Title: The Tomato Growers
Author: Ghosteye99
Characters: Janeway/Chakotay (OC pov)
Theme: Drama/General
Rating: PG 13+ (T)
Length: 2,000 + words approximately
Summary: An AU to the episode 'Resolutions' (and completely ignoring 'Think Tank'). Told from a 'neighbour's' POV.
Notes: From an old plot idea that kept bugging me until I wrote it. I wanted to write a New Earth AU where J/C stay on NE for many years, but they don't remain alone (and not via a popular and 'obvious' way, either). I also wanted to explore a teeny bit of intercultural clash & mistrust.
Warnings: Told in a first-person conversational monologue style.There's also one sad little detail added.
Disclaimer: Characters and setting belong to Paramount Pictures and CBS, not me. No profit or harm intended. This is a fanfiction, not Canon.
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The Tomato Growers
No … I have not seen either of them come around here lately, and they have also missed the last two market days. I know there has already been many asking after them – well, they do grow some of the best tomatoes in the colony, and the harvest has been a little late. Toryn and his cousin Holn have told me that a few people from New Town saw what looked like a very large warp flare in the North-Eastern sky at about the time they last came here – some say it looked bright enough for a full-sized starship, others say it was only their shuttle.
Speaking of their shuttle, Vian also says that her son saw it take off again ten days ago, but they had locked their cabin and shelter, so I assume they have gone on a quick mining foray, and will return soon. I know the Humans had been working on enhancing their shuttle drive. I know because they told me themselves, when I had last visited to collect their levies, so I still think it was only that. Personally, I do not think their home ship would have come back for them now, not after all this time.
Both have always said to us that they cannot leave the planet for long anyway, because of the virus, and that was why they were stranded. But as we all know, they are not Vidiian, so I am sceptical of that part. I have often wondered myself if they are, in truth, hiding from someone … or something. Their kind are like that, trust me on it – covert, secretive, never letting anyone know their full agenda. My own belief is that they were cast away after a mutiny on that ship of theirs … yes, that one. Voyager, the same alien warship that passed through our space so many years ago. You might not remember that, since back in those days you were only very little.
Why the mutiny? I've speculated that they might not have been as eager to make war as their shipmates … well yes; I suppose that can be hard to believe. After all, you have seen the way she fought when she was helping us out during one of the invasions. So if they were left behind for being too peaceful, that could suggest much about Human aggressiveness. If my guess was true, or course.
But then, maybe he might have influenced her. The man of the pair. He is relatively peaceful in his ways; sometimes I wonder if he would have almost made a good Vidiian. Yes, I agree, maybe when she took him as her mate, too much of his gentleness rubbed off on her, and her crew rebelled. That often happens on ships run by aggressive species – think of the Kazon. Yes, didn't you already know? She wasn't just common crew. She was their captain, at least until they were dumped here. Kathryn Janeway, that is her name, and Chakotay is the name of her man. An odd Human custom, their women having two names, while their men have only one.
They are a strange pair, I agree - that is certainly true. They do not appear to fear the Phage as much as we do, for a start … but then again, they are not of our kind, so we do not know how severely the disease can affect them. Do not misunderstand me, I believe that they are basically good people in their own way, and probably neither of them would harm any of us without a strong reason, but they are still not like us. Who knows what really goes on in their alien minds? They have always kept to themselves ... except for when they come here to trade their produce, or handicrafts, or those addictively good Talaxian vegetables that they grow.
Do you also know that they had already been settled here for years before we arrived? Probably not, you came in the third ship if I remember rightly; the first of the ones with the children. I was here before you came, on the very first cruiser, and I saw their settlement with my own eyes when I flew our reconnaissance shuttle over it. Yes, it was a hard choice for me; to settle on a planet that one cannot leave, or remain with the rest of civilisation, and almost certainly get the Phage. I have often thought of how you children felt about it - though of course, you are able to speak for yourselves about it, now that you and most of the others not children anymore.
But when I think of you back then, being made to leave your families and live among strangers just because you were still healthy, and we needed to isolate you to keep you that way. Please … do understand that this was done to save both your lives, and our future. From what I have heard lately, the Phage is now becoming so widespread that quarantined colonies like ours may be the only chance of survival our kind will have.
Well, thank you. It is good to know that you at least no longer hold any resentment against us for making that choice for you. It helps me to feel better about some of the things I took part in putting all you children through. And looking at you, it appears that most of you have done very well. I count myself extremely lucky to be one of the few Vidiians that had made it to adulthood without becoming infected; otherwise I would never have been permitted to come here, and I couldn't have had the chance o help make this settlement ready for you.
I just hope that, if our government really has developed a serum against this planet's virus, as some rumours suggested, that they keep it from the public until the time hopefully comes that the Phage is truly gone. This virus has kept us trapped on this world, but it is protecting us as well. It's enough to make most outsiders very hesitant about coming here.
But some did anyway? Yes, that is true, I haven't forgotten elementary history - some still did, but not many. You probably can remember two of the invasions, but there were actually three that happened since we arrived. The first one was not long after I came; it may have even been two years before your ship. We were still building the first houses and basic facilities back then. You would have learnt in school about how the alien pair helped to defend us in the other two invasions. They helped us in the first as well; that was when the Kazon came, wanting to destroy our colony to prevent our people establishing a stronghold in a part of space they were waiting to conquer.
Yes, they know that the Phage could soon bring us Vidiians to extinction, and they wanted to hurry the process so they could grab for themselves what we leave behind. But fortunately for this colony we, that Human couple, and the invader's fear of being trapped by the virus were all enough to dissuade them. No, we didn't lose that many on our side.
Oh yes, they are good fighters – both of them. As I've said, Chakotay appears to be of the quiet type, but have you ever seen him in action yet? Believe me, I have, and he can more than hold his own when I watched him fighting by his wife's side. He also gave us a lot of good tactical advice that has since helped protect both our Home colony and New Town when the Kazon came again, and when those Phage-infected organ raiders tried to harvest us. Neither of them have yet given us a straight answer on how long their kind live - but even at their age, I would consider them both to be still formidable enough in a fight.
I will never forget the reception they gave us just after we landed. They landed their shuttle just out of shooting distance while we were still setting up, with its energy shields on and its weapons fully powered. The two of them stepped out together in their warship's uniform, holding up their great big phaser rifles ready to fire. No, it was not me who had the job of convincing them that we intended them no harm. Algur my brother was in charge of our settlement team at the time, so he was the one who had to step forward to negotiate with them. I didn't envy his duty, but he carried it out admirably. I can tell you though, that Janeway looked quite ready to kill all of us if we gave her enough reason to. Thankfully Algur - rest his soul - did a very fine job of ensuring that she understood our purpose in coming here.
Actually, when she realised our intentions, she rather quickly changed her attitude. She became almost pleasant … for a Human. But I could tell that she still did not trust us, and I do not think that she ever quite did. Maybe it was because we were Vidiian, maybe because of other things that happened to them before we came. Or it may just be a Human trait; friendly and generous on the surface, but always secretly watching and playing for the greatest advantage. That must surely make for a strange and dangerous civilisation that they come from.
Yes, she still is their leader in many ways, but her man is not one to be fooled with either. Vian almost made that mistake with him, and he certainly was quick to let her know it. Yes, I too am glad that she had the sense afterwards to take a good Vidiian man to father her children, instead of him. As I have often said, we do not know if these Humans have any more resistance to the Phage than we, nor the ability to pass it on to their offspring if one of them mated with a Vidiian. I also doubt whether he would ever willingly stray from his wife. Or she from him. One thing that can be said about their pairing, it certainly seems to be a very close and loyal one.
Do you know what's been said of their religion? Many of us have observed Chakotay at his prayers and rituals, but never Janeway. He has even shared a few of them with our people. Maybe it is the men who are the priests in their culture, though … I was always curious about that shrine they had under the tree. Both of them have been seen attending to it, usually sitting beside it, or placing offerings of flowers on it. Sometimes, one of them would even light a replicated candle, or burn incense.
Some claim they have sometimes even see them weep at the shrine; but if one of them ever saw one of us around whilst there, they would always get up, and lead us away from it. Always. I do not know if you have ever seen it yourself – they do not like people asking questions about it, so no one really knows yet what significance it holds for them.
You have not seen it? Then I will describe it to you; it is a patch of ground under a tree near their house, paved with grey stones from the river, and a sectioned circle of white stone in its centre. There is also a decoration of two crossed sticks at one end, and flowers are planted around it. No, it is not very large - a monkey would have had only just enough room to lie down on it. They weed it often, and keep it very tidy.
Just remember that if you ever do get a chance to visit their settlement, do not ever walk on that shrine. Or interfere with anything that is on it. Or go anywhere near it, for that matter. The Humans do not like we Vidiians doing that, and both will ensure that you know how they feel if you did.
Offspring? No, I don't think they ever did – not that any of us know of. A pity, in a way. Our species are so very similar physically. I think a union between one of our offspring and one of theirs would have made for a handsome combination, so long as they did not inherit that ugly low hairline Humans have. But no, there were only the two of them here when we arrived, and that has been the way ever since. If they had been younger when we came, I believe that they might have done differently, but Humans seem to age much like we do, and even when we met them, they already seemed to be past the age of childbearing.
Yes, I too hope they come back soon and grow more of those tomatoes for us. This time, they have been away for unusually long. I have thought of sending someone over to their settlement … and I also heard more odd news today, from someone who had been over there gathering bulbules, and noticed that their shrine had vanished. Come to think of it, perhaps someone should go over to their settlement and take a closer look. If you have time, go find your brother, and go there today. Check near their shrine, and in both their shelters – the wooden one and the other. Return to me as quickly as you can when you're done, and tell me what you find. I still personally believe it was their shuttle that made that big warp flare, but I want to be sure now. Sure that it was not made by their warship coming back for them … and sure they will be coming back again to plant a crop in time for this season.
-o0o-