Disclaimer: I am not making any money of this fic, nor do I own Star Trek: Voyager, Deep Space Nine, The Next Generation or the original series, or anything else I make references to. If you saw the character on any show, then it is not mine. The same goes for ships, planets, cultures, et cetera. This story will depict a loving relationship between two women and there are no apologies to be made over this. Chapter 8 Title is from "Who's that Girl?" by Madonna.

Genre: Action-Adventure, Drama
Codes: K/7, T/7
Feedback: Please, reviews are the food of the muse…

Home, Chapter 8
Who's that girl...

2373...

Kathryn walked with Jessica, B'Elanna, Tom and Harry on their way to Transporter Room One. The Dracco had met with them and now Janeway and crew were beaming over to be given a tour. As they rounded the corner, they stumbled upon Kes and Neelix, walking down the hall, laughing. The happy couple looked up and Kes smiled warmly while Neelix beamed with good humour.

"Hello, Captain," Kes greeted in her deep voice, smiling.

"Hello, Kes," Janeway answered. She was about to continue down the hall when Neelix interrupted.

"Well, who is this?" he asked, indicating Jessica.

"Jessica, this is Mr. Neelix, our guide to the Delta Quadrant and our ship's new chef. Neelix, this is a representative of the Shashan people," Janeway answered, thinking that perhaps Neelix might have heard of them. "Jessica Rozhen... ko." Kathryn watched in surprise as Neelix dropped to his knees, crossed his wrists and bowed deeply, pressing his arms against his forehead.

"Your majesty. Pardon me for not recognizing you immediately." Jessica looked embarrassed.

"It's okay. I was incognito." Neelix looked up, his eyes wide and began stammering. "Calm down, Mr. Neelix. It's alright. I could only hide it for so long. I'd just hoped for five more minutes of obscurity." Neelix looked at her from what appeared to be an uncomfortable angle. Jessica glanced at Kes, who simply inclined her head.

"Your majesty," she acknowledged in respect. Harry started laughing. B'Elanna smirked. Jessica flinched.

"You may rise, Mr. Neelix. I trust that you're not here to kill me." Neelix stood gratefully.

"Majesty?" Captain Janeway asked. Jessica flinched again.

"Could everybody please quit calling me that? My name is Jessica. I was a lieutenant in Starfleet when I resigned. I'm a fourteen year-old part-human being." Jessica looked agitated.

"No offense, your ma— highness, b-but I thought, somehow, that you'd be taller," Neelix stuttered. Jessica rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, 'seven-feet tall and able to shoot fireballs from my eyes and lightning bolts from my arse,' " Jessica muttered, making B'Elanna laugh. Neelix looked puzzled.

"Well, not quite that tall. I figured that some of the stories got exaggerated."

"What kind of stories?" Kathryn asked, interested.

"Boring stories," Jessica said.

"Not at all!" Neelix protested. "Stories of heroism and courage about the child warrior-queen of Shasha!" Jessica groaned.

" 'Child warrior-queen,' huh?" B'Elanna asked slowly.

"I'm never going to hear the end of this," Jessica muttered.

"Oh, come on, Jess. Regale us with some stories of your exploits," Harry teased.

"You know—if we were on Shaola, I could kill you where you stand for teasing me." Harry just grinned wider in the face of Jessica's threat. Jessica tried to look fierce, but sagged when she realized that it wasn't working.

"Thank you, Mr. Neelix, it's been a pleasure meeting you and your lovely companion. Miss Kes," Jessica inclined her head and walked quickly away from the confused pair. She was halfway down the corridor when she stopped and looked behind her, gesturing that everyone should be following her. B'Elanna and Harry both had amused smiles on their faces, Tom looked as though he didn't know what to think and Janeway was... intrigued.

The group was quick to follow.

…

"Welcome to the Dracco, Captain Janeway. May you and your crew enjoy all that our ship has to offer."

"Like real food instead of replicated or vegetarian meals." Jessica chimed in as she stepped off the transporter platform.

"It's just a relief to see someone out here that has transporters, so we don't have to keep explaining what they are," Kathryn said, lightly. Luii chuckled.

"Yeah, this is the backwater area. Not a lot of technological advances. We do have replicators, too, but we only use them for water, really. Everything else, we grow and clone. We have a hydroponics bay, an arboretum, a garden and an animal range as well as a galley to prepare it all." Tarrel indicated that they should follow him.

"Doesn't that pose health problems?" Janeway asked.

"We're used to their presence, and we're already immune to any disease they might carry. Shaola's an agricultural planet, no high-tech cities, no pollution, nothing but land and animals," Luii said as the group followed him. "Don't get me wrong, everyone has a computer console in their home, we have the ability to control the weather to avoid natural disasters and we have replimats for the poor, so they do not go hungry. We just like to keep our air breathable and the rainfall clean."

"Lots of rain," Jessica added.

"It sounds like a paradise." B'Elanna said. Luii looked at her and stopped the group.

"Indeed it is. But paradise never comes easy and we've worked for it. Believe me, we had to reach our lowest point before it came about."

"Our planet was ravaged by fires and famine only five years ago, so badly that Shaola was almost unrecoverable." Jessica explained.

"Jessica is the reason we've worked it out. Our last Queen abused her power, raped the land... and the people. She cared nothing for anything but her own luxury and excess. Jessica came home to us in our darkest hour and removed her from power."

"Removed... how?" Kathryn asked. Jessica looked her in the eye.

"I always offer an alternative. But she made it obvious that there was no redemption for her. She was removed... permanently. Our people are much like Klingons, only with a dedication to peace." Janeway looked back to Tarrel, processing the information.

"Your ship will set down just outside the main city to be repaired. Our atmosphere makes transporting to and from the surface impossible, and your phased energy weapons will be useless. As a result, we will offer you arms for the time you are on the planet, if you feel the need. However, you will not be allowed to walk into government or scientific buildings with projectiles or swords, only personal weapons will be permitted such as daggers."

Janeway was nervous about this suddenly, not liking the idea that she wouldn't be able to call for a transport immediately or take phasers with her. But she realized that the Shashans were trying to make provisions toward making them more comfortable and she felt uncomfortable refusing. They needed the help repairing the ship, but having only just met these people, she was reluctant to put so much trust into them.

She looked up and saw Captain Tarrel looking at her and she suddenly remembered that the Shashan people were telepaths.

"I suppose you already know what my answer will be," Kathryn said, a little defensively. Luii looked surprised.

"I wouldn't presume to know your mind, Captain. I am waiting for your answer." This made Kathryn immediately regret assuming, but just to make certain she asked:

"You didn't just hear everything I was thinking?" This time, Luii looked insulted.

"That would be extremely rude, Captain, as well as a violation of the trust I am attempting to build between us. Also, you are a woman." His last sentence confused Janeway, though the rest left her embarrassed.

"I am sorry, Captain. Your Queen had previously impressed upon me that your society allowed for one to read another person's thoughts." Luii looked amused and Jessica blushed.

"Jessica is but a baby when it comes to psychic discipline. Her powers were repressed as a child and she is still learning. Blocking thought comes easier with age and usually, by the age of two, we are masters. But when you must learn later in life, then the abilities come slower. If you add the fact that she has the strongest mental powers among our people, it is no easy task blocking the thoughts of those who do not know how to shield them." Janeway looked apologetically at Jessica, who shrugged.

"Again, I apologize."

"Accepted," Luii said and bowed slightly. "You are learning about our culture, mistakes are bound to surface." Janeway smiled.

"I'm glad you understand that. Now, what did you mean earlier, about my being a woman?"

"I was saying that even if we had agreed that 'reading your mind' were appropriate behavior, it would not be appropriate for me to do so, as you are a woman. Though our ranks are the same, I would still require further permission." Kathryn looked about to ask another question when Jessica spoke up.

"My people are still a little sexist, Captain. Luii is the first male captain in our starship fleet. Quite an accomplishment for him, it would be the equivalent of a woman on Earth in the Seventeenth or Eighteenth Century captaining a sailing vessel. Though men are allowed on our vessels and always have been, the idea of them raising in rank above a woman is... avant-garde."

"And also instigated by our newest Queen." Luii added, smiling. Jessica shrugged with a half-smile.

"It's about the biggest step I could institute as a first measure. Attitudes are changing, as they always do, especially amongst the young, and the male-rights movement on my planet has finally arisen. Though it has nowhere near as much to fight for as women did on Earth," Jessica added as an afterthought. Luii and Kathryn looked at each other, both acknowledging the prejudice that they had faced because of gender, though Kathryn felt worse for Luii, since his came from his own race.

"Then I wish you luck, Captain Tarrel, and congratulations."

"Well, now that that bit of cultural exposure is over, how about we plunge you in the rest of the way? I will part ways with you now, as I desperately want to eat and take a shower. Feel free to call on me when you're done with the tour and I'll give you a Q and A session." Jessica waved to the group, and then stepped out of existence. Kathryn's jaw dropped.

"Where did she go?" Tom asked. Luii looked after her.

"She's showing you one of the most advanced abilities of our people. She just stepped out of time/space. It allows a few of us to travel more quickly and over larger distances. In effect, she thought herself elsewhere. The journey never actually happens; it is as if space folds to allow passage."

"How far can this ability allow you to travel?" Janeway asked, immediately fascinated.

"Its distance is unmeasured. Theoretically infinite, one must know the exact distance on all planes between destinations. Also, one must know exactly where one is going, what it looks like, et cetera. Just like a transporter, only biological and unrestrained by distance. In theory."

"Can you do it?' B'Elanna asked. Luii blushed.

"I am one of the few males who has the talent, yes. In fact, as far as we know, of our seventeen billion Shashan cousins living in our space, approximately only twelve thousand, six hundred have this ability."

"That is rare." Harry said.

"Yes. And half of them live on Shaola herself."

"Where is Shaola?" Kathryn asked, suddenly realizing that they might be going out of their way.

"Shasha Alpha Three, twenty-four light-years towards the 'Beta Quadrant' as you call it."

"So it should take how long to reach your planet? Five days?" Tom asked, mentally calculating.

"At warp 9.2, yes." Luii said. "But we operate well above your ship's maximum speed. It will only take three days, as we are traveling at warp 9.7, a reduced speed to compensate for the weak structural integrity of your ship." Then he looked alarmed. "Unless that is too fast for Voyager in her condition."

"Not at all," Kathyn said, quickly. "But what speed do you normally travel at?"

"Well, you do not have a measure for it. Our maximum speed is around four-hundred-thousand times the speed of light." Janeway's jaw dropped. That was a little more than twice the speed of the fastest Federation ship ever built. Voyager's maximum warp, 9.99 was only 7,912 times the speed of light, making her look like a snail in comparison to the Shashan ship. Especially considering she could only sustain 9.975, which was only around five-thousand times, for any length of time.

"Wow." B'Elanna said, giving Kathryn the distinct impression that she had been thinking along the same lines. Luii stood a little taller at that.

"No offense, captain, but how old are you?" Harry asked. Luii turned to him and smiled.

"You don't want to know. Shall we continue the tour?"

"Absolutely," B'Elanna said. "But now I'm curious, too. You don't look old enough to captain a starship."

"It's all I've ever wanted to do. I've been studying it since I was a boy. I'm still a boy by your standards, younger than you, Ensign," Luii said, turning to Harry. "I'm sixteen."

"Are all your captains so young?" Janeway asked.

"No. Jessica and I are the exceptions. Though you may think she is a captain because she is Queen, I assure you, that is not the case. She studied harder and more thoroughly than even I, and I had to be the best to compete with the women. Only three other captains in the fleet are under twenty-five."

"Your ship is cooler than ours." Tom said suddenly, bringing up something that Kathryn had been noticing. "But the humidity seems higher." Luii nodded.

"Our planet, as Jessica pointed out, is very rainy. So much rain falls that we have sixteen different classifications for the stuff and three dozen different words. That is one of the reasons we do not have a nudity taboo, which you shall probably notice fairly soon. Spacefaring Shashans are required to wear clothing when interacting with other species, but on ship, not all adhere to the regulations. Some find clothing restraining or encumbering, others just prefer to be naked.

"And as for why it is cooler, that is because we can't tolerate high temperatures very well. But it is a bit cool, because it is cool on the main continent of Shaola and we like to keep our ships the same temperature as the homeworld, so we can be reminded of those we leave behind and to know what they are experiencing—at least in part." After his speech, Luii began the tour.

To be continued…