The Garden - Melissa Scott [55]
"One of us has to be realistic. And quite frankly I don't relish the idea of inhabiting a dead ship until the power runs out."
"Gentlemen," Janeway said.
Paris had the grace to look abashed, and the doctor sighed. "I'm sorry, Captain. But the medical situation borders on the critical."
"I am aware of it," Janeway said. She looked around the table. "So. We can't afford to trade the Kirse hardware, and I would prefer not to sell them the complete schematics for fear of their eventually falling into Kazon-Ogla hands. But we have to resupply here. Lieutenant Torres, what are our chances of selling them a deliberately weakened version of our transporter system?"
Torres frowned. "I could probably-definitely- put together a version with a shorter range, maybe a
higher power cost, but first I'd need to know just what kind of limitations we would want to impose."
"There's no guarantee the Kirse would accept a limited system," Chakotay said, but his tone was less negative than his words.
"But if they want it badly enough, which they seem to do," Kim said, "since maintaining their orbital platforms is the issue, they might be willing to accept a system that would let them do that. . . ." His voice trailed off, but Janeway nodded.
"Mr. Kim's right, maintenance of the defense system sets the acceptable parameters for the Kirse."
"Even if they're willing to accept limits," Chakotay said, "there's no reason to think that they can't build a system comparable to our own from that starting point. And then we have the same problem as before."
"I agree," Janeway said. "It's fairly simple, really. If we trade the transporter technology in any form, we will have to assume that at some point down the road the Kirse will expand on what we give them until they have a system comparable to our own, and once that happens, we have to assume that other Delta Quadrant races, and eventually the Kazon-Ogla, will also acquire the system. What we can do-and I think we must do-is delay that point as long as possible."
Chakotay nodded. "I agree, Captain."
"Even assuming a worst-case scenario," Tuvok said, "one in which the Kirse are able to duplicate our system quickly, and in which the Kazon-Ogla acquire it quickly and directly from their own client race, a process I would expect to take between one and two years, we-Voyager-would be and would remain one to two years ahead of the dispersement of that technology. The Kazon-Ogla do not willingly share anything, least of all something that might give one faction an advantage." He paused. "Of course, these
numbers are rough approximations. I will run a simulation to achieve a more precise estimate, but the situation seemed to warrant a quick result."
No Vulcan, Janeway thought, could ever bring himself to say "a guess." She said, "Very well. Lieutenant Torres, I want you and Mr. Tuvok to analyze the requirements of a transporter system that will be sufficient to service the orbital stations. Once that's done, Lieutenant Torres, you'll work out a version of our transporter that will achieve those goals, while Tuvok gets a more precise estimate of the minimum time it could take the Kazon-Ogla to get the transporter technology from the Kirse."
Torres nodded, her head already bent over her datapadd, and added, belatedly, "Yes, Captain."
"Very good, Captain," Tuvok said.
"In the meantime," Janeway went on, "Mr. Kim, once the doctor has given you a clean bill of health, you and Mr. Paris will contact the Kirse and beam down to examine the food they have on offer."
"Right away, Captain," Paris said, and Kim echoed him reluctantly.
Kim sat on the edge of the diagnostic table, uncomfortably aware of Kes and Paris deep in conversation in the next compartment, while the holographic doctor peered thoughtfully at the readouts on the wall displays.
"Well," he said at last, "I would say you're suffering from nothing more than a moderate case of indigestion."
"That's what I said it was," Kim said.