The Garden - Melissa Scott [12]
Janeway blinked. "No, he hasn't."
"I was going to," Neelix began, with a defensive glance at Kes, "but I really can't recommend it as a course of action. They're not the sort of people I like to deal with, and I can't imagine that the captain would want to meet them, either-"
Janeway leaned back in her chair, steepling her fingers. "Mr. Neelix. Tell us about the Kirse."
Neelix sighed. "I really don't know that much about them, Captain. The information I have is, well, thirdhand at best."
"That's quite all right," Janeway said, and kept her patience with an effort. "Please go on."
Neelix swallowed hard, responding more to her tone than her words. "The Kirse, as I understand it, are both the trading partners and the sworn enemy of the Andirrim-they're a Kazon-Ogla client race, I mentioned them to Mr. Tuvok."
"Warlike, semifeudal, and xenophobic," Tuvok said. "Quite similar to the Kazon-Ogla, in fact."
"Only not as good at it," Neelix said. "The local Kazon-Ogla leaders aren't exactly the most ferocious in the galaxy, but they were able to deal with the Andirrim pretty handily-"
"Mr. Neelix," Janeway said. "What about the Kirse?"
"But I'm trying to tell you about them," Neelix said. "I only know about the Kirse because of the Andirrim. The Andirrim say that the Kirse planet is an incredible place, a paradise, even, with everything anyone could desire available just for the asking. The entire world is a garden, lush and fertile, and the Kirse live without work-or so the Andirrim say, anyway. They also said that the planet is ringed by an almost-impenetrable defense system, and breaking through it to conduct raids is their adulthood test."
"I thought you said they traded with the Kirse," Chakotay said.
"They do that, too," Neelix answered. "Just not to prove they're adults."
"The Kirse are still willing to trade with them, in spite of the raiding?" Janeway asked.
Neelix nodded. "The Kirse enjoy driving a hard bargain, or so the Andirrim I talked to said. Very sly people, the Kirse-they always keep the letter of their word, so you have to be very, very careful what you agree to."
"If the Kirse world is such a paradise," Chakotay said, slowly, "what exactly do they want from the Andirrim?"
"Ah, that's the interesting part," Neelix said. "And this I do know for certain, because the Andirrim were buying their trade goods from me, to resell to the Kirse. The Kirse buy metals. Apparently-or at least according to the Andirrim captain I talked to-the Kirse built their gardens after they built their technology, and the gardens have spread and pretty much taken over the planet. The Kirse don't like to disturb them if they can help it, so they trade for some of their metals rather than tear up the planet's surface. Or maybe there isn't any left. The captain wasn't very clear on the subject."
"So they're high-tech, too?" Paris said. "They sound too good to be true."
"They do maintain the defense system," Neelix said. "That's a definite fact. And they buy metals."
"They could be a people in decline from a technological high point," Tuvok said. He was frowning slightly, considering the evidence, a familiar expression that made Janeway once again glad to have him on board.
Chakotay shook his head. "Not if they're still holding off the Andirrim's raids. Besides, respect for their land-their planet-isn't evidence of decadence."
"It is if it's at the expense of their own safety," Torres muttered.
Janeway leaned back in her chair again, putting the
voices out of her mind. The Kirse world sounded rich beyond anything she had hoped-rich enough to meet the needs of the ship, great as those were; even if the Andirrim had exaggerated, and Neelix then exaggerated on top of that, in his desire to fit in with the crew, it should be possible to trade for food that would at least keep them all healthy until Voyager could find a further source of supply. And if the Kirse had a technological base that let them create a nearly impenetrable defense system for the planet.