Disclaimer: Julian isn't mine, and the story is based on characters, ideas, and situations created and owned by Gene Rodenberry and his heirs.
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Julian blinked as he woke up, staring in surprise at the plaster-covered ceiling over his head, lit around the edges with some soft phosphorescence. He had expected the dank interior of a ship's cargo hold, and the hard lattice of open decking beneath him instead of a soft bed. He slowly sat up, his eyes scanning the room.
The floor, and the two doors he spotted were made of a reddish-hued wood, the walls plaster painted a warm red-brown, and there was a window shuttered in the same wood as the floor. Besides the four-poster bed he was in, the room held few other furnishings - a bench beneath the window, and a desk with a chair against the wall opposite the bed. They were all made of wood, only in a walnut color, rather than the reddish wood of the doors and shutters.
He slid out of the bed, intending to explore where the doors led, when the one next to the desk opened, a young woman peering inside. She smiled when she saw him up, and pushed the door the rest of the way open, coming in with a bundle of clothing that she set on the desk.
"I see you're awake. I brought you some clean clothing, so you can get out of that filthy uniform." She frowned, looking him over a moment. "I'd forgotten how dirty the inside of the holds of those ships could be." She shook her head, flashing him another smile. "The bathroom's through the other door, if you want to wash up. I'll just step outside while you change, and you can come on out." She turned to leave, and Julian took two long strides across the room, catching her shoulder before she could leave.
"Where am I?" He was confused, though it didn't show on his face, or in his voice. "And how did I get here?"
She smiled. "You're on Terra Nova, in my house. You were brought here after a check of the holds of the raiders showed they were carrying slaves again, which they aren't allowed to do if they're crossing through our territory." She took his hand from her shoulder. "I'm Meraigyn, by the way. I'll answer any other questions you might have after you wash up, and change. You'll probably feel better for it."
Meraigyn slipped out the door, leaving him to change, with many questions still on his mind. He found the bathroom where she said he would, and raised an eyebrow at the massive tub that occupied its own alcove to one side. There was a shower, fortunately, and he took a moment to figure out how it operated. His dirty uniform went down a chute that was next to the bathtub, and he pulled on the shirt and trousers she'd left him.
Pulling open the door, she saw her curled in a chair in a large room, a book in her lap. Meraigyn looked up when he came out, and set the book aside, uncurling as gracefully as a cat.
"Are you hungry?" She headed for an open archway, looking back over her shoulder. "I have some fruit, or there's other food in the cold box."
"Fruit will be fine, thank you." Julian looked around the room, noting where there were doors, and windows. A spiral staircase stood in one corner, made from wrought iron from the look of it. There was a fireplace, and the one wall was one huge window overlooking a valley filled with what appeared to be fields, and a small town next to the glittering track of a waterway of some sort. "Where is this planet? I've never heard of it before."
"You wouldn't have," came Meraigyn's response from the kitchen. "We're far from the Milky Way, and I doubt anyone back there has the means to travel from one galaxy to another in less than several hundred, possibly thousands of years." She paused, coming out with a basket full of fruit. "Thankfully."
Julian picked out one that resembled an apple. "So we're in another galaxy altogether?" He bit into the red fruit, and found it was tart and tangy, though it tasted more like a citrus fruit than an apple. "How did you get here?"
She sat down in the chair she'd been in earlier, gesturing for him to take one of the other seats. "The same way you, and many other people have. The raiders. The first of us were rescued by the nomads who would use this planet, and the others we've settled, for resupply. They gave us some assistance, and we made the planets far more rewarding supply stops."
Perching on the end of a sofa, he listened as she spoke. "So the raiders have the ability to travel between galaxies, correct?"
"So do the nomads." Meraigyn shrugged. "But we've never really cared. We don't want to go back. Any of us."
"How many people live here from our galaxy?" He finished off the apple, looking for a place to put the core. "Where's the trash receptacle?"
"In the kitchen. The chute next to the outside door." She fell silent until he returned. "As for your other question.... I don't know. Enough to have viable populations of six different species on this planet, as well as populations on three others."
Julian blinked. "Six?"
"Humans, Romulans, Cardassians, Bajorans, Ferengi, and Klingons. We have a scattering of other species, but not enough to constitute a viable population of any of them." She shrugged.
"How do you manage to keep fights from breaking out on a regular basis?" He was intrigued to find out how they'd managed to survive with the clashes that the cultures she'd named often suffered back home.
She looked at him oddly. "We have to work together to survive. There is no room for the kind of whole-sale warfare our parent races have indulged in in the past."
"So there are no fights at all?"
"I'm not saying there are not fights, and there are not disagreements between people, only that there is no warfare between different species." She stood, going to the window, looking out over the valley. "We have spent four hundred years making this work, forging a new life, a new culture that blends those that are brought in. It's been hard work, but it's been worth it." Meraigyn looked over her shoulder at him. "We've even incorporated some of the culture of the nomads who have given us this chance. A whole new galaxy, with many planets that are perfect for colonization, few species that are sentient that could have a claim to this space before we do." She smiled. "It's a wonderful thing, to see a whole new culture emerge from the chaos of a few lonely individuals who have nothing but a few strange faces and their own will to survive."
Julian opened his mouth to speak when the door beside the window opened, and a young man came in. He had the skull ridges of a Klingon, and the grey skin and neck ridges of a Cardassian.
"Morning, Madame Lauriey. Sorry I'm late. Treska had her baby last night, and no one got to sleep until it was over."
Meraigyn turned away from the window, a smile on her face. "It's all right, Kerg. My latest guest woke up this morning, and I've been talking with him."
The boy, Kerg, looked over at Julian, nodding in greeting. "I am Kerg. It's an honor to meet you." He held out his hand, palm up.
Julian stood, taking the proffered hand in a firm grip. "Doctor Julian Bashir." He looked out the window, seeing another person coming to the door. "I'm pleased to meet you as well."
Kerg stepped aside as the door opened again, and a petite Bajoran girl slipped in, followed by another young woman, whose unfinished features made it apparent she was a Changeling.
"Ah, two of my other three proteges. Terya, and Cora." Meraigyn made the introductions. "Terya, Cora, this is my guest, Julian Bashir." She paused, glancing out the window again. "There he is."
A Romulan-Trill boy, who couldn't have been older than five, came rushing through the door, stammering apologies for being late.
"It's ok, Lerik. No one was on time today. And there's someone I want you to meet, my latest guest, Julian Bashir."
The boy looked up, and a bright smile spread over his face. "Hello! My name's Lerik Kenji. Pleased to meet you."
Julian couldn't help but return the boy's smile, noticing it was infectious all around. "It's nice to meet you too, Lerik."
Meraigyn shooed them all to seats, and Julian reclaimed his on the sofa. Kerg had one of the other seats, and Terya plopped down on the other end of the sofa, while Lerik and Cora sat on the floor, all facing towards the chair Meraigyn was in.
"I hope you all have finished something since last week?" There were murmurs all around, and three of them pulled various items from the packs they'd been carrying.
Kerg had a small statuette made of the walnut-hued wood that the furnishings were made from, carved to resemble a Klingon woman, with her hand resting on the shoulder of a boy who looked to be a younger version of Kerg himself. It was polished to a soft gleam, and the young man passed it over to Meraigyn.
Terya pulled out several loose sheets of paper, with pencil sketches on them, of various people. One was Kerg, sitting beneath a tree, the half-finished statuette in one hand, and a carving knife in the other. Another was Lerik with the disassembled parts to something electronic around him, a look of concentration on his face. And one was Cora, shifting from the humanoid form she was currently holding to a large bird.
Lerik drew from his bag a small computer, setting it up, and tapping the keys on the pad to bring up a short movie sequence on the screen. "I don't have it finished, because I had to take apart the computer and put it back together again. It stopped working." The boy shrugged, and there were chuckles from the others.
"And you, Cora. What's this week's bit of insight?" Meraigyn turned her hazel eyes to the Changeling, who shrugged.
"Don't fly in restricted airspace, it's hazardous to your health." A half-grin was on her face as she spoke, and there was another spate of laughter all around. "I got chewed out by half a dozen different officials when I missed seeing the markers at the edge of the space and air field." She sighed. "And I was having so much fun being an eagle."
"And how did your interview with the Academy go?"
Cora's smile faded. "I don't know yet, they haven't contacted me about whether or not I'll get in."
"I'm sure you'll get in, Cora." Lerik smiled at the Changeling. "You'll make a great explorer."
Cora shrugged. "If I do, I do. If I don't, I don't, and I can try again next year."
Julian watched as they fell into discussing the projects they were working on, noting that they were all unique in some fashion. Cora and Kerg were rather obvious, and after a few minutes in Lerik's company, one could see why he was here. Julian didn't think he'd ever met any five year old that could take apart a computer, put it back together, and make it work better than it had before. And Terya... He tilted his head, following the conversation, and watching. She appeared to be an avid artist, drawing, painting, and photographing everything.
"All right. Time for lunch, and then you all have afternoon chores, and don't try to tell me you don't." Meraigyn smiled at her students, and looked over at Julian. "Come on, Julian. I'll take you down into the village after lunch."