—

  Not long after Miles O'Brian was called away, the attendant of the Assay office was ready for me. He called me over to a large screen on the wall and highlighted all of the available commercial spaces.

  I had my choice of a space next to Quark's bar and the temple, a full sized shop near the replimat, or the future location of the Klingon deli.

  It cost a bit more, but I went with the full sized shop near the replimat. I could add a few standing tables and expand the cart into a full kitchen. Besides, taking the deli’s spot felt wrong.

  The fee to claim the location was three percent of sales, and 200 BPGC per two weeks. They took an additional 100 for a deposit. That left me with a little less than 30 credits. Guess it's time to get to work.

  I pushed the cart over to the new shop and a team of security officers led by Odo and Dax ran down to the Habitat ring turbolifts.

  “Wonder what that's about” I said to myself as I opened the doors to my new and still unrepaired from the Cardassian exodus, restaurant.

  To put it mildly, it was a dump. Panels were off the walls. Lighting fixtures hung out of holes. The floors were covered with trash discarded by pedestrians who saw an abandoned space and figured it looked close enough to a trash can.

  [Repair space 300 system credits?]

  “No, cart. I'll do this myself. It's important. Why don't you figure out how you best want to fit in as a kitchen here.”

  [ Using chameleon cart now would be… inadvisable. Clean space and repair recommended 400 system credits]

  “This place is too dirty for you eh? Wait, did you just raise the price? Nevermind that, let's get some cleaning supplies out of storage, and maybe my toolbox.”

  [ Upgrade tool box to 24th century equivalents 6000 credits]

  “Tempting, but no thanks. Those tools served me well enough repairing my house. Changing them up might lead to an accident.”

  I spent a minute or two finding the large broom dustpan, and the trash bin from outside of my house.

  Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

  To those who just mocked me for taking the trash bin, it's a large durable container on wheels. It's useful. I bought it. Besides with infinite storage why not?

  Some might say the five minutes wasted looking for it in your inventory is a good reason why not.

  To those people I say, bah, shut up. So I did.

  An hour later and the shop didn't look or smell half bad. Two of the light fixtures were a lost cause, so I shut off the lighting in the room.

  I grabbed a few house lamps and plugged them in with extension cords run along the wall to the cart. I pulled the string and the bulbs turned on.

  Thankfully enough the system magic allowed powering ambiance to count as a cart function.

  A liberal use of black duct tape to hide the cords and keep them from getting tangled up in people's feet and we had lights.

  A restaurant needed tables, so my antique extendable oak table and its eight matching chairs found their spot against the left wall.

  My Persian-styled Costco room sized rug covered the burn marks in the floor.

  My table, and rug were here. Why not make this feel like home? The paintings that once hung in our house now covered gaps in the bulkheads.

  “Ok, Cart. I'll take some help now. Let's make this place put the home, in homemade cuisine. Use whatever you need from storage. Let your chameleon circuits or magic or whatever go wild.

  [500 system credits]

  “Did you just raise the price again? Come on.”

  [400 system credits]

  “You almost had me. Between you and the Ferengi I might leave this station poorer than I arrived.”

  [That is not advised. Current reality is very dangerous. Recommend 20,000 system credits in savings at all times]

  Go ahead and re-arrange things then take the 400 credits.

  [Recommend user vacate the area during transition]

  “All right all right, I'll get out of the way. How long do I need to be gone?”

  I stepped over the threshold into the promenade, and the shop doors closed behind me. Quark and the security officer Primmin were walking by. Or should I say, Quark was being led by security officer Primmin towards station security.

  Primmin pointed at me and a familiar Bajoran security officer walked up and asked me to follow him. It was one of the two men who were next to me in sickbay.

  “Hello there, nice to see you again Mr.?”

  “ It's officer Luru. Luru Sarke.”

  “Nice to properly meet you Mr. Luru. What can I do for you? “

  “I need you to lock your shop, and come back to sickbay.”