The Garden - Melissa Scott [86]
There was a little pause, and the doctor's face looked out at her. "Just barely. I can extract a concentrated form from what we have, but no one will like the taste."
"That's hardly the point," Janeway said, and the doctor shrugged.
"I would agree, but I didn't want it said I didn't warn you."
"Thank you, Doctor." Janeway flipped through her screens, searching for the figures on current power consumption. If they used manual or chemical extractions, they would stay within the safe parameters, but risked wasting some of the precious vitamins; the more efficient methods-all variations on the replicator or the transporters-all used too much power to be wise. She shook her head, wishing that Torre s wasn't down on the planet. The engineer was a near-genius at the kind of improvisation that had become routine on Voyager. But there was no reason to think that, even if the Andirrim were hostile, the ship couldn't withstand their attack long enough to retrieve their crew, or, at worst, couldn't escape and return later to rescue the away teams. The Kirse were friendly, and would protect them, if it came to that.
"Do we recall the away teams?" Chakotay asked, and Janeway shook her head.
"No. We need food, Chakotay, not just vitamins, not if we're going to conserve enough power to get us home. The Andirrim may not attack, and even if they do, they'll be concentrating on the Kirse. We should be able to defend ourselves."
"Very good," Chakotay began, but Kim interrupted him.
"Captain! The first of the Andirrim ships has achieved orbit."
"Put it on the main screen," Janeway ordered. "What's the ion field doing?"
"Still rising." Kim answered.
"Right." Janeway stared at the image on the screen, the narrow rhomboid hanging apparently motionless against the planetary disk, its rusty colors even uglier in contrast to the lush world behind it. "Any sign of weaponry?"
"The shields are at standby," Kim said, "but the phasers are cold. Captain, they're hailing the surface."
"See if you can pick up the transmission," Janeway ordered, and an instant later a second image blossomed on the screen, Nal Sii'an's gold face framed by his scarlet mane.
"The Kirse are routing their response to us as well," Kim reported.
"Excellent."
"We are here, Adamant," the Andirrim said. "As promised. My shuttle is loaded with the ingot, also as agreed. Will you let us land?"
"Scan them," Janeway ordered. "Can you see the shuttle?"
"Their screens are blocking our sensors," Kim said. "There's a vehicle in what seems to be a launch bay, but I can't pick up anything more."
"I am prepared to allow your shuttle to land at the
following coordinates," Adamant said. "You will be met there by one who will speak to trade."
"That location is here," Chakotay said, and a small globe appeared in a corner of the screen, rotating to display a bright red cross. "Well away from the citadel."
And from the landing parties, too, Janeway thought. She nodded her approval, and Nal Sii'an said, "Will you vouch for the neutrality of the stranger ship?"
"They are here to trade, as you are," Adamant answered. "I can speak for that."
"Then we are launching our shuttle," Nal Sii'an said.
"I'll be waiting," Adamant said, and his image vanished from the screen.
"The shuttle's away," Kim reported.
Janeway nodded, seeing the small dot brighten against the planet's surface as the steering engines fired. "Course and speed, Mr. Kim?"
"Still working on it, Captain."
Janeway stared at the dot now falling toward the edge of the atmosphere, trying to match its position to the charts she had studied over the last week. Surely the approach angle was wrong, would bring the Andir-rim shuttle in too sharply-unless their shuttle was designed for higher tolerances