Taking stock.

[ferengineer]

[Nog's on the mirror with a few sheets of paper and his crayon, writing something down.]

So, with a group this size sooner or later we're going to start needing keeping an inventory of what we have on hand. Food, weapons, ammunition, medical supplies and who has what, that sort of thing. Strictly speaking it's not exactly necessary at the moment, but otherwise there's no reason not to do it.

[Nog pauses. There's probably going to be at least a couple of objections, and Nog wouldn't blame anybody who had some. There's no reason to trust him or anybody else at the moment.]

This voluntary, by the way. If there's something you don't want me to know you have, I'll respect that. As long as you aren't planning on using it to hurt anyone here.

Comments

[ferengineer]

Honestly, the sanctified food is why I decided to do this now instead of later.

[credit_not_blame]

Yeah, that's a good reason.

Thank you for taking this on, having it all written out is a good idea.

[Thanking and acknowledging people: the grease that makes the wheels turn smoothly!]

[ferengineer]

Don't worry about it. I used to do this kind of thing in my uncle's bar all the time.

It's also kind of how I got into Starfleet in the first place.

[credit_not_blame]

Hey, it's still work; and if you're doing it then I don't have to try to do it myself. So thanks.

[Stacia grins.]

Ooh, I love hearing about people getting somewhere unexpected using completely regular skills. That a story you want to tell sometime?

[ferengineer]

It's not really that interesting? I had a bit of a reputation on DS9. Petty theft, general lack of discipline. But I asked Captain Sisko, Commander then, for a chance to prove myself in order to get a recommendation to the Academy.

He had me inventory a cargo bay. The whole thing, by myself, no help. Mostly to see if I could handle the workload, but in retrospect it was probably also to make sure I didn't backslide into any old habits.

I did it in five hours and even found some things they missed during the first check. It didn't get me the recommendation by itself, but it did get him to take me seriously.

[credit_not_blame]

[Stacia is an avid listener, even if the story isn't that exciting. It's less about how entertaining the story is and more about getting to know the person telling it.]

Wooft, I'm not sure how big the cargo bay is, but doing it in five hours sounds impressive regardless. Did you take breaks or did you put your head down and do it all at once?

[ferengineer]

The station is a repurposed ore refinery and the previous owners were slave drivers. Literally. They're definitely not small.

And no breaks. I was doing it like my uncle would've expected me to do for him, and the Rules of Acquisition don't really encourage letting your employees take breaks. Especially if they're family.

[credit_not_blame]

Then screw them, I'm glad the station is in better hands now.

[She cocks her head to the side. Discouraging employee breaks seems like bad idea, but she's currently in information-gathering mode, so she keeps her tone light and curious.]

I don't think I've heard of the Rules of Acquisition. What are those about?

[ferengineer]

They're Ferengi business advice, philosophy, and a little bit of religion all rolled into one.

[Quark certainly quoted them enough for it to qualify as the latter.]

I think the most relevant one here would be Rule 111. "Treat people in your debt like family… exploit them."

[credit_not_blame]

[Yeah, that sounds...concerning. Stacia hides her immediate reaction with a chuckle, because this seems like an awkward subject to discuss on the magic mirrors.]

That sounds like a fun rule to tell humans about. In my experience, they-slash-we prefer to use words other than "exploitation" to describe their actions.

[ferengineer]

Why do you think I left and joined a society that doesn't use money?

[It's not really awkward for Nog. Though he had recognized its problems, this was the society he'd grown up in.]

Not all of it is like that. Some of it is genuinely good advice, especially if you take a somewhat more loose interpretation of acquisition than it meant, like I do.

[credit_not_blame]

[Stacia laughs again, but this time it's a relief rather than a cover-up.]

Fair enough! And yeah, I'm generally for looser interpretations of rules myself. Make people put a little thought into things instead of having everything dictated to them.