The meeting was set for 9:00pm sharp onboard the USS Apogee, the literal last place anyone would look for an esteemed admiral. As Lazol’s ship established a holding course next to the Monolith class freighter as the DaiMon beamed over to the vessel, and noticed that it was buzzing with a crew giving a halfhearted attempt at ensuring the wheels of the federation stayed greased.

He rapped his blue fingernails on a bulkhead as he waited impatiently. The Ferengi had been working tirelessly on both his acquisition of profit as well as furthering the scientific understanding of the cosmos. He was a money loving schemer to the bone, but he was in possession of a brilliant and curious mind that allowed him to seek alternate paths of profit while burdening him with the questions that led him farther and farther down the rabbit hole.

A man approached him and tapped him lightly on the shoulder. Lazol jumped and said, “Who touches me?” The man, in a worker’s uniform simply walked away, towards a set of quarters that from this angle was particularly sparse. Lazol followed the man into the room as the door shut. The man spoke softly, “Computer enable protocol Jansson Beta 2”. As he finished his words a containment field was energized around the room, cutting off contact, communications, biosign locks, everything. The room no longer existed. Best part? The crew didn’t even have a clue that a rear admiral was on board. Jansson said, “Lets cut to the chase shall we Lazol?”

The Ferengi looked around and tapped at the energized field, it hummed softly in response as he said, “That’s DaiMon Lazol to you. Why the need for secrecy Admiral? Ashamed to be meeting me?”

Jansson Looked at the Ferengi and said, “Unlike your people we cannot just have such discussions in the open, they are frowned upon in a more moralistic society. The Federation does not approve of my methods sometimes and in dealing with individuals such as yourself it’s best not to have any other observers.”

Lazol laughed, “You speak of your ‘morality’ like it is superior. I am doing business as it has been done for millennia. Even your own past is full of such instances but you claim to have moved on, yet you are here talking with me.” Lazol said as he pulled out a Federation issue PADD and thrust it into the chest of the Admiral. “You see Admiral, pursuit of these, as you call them, anomalies has made me a very wealthy man. And the scientific understanding has lead to many, many opportunities for me. I offer you 6 Discovery Class ships that have been customized exactly as you requested. They are black book purchases and the records do not exist. They are purpose built ships designed for containment and research, all other facilities are at a minimum to run a ship and as you can imagine regular Starfleet requirements were ignored in favor of the requests. You will find Admiral, that even one of these ships would give your prized Leviathan a run for their money. Which might I remind you, there has been a lot invested.”

Jansson looked over the PADD and was shocked, the Ferengi actually came through. He was hesitant though, what the man wanted was a tough sell, a real tough sell. After all he was well aware of Rule of Acquisition #200: A Ferengi chooses no side but his own. He looked over the specs again and again as he bit his lip, “It’s a deal, but there’s been a wrinkle.” Jansson said.

Lazol snatched the PADD out of the Admiral’s hand and said, “Choose your next words carefully Admiral, I do not like wrinkles.”

Jansson worked his tongue around his mouth as he suppressed the urge to fire this ‘businessman’ out of an airlock before saying. “You might find DaiMon Lazol that this ‘wrinkle’ will be to your advantage. I cannot give you rank in Starfleet, there would be too many cooks in the broth. Instead I can arrange a ‘cultural exchange’ between the Ferengi Alliance and Starfleet where you would operate with your Ferengi rank but still hold ARU clearance and not be bound by our rules. Do whatever needs to be done to further the understanding of the anomalies. You are the highest ranking person on that ship and are allowed to go above the captain’s head when deemed necessary. You have control over the science division and what is done with the anomalies should be for science first. Your discretion with what happens afterwards is second.” He took a breath and grabbed the PADD next to him with the transfer orders of some none descript officer who would be ‘traded’ for Lazol and said, “Remember Lazol, your position requires payment and further donations to the ARU would go a long way to keep you there. A warning too. Should you make too much trouble, should you go over the Captain one too many times, I will find the closest airlock and this deal never happened, understood?”

Lazol had a wry smile as he reached out to follow an old earth tradition of shaking a partner’s hand, “I understand clearly Admiral, and do remember that I see through those threats of yours. You have a good thing coming with me and with the profits I can make on the Leviathan I see many more donations coming your way. It would be a shame that if something were to happen to me, that perhaps, some information of this meeting be made public?” Lazol said as he patted the PADD with the Admiral’s signature detailing the deal. “I will keep this very safe Admiral, consider it an insurance policy. Now, when do I begin?”

Lazol, CSO