Bunnicorn’s Foot, Vault

“Take them!” shouted Klunt.

“Daimon…”

Lori started to protest, but Roger grabbed her arm and pulled her behind him.

Though armed, the two Ferengi guards hesitated.  Looking to the Romulan, they let him move first.

The Romulan handed his weapon to one of the others and smiling, he advanced on Roger.

While the men were busy, Lori pressed the setting on her ring, activating a subspace tracker.  As seconds passed like minutes and Roger and the Romulan began to fight, the two Ferengi were making a bet on who would win.

“Fools!” yelled Klunt.

There was a vibration that was almost a sound and the lights went out.  An emergency light in the corner of the ceiling was the only illumination.  The Romulan paused in surprise, which allowed Roger time to launch a combination of punches that sent him reeling.

“Shoot him!” demanded Klunt.

There was the sound of a transporter, leaving Roger and Lori the only ones in the room.

“So far, so good,” said Lori.

Roger grunted in agreement.

“Are you okay?  You have a large bruise on your face,” said Lori.

“I’m fine.”  Roger didn’t want to talk about it.

Lori shrugged.  “Okay.”  She sat on the edge of the table and silently waited.

Later…

Hearing the transporter again, Lori got up.  Three people and a stack of latinum appeared.  “Bral?”

“Hello, Kavi.”

“So you’re the one behind this?  I was going…”

Hok interrupted Lori.  “We’ll talk later.”  He nodded towards Iziraa, who pushed Klunt to the vault.  “If I even smell the tiniest inkling of a trick, I’ll let my Andorian friend bloody more than your finger.”

“The power is out,” said Klunt.

“You’re resourceful.  Use the manual override,” said Hok.

Klunt looked at each of them.  Roger could see he was trying to find a way out of this.

“Klunt, just give us the charts and we’re gone,” said Hok.  “Your cooperation won’t be forgotten.”

“Fine,” said Klunt, his shoulders slumped in defeat.

USS Eagle, Ready Room

“Haia and Nick are analyzing the charts now and there’s every indication they’re real,” said Iziraa.

“That’s good news,” said Matt.  “We did what we came here to do.”

“Yes, sir,” said Iziraa.

“How did you like being the villain?” said Matt.

Iziraa smiled, her antennae bobbing.  “Any time you need an enforcer, I’m your girl.”

Matt nodded.  “How were Commander Allen and Doctor Weaver?”

“The commander was roughed up a bit, but they’re both fine, as far as I could tell.”

“Good.  You can change back into your duty uniform, but don’t head back to the bridge yet.  Dismissed.”

When Matt was alone, he felt relieved that they got the deployment charts, and he was certainly happy his people were safe, but he wasn’t looking forward to explaining what they had done to Klunt and his casino, but there was time to worry about that later.  The mission was accomplished, but there was still more to do.

USS Eagle, Bridge

“Daimon Klunt, I’m glad we were able to reach you.  Is there anything we can do to help?” said Matt.

“No, my people can handle it,” said Klunt.

“Are you sure?  I can send an engineering team to help fix your outage.”

“I said we’re fine, Captain.”

“All right, but if you change your mind…”

“I won’t,” said Klunt.

“Very well,” said Matt.  “I know you’re dealing with a situation, but we still need to talk about the charts.  ”I’m…”

“Stop, Captain.  That’s no longer on the table.  I sold them to someone else.”

Matt did his best impression of being shocked.  “Daimon?”

“A better offer came along.  Since there’s no reason for you to be here, you can leave now.  The Bartan is on its way now to make sure you do.  Good-bye, Captain.”

The screen went back to the image of the Lappa moon.

“We did it,” said Hok as he and Iziraa stepped out of the observation lounge.  “Congratualtions, sir, you beat one of the most prominent Ferengi there is.”

“We all did, Hok.  This is a win for everyone.”  Matt took some time to enjoy the moment.  “To make it look good, stay here until the Bartan is getting close, then head for the rendezvous point in Federation space.”

Hopefully, the part they played would help.