Quark (Armin Shimerman). Entrepreneur who ran Quark’s bar on station Deep Space 9. Quark grew up on planet Ferenginar with his father Keldar, his mother Ishka, and his younger brother Rom. Inheriting his mother’s good business sense, Quark left his homeworld in 2351 as soon as he reached his Age of Ascension. (“Family Business” [DS9]). As a young man, Quark was apprenticed to a district sub-nagus. He behaved as a proper, subservient Ferengi, and was very popular with the sub-nagus, and felt he was well on his way to success. However, Quark became involved with the sub-nagus’s sister, and was ousted from his apprenticeship because of it. (“Playing God” [DS9]). SEE: Ferengi Rules of Acquisition: 112. Quark worked on a Ferengi freighter ship for eight years before opening a bar on the Cardassian mining station, Terok Nor. (“Babel” [DS9], “The Way of the Warrior” [DS9]). Quark served as ship’s cook on the freighter, and was away from Ferenginar when the planet was struck by the Great Monetary Collapse. (“Homefront” [DS9]). In 2363, Quark had a brief affair with Natima Lang, a Cardassian woman with unorthodox political views, who admired him for illegally selling food to Bajoran nationals on Terok Nor. Lang left Quark after learning that he had used her personal access code to steal money. Quark regarded Lang as the great love of his life and always regretted having betrayed her trust. (“Profit and Loss” [DS9]). During the Cardassian occupation of planet Bajor, Quark ran a black-market business for Bajoran nationals on the station. When the Cardassians left in 2369, Quark reluctantly stayed to manage his bar. Quark, a Ferengi national, felt unfairly persecuted by station security chief, Odo. (“Emissary” [DS9]). Later that year, Quark served as grand nagus when Grand Nagus Zek apparently died. The appointment was only temporary, however, because Zek had faked his death to test his son, Krax. (“The Nagus” [DS9]). SEE: Corvan gilvos. In 2370, during an attempt to find a list for an acquaintance, Pallra, Quark was shot with a compressed tetryon-beam weapon and suffered life-threatening injuries to his thoracic cavity. Fortunately, he recovered. (“Necessary Evil [DS9]). Also in 2370, Grand Nagus Zek gave Quark the opportunity to be the first Ferengi to open business negotiations with a planet from the Gamma Quadrant. Unfortunately, the scandalous revelation that Pel, Quark’s protégé in the venture, was female resulted in the loss of Quark’s profits. (“Rules of Acquisition” [DS9]). Early in 2371, Quark found himself briefly thrust into Klingon politics when he accidentally killed Kozak, a patron at his bar. Quark temporarily became head of the House of Kozak, and husband to Grilka. In that capacity, he helped to insure Grilka’s financial security by fending off a plot by D’Ghor to gain control of Kozak’s assets. (“The House of Quark” [DS9]). SEE: divorce, Klingon. Quark once loaned his cousin, Gaila, latinum to start an arms consortium. Years later, when Gaila had grown enormously wealthy, he repaid the debt by presenting Quark with his own ship. Quark named the vessel Quark’s Treasure, but unfortunately, the ship experienced a serious malfunction on its first voyage and had to be scrapped after an accidental side trip to Earth in the year 1947. (“Little Green Men” [DS9]). In 2372, Quark was faced with an extraordinarily difficult situation when the employees at his bar formed a labor union and went on strike. Pressured by the threat of violence from the FCA, Quark settled the dispute by making secret concessions to the workers, despite Ferengi law prohibiting negotiations with labor unions. SEE: Guild of Restaurant and Casino Employees. (“Bar Association” [DS9]). A few weeks later, while on a trip to Ferenginar, Quark was misdiagnosed with fatal Dorek syndrome by Dr. Orpax during his annual insurance physical examination. Mindful of Ferengi tradition that holds that a Ferengi who dies in debt will suffer in the afterlife, Quark tried to raise money by offering his desiccated remains on the Ferengi Futures Exchange. Quark accepted an anonymous bid of 500 bars of latinum before learning that the diagnosis was in error. He subsequently learned that the anonymous bidder was FCA Liquidator Brunt, who refused a refund and demanded fulfillment of his contract for Quark’s remains. When Quark defied Ferengi law by breaking his sales contract, Brunt responded by confiscating Quark’s assets and revoking his Ferengi business licence. Fortunately, Quark’s friends on Deep Space 9 came to the rescue, offering help so that he could remain in business. (“Body Parts” [DS9]). In 2373, Quark made a brief foray into illegal arms dealing in order to settle his mounting debt. (“Business As Usual” [DS9]). The Lady Grilka returned into Quark’s life in 2373 when she traveled to Deep Space 9 to ask his advice on financial matters. Quark found the Klingon woman very attractive, and, with Worf’s tutelage, won her romantic attentions. As a result, Quark received a compound fracture of the right radius, two fractured ribs, torn ligaments, strained tendons, and numerous bruises, contusions, and scratches. (“Looking for par’Mach in All the Wrong Places” [DS9]). Armin Shimerman also played Letek, one of the original three Ferengi in “The Last Outpost” (TNG); Bractor, another Ferengi, in “Peak Performance” (TNG); and the gift box face in “Haven” (TNG). Quark was first seen in “Emissary” (DS9). Addendum: Owner of a bar on the Promenade of station Deep Space 9. Quark regained his Ferengi business license in 2373 in exchange for helping Brunt break up the relationship between his mother Ishka and the Grand Nagus Zek. Quark later got the two back together. (“Ferengi Love Songs” [DS9]). Quark became a reluctant war hero when he played a pivotal role in the dramatic Starfleet recapture of Deep Space 9 from Dominion control in 2374. Quark, along with Tora Ziyal, freed several resistance fighters from Dominion imprisonment, killing two Jem’Hadar soldiers in the process. (“Sacrifice of Angels” [DS9]). Later that year, Quark led a team of six Ferengi mercenaries who rescued his mother from Dominion captivity. (“The Magnificent Ferengi” [DS9]). Quark came to the rescue again in 2374 when he underwent a sex-change operation so that he could convince Commissioner Nilva of the wisdom of Zek’s radical reforms that granted females the right to wear clothing. (“Profit and Lace” [DS9]). Quark was nevertheless rather conservative in his views of Ferengi politics and was opposed to many of Zek’s more radical reforms. It was not surprising, therefore, that Quark was passed over by Zek in his search for a successor in 2375. While Quark’s brother, Rom, became the new grand nagus (“Dogs of War” [DS9]), Quark himself remained on Deep Space 9, tending his bar and counting his profits. (“What You Leave Behind” [DS9]).