Good or bad idea, Quark?

Posted on Tue Aug 17th, 2021 @ 1:16am by Lieutenant Sarah Wilson & Commander Finchley Kerr & Commander Dean House & Lieutenant Commander Thriss Kla'ren

Mission: Gamma Quadrant
Location: Quark's Bar, DS9
Timeline: Current

The Sunfire's Chief Engineer walked into Quark's wearing his off-duty attire, which consisted of a simple grey jacket, with a black t-shirt and black pants. He was glad to have shore leave after the events the ship and her crew had witnessed during their time in the Gamma Quadrant so far. Besides, he had been very busy for the past few weeks, with repairs and the transwarp research, and thus, he determined that he needed a drink. Or two for that matter.

He hesitated sitting at the bar a little bit for reasons that occurred just before his time on the Liberty. But it had been a few months since then, so decided to take his chances. He quietly took a seat at the end of the bar to wait his turn to order.

Dr Sarah Wilson changed into some casual clothes, a neat pair if pants and a knitted blue jumper, letting her hair down both figurative and physically. She'd heard rumours of an unofficial shindig in Quarks now that they were off duty and looked forward to relaxing with the crew off the ship.

She strolled into Quarks and spied Thriss sitting at the bar waiting to be served and pulled up a chair next to him, waiting patiently for the bar attendant to come over.

" Hey Thriss, how goes the engine room?" She asked casually.

He saw Sarah sit down next to him at the bar. It was nice to see a familiar face amongst the mass amount of people who had filled up Quarks. "Hey doc" he said looking at Sarah. "Engine room is doing well. Repairs are almost done. The ship should be ready for basically anything by the time we depart. That is, if there aren't any mass system errors" He chuckled.

"How is everything in the medbay?" He asked, returning the favor.

" Quiet, now that we're not being shot at, or shaken apart or anything in between" Sarah mused, flicking idly through the drinks catalogue and feeling the urge to try something new.

"What are you having?"

"I have a few ideas, but I'm not quite sure" he replied looking through the list of beverages. "Any suggestions?"

Sarah thumbed through the numerous pages, pausing here and there and attempting to decipher the creatively written description.

"How's about this one... warp core breach... guaranteed to blow your mind" She pointed to the badly illuminated picture.

Thriss chuckled. "While it's a cliché for an engineer, I might actually go for that. I wonder if it will actually blow my mind" he chuckled not knowing how strong the drink was.

Dean had thought against leaving the ship. he could have just stayed at his post or found some other things to do. That wouldn't have really been friendly now would it have. It usually was always Quarks there on DS9. Someone was about to be in there. Not having bothered with changing out of uniform. Stepping inside and giving a look about.

He knew those two, that was for sure. Dean stepped over to them, but not interrupting yet.

Sarah turned, feeling a presence next to her "Hey, the House is in the House" She smiled, offering him a seat next to them.

Thriss nodded to acknowledge Dean's appearance, but not wanting to interrupt the two.

Not the first time he's heard that, and wasn't going to be the last. It didn't bug him, returning the smile. "Thank you," sitting down. "Wasn't quite planning to come on the station. Yall are here though, so that helps."

"And yet here we all are" Sarah quipped, looking at the myriad coloured drink that appeared in something resembling a small fishbowl before her. " We need some downtime away from the ship, it's been a rough few weeks for everyone"

Dean nodded, "I won't argue with that."

Sarah rook an experimental sip of the multicoloured drink from the elaborate straw, the strength of the drink taking her breath away and making her cough. "Holy geez..." She managed.

He just watched a moment. Didn't know for sure what it was, but that had to have been strong. Dean made a bit of a face a moment, unclear if that was a bad or good expression. "Like that, eh?"

The doors to holodeck two on the upper floor of Quarks bar opened and Finchley Kerr stumbled out, drink in hand. Dragging himself towards the stairs he managed, with a little difficulty, to negotiate his way down though much of the drink he had didn't make it in the glass but instead got sloshed hither and thither.

Starring along the bar, he saw who he was looking for and headed towards them. Finally arriving there, he reached over the bar, grabbed the barman by his lapels and howked them forwards.

"QUARK, you flat eared, small lobed, crazy toothed, bug eyed son of an Argalian swamp goose....what the hell do you call that programme!!!" he yelled, gesticulating with the hand he still held the glass in, the last contents of which slued in an arc onto the barroom floor.

"Kerr..." Quark began, trying to release himself from the fierce grip himself and his coat in "what was wrong with it you flat footed, near sighted, ape....it's what you asked for!!!"

Finchley pulled Quark closer to him, almost looking like he wanted to pull the Ferengi over the bar itself.

"I know...I LOVED IT!!!" Finchley replied, pulling Quark's coat down and kissing the now over balanced helpless barman on top of his head "Where did you get it from?"

"A good barman never reveals his sources..." Quark managed to squawk "...especially to a drunken hu-man Starfleet Officer..." he muttered.

Finchley let go of Quarks coat, allowing the Ferengi to step back, adjust his clothing back into place and stare wildly at the Commander.

"People said you're good at what you do...not as good as your cousin, but good....damn were they right!" Finchley nearly shouted.

"High praise indeed" Quark replied, almost sounding bored "Now, are you going to order another drink..and keep it in your glass this time...or not?"

"HELL YES!" Finchley said, and looked at the bar for some kind of inspiration. Spotting the drink Sarah had, he said "No idea what that is, but it's sure as hell colourful, I'll have a 'large' one of those!"

Quark closed his eyes, this probably wasn't a good idea, Kerr was drunk enough, but, a customer was a customer, and as long as they kept paying for their drinks, he'd keep pouring.

"A 'large' one of those coming up" he said to Finchley.

"Hey.." Dean gave a motion to Finchley a moment. About to interject but stopped once things calmed and it wasn't an actual confrontation. "He usually get that way?" looking to Sarah and Kla'ren.

" Never seen him before - do you know him?" She asked as Finchley approached them.

There was a shake to his head, "I can't say I actually have."

"Neither have I" Thriss said taking a sip of the core breach he had just received a few moments prior, and nearly spat it out, because it was a rather strong drink.

Finchley approached the three of them, and pointing at Sarah's drink asked "Sorry to interrupt you all, but I have to ask, what is that you're drinking 'cause I think it looks great and I just ordered one?"

Realising he'd forgotten his manners, he bowed slightly, placed his palm on his chest and said "Apologies...Finchley Kerr, latterly of the USS Patterson, just back from a four month recky tour, needed a blow out to clear my head and Quark certainly provided it!"

"Apparently it's a warp core breach" Sarah replied as she took another sip, it went down a little easier this time. "Sarah Wilson, we're from the Sunfire." She smiled and extended her hand.

Taking Sarah's hand and shaking it Finchley replied "Pleased to meet you Sarah Wilson. You're from the Sunfire you say, that's my next posting, I just got the message two days ago I'm being transferred there."

" Oh cool - she's a good ship, although we only transferred over from the Liberty a few weeks ago ourselves. Talk about a steep learning curve." Sarah shook Finchley's hand and took another sip of her drink, settling back into her chair and getting comfortable. "What position are you in for?"

"I'm the new Strategic Operations Officer" Finchley replied, "What about yourselves if you don't mind me asking?" he asked, looking round the group.

Dean hadn't decided what he wanted yet, but he did want both something to drink and eat. Listening to Finchley and an opening. Offering his hand as well, "Nice to meet you, Finchley. Dean House, I'm our Chief Tactical Officer."

Taking Dean's hand, Finchley shook it warmly and replied "I'm pleased to meet you Dean, I look forward to working along side you on the bridge."

"So do I," Dean gave a nod. Reaching to see what was on the menu that wasn't replicated.

" ACMO" Sarah added as she reached over to steal the menu from Dean, "please tell me there's something worth while to eat, I'm gonna start bouncing off the walls after that drink"

"Well I don't know, I didn't get a chance to finish looking at it, "Sarah." Dean glanced.

Kla'ren looked at Finchley. "Lieutenant Thriss Kla'ren. I'm the Sunfire's Chief Engineer" he said drinking his core breach, which was already half-empty.

Finchley looked back at the Andorian and replied "Commander Finchley Kerr, as I just said Chief Strategic Operations Officer."

" Hows the core breach there Chief?" Sarah smiled at the Sunfire's chief engineer as she took in the level of his glass.
"Mind blown yet? I think mine's on the way. Hey did we end up ordering food?" Her mind began switching tracks as the alcohol worked its way into her system giving everything a pleasant fuzziness.

"Not quite yet. But my tolerance is also a little bit higher. I don't think-" the Andorian was interrupted by swift headache that ended seconds later. "I think I spoke too soon" he groaned.

Now that food had been mentioned, Finchley found that he himself was a little hungry.

Turning back to Quark he said "Quark, what rancid, foul smelling animal offal are you serving today?"

Quark just looked at Finchley and sighed, replying "Whatever you order from the replicator."

Finchley laughed, winked, clicked his fingers and pointed at Quark saying "Good choice, best to not poison your customers."

Turning back to the group he said "I don't know about anyone else, but replicated veal cutlet and assorted vegetables is what I'm having."

"Hrmmmm... replicated vs freshly cooked. Past experience never go for anything that ends in 'surprise' or 'special' its leftovers and you generally end up in sickbay" Sarah quipped as she considered the options. "Vegetarian nachos... shouldn't be too dodgy"

Dean made a bit of a face, "Vegetarian nachos? Where's fun or taste in that?"

"I've not checked in onboard yet" Finchley said looking around the group "how long are we on R & R for so I can plan what I need to do here on the station?"

"Less to badly cook and poison you with. Trust me...I'm your doctor" Sarah smirked as she placed her order before turning her attention back to Finchley. " I think the Captain said 3 says, until the repairs are finished at least. We took a beating in the gamma Quadrant"


"Sorry to hear that, though I know the feeling" Finchley replied, "The Patterson dis as well, though it was more of a heavy skirmish than an actual full on fight. May I ask what happened?"

Sarah's smile turned slightly downward as she remembered the past few weeks. "It started with a trip through the wormhole -however something wasn't quite right with the engines and it turned into a shakem'bakem' kind of a ride. Thriss could explain more about that" The Doctor started.

The Andorian took a large sip of his core breach, finishing it off. "It was near explosive. To put it simply, our engineering computer core was months out of date. I am still not sure if that was the problem or something else. We managed to negatively polarize our secondary hull, but it was a close one..." Thriss said beginning to slur his words a little bit.

"Something along those lines, pretty much. Few things that went kind of off apparently, but it worked out and we're not dead." Dean finally chose a pasta dish and some garlic texas toast. Some straight up whiskey for a drink.

" You forgot the altercation with the Jem Hadar... and the rescue of the Bajoran freighter...and the command recertifications shortly after that" Sarah quipped, finishing off her drink and feeling rather unsteady.

"Damn recerts can bite my-" Thriss caught himself as he was getting more tipsy by the moment. "Erm, I mean they went alright" he corrected himself.

Dean held his hand up when Quark came over to pour the drink, "You can leave the bottle." Looking back to the two of them. "I don't believe anyone's tests went that well." Wasn't of course going to betray trust of what he'd been told.

"Depends who you talk to regarding the tests. I heard the Captain had to watch everyone die and then blow the ship up. Damned near destroyed her. Damned Command, you can stick that where the sun don't shine" Sarah spat as she poured herself a glass of whatever bottle Quark had left behind.

Quark had left the bottle of Whiskey that Dean had said to. 80 proof. That was one of the things that Dean wasn't going to mention, even though Rhenora hadn't sworn him to not say anything. "I can imagine that being terrible. I lost the ship also. It wasn't fast either." Reaching to take three full tumbler size drinks of the Whiskey.

"Go easy on that stuff, I don't want to have to explain treating you for alcohol poisoning" Sarah cautioned, eyeing off the glasses.

"It's not going to bug me that much unless I consume like 3 bottles in 3 minutes, but I do appreciate the concern." Dean smiled lightly.

Quark returned to the group and placed Finchley's drink on the bar "Kerr, the 'large one of those' you ordered..."

"Great!!" Finchley shouted, picked up the fish bowl size glass and proceeded to down it on one. Throwing the empty glass over his left shoulder he called out "Mazel Tov!"

Slapping his hand down on the bar he shouted "QUARK...get another me!"

Quark looked at Finchley, and totally stumped asked "What???"

"I meant another get me..." Finchley said.

"I think it's night night time for you Kerr" Quark replied.

"Damn yer eyes, damn yer britches, damn yer..yer...yer...whatever, just get another of those fish bowl sized drinks!"

Quarks hed drooped for a moment, considering whether or not it was worth the hassle to get a drunk Kerr another drink, then he thought about the profit in keeping him drunk...and cheered up "One 'fish bowl' coming right up!"

Finchley could feel the change coming in him from being drunk to being steamin', and it felt great. Once again he looked at his new crew mates and said "Soundz like you's wen through th' wringer."

A roving security detail approached Quarks, hearing the increased noise and checking if everything was in order.

Dean noticed security out of the corner of his eye, taking another drink tossed back. Setting the glass down, and it as well as the bottle out of the way, just in case. Turning to Finchley, "Okay..I think that might be a little bit enough for now. Why don't you get some water, and see if Quark will send you home with more of that you can finish off later."

"Fuck off, I've not done anything wrong" Finchley replied "I've not upset anyone, not caused any trouble or a scene, I'll drink till I'm finished. If you want to scurry along, you carry on, me, I'll go when I'm good and ready."

"I don't think that's particularly a good way to keep the townie sheriffs from leaving." Dean tilted his head a little bit to the side, "You did throw a glass and are getting particularly loud as well." Unsure if Finchley was telling him to fuck off, or security.

"Oooooooohhhhhh, I broke a glass" Finchley echoed. Looking at Quark he said "Hey Quark, I broke one of your fish bowls, stick it on my tab."

"You got it Kerr, at least your honest which is more than I can say for a lot of the customers in here tonight!"

Finchley looked back round at Dean, saying "Satisfied now?"

"I'm not entirely sure, I'm the ones you have to convince."

Finchley felt the presence of a Station Security guard and turned around to face them, saying "Can I help you?"

"We're doing our rounds and wanted to make sure everything's ok here in Quarks" the Bajoran Security guard answered.

"Apart from me celebrating my long put off Bar Mitzvah and doing the traditional breaking of the glass...well, almost traditional, normally it'd be broken under foot under a handkerchief but I didn't have one so broke it against the wall there" he said pointing "nothing doing, just having a few drinks and a bite to eat."

The Bajoran Station Security guard stepped right up and was almost nose to nose with Finchley. With a stony stare he said "Make sure it stays that way...Sir!"

Finchley didn't budge, he didn't react, he simply stood where he was, arms by his side, breathing regularly. It was at that point that the Station Security guard's face broke into a broad grin and he laughed "Damn you Finch, how do you manage to keep a straight face all the time!!!"

Finchley finally let himself go and began hooting in laughter "Beats...me!" he gasped, slapping his thigh. The two men embraced and Finchley said "It's good to see you again Darmer, it's been to long."

The Bajoran Security guard replied "And you my friend, how long was it this time?"

"Four months, the Patterson" Finchley replied "we took a bit of a pasting, but hey, I can catch you up later."

Turning to the others he said "Please let me introduce you to one of the finest Bajorans I've ever had the good fortune to get to know and work alongside...Darmer Hed'nan. Darmer and I did some...damage control...for want of a better phrase, during the Dominion War. Darmer, these are my new crewmates, this is Sarah, Dean and Lieutenant Kla'ren."

" Pleased to meet you" Sarah raised her glass, keeping half an eye on Finchley and half an eye on Dean - what was it with them and their drinks?

"And all of you" Darmer replied. Turning to Finchley he said "My duty finishes very soon, I could meet you here shortly for that catch up if you want?"

Finchley was delighted with this and said "Sure thing, that would be great, do you want me to get us a table and drinks?"

"Absolutely, I'll just finish my rounds and I'll be back before you can say antidisestablishmentarianism" Darmer laughed.

"Hey, get your own jokes, that's one I use you rogue!" Finchley laughed, softly toy punching his friend on the arm.

"I know, but I don't get to use it often, so that was appropriate" Darmer grinned. Nodding his head towards Finchley, then turning to everyone else he said "Nice to meet you all, take care of this guy, the Prophets know, he can't!"

Laughing he turned and left.

"Well folks, looks like I need to find us a table" Finchley said "lovely to meet you, I'll see you all back on the Sunfire if not before, have a lovely night."

Sauntering off, Finchley spotted a free table and made his way towards it.

Dean opened his mouth holding up a finger, then closed it a moment. "Did he just...use my word? Which I know how to spell and actually know what it means?"

" Your word?" Sarah laughed as Finchley went to find a table for his friends " I do believe it is common vernacular, although most people don't know how to say it, let alone what it means and how to spell it" The rest of the evening was spent in pleasant company and pleasant surroundings. The food was acceptable, the liquor even more so - despite the watering down attempts. A good evening was had by all.
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