"Rules of Acquisition" is the title of a Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode, from the second season. Its episode number is 427, and it first aired on 7 November 1993.

The episode's plot consists of Grand Nagus Zek's attempt to purchase a large amount of tulaberries from the Dosi so that he can produce tulaberry wine for marketing in the Gamma Quadrant. To make a deal with the Dosi, Zek enlists Quark to confront them in negotiations aboard Deep Space Nine. In turn, Quark himself enlists the help of Pel , a female disguised as a male. (Pel is disguised because in Ferengi society, males are granted greater privileges, and Pel desires to have those privileges, also.)

However, all is not as it seems, and Quark soon finds that the purchase of tulaberries was a cover, and that the real purpose of the mission was to establish a Ferengi contact with the Dominion, one of the major powers in the Gamma Quadrant. This is one of the first mentions of the Dominion in the series.

Pel's true gender is revealed to Quark and Zek towards the end of the episode, but the two Ferengi decide to keep her gender a secret, in order to retain their own reputations.

See also

• Rules of Acquisition