About the Author

Keith R.A. DeCandido has been very handsomely paid for his prior forays into the world of Star Trek fiction. Those lucrative publications include novels (Diplomatic Implausibility, Demons of Air and Darkness, The Art of the Impossible, and A Time for War, a Time for Peace), duologies (The Brave and the Bold and the first two I.K.S. Gorkon books, A Good Day to Die and Honor Bound), comic books (the four-issue miniseries Perchance to Dream), eBooks (the S.C.E. novellas Fatal Error, Cold Fusion, Invincible, Here There Be Monsters, War Stories, and Breakdowns), and short fiction (stories in What Lay Beyond, Prophecy and Change, No Limits, and Tales of the Dominion War). Forthcoming work includes a third Gorkon novel entitled Enemy Territory; the stories “loDnI’pu’ vavpu’ je” in Tales from the Captain’s Table and “Letting Go” in Distant Shores, the tenth anniversary Star Trek: Voyager anthology; and Articles of the Federation, a novel about politics in the United Federation of Planets.

Not content to make a profit solely off Star Trek, Keith has also written in the media universes of Gene Roddenberry’s Andromeda, Resident Evil, Farscape, Serenity, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Marvel Comics, Xena, and more. Upon realizing that he retains more rights to original fiction, he also put out the high fantasy police procedural Dragon Precinct in 2004, and edited the acclaimed novelette anthology Imaginings.

Keith lives in New York City with his girlfriend, two adorable cats, and way too much stuff, some of which he was unwise enough to pay retail for. You can read his self-serving propaganda at DeCandido.net, or just e-mail him at keith@decandido.net.

Dedicated with fondness and sorrow to the memory of Cecily “Moogie” Adams, taken from us much too young.

Acknowledgments

Primary thanks must, as always, go to Editor Supreme Marco Palmieri, who keeps coming up with brilliant ideas, keeps pushing his authors to do more than they think they can accomplish, and keeps insisting on taking no credit for it no matter how often we gush about him. I’m especially grateful to him for letting me run with the idea I came up with way back when I was writing Demons of Air and Darkness and flesh it out into the story you’re about to read.

Secondary thanks go to my wonderful agent, Lucienne Diver, about whom there aren’t enough good words to say.

Tertiary thanks go to the wonderful actors who played some of the characters seen in the following pages: the late Cecily Adams, Hamilton Camp, Jeffrey Combs, Michelle Forbes, Henry Gibson, Galyn Gorg, Cirroc Lofton, Andrea Martin, Chase Masterson, Josh Pais, Wallace Shawn, Tiny Ron, Nana Visitor, Lou Wagner, and most of all, the Big Three, the ones who made the Ferengi cool again, Aron Eisenberg, Max Grodenchik, and Armin Shimerman.

Additional thanks to the various reference sources, primary in this case being the invaluable Legends of the Ferengi by Ira Steven Behr and The Ferengi Rules of Acquisition by Behr & Robert Hewitt Wolfe, as well as some of the usual suspects: The Star Trek Encyclopedia and Star Trek Chronology by the tireless Mike & Denise Okuda, and the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion by Terry J. Erdman & Paula M. Block.

More thanks to all of DS9’s fine Ferengi forays over the years, from the first season’s “The Nagus” by David Livingston & Ira Steven Behr to the seventh season’s “The Dogs of War” by Peter Allan Fields, Ronald D. Moore, & Rene Echevarria, and all the ones in between. Special mention also must go to the excellent DS9 novel The 34th Rule by Armin Shimerman & David R. George III, with Eric A. Stillwell, the gold-pressed latinum standard for Ferengi-focused fiction, and to the Ferenginar section of Michael Jan Friedman’s excellent New Worlds, New Civilizations, from which I borrowed liberally. Gratitude also to Tracy L. Hemenover.

The usual thanks to the Malibu Gang, the Forebearance, the Geek Patrol, the folks on the various online bulletin boards, and the readers who’ve sent e-mail over the years—you all keep me going.

Final and most important thanks go to Terri Osborne, whose support has always been of more value than latinum….

Historian’s Note

This story is set in late November, 2376 (Old Calendar), approximately seven weeks after the conclusion of the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine novel Unity.

Satisfaction is not guaranteed.

—RULE OF ACQUISITION #19