Quark's
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Quark's Bar, Grill, Gaming House and Holosuite Arcade (commonly known simply as Quark's) was a popular recreational facility located on the space station Deep Space 9.
Contents
Overview
- "Come to Quark's, Quark's is fun, come right now, don't walk - run!"
- - advertising jingle, 2372
Quark's was the multi-level, vibrant and popular central attraction of Deep Space 9's Promenade, drawing crowds of travelers and station inhabitants with its offerings of drink, food, gossip, gaming and fantasy fulfillment. The proprietor of the establishment was Quark, a Ferengi entrepreneur and sometimes petty criminal who was the eternal thorn in the side of the station's Chief of Security, Odo. Despite his dalliances on the wrong side of the law Quark was a capable and amiable host, and the bar was usually one of the most popular places for recreation on the station.
Business in Quark's was conducted in gold pressed latinum. The bar sometimes featured live music, and occasionally offered cut-price drinks during happy hour. The ambient noise level was typically 65 decibels; when Klingons were in the room, it could go as high as 85 decibels. According to a very small sign above the main entrance, the establishment was not responsible for the loss of any personal items. When Rom offered to buy the bar from Quark in 2375, Quark admitted that 5,000 bars of latinum (and not one slip more) was a fair price for it. As proprietor of the bar, Quark was a member of the Promenade Merchants' Association.
When Quark and Rom left the station to visit Ferenginar in 2371, the main entrance to the bar was locked using a tripartite microsealing mechanism devised by Rom, the most convoluted locking device Odo had ever seen.
Layout
The establishment occupied a central position on the Promenade, extending over three stories with entrances on at least two. Spiral staircases provided pedestrian access between the different levels, and the central portion of flooring of the second and third levels was cut out with railed balconies overlooking the levels below. According to the station's computer, Quark's was located on Level 7, Section 5.
Level 1 - The main entrance to Quark's was on Level 1, together with the bar, various gambling tables and a number of tables and chairs where customers could sit and enjoy their beverages. The main entrance, bar and gambling area were brightly lit, while lighting in the periphery was more subdued so as to provide a degree of privacy for the business deals and covert exchanges that occurred there.
Levels 2 and 3 - The upper levels provided more tables and seating, and housed the holosuite arcade. There was also a second-level entrance from the Promenade.
The inside of Quark's was dominated by a large distinctive yellow and red mural and decorative brass poles that extended up through the cut out section of all three levels. Part of the mural also served as the bar's logo, and was sometimes displayed on information screens embedded into the walls of two large open windows looking out over the Promenade on Level 1.
Quark's had a store room where stocks of drink and food for the bar were kept. The door was secured with a pulsatel lockseal, and although staff were not supposed to enter without Quark's permission, Rom admitted in 2370 that he had managed to open the door without using the desealer on a number of occasions. There was also a latinum floor vault, in which takings from the day's business were secured; Rom admitted having also broken into the floor vault while Quark was away, by using magnasite drops to dissolve through the duranium plating.
Behind the bar
A large number of drinks and brightly colored drinking glasses were stored behind the bar, along with two replicators, a computer access terminal, and a selection of isolinear rods containing programs for use in the holosuites upstairs.
Quark also kept a number of (presumably stolen) security rods behind the bar, which he used to tap into secure information in the station's computer; he had managed to acquire even higher clearance level access than Odo.
Food and drink
A range of foods and beverages was served at Quark's. Most of the food was replicated, while the drinks were either replicated or came fresh from bottles kept behind the bar. Quark also kept a private stock of drinks, which included Maraltian Seev-ale and Aldebaran whiskey.
When the replicators broke down in 2369, Quark managed to sustain his business by breaking into a crew quarters and using the replicator there to produce food and drink for his customers. Unfortunately, the replicator had been booby-trapped to spread the Aphasia virus, and his efforts inadvertently lead to the spread of the virus through the station's population.
Quark was often hired to cater events and meetings on the station, particularly in the wardroom, where he provided food and drinks together with a waiter service; he charged by the head for such events. He also indulged in culinary experimentation from time to time, resulting in creations of varying success: Chief Miles O'Brien branded the short-lived "Quarktajino" (a decaffeinated version of famous Klingon coffee, raktajino) "poison", while the "Kai Winn" chocolate soufflé was very popular.
Foods and beverages available at Quark's
- Foods:
- Altair sandwich
- Alterian chowder
- Azna
- Bacon
- Bajoran shrimp
- 'Kai Winn' chocolate soufflé
- Corned beef hash
- Couscous
- Eggs
- Fondue
- Gramilian sand peas
- Groatcakes
- Haligian tongue sauce
- Hasperat
- I'danian spice pudding
- Jumbo Romulan mollusks
- Jumbo Vulcan mollusks
- Koganka pudding
- Kohlanese stew
- Linguine
- Lokar beans
- Lorvan crackers
- Mapa bread
- Puree of beetle
- Rhombolian butter
- Steak
- Syrup of squill
- Tube grubs
- Uttaberry crêpes
- Vak clover soup
- Yamok sauce
- Beverages:
- Aldebaran whiskey
- Alvanian brandy
- Andolian brandy
- Andorian ale
- Bajoran ale
- Beer
- Black hole
- Bloodwine
- Brandy
- Breshtanti ale
- Cardassian ale
- Deka tea
- Eelwasser
- Enyak's milk
- Fanalian toddy
- Gamzian wine
- Kanar
- Kandora champagne
- Karvino juice
- Kava juice
- Langour
- Maparian ale
- Maraltian Seev-ale
- Modela aperitif
- Prosecco
- Prune juice
- Quarktajino (discontinued)
- Raktajino
- Romulan ale
- Root beer
- Samarian sunset
- Saurian brandy
- Silken Sunrise
- Silven Surprise
- Slug-o-Cola
- Snail juice
- Springwine
- Stardrifter
- Starduster
- Supernova
- Synthale
- Synthehol
- Takarian mead
- Til'amin froth
- Tranya
- Trixian bubble juice
- Voodai
- Vulcan port
- Warp core breach
- Whelan Bitters
- Yridian ale
Gaming
Quark's also operated as a casino. A number of gaming tables were located on Level 1, the most prominent of which was dabo. The spinning of the dabo wheel and cries of "Dabo!" were familiar background noises in Quark's. In 2373, an alien visitor was caught manipulating the dabo wheel using a graviton emitter hidden in a ring on his hand to allow his associate to win the game.
Games of tongo were occasionally played, and a dartboard was installed at the insistence of Miles O'Brien. Other alien games were also brought to the bar from time to time, and Quark was warned on several occasions against attempting to stage illegal Cardassian vole fights. Dabo girl Leeta suggested in 2373 that if she was in charge, Quark's would have three dom-jot tables and two Prayko alleys.
Quark regularly ran betting pools, including taking bets on a fight between Benjamin Sisko and Q, springball and darts matches between Julian Bashir and Miles O'Brien, the outcomes of Odo's security investigations, the time of return of Worf and Ezri Dax to the station after they were kidnapped by the Breen, and Bajoran elections for the new Kai. When she took command of the station in 2375, Colonel Kira Nerys made all betting pools illegal. (
Holosuites
The upper levels of Quark's housed a holosuite arcade. Credit for use of the holosuites could be purchased at the bar, as could a number of enticing holographic programs.
The holosuites were often used by visitors to Quark's for programs of an adult (sensual, and even sexual) nature, while residents of the station and members of its crew used them for more benign recreations. Chief Miles O'Brien regularly went kayaking in the holosuites (sometimes accompanied by Odo), while Doctor Julian Bashir enjoyed playing the lead in a series of holonovels about a British secret agent. O'Brien and Bashir eventually combined their love of holoprograms and spent hours together in the holosuites recreating old Earth battles such as the Battle of Britain and the Battle of the Alamo.
In an effort to exercise Major Kira's under-developed imagination Jadzia Dax took her to the holosuites several times, where they recreated the Hoobishan Baths on Trill and Camelot from Earth mythology. Worf and Jadzia shared a number of Klingon exercise programs and historical recreations. Program Bashir 62, Vic's lounge featuring Vic Fontaine, was very popular with the station's command crew throughout late 2374 and 2375. In 2369 a murder took place in holosuite 4, the murder of Ibudan.
- For a full list of holosuite programs used on Deep Space 9, see holographic programs.
Quark claimed that the only person on the station who could keep his holosuites in working order was his brother Rom. Because Quark did not allow him to buy new components, Rom found it necessary to patch the holosuites' circuitry using components salvaged from all over the station, including such diverse items as cooking utensils and Star Fleet LCARS interface panels. Rom was instrumental in the rescue of the senior crew in 2372 after their transporter patterns were dumped into one of Bashir's secret agent programs. After Rom left Quark's employ and started to work on the station's engineering crew, maintenance of the holosuites suffered due to Rom's busy schedule. Captain Sisko was injured by a plasma burst in one of the holosuites in 2373 due to its poor state of repair.
Staff
The staff of Quark's fell into two groups: waiters and dabo girls. The waiters were mostly Ferengi, while the dabo girls were hired mainly for their alluring physical appearance, useful in distracting punters at the dabo wheel.
Quark believed in Rule of Acquisition #211 - "Employees are the rungs on the ladder of success. Don't hesitate to step on them". The staff of Quark's were strictly forbidden to leave the premises during working hours, and were given no sick days, no vacations, and no paid overtime. The dabo girls were required to give Quark twenty per cent of their tips, and he also expected sexual favors from them.
The staff became so disgruntled with the way they were treated that in 2372, under the leadership of Rom, they broke Ferengi law and formed a union to demand better employment terms. The union, known as the Guild of Restaurant and Casino Employees, staged a strike, forcing Quark to replace the staff with temperamental holographic waiters. The union was disbanded after Quark eventually agreed to meet their demands.
Known employees of Quark's
Rom worked as a waiter and also occasionally as a pitt boss on the gambling tables. He was promoted to the position of Assistant Manager of Policy and Clientele in mid-2369, and later left Quark's to join the station's engineering crew following the strike action of 2372. Nog worked as a waiter but left in early 2372 to attend Star Fleet Academy, determined to make a better life for himself. Rom and dabo girl Leeta grew attracted to one another and eventually married.
Patrons
Morn
- "When Morn leaves, it's all over."
- - unofficial Rule of Acquisition #286, suggested by Quark in 2371
Of all the visitors and customers ever to patronize Quark's, one stood (or rather, sat) proudly as the most loyal, most popular, and biggest spender of them all – resident barfly Morn (External Link). He was almost always to be found perched at the bar and became such a mascot of Quark's that when he left on business in 2374, Quark was forced to install a holographic version of him to keep the other customers happy. Morn paid his bar bill at the end of every month, which – according to Quark – was a substantial amount of money.
Morn faked his own death in 2374 as part of a scam to rid himself of a number of unsavory claimants to his estate, namely his accomplices from the Lissepian Mother's Day Heist. Quark was unwittingly drawn into the ruse, and a memorial service was held in Quark's to which many of the station's inhabitants brought gifts for the departed, a Lurian tradition. In an attempt to compensate for the loss of the bar's mascot, Quark started the tradition of "keeping Morn's seat warm", in which customers were urged to ensure that Morn's favorite bar stool was never unoccupied. Morn later returned to the bar after Quark, at considerable peril, managed to escape the clutches of Morn's associates and they were arrested.
Notable visitors
Notable visitors to Quark's included:
- Harry Kim and Tom Paris – crew members of the USS Voyager visited Quark's in 2371 while the starship was docked at the station shortly before its disappearance in the Badlands. Kim almost fell victim to Quark's persuasive sales technique, but was rescued by Paris.
- Kor, Koloth and Kang – three of the Klingon Empire's most notable warriors came to Quark's in 2370 to rendezvous with their old friend Dax and carry out a sworn blood oath. Kor returned on two further occasions, and liked to recreate legendary Klingon battles in the holosuites.
- Lewis Zimmerman – the famed holo-programmer visited Deep Space 9 in 2373 in order to use Doctor Julian Bashir as the template for a Long-term Medical Holographic program. While visiting Quark's, he became enamored with Leeta and later asked her to return with him to Jupiter Station.
- Lwaxana Troi – the Betazoid ambassador first visited Quark's as part of a delegation of Federation Ambassadors in 2369. While there, her latinum hair brooch was stolen by a Dopterian; Odo intervened, and Lwaxana became infatuated with him. The pair later became close friends, and in 2372 they married as part of a plan to free Lwaxana's unborn child from the clutches of its Tavnian father; Quark threw a party in the bar for the happy couple and their wedding guests.
- Natima Lang – the noted professor, old flame of Quark's and member of the Cardassian Underground visited the bar in 2370 with several of her students while on the run from the Central Command.
- Nilva – the Ferengi Commerce Authority commissioner and Slug-o-Cola chairman dined with Quark in the bar in 2374. Quark was posing as a female, Lumba, at the time, part of a plan to help temporarily deposed Grand Nagus Zek regain his position.
- Rionoj – a Boslic freighter captain and notorious smuggler, whose feminine wiles and questionable goods got Quark into trouble on several occasions.
- Tosk – Deep Space 9's first visitor from the Gamma Quadrant spent some time in Quark's with Miles O'Brien, where he found Alpha Quadrant species' behavior puzzling.
- Vash and Q – the dubious archaeologist partnered with Quark to auction a collection of exotic artifacts brought back from her travels in the Gamma Quadrant when she returned through the wormhole in 2369. She was trailed by Q, who staged some of his usual tricks in the bar and then outbid Quark's clients at the auction.
- William and Thomas Riker – Will Riker visited Quark's in 2370. He spent a couple of hours there, and was loaned three strips of latinum by Jadzia Dax when his winning streak at the dabo wheel ended; by the time he left he had all of Quark's latinum and a date with one of the dabo girls. Unable to pay Riker's dabo winnings, Quark gave him instead credit vouchers redeemable only at his establishment. This event was recalled by Thomas Riker, posing as Will, when he visited Deep Space 9 in 2371. Thomas met Kira Nerys in Quark's during his visit.
- Zek – the Ferengi Grand Nagus visited Quark's on a number of occasions, most notably in 2369 when he pretended to name Quark as his successor, again in 2374 during his temporary disposition as Nagus, and in 2375 when he returned to the bar once again to name his successor (this time for real, and this time it was Rom).
History
Terok Nor
Although a vibrant, happy and colorful place during Star Fleet's tenure on the station, the atmosphere in Quark's wasn't always so affable and lighthearted. Quark opened (or assumed ownership of) the bar some time prior to 2363, during the latter years of the Cardassian Occupation of Bajor, when the station was under Cardassian control and was known as Terok Nor. Under the command of Gul Dukat the station operated as a refinery for uridium ore, and was populated by Bajorans enslaved in the ore processing center and their arrogant Cardassian overseers. While the Bajorans existed in squalor in a ghetto zone on the Promenade, the Cardassian soldiers laughed, gambled, drank and lauded it up in the bar and holosuites at Quark's.
When another bar and gaming facility, Club Martus, opened in 2370, Quark claimed to have had an agreement with the Cardassians stating that all gambling on the station was to take place at Quark's. Commander Sisko, station commander, did not recognize such a monopolistic agreement, stating that a few bribes to the Cardassians did not consitute an agreement.
Quark did what he could to earn a profit, but was not blind to the plight of those around him. He sometimes hired Bajorans to perform menial tasks for a few slips of latinum, and sold black market goods to those who could pay. He was known to put a little extra into food parcels, and was even described by Vaatrik Pallra (a Bajoran woman who lived on Terok Nor) as kind.
Old adversaries Quark and Odo first met in Quark's in 2365. Odo questioned Quark about an alibi that he had been paid to provide by Kira Nerys, who was at that time part of the Bajoran Resistance. After failing to tempt Odo into buying a drink or spending some time in the holosuites, Quark – realizing that this was the shapeshifter he had heard about from the Cardassians – tried to convince the Constable to perform the Cardassian neck trick for the entertainment of the bar's patrons.
Following an accident in 2373 Sisko, Odo, Garak and Dax were drawn into a telepathically-mediated version of the Great Link, in which they relived events from Odo's memory of life on Terok Nor in 2366. In the shared vision Sisko, Odo and Garak spent a day working as low-paid Bajoran cleaners in Quark's.
In 2369 the Cardassians withdrew from Bajor and Terok Nor was ransacked, stripped of anything valuable, and then abandoned. Four Promenade merchants were killed during the carnage and, fearful that the change in government on the planet below would put them in danger, Quark and his staff packed up their belongings and prepared to leave.
Federation control
- "How could I possibly operate my establishment under Star Fleet rules of conduct?"
- - Quark, 2369
In the aftermath of the Cardassian withdrawal, the Bajoran Provisional Government invited Star Fleet to take over administration of the station. Desperately in need of a way to bind the station's remaining inhabitants together and transform it from a place of suffering and slavery into one of peace and prosperity, new station commander Benjamin Sisko persuaded Quark to stay and re-open the bar, effectively becoming a community leader. Sisko had Nog in custody at the time for looting on the damaged Promenade, and used the Ferengi tradition of plea bargaining to negotiate co-operation from Quark in exchange for Nog's release. Quark's duly re-opened and soon filled the Promenade with the sound of laughter and music; the newly-christened "Deep Space 9" had found its heart.
The bar and its proprietor soon became accustomed to life under Star Fleet governance, though Quark did sometimes try to bend the rules. In 2372 he used an encryption program to bypass the access protocols on the station's computer monitors so that he could use them to display animated advertisements for the bar, and at the same time he also reprogrammed the replicators on the Defiant to produce beverages in "Quark's"-themed mugs, much to Commander Worf's vexation.
The lease on Quark's was held by the Federation, but they did not charge Quark any rent, nor did they ask him to reimburse them for the cost of maintenance or the drain on the station's power supply. During the strike organized by Rom's Guild of Restaurant and Casino Employees in 2372, Captain Sisko threatened to bill Quark for five years' worth of these outstanding charges unless he agreed to talk to his brother and hammer out an agreement.
Despite the occasional run-ins with authority, Quark's was an integral and successful part of Deep Space 9. Quark himself even celebrated when Bajor's petition to join the Federation was accepted in 2373, and a celebration was held in the bar. Quark expected Bajor's admittance to the Federation to be good for business, predicting sales of root beer to increase by five and the bar to be "busier than an Alvanian beehive".
Troubled waters
- "First it was the Cardassians. Then it was the Dominion. Now it's the Klingons! How's a Ferengi supposed to make an honest living in a place like this?!"
- - Quark, 2372
Navigating the waters of the Great Material Continuum can be difficult, and Quark's went through its share of turbulent times.
Business was disrupted by occasional infestations of voles and tribbles, and by the need for the station's engineering crew to make repairs. More serious disruptions were experienced in 2370 during mass evacuations triggered by a siege by the Bajoran Alliance for Global Unity and later a violent plasma storm, and in 2372 when the station was attacked by Klingon forces.
A rival gambling establishment, Club Martus, was opened by El-Aurian Martus Mazur in 2370, causing Quark's to lose a good number of its customers; Rom even defected to work in the new club. However, the club was shut down when alien gambling devices being used there wreaked havoc on the station. After Mazur was arrested for swindling an elderly couple, Quark agreed to pay his bail on condition that he leave the station and never return.
The Bajoran Time of Cleansing, a month-long ritual of abstention from worldly pleasures practiced by the Bajoran people, was a particularly difficult time at Quark's. In 2372 the strain on the bar's profits was so great that Quark decided to cut the staff's pay. This act triggered the formation of the Guild of Restaurant and Casino Employees, and the ensuing strike caused havoc for Quark (for more information see Staff, above).
In late 2372, Quark broke a contract with Liquidator Brunt and in the process violated Ferengi law. In response, the Ferengi Commerce Authority revoked Quark's Ferengi business license, seized all of his assets, and stripped the bar bare. On the brink of ruin, Quark was rescued by the one thing the FCA couldn't take away from him – his friends on the station. Dax, Bashir, Sisko, Morn and even Odo donated and loaned glasses, drinks and furniture so that the bar could be reopened.
Business continued, though Quark was banned from trading or working with any other Ferengi. The waiters were replaced by members of other species including Bolians and Yridians, and FCA notices were displayed by the main entrance to inform all visitors of the ban. After months of difficult trading under the ban, and when almost every asset he possessed had been wiped out, Quark began to work with a weapons dealer named Hagath at the suggestion of his cousin Gaila. Quark displayed holographic recreations of weapons in the bar's holosuites and entertained Hagath's clients, earning enough latinum to repay all of his debts. However, business in the bar suffered terribly as Quark's customers learnt of what he was doing. Swayed by his conscience Quark eventually betrayed Hagath and stepped out of the arms business, after which custom at the bar began to return to normal. Quark's Ferengi business license was eventually reinstated in late 2373 after he assisted Brunt in a scheme to keep his mother, Ishka, away from Grand Nagus Zek.
During the Second Battle of Deep Space 9 at the end of 2373 Star Fleet withdrew from the station and it was abandoned to the Dominion. The station reverted to its Cardassian designation of Terok Nor and remained under Cardassian-Dominion occupation for around five months. Although Quark's was stripped of root beer and stocked up with yamok sauce and kanar, it remained open and was relatively unaffected by the change in administration. Rom returned to his role of Assistant Manager of Policy and Clientele as a cover while he committed acts of sabotage against the Dominion. Damar became a regular customer at the bar, and Quark plied him with kanar and then passed information that he let slip while drunk to a resistance movement formed by Kira Nerys. The bar was heavily damaged during a massive brawl between Cardassian and Jem'Hadar soldiers, triggered by the machinations of the resistance. Star Fleet eventually took back the station in 2374, and old regulars Miles O'Brien and Julian Bashir booked a holosuite almost the minute they set foot back on the station.
Gatherings and celebrations
- "We are not getting married in this bar!"
- - Worf, overruled, 2374
Quark's hosted a number of gatherings over the years. In 2369 the bar was closed temporarily while it played host to an extradition hearing for Jadzia Dax after the Dax symbiont was accused of murder; Quark was coerced into surrendering the bar by Odo, who threatened to enforce Bajoran regulations that would mean moving a wall by five meters, closing the holosuites and moving the bar counter unless Quark complied. Later the same year, a funeral service was held for Zek in the bar after the Nagus faked his own death; similarly, a memorial service was also held in the bar after Morn faked his own death in 2374. Several auctions were held in Quark's, and Nog sold his boyhood treasures there prior to his departure for Star Fleet Academy in 2372.
Quark threw a party in the bar for Odo and Lwaxana Troi following their marriage of convenience in 2372, and a celebratory gathering following the acceptance of Bajor's petition to join the Federation in 2373. Worf's bachelor party was staged in the holosuites over four days in 2374, followed by the wedding ceremony of Worf and Jadzia in the bar below. Impromptu baseball team the Niners celebrated in Quark's following their match against the Logicians in 2375, and later that year a party to mark the end of the war and bid farewell to several of the senior staff was held in Vic's lounge in the holosuites.
The last outpost
- "The line has to be drawn here. This far, and no further!"
- - Quark, 2375
During the time that Quark spent tending the bar, change was rife on Ferenginar. Under the direction of Ishka, Grand Nagus Zek instituted a raft of reforms that changed Ferengi society, including progressive income tax, wage subsidies for the poor, retirement benefits for the aged, labor rights, health care, rights for females, the outlawing of monopolies, tough environmental regulations, and a Congress of Economic Advisors with almost equal power to the Nagus. Quark was horrified to learn of the changes, and when he mistakenly believed that Zek planned to name him the next Nagus in 2375 he decided to turn down the job. When it turned out that Zek would actually be succeeded by Rom, Quark declared that his brother was the perfect Nagus for this new Ferenginar.
Although it was his own family that had instigated (and would preside over) the death of the Ferenginar Quark had known and loved, he refused to play any part in it. Ordering M'Pella to rig the Dabo table and Broik to water down the drinks, Quark proclaimed that his bar would be the last outpost of what made Ferenginar great – the unrelenting lust for profit.
The Rules of Acquisition lived on in the only place in the galaxy where greed was truly eternal, the only place in the galaxy where you could share a joke with Morn, dance with M'Pella, lose a fortune at the dabo wheel and share stories of financial endeavor with a Ferengi barkeep with his finger in your drink – Quark's.
