Surrender to the Ferengi!

[Dan Stack]

So I'm flipping through the new Star Trek magazine this weekend, reading about season one of TNG and how the Ferengi were supposed to be the main baddies of Trek.

And then you see how they were used in DS9 as primarily a commercial entity.

But I think about the big Ferengi Marauder-class vessels which, one gets the impression, are more than freighters. The Ferengi in early TNG, while being interested in profit, seem a lot more militaristic than later Ferengi (though nothing compared to Klingons... )

So, just to throw an idea out, what about Ferengi Pirates? "Arr, surrender and prepare to be boarded!" I was reading about pirates in the 16th - early 18th centuries. It was quite common in the American colonies to purchase goods from pirates - often quite a deal compared with the going rate - considering that the pirates didn't pay for the goods!

Similarly, warships in the Napoleonic age would often attack merchant vessels of enemy ships and the crew would get a share of the prize money.

Either of these options would appeal to the Ferengi. Post-Dominion War, one could see some opportunity for Ferengi pirates, with the Klingons, Federation, Romulans, and Cardassians licking their wounds from the Dominion War.

Just a random demented thought...

[Dan Gurden]

Your not the only one, and I have even written a ferengi pirate template.

Although to justify with the Ferengi we have seen on-screen in TNG, DS9 and Voyager I opened up membership a little;

http://www.theventure.freeserve.co.uk/ferengi.htm

To be found on my RPG page for the Venture.

[qerlin]

The Ferengi make good pirates, IMO. Problem is their ships, while decent, are no match for most 24th C Federation ships.

[LizardQueen]

No match for armed Starfleet ships, probably; but I bet they could take unarmed or poorly armed cargo ships pretty easily. Starfleet ships are state-of-the-art, but civilians probably don't use very well-armed ships.

[SIR SIG]

Originally posted by qerlin
The Ferengi make good pirates, IMO. Problem is their ships, while decent, are no match for most 24th C Federation ships.

??????????????

Didn't their Marauda class Plasma weapon keep the Galaxy class E-D at bay in early TNG days?

Plus in rascals where they boarded E-D, albeit with a used BoP as a deception.

etc....

[Dan Stack]

Originally posted by LizardQueen
No match for armed Starfleet ships, probably; but I bet they could take unarmed or poorly armed cargo ships pretty easily. Starfleet ships are state-of-the-art, but civilians probably don't use very well-armed ships.

Insert diabolical evil-overlord laughter...

Now that sounds like a challenge! Next time, on Star Trek: Bridgetown - the Dread Pirate Raeboirts has set his sights on Starfleet prey.

[Kronok]

Originally posted by Dan Stack

Either of these options would appeal to the Ferengi. Post-Dominion War, one could see some opportunity for Ferengi pirates, with the Klingons, Federation, Romulans, and Cardassians licking their wounds from the Dominion War.

Just a random demented thought... [/B]

I have always thought the Ferengi were highly underrated. Just because the Star Trek writers/producers did a poor job with portraying them onscreen is no reason that they could not be used to their full potential.

I see them not only as pirates, but having much to do with the Dominion War and how it played out. Latinum is power and the Ferengi have a ton of it. Where do you think Section 31 got all its money for research in making the Founder Virus? It is much easier to do research within Ferengi space where no one would suspect anything of importance to be going on.

The Ferengi- The ultimate sleeper race.

[tonyg]

Ferengi would make great pirates-

For one thing, it would help to explain what that huge "attack fighter" is doing attached to the underside of the hull of the Maurander-class.

A narrator could mix in some stuff on how the buccanners used to operate and make a Ferengi free-trade planet right similar to Earth Port Royal or Tortuga. Place it right in the midle of a sector amongst the trade routes and watch the fun.

Image the potential for conflict when the only ones with a cure for an alien plague are some Ferengi freebooters- who stole it! Do you return the stuff to the rightful owners and let millions die, or keep stolen goods?

[Balok]

At the end of DS9, Rom took over from Zek as Grand Nagus, and began to make changes.

How likely is it that a number of Ferengi will come out on the short end of it as a result of those changes?

There could even be a civil war. Certainly, there could be factions, possibly large factions, of Ferengi uninterested in those changes, or actively opposed to them. Such individuals might resort to piracy as a means of making latinum. Once gathered, such funds could be put to all sorts of destabilizing uses on Ferenginar.

[Imagus]

Hmm, a Ferengi civil war - why do I get the impression that it will take place everywhere except Ferengi Space? "Rom's Klingon Fleet just defeated Brunt's Romulans at Betazed..."

Or of course, it pans out more like a series of hostile corporate takeovers. The Federation would have to provide food aid to millions of unemployed Ferengi middle management...

[Dan Stack]

I just don't see Rom lasting long as Grand Nagus. His ultimate fate...

Choose one:
- The rest of his life in a Ferengi insane asylum
- Deposed in a coup and forms the Ferengi Communist Party
- Manipulated by his advisors
- Assassinated

The next Grand Nagus... Brunt! Or Quark's cousin - that weapons dude... Gayla?

[K'iirk]

Mmmm the Ferengi at war, I see two possible ways they fight with their ship.

1. Pooof, as in was that the USS Grissom in ST3 due to sub-standard part.

or

2. Memo to self, War on monday must get Sov Class shield for my warp shuttle, can afford any scratchs.

So IMHO the Ferengi will bribe, buy or rent Merc like the Cardassian that still have ship to help rebuild Cardassia Prime or the Orions with a couple of trading conessions.

[tonyg]

A Ferengi war makes me think about some of Sun Tzu's teachings. Basically that not all war in activivity on the battlefield.

I believe a Ferengi war would havwe lots of diplomacy, bacstabing, intimidation, etc. Something like the city states of Renessiance Italy.

This has potential for being a GREAT setting for a campaign. Even for non-Ferengi. Imagine being a Federation captain in the area, forced to maneuver around in a "diplomatic minefield" -trying to keep the Federation from being sucked into the war by the various factions.

[selek]

Historical pirates ships were no match for naval ships-of-the-line either. A single squadron of frigates placed by the US Navy in the Caribbean (with some help from the British and French heh, heh, heh) pretty much ended the piracy problem there.
Problem was, most pirates would attempt to go about their business like honest merchants until noone was looking, then run up the colors and create all kinds of mischief.
The Barbary pirates had only one or two armed warships, but would charge booty and tribute before allowing vulnerable merchants to pass through the Mediterranean. While a single squadron of frigates was enough to put things in order, most of the major powers of the era thought it cheaper just to pay the toll.
The key is moderation. Like a mosquito or a housefly, piracy tends to be ignored until it becomes a major annoyance. Case in point, piracy is alive and well in the Far East (running from Singapore to the Phillipines and as far north as the Koreas). You rarely hear about it because it hasn't become a major problem. And until these modern pirates attack a man-of-war or get seriously out of hand, nothing substantive will be done.

A small group of Ferengi with hired muscle could easily set up shop along one of the trade routes (OUTSIDE the Federation's borders) and charging a toll for passage. Those who won't pay are boarded, looted, and scuttled! Breen and Nausicaans have been used by the Ferengi for just that in the past. I mean, why kill off another Ferengi (unless you don't like him) when you can get ten-Nausicaans-for- a-slip-of-Latinum.
Dissident Breen, Cardassians, rogue Jem'Hadar (anyone who don't want to go along with the Armistice) could be other sources of potential mischief or merely hired muscle.
With the decimation of the Romulan Fleet, the Empire would likely just pay. The Federation would protest through diplomacy and statecraft (and otherwise sit on their hands)- after all, it's not THEIR space....
The Klingons, well the Klingons would likely blow up the planet!
Seriously, though, so long as depredations were relatively low, would probably consider it beneath their notice. After all, Klingon merchants don't rank very high in Klingon society. And if they can't defend themselves, what sort of Klingons are they?
If you don't consider Ferengi ships rough-and-tumble enough to tackle a Federation starship, consider the safety-in-numbers theory of warfare. While the good guys are pot-shotting your friends, you can stab him in the back. ( Ooh! A Ferengi "merchant" requesting escort, who runs up the Jolly Roger when the rest of the pirates attack ))
Another possibility are war-surplus or salvaged vessels. Remember, the Ferengi in Rascals used a Klingon BOP. Didn't one TNG episode have the Ferengi running around in a Romulan warbird they couldn't control? Or was that a novel?