“How is it that drinks don’t fill themselves?”

“Because we have burned up any tab that we may have had long ago.”

“Well why is that?”

“Because we don’t pay, get run out, and then they say don’t come back unless you bring latinum. We bring latinum, enough to pay up the debts and then one or two extra for a drink, and then we start the cycle over.”

Walt looked at the last bit of the the bourbon in his glass as Keralm continued to go on about the inequities of the galaxy and in a post scarcity economy he shouldn’t have to pay for a drink, and that this was a racket. He wasn’t wrong, but everything had a cost. 

“Ker, you didn’t earn free drinks, so you have to pay. Simple as that, in fact, there is a Starfleet Recruiter right over there, that I’m sure would love to promise you all kinds of free drinks for the low, low, cost of scrubbing a power converter clean.” Walt pointed to an office across the promenade deck.

“Well, it still isn’t right.” The Andorian pounded the last bit of alchohol from the glass, licked it clean, then set it back on the bar.

“Well, lot of things in the galaxy aren’t right, you just deal with it.” Jones finished his drink. “Krolth should be here shortly, then we can get out of here and earn you some more booze, sound like a plan?”

Ker sat for a moment, “If I joined Starfleet, would I be able to shoot things?”

“You get to do that now”

“But there would be drinks”

The captain sighed and threw a few slips down on the bar. 

“Fine, have another on your captain”. The Andorian smiled as he waved over the bartender. They had to get off of the station and back out into the space lanes. Back out and make some living money. Ker didn’t know that what was thrown on the bar was basically the last of his spending money.

“Captain, I have secured us cargo and passengers. They are going to the Duraden sector and need to be there within three days, ten thousand pounds of Euridian manure, apparently the finest in the quadrant.” Krolth’s voice broke over the communicator.

“Hauling dung huh? Well, it pays the bill. Get them loaded and I’ll grab Ker and get the stuff together. Jones out.” Walt scratched his chin and went over to the bar. “Kid, we’re going, finish your drink, grab what you need and meet me at the Warden.” 

The Andorian finally showed a bit of life in him. “Bout time, what we hauling.”

“Dung”

“Well that tracks” 

“See you at the ship, we are leaving as soon as everything is beamed into the cargo holds.” Jones headed towards cargo bay three where his ship had been waited for far too long to head out. It would be nice to get back into space, back into the dark, and now that the Borg were more or less taken care of, there was only the normal threats to worry about.