Seven was still staring in wonder at the section of programming code controlling a single catom currently located in her parietal lobe and capable of previously unimagined enhancements to her visual perception, when a bloodcurdling scream registered in her mind well before it reached her ears.
Riley.
Chapter Twenty-Three
VESTA
Presider Cin entered Admiral Janeway’s quarters and stood for a moment just inside the door. She wore an exquisitely tailored white suit under a long, shimmering silver jacket and carried herself regally. As soon as her gaze settled on the admiral, standing before her desk, Janeway clearly read the uncertainty in her eyes.
“Welcome, Presider Cin,” Janeway greeted her.
“Admiral.”
“May I offer you something to drink? Some tea, perhaps?”
Cin shook her head, the tendrils extending from the base of her neck snapping taut briefly before settling themselves again.
Janeway stepped toward her slowly. “I’m sure you are aware that I met with First Consul Dreeg a few hours ago. I’m still considering his proposal.”
“That meeting did not go well,” Cin said simply. “I was not surprised.”
“Would you care to sit down?” Janeway asked, gesturing toward one of two chairs set on either side of a small table the admiral used when dining privately.
Cin shook her head again as she looked toward the long port that ran along the far wall, currently offering an unobstructed view of the First World. “May I?” she asked.
“Of course,” Janeway replied, following the presider as she moved to stand directly in front of the window.
“Everything seems simpler from up here, doesn’t it?” Cin asked.
“Sometimes,” Janeway agreed.
“But not today?” Cin tore her gaze from her homeworld and turned to stare down into the admiral’s eyes.
“No,” Janeway said.
“I did not authorize Dreeg to utilize illegal means to gather intelligence about your ships,” Cin said apologetically. “When I signed the documents initiating our diplomatic relations, I intended to follow both the letter and spirit of our agreement.”
“Your first consul obviously thought he knew better,” Janeway said.
“He has disappointed both of us,” Cin said. “I suspected when he brought Grish aboard your ship that he must intend to test my patience, but I had no idea how far.”
“Is Grish some sort of telepath?” Janeway asked.
“He is Aurothazian,” Cin replied, “one of the translators I told you about when we first met. Their ability to remember what they see and hear is astonishing and essential to their skill in grasping new languages. From a few words, Grish can usually begin a conversation in a tongue he has never spoken. A glance at exposed circuitry is more than enough for him to render a precise schematic. Any data displayed on an interface can be reproduced with complete accuracy. And yes, information contained in the minds of susceptible species can be read with varying degrees of accuracy.”
“Remarkable,” Janeway noted.
“Between Grish’s tour and several sensor sweeps, Dreeg was able to compile his wish list. I asked that he wait before presenting it to you. I honestly wanted to know what data and technology you intended to share with us before making any demands. I would have been content with your friendship.”
“As would I,” Janeway said.
“Is that still possible?” Cin asked.
“Of course,” the admiral replied. “Our friendship will always be yours and the Confederacy’s. The other terms Dreeg presented will require more thought.”
“Dreeg is a fool.”
“No, he isn’t,” Janeway corrected her gently. “He occupies a place of great power here and intends to secure an agreement favorable to him and his interests. I can’t fault him for that.”
“Dreeg believes you were awed by our civilization and the ways in which an alliance would enhance the Federation’s prestige.”
“Your civilization has many attributes that recommend it. What you have built here is worthy of admiration.”
“I have always believed that to be true. But this Federation of yours . . .” She paused, searching for the right words. “There is no hunger, no want. Even without these basic motivations you continually push yourselves. It almost seems unwise to me,” she admitted.
“I have always found the risks to be worth the rewards,” Janeway said.
“Had Dreeg demonstrated the patience I counseled, would you have any other reservations about the prospects of an alliance with the Confederacy?” Cin asked.
Janeway paused, inhaling deeply.
“That many?” Cin asked, smiling faintly.
“There are cultural differences between us that would require further discussion,” Janeway admitted.
“Such as?”
“Your society is structured in what we call a ‘caste system.’ Certain individuals enjoy all rights of citizenship, while the rights of others are limited.”
“Only by their willingness to strive to better themselves.”
“So you say, and you clearly, honestly believe it.” Janeway took a deep breath, carefully measuring her words. “The Federation mandates that all who live under our laws are treated equally, regardless of their circumstances. Full participation in our representative system and protection of our laws is not a boon to be granted or withheld on the whims of fate. They are rights conveyed at birth. Even Federation members who still use forms of currency for trade do not oppress members of their society or limit their ability to advance.”
“But you live in a society where resources are plentiful and can be created from thin air,” Cin said.
“Replicators are not magic. They require energy to perform their functions. And there have been many times in the Federation’s history when disasters or natural calamities have seriously limited available resources.
“Where we differ is in our approach to those circumstances. You see privation as motivation. We see it as something to be immediately corrected, and those who can sacrifice whatever they must so that others can live without fear for their survival.”
“Our system of trade has vastly improved the lives of many who have joined our Confederacy,” Cin argued.
“But that system is controlled by individuals who are personally enriched by the regulations they impose,” Janeway countered. “Are you aware, Presider, that the Market Consortium has held a material ownership decree for technology that is very similar to our replicators for forty years without developing that technology?”
Cin’s eyes narrowed. “It doesn’t surprise me. Dreeg made haste to point out the many ways in which the introduction of replicators to the Confederacy would destabilize our entire system of trade when I first proposed that we negotiate for an exchange including their specifications.”
“The only thing replicators would destabilize is the power of the Market Consortium,” Janeway said. “Your first consul sees your people as limited in their abilities and therefore in need of a strong guiding hand.”
“Like children,” Cin said softly.
The admiral nodded. “There was certainly a time in the history of your people when such strong centralized authority was required. But your civilization has evolved. Its structure and capabilities are limited only by the restrictions you choose to impose upon yourselves.”
“Are there other restrictions you find troubling?” Cin asked.
Janeway paused, choosing her words carefully. “Those placed upon the women of the Confederacy,” she finally said.
“I don’t understand,” Cin said. “There are no limits to what a woman of the Confederacy may achieve. Surely I am proof enough of that.”
“Only after she is no longer fertile. And those incapable of bearing children are not as fortunate,” Janeway said.
“If a woman chooses to place her own desires above the needs of her people, she has no one but herself to blame for her circumstances,�
� Cin countered.
“There are several cultures within the Federation that from time to time had faced reproductive crises, not unlike the one your people were enduring when they discovered the First World. Societal pressure may encourage members of those cultures to shift their priorities toward ensuring the continuation of their species, but reproduction is not regulated or imposed upon any individual capable of bearing children, be they male, female, or one of many hybrid life-forms.”
“You believe that the women of the Confederacy are unfairly disadvantaged by our society’s expectations?”
“How many women have led this Confederacy in the last five hundred years?”
“I am the third.”
“And how many have served as first consul or head of the Market Consortium?”
Cin sighed. “None, though many have risen to other positions of authority within the Consortium.”
“Is there any history in the Confederacy of women protesting this situation?”
“Never on the First World,” Cin replied. “Some of our member worlds struggled initially with this regulation, but soon enough they came to understand that the survival of our people depends upon our ability to secure each successive generation. We were billions before the Borg found us. Tens of thousands had to rebuild what was lost. The women of the Confederacy consider their contribution to our society an obligation, not a burden.”
“The women of the Federation would never accept the notion that they be required to produce children prior to doing anything else they wished with their lives.”
“They should count themselves fortunate that they do not know what we know—how fragile our civilizations truly are.”
“I assure you, Presider, they do,” Janeway said. “But we work diligently to ensure that the challenges we have faced, including potential extinction, do not allow us to abandon our values, including every individual’s right to absolute self-determination.”
“Here we must agree to disagree,” Cin said. “Is there anything else?”
“You’ve said that your people abandoned the lemms because the Source intended you to do so once you had secured sufficient resources,” Janeway said.
“When the protectors became resistant.”
“Didn’t it trouble you to destroy those planets and the life-forms inhabiting them?”
“Why would it? Do you mean to tell me that the Federation does not extract resources from the worlds they find and colonize?”
“We do,” Janeway acknowledged. “But every effort is made to conserve nonsentient life and to determine if any unusual sentient life-forms may exist on a planet before we extract anything from it. We prefer to take resources from uninhabited planets whenever possible.
“We have learned in our travels that all of space can be thought of as one vast ecosystem. It is in constant motion and subject to changes. We proceed into the unknown, conscious of the fact that any action we take may have unintended, harmful consequences. Where our technology has been found to damage space or worlds, we abandon it and make every effort to repair it.”
“As we abandoned the lemms.”
“Should you learn tomorrow that the Source no longer deemed it necessary to restrict your actions, would you use the protectors to destroy entire planets to obtain their resources?”
“If the Source willed it.”
“Even though the ancient protectors have already demonstrated to you that they do not wish to be used in that manner?”
“The ancient ones are a special case. No protector would be used long enough to develop similar reluctance. I am assured it is a simple matter of programming and elimination once their ability to imprint data has been compromised.”
“I see.”
Silence reigned between them for some time before Cin said, “When you said that there was much to admire about the Confederacy, you did not mean it, did you?”
“I did,” Janeway insisted. “There are matters of principle that divide us because the circumstances that led to the development of the Federation differed from those that gave rise to the Confederacy. We do not value the same things in equal measure.”
“But your way is better?”
“Our way is our way. It is subject to revision as new ideas, developments, and influences are encountered. We are always open to the incorporation of new ways of thinking and working.”
“Finally, common ground,” Cin said.
“Presider?”
“Our contact with you and the Federation has given me much to consider. I do not believe your way of life to be superior to ours, but I cannot deny that there are capabilities you possess that could improve the lives of my people. I came to you today because I have an alternative proposal I would like to present.”
“Please.”
“The Market Consortium is technically a civilian authority. They have always held considerable influence over the government, and thus far, the government has never entered into any trade agreements without the Consortium’s approval. I am considering breaking with that tradition.”
Janeway kept her face neutral as she asked, “How?”
“The government might purchase items directly from the Federation and distribute them as they see fit, without including the Consortium. I can guarantee you that your compensation in such an agreement would be less lucrative than any offer you would receive from the Consortium, but you could rest assured that my priorities in introducing those items into our society would not be the same as the Consortium’s.”
“You would be risking a great deal, wouldn’t you?”
“Perhaps. But I find the possibilities of such an arrangement strangely liberating.”
Janeway smiled.
“The items you speak of would not include weapons or defensive technology,” the admiral warned.
“Source, no,” Cin replied. “On that front I believe we are more than adequately advanced. I only hope that, in the coming days, I’m not proven wrong about that.”
“You are referring to those outside the Gateway?” Janeway asked.
“They keep coming, more and more. Such contacts were once rare. They have become all too common of late, and I don’t understand it. They have seen others who attempted to breach the Gateway destroyed by our interstellar fleet. They must know they have no chance of success.”
“Have you attempted to make contact and simply asked what they are seeking?”
Cin shook her head. “The Confederacy does not make diplomatic overtures to species that have proven themselves untrustworthy by their actions. My people would see it as operating from a place of weakness.”
“The Federation would see such a gesture as operating from a place of strength. Force of arms may be the only potential resolution to some conflicts, but only after every other possibility has been exhausted.”
Cin considered Janeway’s words. Finally, she said, “Would the Federation be willing to assist me in opening that dialogue?”
“What did you have in mind?”
“Your universal translators would make it possible for me to address the aliens at the Gateway directly. You could accompany me there. We are not yet allies. Your people could be considered a neutral party in any dispute between the Confederacy and these aggressors. You could provide us with an unbiased viewpoint of their demands.”
“Sadly, the Federation has already encountered some of the species that are now massing against you. I am not certain they would consider us neutral.”
“You are challenging me to break with generations of tradition and explore a new possibility for my people. Are you unwilling to risk confronting your own past? Are you certain that a new understanding between the Federation and these other species might not come of such an attempt on your part?”
“It is actually one of our stated mission parameters for the fleet I now command,” Janeway replied. “The first time the Federation came to the Delta Quadrant, our circumstances were quite different. We attempted to make peaceful first contac
t wherever possible, but when our survival was at stake, that took precedence over achieving more permanent understandings.
“Now I will offer any species we previously encountered the option of renewing our acquaintance in hopes that we might move beyond the past. But you must understand, were we to assume the role of neutral party in your discussions, we would not be able to come to your aid in the event hostilities broke out.”
“I understand, and I am willing to accept that,” Cin said. “The CIF is more than capable of securing our safety. Your fleet would not be called upon to enter into any action. Should our negotiations fail, and our forces engage these aliens, I would expect you to retreat.”
Janeway nodded. “When would you propose making the overture?”
“First light, tomorrow,” Cin said.
The admiral felt her eyebrows rise in surprise.
“This is another initiative I intend to take without consulting my first consul. He would not approve.”
“Perhaps you should reconsider.”
“I don’t think so,” Cin said, smiling. “Dreeg’s concern is the prosperity of those whose influence he protects. My concern is the safety of all of my people.
“I understand that your reluctance to accept Dreeg’s proposal had as much to do with the means he used to gain the information as the deeper differences between our cultures. But for all those differences, there is much we share in common, most importantly our desire to live in peace among other spacefaring peoples. If I could show Dreeg that by embracing some of the Federation’s methods we were able to successfully end the threat posed by these aliens, it would be much more difficult for him to resist future collaborations on your terms. Help me, and I assure you that whether you decide to pursue an alliance or not, the Federation will always be counted as friends of the Confederacy of the Worlds of the First Quadrant.”
Janeway extended her right hand. It took Cin a moment to remember the gesture from their first meeting, but when she did, she took the admiral’s hand and shook it lightly.
“Give us a few hours’ notice. When you’re ready, signal and we will follow you through the Gateway. Let’s see if those assembled out there have any interest in diplomacy,” Janeway said.
Star Trek: Voyager - 043 - Acts of Contrition Page 33
