[To Boimler's credit, he listens, and tries to absorb it all - especially everything about Nog's family because just a few tidbits of information - personal information - paint a clearer picture than he's ever tried to seek out for himself about Ferengi. (It shouldn't have taken this much. He should've been willing to seek it out before, but the least he can do is listen now.)]
[He knows his father is the Nagus, knows that his policies are incredibly progressive by Ferengi standards, pushing ever closer in the direction of the same values as the Federation. He hasn't really paid as much attention as he should but anything to do with recent policy and planetary leaders is considered vital for someone wearing command red, especially for species in, or that have regular contact with, the Federation. That's why he even knows the familial connection already - it's certainly important to know if a world leader's child is the first of their species in the Federation.]
[He hasn't put thought to the man though. About him being an engineer rather than a businessman, before being Nagus. Or the intricacies of a family that could hold a progressive Grand Nagus, the first Ferengi Starfleet officer (and a war hero), and a more traditional canny Ferengi businessman with tendencies to apparently steal technology that doesn't belong to him.]
[The part that sticks out the most to him, though is "Even he thought I was up to something at first." That knocks him for a loop for a second, that even a leader as great as Captain Sisko would assume the wrong thing about someone who is clearly dedicated, steadily withstood the Borg with only two ensigns at his side, and who is trying to wrack his brain to do whatever he can to care for an inferior some COs would've written off as a loss.]
[He could be mentally composing the letter to Starfleet and his parents. Instead, he's dicking around with what little technology he has to work with and building hope out of spare parts.]
[When he was always capable of this, even before he got into the Academy, how must it feel that one of the first people in Starfleet - if not the first - to really believe Nog could do it and that he was doing it for the right reasons, thought it was a scam at first? A scheme? How long had they known each other, if Sisko had been at the station for years before then?]
[(And all this without even knowing that Nog was the best friend of Sisko's son.)]
[It could have been easy to just see Nog as...special. But he's not, not anymore than Tendi is. (Well, Tendi is special but she's not a special Orion for not being a pirate.) He's starting to get that now.]
I will, sir. [And he means it.] Provided this actually works. I really don't want to think about the kind of "bettering myself" I'd try to get up to if it doesn't.
[The way the Borg do it? Bad.]
[He closes his eyes tight. It's not actually that he fears that it will hurt him and he trusts it probably work - it's more anticipating the way his ass is going to clench from here on forward, all the way up until they see or don't see any results.]
no subject
[He knows his father is the Nagus, knows that his policies are incredibly progressive by Ferengi standards, pushing ever closer in the direction of the same values as the Federation. He hasn't really paid as much attention as he should but anything to do with recent policy and planetary leaders is considered vital for someone wearing command red, especially for species in, or that have regular contact with, the Federation. That's why he even knows the familial connection already - it's certainly important to know if a world leader's child is the first of their species in the Federation.]
[He hasn't put thought to the man though. About him being an engineer rather than a businessman, before being Nagus. Or the intricacies of a family that could hold a progressive Grand Nagus, the first Ferengi Starfleet officer (and a war hero), and a more traditional canny Ferengi businessman with tendencies to apparently steal technology that doesn't belong to him.]
[The part that sticks out the most to him, though is "Even he thought I was up to something at first." That knocks him for a loop for a second, that even a leader as great as Captain Sisko would assume the wrong thing about someone who is clearly dedicated, steadily withstood the Borg with only two ensigns at his side, and who is trying to wrack his brain to do whatever he can to care for an inferior some COs would've written off as a loss.]
[He could be mentally composing the letter to Starfleet and his parents. Instead, he's dicking around with what little technology he has to work with and building hope out of spare parts.]
[When he was always capable of this, even before he got into the Academy, how must it feel that one of the first people in Starfleet - if not the first - to really believe Nog could do it and that he was doing it for the right reasons, thought it was a scam at first? A scheme? How long had they known each other, if Sisko had been at the station for years before then?]
[(And all this without even knowing that Nog was the best friend of Sisko's son.)]
[It could have been easy to just see Nog as...special. But he's not, not anymore than Tendi is. (Well, Tendi is special but she's not a special Orion for not being a pirate.) He's starting to get that now.]
I will, sir. [And he means it.] Provided this actually works. I really don't want to think about the kind of "bettering myself" I'd try to get up to if it doesn't.
[The way the Borg do it? Bad.]
[He closes his eyes tight. It's not actually that he fears that it will hurt him and he trusts it probably work - it's more anticipating the way his ass is going to clench from here on forward, all the way up until they see or don't see any results.]