Biographical Data: Civilian Psychological Profile:
Report of Starfleet Doctor Julian Bashir, M.D.:
Quark, one of the most influential of modern Ferengi thanks to his location
at DS9 when the Bajoran wormhole was discovered, owns Quark's Place on
DS9's Promenade but hates being called a "barkeep," preferring
"host" instead as he fancies himself an empathetic dispenser
of advice as well as a goodwill ambassador and legitimate entrepreneur
extrordinaire. He also caters formal affairs for the Starfleet crew
and named a new souffle creation after Kai Winn when the Bajor-Cardassian
peace treaty was signed. In reality he has the reputation of getting
anything for a price - with the help of a network of sources who also
help him keep a hand in most illegal or illicit trade and deals going
on around the station. He has even tried to force sex by contract
from the unwitting Dabo girls who work for him; an employee's error is
made up from garnished pay. When Odo calls him "disgusting,"
he proudly boasts: "Til the day I die!" and says lying is a
gift. But he does sometime show remorse out of guilt for even his
own actions, and relishes the thrill of gambling, even in business; otherwise,
he has said, the trade comes off as simple bartering.
His only sibling is younger brother Rom, whom he often teased and tortured
as "lobeless": Quark even stole Rom's naming day presents from
Keldar, replacing the gifts resold at a profit with old vegetables.
His father bought him his first copy of the Rules of Acquisition, but
it was his mother who helped him learn them - a repeated pattern whose
truth he ignored until much later in life, feeling his father had been
hounded by his mother's rebellious independence. In 2351, upon celebrating
his Age of Ascension rites, he left home as soon as possible despite his
father's advice to stay close; doing so 10 years ahead of Rom, he missed
out on Keldar's ongoing business failures prior to his death.
In his 20s, Quark apprenticed with a District Sub-Nagus until he slept
with the boss's sister and lost his fast-track standing. He later
served on a Ferengi freighter for eight years, where he learned some engineering
and transporter skills while serving as its cook. By the 2360s he was
running a black market from then-Terok Nor for the occupied Bajorans and
illegally sold food to them at cost, while earning his exclusive casino
franchise by catering to Gul Dukat and the occupying Cardassians with
freebies. One Cardassian contact in particular was Glinn Boheeka.
By this time Rom and his young son Nog had moved to the station, and Quark
has fondly recalled reading the tyke basic Ferengi stories Amid the shambles
of Cardassian withdrawal from newly renamed DS9 in 2369, his plans to
leave were changed when Starfleet commander Sisko threatened to jail his
nephew Nog for a petty theft if he left - along with enticements such
as free rent, power and maintenance. It was a fateful change, leading
to contacts with Grand Nagus Zek and the Dominion. He even served
a week as the Nagus and faced death threats when Zek faked his demise
to trick his unfaithful son.
The next year, after having led a trade mission to contact the Karemma
of the Dominion, he became the first Ferengi to meet a Jem'Hadar and Vorta
of the Dominion when captured with Sisko on their Gamma Quadrant vacation
eight months later. That led to Zek's request in 2371 that be aboard
the Defiant's first Dominion contact mission. Married temporarily
to Klingon matriarch Grilka, he faces down her rival D'Ghor before the
Klingon High Council on Qo'noS to save her house after murdering her husband
Kozak in self-defense in the bar. Quark knows at least the worst of human
history, and while he speaks out against superior Terran attitudes he
can be as racist as anyone. Quark saved his much-cherished Ferengi
culture from the Bajoran Prophets idealism later that year when he became
only the third known non-Bajoran, after Sisko and Zek, to experience an
orb vision and single-handedly restored the Nagus to his previous state.
Future cultural decisions were not so clear-cut, though: he was secretly
forced to allow his employees to unionize in 2372 despite Ferengi Commerce
Authority intervention. He finally made up with his mother the year
after revisiting the homeworld for the first time in 20 years when Ishka
refused to renounce her feminist ways, endangering Quark's livelihood
of fines and support. Even Rom finally began to find some backbone as
the 2370s dawned, standing up to Quark regarding their mother, his biased
view of their parents, and finally Nog's application to Starfleet Academy
- the latter a move Quark actually tried to sabotage. The next year,
he nearly stranded all three in 1947 Earth as lab specimens. Aside from
his crushes on Dax and Kira, Quark had a surprising one-month fling in
2363 with Cardassian journalist Natima Lang, the love of his life.
She didn't turn him in for aiding Bajorans, but felt betrayed and broke
off the affair when he used her secret access codes to be paid for bogus
goods - a much-regretted act seven years later, when she turns up as a
Cardassian dissident.
Of odder course was his falling for Pel, a feminist like his mother
whom he could not commit to after her revelation as a female cost Quark
a cut of all the Grand Nagus' future Gamma Quadrant profits. Despite
his tough stance, though, he has always been a sucker for a pretty face
of any species. When ho once chided O'Brien over his marriage troubles
for not following the submissive-female way of the Ferengis, he was evasive
when asked why he's still single. He engages Odo in a running battle of
wits, but while it gets vicious at times there is mutual respect and even
affection present. Despite his pride at escaping detection, he has
been caught red-handed in crime more than once but served only petty penalties.
He still retains old Cardassian security clearances through Level 7 -
one higher than Odo - and knows enough about engineering to install a
small cloaking device in ships not normally made for them. Lock-picking
of all kinds is another skill. In a battle of wits, a rival casino opened
by Martus Mazur across the Promenade almost sunk his bar in 2370 until
Quark planned a Bashir-O'Brien racquetball rematch to get his customers
back. If he didn't know the sport by then, he learned it quickly
enough to call the remote play-by-play. He also enjoys the Ferengi
game of Tongo, of course; Dax says he scratches his left ear just before
Acquiring, a dead giveaway.
Security File:
Report of Odo, Security Chief - Stardate 49000
Quark, the Ferengi barkeeper, is a self-important con artist who's nowhere
near as clever as he thinks he is. His bar is a center for scams
and illegal dealings. Quark was a co-indicted in 2362 by the Romulans
as the middleman with alien thief Fallit Kot for hijacking a Romulan ale
shipment, but testified against Kot and got off - barely escaping with
his life eight years later here at DS9 when Kot was released. He allowed
thieves of the Dax symbiont aboard DS9 and became an inadvertent supplier
of arms to the Maquis' first attack. Even my first encounter with
Quark, in 2365 on then-Terok Nor, saw him backing up Kira's alibi in the
Vaatrik murder for a price. That is all.
Civilian Commendation by Captain Benjamin Sisko, CO DS9
Stardate 50100
I have to hand it to Quark.The Federation's thanks go out to him once
again for acting as a trade rep to the Dominion-fringe Karemma, and even
more so -- if I am to believe these reports -- for keeping my ship intact
when he single-handedly diffused an unexploded Jem'Hadar torpedo. I just
wish he would cut out that stunt with the station-wide advertisements
in the comm systems and replicators.
Security File: Report of Odo, Security Chief - Stardate 50080
This is to note the recent cooperation of the Ferengi barkeeper in a
successful sting operation against the Markalian smuggling ring.
That is all.
Security File: Personal Note: SD ---
Never again will I take someone into custody without announced charges.
I have done so with Quark, of all people, and it nearly cost he and I
both our lives. At least I have learned Quark is not well-connected
and wealthy enough to join the Orion Syndicate.
Psycho-Medical File, Dr. Julian Bashir
Stardate 50500 Update
Quark has seen the true heights and depths of life in the past few months.
He has stared down the cherished precepts of his culture and come away
less conservative after choosing between life and breaking a Ferengi contract
with none other than his old adversary, FCA Liquidator Brunt. An
overpaid Ferengi doctor's misdiagnosis of fatal Dorek syndrome was bad
enough, but to have Brunt demand that Quark follow through on their signed
contract to sell his own desiccated remains, per Ferengi custom, was even
worse. Despite his onetime decision to hire Garak to kill him --
a fact I have received through confidential source -- and the subsequent
loss of his Ferengi business license, Quark has survived -- a bit stunned
at the support the station has given him in spite of the many stunts he's
pulled. We must face it: Quark provides a valuable service and resource
on the station -- even if he still takes 30% of his workers' tips and
manages their vacation fund himself. One the other hand, it's a good thing
our resident Ferengi barkeep is a tough little guy as well. Along
with his varied injuries and near-fatal mishaps in just the past four
years -- including, I suspect, his actions which saved he and Odo on a
Class-L ice planet -- are the bruises he picked up upon Grilka's return
to DS9 this year. Actually she came back looking for some romance,
and I still can't believe Worf tutored him to do it and survive, especially
with some virtual reality combat device. I also can't believe his
first trip to Risa came with our group earlier this year -- though I can
believe he owns a first-edition copy of Vulcan Love Slave.
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