Disclaimer - I don't own Star Trek: Voyager or Voltron Legendary Defender. This is written for Froday Flash Fiction Challenge. Specifically, it is for the January little special for 2022 where one is to write 100/200/300-word stories, but this one is for the Focus on Female Characters collection. The idea popped into my head when I went to see female character was focused on in the oldest stories posted to the collection and the first one I recognized was Janeway, but then this little piece popped into my head.
Captain Mother
"I think I wouldn't have, had we been back on Earth."
"Pardon?"
Janeway lifted the glass to her lips, her eyes focused on her preteen daughter, now at the cusp of her teenage years. "I wonder if they'll let me continue to captain the ship when we get back or force me to retire."
They discovered the old relic of alien technology on some long-forgotten planet, but they didn't expect to find much of anything when Janeway's crew entered. It was better to not get their hopes up regarding finding things that might help them on their journey back home to Earth in the same way it was best not to get their hopes up regarding ever finding their way home.
Yet there in that stasis pod, the only one left intact—
Janeway went to look for herself, but when the pod released, she found herself reaching out to the tiny tyke and taking the naked babe into her arms, bouncing her up and down while humming a soft sound to calm the child as the babe nestled into her chest.
"She is not Vulcan," Tuvok said. "Or Romulan, for that matter."
"She looks to be," Janeway murmured as she noted the marks on the child's face.
Tuvok was right, yet also wrong. While the Altean race was neither Vulcan nor Romulan, the race was genetically similar, which meant their medical hologram could properly treat Allura when the need arose. Even with the genetic similarity, it was Janeway the child attached to.
"Why wouldn't they?" Chakotay asked.
Janeway laughed. "They don't expect women to be both captains and mothers, now do they?"
"Not in my culture. Ridiculous, to be honest."
"Well, what will be will be," Janeway took another drink, wanting the best for her daughter—for her beautiful daughter.