Captain's Quarters. Pleasure doing business with you. And do throw in the little timber box like you promised" she turned on her heel and started to head out of the shop, barely containing her laughter.

Remal followed suit, stopping momentarily toake sure Bonnie was good with carting her purchase to a suitable location before catching up to Rhenora. "Wow, you really know how to work a man with those fingers." He proclaimed knowing he was partial to the pinky she kept him wrapped around.

" Got the job done didn't it?" She quipped, reaching towards his ear and running a finger along the outside of it "I may have had a little practice over the years"

"Indeed it did. Any chance you could use some more? Practice that is?" He quipped as he brought her into a hugging embrace right in front of a throng of passers-by.

"Mmm mmm maybe" she kissed him deeply, uncaring about who saw them. Just a man and a woman in love on a Vulcan planet. Random, but yet still unremarkable.

"Shall we continue our shopping, or would you prefer to adjourn to a more private location?" She whispered with a raised eyebrow.

"Shopping? I have no recollection of what you're talking about?" He played coy, the kiss obviously addling his brain. "Is that what we were doing?" His grin showed his manly ambivalence.

Her stomach rumbled, destroying the moment entirely. She dissolved into a fit of giggles, almost falling into his arms.

"Lunch?"

His smile faded slightly at the remembrance of why they had come down in the first place. Faded but not gone. "If you insist. After you m'dear." He gestured towards the food area.