A City of Silver

Posted on Mon Oct 28th, 2019 @ 6:29am by Lieutenant Cyrin Xanth

Mission: Onboarding & Departure
Location: Deck 11
Timeline: Transit to the Delta Quadrant

"Excuse me, Frel!" Cyrin trotted down the corridor to catch up with the Ferengi he saw up ahead. Just the man he'd been looking for. He had to dodge around a couple of OPS personnel that were moving supplies, but he did so pretty gracefully. With a bounce in his step and much longer legs he caught up pretty quick. "Ambassador Frel! I was hoping to get a moment of your time?"

Frel, on his way to engineering, was very much in his own head when his name woke him. He looked around and saw Cyrin walking towards him. With a big smile. "Hello," He looked at the mans pips and frowned. "Lieutenant Junior Grade. I am very busy, what can I do for you?"

Cyrin made a face at the full rank, felt he knew the implication, and it almost derailed his "Actually, sir, I would be very glad to present you with exactly that." He'd practised the move in his quarters: Cyrin put his wrists together, held his fingers outspread and up, then bent his knees and tried his best to bring himself to Frel's height. Then, perhaps more important than using the Ferengi greeting, he pulled a slip of gold-pressed latinum from his sleeve and offered it as the cultural database had recommended.

Frel's smile came back as big as ever. He returned the greeting, and took the slip. "Lieutenant, you are so kind. And very astute in cultural regulations. It appears my schedule may have opened up a little bit. How can I help you?"

Glad that it had worked, Cyrin gestured for Frel to join him, and actually walk a bit back the way they had come, "Thank you very much, Ambassador. You see, I'm working on a little side project. For the crew. I was hoping to get your input as the Ferengi Alliance is known far and wide to have the very best entertainment in the galaxy!" He wondered if there was some Rule of Acquisition about sucking up. Probably!

"That is very kind of you to say Lieutenant, but the 59th rule of Acquisition states, 'Free advice is seldom cheap'. Why don't you tell me about your little project, and I will decide what it would cost."

Somehow, Cyrin was sure he didn't like the sound of costs, but...he did want the man's opinions on all of this. When they reached the large doors to one of the holodecks, here he paused. "Computer, run program Xanth-201-WIP." As the systems got to work constructing the simulation within Cyrin turned to the other and said, "It's a really big program, might take a moment. A hyper-realistic simulation of a famous Earth-city called Marseilles. I'm trying to narrow down what to focus on, refine things into an entertainment program for the crew - a place to relax and unwind, or take a date, that sort of thing. The problem is with almost the whole city rendered in the program I'm not sure what to focus on."

oO This is going to be easy Latinum. Oo I would be more than happy to help you out young man. It seems there will be a lot to do, and I am willing to put in the hours, and I do mean hours, of work if you are."

"Hours?" As the holodeck doors opened with their deep vibration, bright light poured from the simulation within. Cyrin scratched the back of his neck, more uncertain about the project than he was about money. He might not even be thinking about Frel handing him a bill somewhere down the line. "Well...if you're happy to help, and if you're not busy now, should we go take a tour and see if we can come up with a few ideas?"

Frels eyes grew almost as big as his lobes when he saw the sheer size of the program. "Oh my boy, it is a good thing you asked me when you did. This is going to take some work. Good thing I happened to be prepared." She then pulls out a PADD and hands it to Cyrin. "So you can take notes. Let's take that tour." He says as he turns on his heels and head onto the holodeck.

"Well..." The counselor had come up with doing something recreational, as much as Cyrin wanted to work and maybe try hard a bit too much. "Alright, sir," he took the PADD and followed the Ferengi in to a simulated world.

=Some time later=

The holodeck doors opened and out walked Frel with a slightly bedraggled Lieutenant. "As I said, once we reprogram that whole courtyard, which I am happy to do, and then all those minor tweaks, this will be the best program out there." He then produced a Ferengi contract device.

"I just need your thumbprint here, and I'll get started. No need to read it, it's a standard contract."

The young man's mind spun as he stepped out; his hair was disheveled from running his hands through it repeatedly in some vain effort to try to keep up. Cyrin had been a bit cautious - they were warned about Ferengi after all - but that training had been years ago, the program had so much of his attention, and Frel certainly knew how to talk circles around him. By the time the Trill looked down at the control with slightly-dazed eyes he had a slightly paranoid sensation.

"Uh..." Cyrin rubbed at his eyes with one fist and tried to yawn and talk at the same time. "I like the courtyard ideas, but I'm still not convinced about what to do with the old harbour." He blinked and peered at the contract without really seeing it.

Frel sighed. "I'm telling you. You want to make this fun for everyone, right? Then you need a boardwalk of Dabo tables." Seeing the look in Cyrin's eyes. "Look, it doesn't have to ALL be Dabo tables. You could throw in other games. I hear there are some almost interesting Hu-Man games as well. The Denobulans have that one game. And the Klingons have..." Remembering the details of Klingon stakes. "Maybe we should leave that one out. Not sure the safety protocols would do able to be disengaged."

A bit smile crosses his face as he pushed the contract a little closer. "I'm telling you, with my ideas, and your excellent visionary foresight, there is nothing that could go wrong."

"Well..." Cyrin glanced down at the contract again as it was pushed into his attention, once again didn't appear to read it, and then pressed a thumb against the scanner. "I really appreciate your help, Ambassador Frel," he said as he handed the device back to the Ferengi. "The crew is going to be so happy about this. But agreed, let's leave Klingon games to some other program." He could picture it now, the crew bleeding all over Marseilles, exactly not what he hoped to accomplish.

Frel took the contract with a large greedy grin on his face. "My boy, when I am finished here, I promise you will have the best program out there. I look forward to working with you. However, I must go and see to another thing. In the meantime, you can go ahead and do that initial transfer into my account, and I will get started on it as soon as I can."

"Right." Cyrin nodded, and lifted a hand in a wave of farewell. "And thanks." Finally, some progress! As he turned to leave a tired thought wiggled its way up to the surface. Transfer? Accounts? He turned back, about to call out, to get some clarification on a point a sinking sensation in his stomach told him he definitely needed to pay better attention to, but by then the Ferengi was out of sight himself. "Oh no..."