The Garden - Melissa Scott [79]
"Voyager?" Nal Sii'an repeated. "Federation?"
"We're from-quite a distance away," Janeway answered. "You would not have heard of us."
"We hear many things," Nal Sii'an said, "but, no, we have not heard of you. I ask again, what brings you here, and to the Kirse?"
"Like you," Janeway said, "we came to trade. In peace."
There was a little silence, and then the Andirrim nodded jerkily. "Then we will come into orbit, Adamant. Will you tell your stations to let us pass?"
"They will not fire," Adamant answered. "Come ahead."
"We're on our way," Nal Sii'an said, and his image disappeared from the screen.
"The Andirrim ships are under way," Kim announced. "They're following a course that will take them into a parking orbit just inside the limits of the orbital stations."
"How long will it take them to reach orbit?" Janeway asked.
"If they maintain their current speed, they should be in position in six hours," the ensign answered.
Six hours. Janeway frowned again, considering her next move. Her main concern had to be the safety of the ship, of course, but securing their supplies ran a close second. "Mr. Tuvok," she said, and the Vulcan stepped into the camera's range. "What's the away team's status?"
"My security personnel and Lieutenant Torres are at the citadel," Tuvok answered. "Mr. Paris's party is harvesting our first load of food under the direction of a Kirse guide. The fields are some distance from here, four hours' flight at their shuttle's top speed."
"I see." Janeway paused, wondering how she could phrase her question without risking offense to the
listening Kirse. "Mr. Tuvok, what's your assessment of your mission in light of this development?"
There was a brief silence, and she wondered if the Vulcan was going to choose this moment to express his displeasure with human circumlocutions. "I am somewhat concerned about Mr. Paris's distance from the citadel should the Andirrim prove hostile," he said at last, "but otherwise I am confident of our hosts' security."
"Captain Janeway," Adamant said, "I should warn you that the Andirrim may be lying to us. I don't think they are-they need too much from here, since their last raid failed miserably, and it's the wrong season for the testing of their youth-but it remains a possibility. You should be aware of it."
"Thank you," Janeway said. "I'll certainly bear that in mind. But tell me, what is it that they need so desperately?"
An odd expression, something between guilt and disapproval, passed across Adamant's face. "They will trade for food," he said, "as you wish to do, but they also want the deia fruit. And here I own a certain part of the guilt, because I didn't know what the deia was to them. It is a beautiful plant, and harmless, even beneficial, to you and me. But it is addictive to the Andirrim-the dream-sweet, they call it-and though they have managed to eliminate it on their own worlds, there are still those who want it, and they know deia still grows here. I sold it once, before I knew, and now I am torn. I was responsible for the creation of some of those who now demand the deia, and I know they will suffer without it, yet I don't want any more such addicts on my conscience."
"You mean these Andirrim are-in essence-drug dealers?" Janeway asked.
Adamant tipped his head from side to side. "Not
exactly. Nal Sii'an is known to me, and he is an officer of the Andirrim navy-it's their government who deal in the deia."
"Sounds like something the Kazon-Ogla might think of," Chakotay said quietly. "Keep a client population sedated or at the very least distracted, so that they can run things."
Janeway nodded. The possibilities were indeed appalling, but all too plausible. "If that's the case, Adamant," she said, "you might want to consider guarding the plants as well as the fruit. The Andirrim might want to rebuild their original source of supply."
"That which has grown here is rarely as fertile elsewhere," Adamant answered, with a distinct note of pride in his voice. "But I shall take