Lee Carter beamed over to DS9 as soon as her duty shift was up. She headed straight for that place that most visitors to the station head for -- the promenade and Quark's Bar. The place was busy as usual. People were talking and drinking, the legendary Morn was sitting on his equally legendary stool animatedly relating his adventures with the Orion Syndicate to an admiring dabo girl, and a colorfully-clad Ferengi scurried back and forth behind the bar trying to fill his customers' orders as fast as they came in. A few other Knight crew members were already here, and they waved when they saw her enter.
Lee waved back, but didn't join them. There was only one thing on her mind. As she passed Morn, she noticed something new about him. She said, "Hey Morn! Nice hair!"
Morn turned to see who had shot him the compliment, and when he saw Lee, he gave her a "thumbs up" sign, then turned back to the dabo girl and resumes his tale.
Lee sat on a stool at the bar that another customer had just vacated. The Ferengi hadn't noticed his new customer yet. He must be slipping, thought Lee, but she said, loud enough to be heard above the general hubbub, "Hello Quark."
The Ferengi stopped in his tracks at the sound of his name and turned to see its source. When he laid eyes on Carter, he broke into a big grin and came over. "Well, well," he said. "If it isn't Lee Carter! And looking as lovely as ever. How long's it been, Lieutenant?"
"Almost ten years, Quark," answered Lee, returning his smile. "Since the end of the War."
"Long time," said Quark almost wistfully as he absently scratched his lobe. "So... What'll it be?"
"The usual," said Lee.
"I'm afraid I can't help you there," apologized Quark with a gleam in his eye. "All the Holosuites are in use."
Lee saw the gleam and she knew Quark. She decided to raise the stakes of the game. She leaned seductively on the counter and put on her best "pouty" face. Then she reached over and rubbed Quark's other lobe as she said, "Oh, come on Quark. For old time's sake? For me?" She fluttered her eyelashes at him. Quark was so easy if you knew his weaknesses.
Quark's eyes rolled back in their sockets, and his resolve faltered in the face of Lee's unfair tactics. Finally, he stepped out of her reach and said, "You always knew how to ask nice." He withdrew an isolinear rod from beneath the counter and handed it to Lee. "I kept it all these years. Always figured you'd walk through those doors again some day."
Lee accepted the rod and gave Quark a genuinely friendly smile. "Thanks Quark." She had few friends left from the days of the War; the War had been costly; but Quark was one of them. "You're one in a million!" she said as she left her stool and headed for the spiral stair that led to the upper deck holosuites.
"So are you," chuckled Quark at her retreating back. His thoughts were interrupted and he was recalled to the business at hand by Morn, who had started banging his glass on the countertop for a refill. "I'm coming, I'm coming!" yelled Quark.
Lee entered the holosuite and locked the door behind her. The room was actually quite small. She was always amazed at how it could generate such a convincing illusion of size when it was in operation.
She slipped the isolinear rod into the slot on the control console and said, "Computer, run program."
Immediately, the holosuite vanished and the familiar surroundings of her favorite holosuite program took its place. Lee looked around a bit to refamiliarize herself with an environment she hadn't seen in almost ten years, then smiled and said, "Perfect."
She slipped a second iso rod out of her pocket and dropped it into a slot beside the first. "Computer. Copy program onto new memory rod."
<Accomplished.>
"End program."
Lee's program dissolved, leaving only the bare holosuite room again. She took the two rods from their slots and stuck the copy back in her pocket.
I'm sure Quark won't mind me making a copy of this program, thought Lee to herself. Who knows? If my plans work out, I might even send him a few bricks of latinum to compensate him. After all, business is business!