The Ferengi vessel Sekel sat out in deep space. It slammed a tractor beam onto a smaller vessel.
Purn: "Heh, heh, heh! Let's steal all thier technology!"
Nex, hits him upside the head: "Of course! I swear, I'm working with fools!"
The vessel is brought into their shuttle bay. Nex and Purn contact their crew in the Shuttle Bay over the comm, but over-hear screams and weapons fire. Whoever was in that vessel is taking over the Shuttle Bay.
The intruder enters the Bridge, holding a smoking pulse rifle. This tall, scary alien stares down upon Nex and Purn. They notice a small cage connected to his belt.
Purn, falls to his knees in fear: "Aahh!! Pl--please don't kill me!"
Matrox: "...Leave."
Pod's and Shuttle's evacuate the Sekel.
The two top Ferengi occupy one pod as it rockets out into space.
Nex, piloting: "That guy was brilliant! You see? He's the type we should be in business with!"
Purn, still shaking in fear: "--I want my moogie."
The Mercedes speeds through space, having been going around contacting various species on their way to Klingon territory.
Raine: "Why did you think those Caldonians would know anything about your disease?"
Sith: "I don't know. It was worth a try to ask them."
The Mercedes runs into a Ferengi pod. They stop and hail each other.
>Nex, holding a vase: "Wouldn't you love this beautiful Napean symbol? They say it increases one's telepathic focus. Four slips of latinum...!"
Sith: "Um. It's okay."
Nex is about to try to sell another item, but stops for a second, pointing at the vines around Sith's skin.
>Nex: "I recognize that."
Sith, glances at his crew: "You have? Where!?"
Nex suddenly conjures up a conniving plan.
>Nex, smiles: "You're curious about it, I assume?"
Sith: "Yes! What is it??"
>Nex: "I don't know anything about it. But I do know someone who does. I can take you to him for a price?"
Two of four Ferengi beam aboard the Mercedes as the pod races along side them through warp.
Aboard, the two Ferengi go over star charts in the Briefing Room, while waiting for the Captain.
Nex: "These Federation morons are so naive! Maybe through them I can find our ship and make business partners with that Hirogen!"
Purn, shrugs: "Wherever the ship is."
Later, the Mercedes and pod drop warp to the last known co-ordinates of the Ferengi's vessel. The screen clicks on to a view of empty space.
Sith: "There's nothing here."
Nex: "Well, err, I may need to rethink the co-ordinates. Excuse me."
He leaves the Bridge.
The crew waits. Nex goes to a back Control Room, rerouting a subspace link to Ferenginar.
>Velk: "Don't bother me about your problems! Another Ferengi vessel has been hijacked by some alien from the Delta Quadrant!"
Nex: "But--"
>Velk: "Those ship's cost a lot of money to build you know!"
The screen clicks out.
The Mercedes and the Ferengi pod visit Dessica II. Sith joins Nex to a filthy Bar in one of its cities. Nex approaches a Yridian merchant.
Nex, waving slips of latinum around: "So, you don't know anything about this alien ship stealer?"
Yranac, drinking at the bar: "No."
Sith takes Nex to the side: "Well?? Does he know anything about this thing or not?"
Nex: "Just a second!"
He goes back over to the bar, helpless.
Yranac, grabs the latinum from the Ferengi: "But! I did notice your ship in a nearby system. I figured it was you, but you're here."
The Mercedes and the Ferengi pod leave. They enter another star system, scanning space.
Three Ferengi vessels, the Levor, Phren, and the Sekel, suddenly drop warp surrounding them. All three lock tractor beams onto the Mercedes.
Ace: "They've got us!"
The Mercedes is still weak from earlier battles.
Sith: "This was a trap!!"
He grabs Nex and throws him into the Captain's chair.
Nex, falls: "No! He's on the Sekel! Believe me!"
Nex, Purn, Raine, and Sith beam onto the Sekel. The air and lights are low to save power. They make their way to the Bridge which they find empty.
Raine, checks the computer: "Nothing. The other two Feregni ship's are abandoned too. It looks like they're being controlled by a command interlink with this ship."
The Captain walks over and shoves Nex.
Sith: "I should've known better than to trust a Ferengi!"
Nex, backs up scared, looking around: "I-- I don't understand. He was here!"
Purn: "Yeah, he almost killed me!"
Raine, tapping at panels: "Captain, there's a Federation defense pod in the shuttle bay."
Matrox stands in the darkness of a doorway, flinging out a Ferengi energy whip which wraps around Sith. Everyone looks over in surprise.
Matrox: "Meh, heh, heh! I was going to beam over to your ship and hunt you down but you came over here yourself!"
He walked over from the shadows, aiming his pulse rifle.
Matrox: "I picked up a few things from my ship before your people salvaged it."
Sith becomes loose as the whip is dropped. He grabs Matrox's pulse rifle when he comes close enough. Sith gets to his feet and they both struggle for the weapon. They slam against a compartment, spilling latinum all over the floor.
Nex, scurrying around: "Hehh! Please! Please consider becoming partners with me and my associate. With your strength and my smarts, we can become very wealthily indeed!"
Sith kneed Matrox in the stomach, but didn't let go of the rifle. Matrox tried head-butting, but Sith leaned back dodging it. As they spun around struggling for the rifle, a strange destructuring of the rifle's molecules occurred around where Sith's hand was.
Matrox immediately let go. Sith saw this as well and dropped the rifle on the floor with the latinum.
Sith, backs away: "Huh...??"
Matrox: "You can't be my prey. You're merged with that... thing!"
Sith: "So you know about this parasite?"
Matrox pulls out a small cage, with a wiggling vine in it: "Know about it? I brought it to this Quadrant when I arrived four months ago!"
He tosses the cage on the floor and then goes over to a console.
Matrox: "You cannot be my prey at all!"
Sith falls to his knees in pain. The latinum around him starts to fluctuate, but then stops when Sith gains control of himself: "Wait!"
Matrox beams out and onto the Phren. It drops its tractor beam and turns around, warping out of there.
Raine disengages the other tractor beams, and then runs over to Sith's aid.
Raine: "Captain! Are you alright?"
Sith: "Yeah... I just don't understand how I did that..."
He looks around at the latinum, and then picks up the pulse rifle.
Nex and Purn watch as Raine and Sith beam out and back onto the Mercedes. Nex hits Purn upside the head.
Nex: "This is all your fault!"
The Levor and the Sekel are left as the Mercedes rotates around and speeds out of there.
