208th Rule of Acquisition - Love on the Rocks Part 10

Posted on Sat Sep 5, 2020 @ 7:36pm by Civilian 'Arrival' Geral Lasuma & Captain Maritza Soran

1,608 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Et In Arcadia Ego
Location: Various
Timeline: MD 04 to 07

[ON]

After getting off duty Neraas walked the promenade stopping by Lasuma's for some tube grubs. He had quickly began to frequent the café and had come to admire the Bajoran. Whether he was familiar with the rules of acquisition or not his success was clear.

After finishing he paid his tab and took his snail juice with him for the rest of his stroll. Walking the lower level of the promenade he came to an area being remodeled and he stopped one of the techs. "What's going up here?"

"Lasuma is expanding and opening a new shop. Another two levels for all the new trinkets from...who knows where. There's even going to be a old school cigar shop."

"Cigars? huh...didn't think people even used those anymore."

The tech returned to his work and Nerass watched for a few moments. Yes. Lasuma knew his rules, number 45 - Expand or Die. Finishing his snail juice he tossed the cup in the construction dumpster and headed home for the night.

Once in his quarter he pulled off his uniform jacket and sat at his desk. "Personal Log: Ensign Neraas. Before going off duty Lieutenant Cross handed me an assignment, an 'off the books' assignment. Seems someone on the station wants an investigation into Geral Lasuma's past.

"You would think they would have waited a little longer since the epic blow up on the promenade between the Captain and her...well whatever Lasuma was to her at the time. I mean it's pretty obvious this came from her. If this is some sort of personal vendetta not only is it an abuse of power but waste of resources and could also be considered conduct unbe...unless they think he was trying to use the Captain for personal gain. However, if that were so, why keep it 'off the books'.

"Pause."

Leaning back he brushed his head as the wheels in his Ferengi mind began turning.

"Resume. Far be it from me to accuse a superior officer of abusing their position. I will keep my suspicions to myself for now and only act if the information is used...unethically.

"End personal log."

He began to grin a toothy grin as a scheme began to form, everything would depend on what he found. People had been known to pay great prices to keep information quiet, or to keep their actions 'off the books'. For now he would complete his assignment and see what developed.

He got up and went to change before heading out to the Box. Tonight was tongo night after all and he was feeling lucky.

--------------------

Over the next several days Nerass had canvassed the station, speaking with various freighter crews that had been unemployed by Lasuma when he moved in and took over the shipping in the area. He had expected animosity but all he found were happy crews. Not only had Lasuma hired them but they were making more than they had been before his arrival.

His next contacts had been with the 3 merchants that had been bought out by Lasuma's previous and current expansions. That to turned out to be another dead end. There had been no strong arm tactics or coercion. Not only had he bought them out but set them up with new opportunities running businesses for him. Other than that his inquiries had found that he had provided various deals to many of the DS5 merchants or favors for several Starship Captains, their family members or members of their crews.

While it seemed he had kept things clean during his time on the station, other than a few sightings of him with Gevran, a known underworld figure on the station, he had uncovered nothing substantial. What he did find was plenty of rumor so he began digging into Lasuma's activities before he arrived on DS5. Nerass' first stop was with the Federation trade commission.

During his discussions with the Federation rep there was only three things of note. First, that Lasuma Enterprises had right of passage throughout the Federation, nothing surprising there. Second, there had been several investigations on suspicions of smuggling but there had either been no evidence or cases were dropped in return for his assistance during the Dominion War. Finally, and of particular interest was a case 7 years ago in which he was suspect in the disappearance of a merchant from Lya IV after having 'acquired' all of his business interests. After hearing that he did other checking and several other business rivals had disappeared under similar circumstances. In each case there were no charges due to lack of evidence.

The only other information on the Federation side of things was a set of charges that had been prepared accusing him for aiding the Maqis. However these charges were never filed. The Dominion had swept through the Badlands, destroying the Maqis and soon after the Dominion War began.

Nerass took special note of those coincidences. Such information could be profitable.

Both the Klingon and Romulan authorities had had suspicions on smuggling. But all that resulted in was a lot of inspections and no results.

Seems the only person in the organization to have ever been caught in any wrong doing had been the former operator of the a Lasuma store front here on DS5 and Geral Lasuma himself came to the station to shut him down and had sent him packing. Did he do it to keep him from exposing other operations, to make an impression of trying to maintain a legitimate business, or to simply deal with an employee using company resources for his own gains?

After Geral Lasuma arrived on DS5 the former operator of the Lasuma's clothier had been killed under questioable circumstances while returning to Bajor. The investigation ruled the his death an accident by Bajoran authorities. It was also noted the the survivors had been well looked after and employed by Geral Lasuma's personal instructions.

The recent past had revealed some interesting information but it was when he dug deeper that things got really juicy. By telling a low level Bajoran government functionary that they were behind in background screenings for the new merchants on the station and providing a small list of Bajoran names, Lasuma among them, he got a trove of data. Nerass shook his head at the situation, it still amazed him that amount of information one could acquire simply by asking for it.

It had taken a few days to gather rest the pieces to add to his earlier finding. However, after removing the frivolous data he focused on key information that should be of use to those requesting the information...and himself.

-- Losing his parents at a young age during the occupation. He, like many others leaving on the streets turned to crime to survive. As he grew up he became know as a resourceful scavenger; getting noticed by a Cardassian. However this is were luck had been on his side. Instead of turning him in he used Lasuma to acquire items for him.

-- In his early years, during the occupation he was actually considered a collaborator since he catered to Cardassians and other collaborators. It seemed he changed that perception by aiding various resistance cells by providing information and smuggling people and supplies.

-- His organization let several people die in the Huvara province because they couldn't pay for medicine during an outbreak of Fostossa virus. However there was no evidence directly linking Lasuma himself to the incident.

-- Provided the transportation and cover for a resistance raid to recover several Bajorian artifacts...including an Orb.

And then there were other particularly interesting pieces of information. Pieces he had actually considered withholding from his report in order to garner a favor or two from Lasuma but if he could get this information so easily; so could others and then he would be questioned as to why it had been excluded.

-- Bajoran resistance needed information. Given his status they approached him and asked that he get close to Gul Taro. After establishing a 'friendship' with him he seduced the wife of Gul Taro and had a 6 month affair with her in order to get as much information as he could. The intelligence gathered greatly helped the resistance during the occupation; she and the Gul were killed in a resistance operation in order to cover Lasuma's tracks

-- In the last few years of the occupation the Bajoran resistance needed information for more daring opperations. Given his, familiarity with the Cardassians, they approached him again and asked that he get them as much information as possible from as high as possible. During his visits to Terok Nor to make his deliveries to several Cardassian clients he befriended a female assistant to the Gul Dukat himself. After establishing a 'friendship' with her, he eventually completed the seduction and had an 8 month affair and was able to funnel a great deal of information to the resistance. The intelligence gathered was an even greater help than his earlier operation for the resistance. She died in a failed assassination attempt on Gul Dukat.

Nerass organized the data and and compiled the the report on his findings. As he did his original assumption came to mind; that this was some personal issue. If true she was obviously not familiar with rule of acquisition 208 - 'Sometimes the only thing more dangerous than a question is an answer'. Putting the final touches on the report he closed the file and set the padd aside.

"Computer transmit report entitled Rule 208 to Captain Soran."


[OFF]

Ensign Neraas
-- NPC Played by Geral

 

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