Radu blinked as he opened his eyes to the bright room. The interior decoration gave him the impression he was in the infirmary back on the Christa but the noise was too great for that possibility to actually exist. In the adjoining room he could hear the doctor, Captain Sisko and Bova talking. Getting up slowly he was surprised that it took him a moment to catch his balance. Carefully he crossed the room until he was in the doorway.
"Radu! How are you feeling?" Was the first thing Bova said to him. It was a relief for him to find the little Uranian may have been worried about him.
"Good evening, Mr. Radu. Did you rest well?"
"Yes, Captain. And please just call me Radu." Ever so slightly he turned and smiled at Doctor Bashir who was once again running one of his medical instruments over his body. "And thank-you, doctor, for your help."
Obviously satisfied with the results of his scan, Dr. Bashir returned the smile as he set down his instrument. "Well you're in perfect health, my friend. You have a very intriguing physiology though and I was wondering if you'd allow me to run some tests and things to store in our computer for later use."
Radu stared at the man for a moment but there was no indication of anything sincerity in his actions. "I suppose that would be a good idea, considering we don't know for sure how long we'll be here. You should probably do the same with Bova."
"Oh thanks a lot Radu." His young friend complained.
Radu felt his cheeks redden in embarrassment, and was grateful when the Captain interrupted the situation. "I think that after all this excitement you two must be tired and probably hungry…"
"Food! Radu tell me my ears aren't playing tricks on me! He mentioned a word referring to food, didn't he?" Bova's eyes were bulging out of their sockets.
"Bova. I know your metabolism is fast so you're probably really hungry but…" Radu started to say wringing his hands self-consciously.
"Try famished, no. Starving."
"… You're going to have to be careful Bova. There may be some foods here that you can't eat, like brownies." He tried to warn the Uranian again but he knew he was being ignored.
He looked at the Captain apologetically. "I'm sorry but when it comes to food Bova tends to have a one track mind. What ever you have to eat you should probably have a lot of it if you want to keep him happy."
Captain Sisko grinned, showing white teeth. "Than let's go to Quark's and put this on Star Fleet's tab. After all you're both from races we've never encountered before and you're also from another dimension. The way I see it, this exactly the reason we have an account at Quark's." Laughing he lead the way into a large center and Radu had to stop.
Immediately he felt a hand on his shoulder. "Is something wrong?" Doctor Bashir asked.
Through gritted teeth Radu managed to answer him. "It's awful loud."
"Yah, it can be at times." Gently he tugged on the Andromedan's arm, still concentrating on blocking out some of the noise Radu allowed himself to be pulled to their destination.
They grabbed a table and soon a short person with larger ears than Radu's came over. "So, Captain Sisko. What can I do for you?"
"Hello Quark! We would like four of the day's special, a double order for Bova." The dark-skinned Captain grinned at him amiably.
"And how, may I ask, are you going to go about paying for it?"
"Well you can put it on Star Fleet's account."
The diminutive fellow gave them a toothy smile and than marched back behind the bar. The Captain turned back to them. "Quark is a Ferengi. They're obsessed with making profit."
"Well it's better than you HU-mons and you infernal generosity." The Ferengi quipped, having returned with amazing swiftness with the plates of food. Another of the same race had accompanied him, carrying half the load.
As he set a plate before Radu, he gave him a tight smile and a friendly 'thank-you'.
The other Ferengi stared at him for a moment. "Ah, you must be, um, the Andromedan. Am I right? What was your name, Radu? Well I'm Rom, I help out around the station, doing odd jobs for Chief O'Brien."
Radu stared at him for a long minute before standing and carefully shaking the pro-offe . "It's a pleasure to meet you Rom. What exactly is it that you do for… Chief O'Brien?"
"Well I, uh, do engineering stuff."
"Really?" Bova muttered through a mouthful of food. "You look like a bit of a half-wit to me. I'm surprised you can even dress yourself without help."
"Bova! Rom, he didn't mean that. Uranians are just very pessimistic, it's their nature. Maybe you could teach me something about engineering. I'm failing it back in my own dimension and it would be really helpful if I could learn something about it, than maybe I could surprise Miss. Davenport."
"Uh, I'd like that, um a lot. Well I, uh, got to go. See ya." Immediately the tiny man stalked off at a quick pace.
They started their meals. Radu only half paid attention to the food he was eating, he was too busy listening to the plethora of sounds on the station. It took a lot of concentration for him to return to the conversation at the table.
"Out of my way Ferengi! We want entertainment now!" A harsh voice barked.
Across from him, the captain and the doctor both got up and moved to Quark's side. Bova continued to eat, oblivious to the commotion around him and Radu moved between his friend and the four warrior-like people who were growling at the Ferengi.
"Now, now gentlemen I'm sure we can come up with some sort of arrangement…"
One of the men, the leader, shoved the smaller, weaker Quark into the doctor and the captain. "We Klingons do not deal with worthless Ferengi!" He spoke the name as if it were a horrible curse.
As the three fell to the floor Radu moved between them and the four Klingons. Holding his hands up to keep them at a distance.
The leader laughed at the skinny, pale boy in front of him. Swallowing hard Radu spoke carefully to the large, brawny Klingon. "Look, just stay back. I don't want to hurt you but I will if I have to."
"OHHHHH. I am soooo scared. Now get out of my way child." He tried to shove Radu but the tiny Andromedan didn't move an inch. Upset the Klingon raised a fist and brought it down at Radu's head but Radu caught it before it got halfway to its' target. Reluctantly he put pressure on it until the Klingon had no choice but to get to his knees.
"If you'll promise to calm down I'll release you." Radu offered, not taking his eyes of the man he held captive. He more heard the knife than he saw it. With his free hand he grabbed the arm at the wrist and twisted. The snap of breaking bone echoed through the room.
Radu let go of both arms and stepped back, eyes wide at what had happened. One of the other Klingons bent down to his fallen leader as the other two moved protectively in front of their fallen comrade. Both had strange weapons drawn, he caught the name as someone mumbled it in the crowd, a batlif.
From over at their table Bova spoke up calmly but not to him. "Hey, you with the fancy weapons. Yah you! I wouldn't push Radu around if I were you."
"Oh, and why not bug boy?" The one on the left growled, taking a step closer to him but Radu held his ground even at his enemy's advances.
"Why? Hah. You've obviously never met an Andromedan before if you're asking me a stupid question like that. Let's see… reasons you should NOT piss an Andromedan off. One-they have incredible hearing. Radu can probably hear every noise in this entire station. I bet you he can even hear your heartbeats. Two-he has an impeccable sense of balance. Three-he has a very dense molecular structure, so if you hit him you'll probably break every bone in your hand. And last but not least-he's at least 50 times stronger than an Earther."
"Him?"
"He broke your friend's arm with one hand, didn't he?" Bova said, rolling his eyes in disbelief.
"I d-didn't want to fight anyone. Can't we just settle this some other way?" Radu asked, nervously licking his lips.
The leader struggled to his feet eyeing him. "You may have the strength of a warrior but you do not have the heart. You are no better than a Ferengi!" The enraged Klingon spat at his feet.
A brief flash of anger spread through Radu but instead of physically acting on it he spoke in a soft and dangerous voice. "If being a warrior means being like the Spung, who enslave races by capturing their children or make those races fight for them and continuously degrade their very existance. Then I wouldn't want to be a warrior."
Throwing his head back in laughter, the leader eyed Radu, a strange merriment in his eyes. "So you do have the fire of a warrior inside you. But I assure you we Klingons are honourable in all that we do." Leading the others they left Quark's as if nothing had happened.
Radu spoke softly to the Captain as he helped him to his feet. "Can we be shown to our rooms now? I'd like to get away from all of this noise if you wouldn't mind."
Captain Sisko smiled and shook his head. "I think that's an excellent idea but I would like to talk to you and your friend first." Standing he touched his fancy looking pin. "Captain Siso to all senior staff. Meet me in the conference room in twenty minutes." Putting an arm around Radu's shoulder Sisko looked down at him, "Now how about if we have a little talk?"