Close Encounters of a Ferengi Kind

The queue steadily moved forwards, a small stream of newly graduated Starfleet Ensign heading towards the modified Defiant class vessel waiting to transport the Ensigns to their first postings at the Gamma Quadrant colony Elifia Prime.

And then there was him, Marco, Marco Borealiou; Starfleet Officer, Senior Operations Officer just assigned to the USS Taurus. The last report he'd managed to see said that the ship was heading towards some battle with the Dominion, another Federation colony Mirisam V. Marco was hoping that by the time he reached Elifia Prime they'd be finished and be able to pick him up. If not, he'd see if he couldn't find another vessel to take him to Mirisam V personally. He felt like he was missing out on all the action, letting his mind wander.

*God, I've got to snap out of this.* Thought the Lieutenant, he was still thinking to himself when he heard the voice, it was the voice of a fresh faced Security Cadet in front of him, probably on his training experience posting.

"Sir, may I see some identification, your travel orders and your luggage requisition." The cadet asked.

"Oh, sorry, here they are." Marco replied.

*I really screwed up in front of my cadet didn't I.*

The slightly embarrassed Operations Officer showed his papers (really just a large PADD) and moved forward past the lowered forcefield and through the security gate.

"Sir, I see you're a Lieutenant." Someone said. The voice had come from a security guard that had moved to block his way. "Chief Petty Officer Dawkins here Sir, all passengers below the rank of Lieutenant and Petty Officer may not carry weapons on this ship during transportation; however, all ranks above Lieutenant of Petty Officer are required to collect a hand phaser before boarding the ship."

The guard had spoken in an officious tone and now handed him a weapon, Marco holstered it on his uniform, making him look a little more officious, he then moved through into the ship.

The next couple of hours were uneventful, Marco found his way to his temporary quarters. He was lucky, all the other passengers had to share, as did quite a few of the ship's crew. The ship had been modified to take out most of the weapons systems, replacing them with standard crew quarters, thereby effectively turning the ship into a transport vessel, which was at it's capacity at that moment. The ship's Captain had met him and was almost begging for Marco to have quarters to himself.
The room contained two bunk-beds but Marco was quite comfortable thanks to the fact he had the room to himself. The Ship's CO was a recently promoted Lieutenant, strange to have such a low rank (so to speak) as ship's Captain. But the recent CO had just been transferred and each crew assigned to the vessel (including the Captain) would only be on the ship for one mission before being transferred elsewhere. He secretly wanted all the advice from Lieutenant Borealiou that he could wangle out of him.

About five hours after Marco had boarded, the sound of a male human voice came up on the ship's speakers; it was the CO.

"All hands, this is the ship's commanding officer. We will be departing in approximately ten minutes arriving at the colony in ten hours, prepare for departure and on behalf of the ship's crew and myself, have a good trip."

It was at that time that the quarter's 'doorbell' chimed. It was actually just a device that made a regulation Starfleet chirping noise when activated. Instead of saying "Come in" Marco walked up to the door and pressed the button to open it, that also made a chirping noise. To Marco's interest and immediate wariness; in the door stood a Ferengi wearing extremely lavish and bright clothing.

"Hye, my name is Wog. Are you interested in a Marocian Dung Fly ?"

The last thought Marco had before the Ferengi 'barged in' so to speak was *This is going to be a long seventeen hours.*