CHAPTER FOUR:
FASTER THAN A SPEEDING HORMONE
The Federation Starship Voyager, somewhere in the Delta Quadrant
2376 CE / Stardate 53847.7
Gabrielle moaned with satisfaction as the waves of pleasure finally bagan to abate. A dark head slid up her body and the smiling face of her lover poked out from beneath the soft sheets. "Gods, that was incredible, Xena" she acknowledged lovingly as her fingers tangled in the warrior's dishevelled hair.
"I'm glad you approve, Your Majesty" came the teasing reply.
Gabrielle giggled as the warrior settled next to her and pulled her into strong arms, a sigh of contentment escaping from her lips. "I really have to do something about that," she agreed, "the Amazons are bad enough, calling me 'my queen' all the time, but I really can't put up with 'your majesty' for too much longer." She reached up slightly to kiss her spouse and asked innocently, "what do you think, Highness?" squealing with delight as Xena pounced and began to tickle her in earnest.
The few hours they had been on board had been a voyage of discovery for the couple, almost everything they saw leaving them breathless with wonder. They had not experienced most of the technology directly, (except for their initial encounter with the holodeck) but the captain had tried to explain the basics to them and had shown them how to use the replicator in their quarters. They both loved their quarters, and in particular their enormous, luxurious bed. Xena, of course, had become used to a certain amount of luxury in her days as a warlord, but her makeshift fortresses and camps, for all their wealth, could not compare with Voyager for comfort and convenience. Gabrielle, was like a kid in a sweet shop and Xena had lost count of the number of 'oohs' and 'ahs' that had eminated from her wife during their short stay in the twenty-fourth century. It was a lot to take in all at once and they had soon had enough for one day but, escaping to the peace and quiet of their quarters, neither of them had been able to sleep, and so they had filled the night with pleasure and love, only dosing off when they were too exhausted to continue.
Their giggles and squeals were interrupted by the chirp of one of the two commbadges that had been issued to them shortly after their arrival. "Yeah?" Xena replied breathlessly, remembering afterwards that she had to tap the thing to get it to work. Gabrielle reached out onto the bedside table and tapped gently on the badge, as she had been taught. "Hello?" she enquired tentatively, feeling like an idiot for talking to no one in particular.
"Good morning" came the voice of B'Elanna Torres out of thin air, taking Gabrielle by surprise, even though she had been expecting it, "did you sleep well? I hope I didn't wake you."
"That's alright, B'Elanna," Xena replied with a wicked smile at her wife, "we were already wide awake."
The Klingon chief engineer had got on with the couple from the first moment, sensing that she had a lot in common with them, particularly with the Warrior Princess. Xena was fascinated by her bat'leth and had made her promise to show her how to use it, in return for a lesson with her own sword, though they both suspected there wasn't much they could teach eachother.
"I thought you might like to join me in the messhall for breakfast," Torres suggested, "and afterwards I could give you a proper tour. I have a day off today and I don't have any other plans."
"That sounds great, B'Elanna," enthused Gabrielle, "but where is the 'messhall'?"
"And, more to the point," asked Xena dubiously "what is it?"
A chuckle came down the commline as the young Klingon explained, "it's the place we go to eat. Don't worry about finding it, I'll come and collect you. I'll be there in ten minutes."
* * * * * *
"I don't know why you call it a messhall," said Gabrielle as the doors to 10 Forward swished open, "it seems pretty clean and tidy to me."
"It's not that kind of mess, Your Majesty" came the amused tones of the captain from behind them and all three of them turned to face the commanding officer of Voyager. "It's an old Earth term for a military canteen or restaurant," she explained as she stepped through the doors, "it used to be just for officers but we've become a bit more inclusive now." She smiled warmly and added "I hope you slept well."
"Fine, thank you, Captain" Xena replied smoothly, with a surreptitious sideways glance at Gabrielle.
"Good," smiled Janeway and then, as if noticing her for the first time, acknowledged "Lieutenant" with a little nod of her auburn head.
B'Elanna reddened almost indescernibly as she replied "morning, Captain. I invited Xena and Gabrielle to breakfast, would you...care to join us?"
Janeway's smile of acceptance was just on the edge of unwitting flirtatiousness as she answered "thank you, Lieutenant. I'd be delighted."
Anyone less observant than the celebrated Battling Bard of Potedeia would not have noticed the subtle interplay of emotion between the two women, but Gabrielle smiled enigmatically to herself and filed the seemingly insignificant incident away in her prodigious mind.
Neelix was beside himself with excitement at the presence of such august company in his messhall. Since the arrival of the visitors on Voyager, he had been reading up about them and their exploits and had become hooked on their story. "Welcome, welcome, Queen of the Amazons and Warrior Princess!" he almost squeaked, rushing forward with hands outstretched, his whiskers twitching with excitement, "it's such an honour to meet you both."
Gabrielle and Xena smiled, both attempting valliantly to hold back their laughter and carefully not looking at eachother. Captain Janeway stepped forward and motioned at the furry Talaxian, "this is Neelix," she introduced, "our cook, our morale officer, our ambassador......our friend" and Neelix flushed with pride.
When they were seated at a table he placed a plate before each of them and announced breathily, "I've been doing a little research and I...I took the liberty of recreating an old Greek dish, to....to make you feel at home."
"Thank you, Neelix," acknowledged Gabrielle, graciously, but having looked at the mess on her plate asked tentatively "what is it?"
"It's called Moussaka" he replied, a little crestfallen, "the databank assures me it's Greek."
"Perhaps it's a little after our time," suggested Xena, "but it will be interesting to see what our descendants are eating. Thank you, Neelix."
Experienced in, and therefore wary of Neelix's culinary experiments, B'Elanna and Kathryn held back. Xena was unwilling to be the first to try the unpromissing looking meal (wondering silently whether this was why the room was called a 'mess' hall) and looked expectantly at Gabrielle as she took an unsure mouthful. A broad smile spread over the bard's face as, with mouth still full, she enthused "Mmmh, Neelix, it's wonderful!" tucking in with gusto. Neelix was so happy he thought he might explode with pride and to prevent that happening in public he scuttled back to his kitchen to prepare some fruit for dessert. The two Starfleet officers were reassured by their new friend's reaction and almost simultaneously picked up their forks, but Xena laid a hand on the captain's arm and informed her "uh, Captain, I wouldn't put too much faith in Gabrielle's reaction to food. She tends to enjoy anything that's edible and...quite a few things that aren't."
"Hey!" the bard responded huffily, "that's not fair!"
"Oh really?" asked the warrior, turning to face her lover with a teasing smile on her face and offering her an imaginary plate. "Raw squid, My Queen?" she asked innocently.
Gabrielle giggled mirthlessly. "Okay," she said, putting down her fork and nodding her head lightly, "that was completely different. Besides, it was your fault, you did something to my sense of taste."
"Well it was either that or watch you throw up everything you'd eaten for the previous week."
"Xena!" the bard admonished in a horrified tone, "there's people trying to eat here!"
"Sorry" the warrior said, not really sounding convincing, but leant in to plant a soft, apologetic kiss on her wife's cheek.
After a private exchange of amuzed and loving glances, the two women seemed to remember they were not alone and Xena turned to their companions to explain. "Gabrielle has a thing about ships. They make her kind of....well...ill" she elucidated, adding "sometimes colourfully so."
The captain laughed lightly and nodded "I see. And the raw squid?"
Xena shook her dark head and grimaced. "Gabrielle's right, Captain" she admitted "that's not a story to be told over a meal."
B'Elanna grinned as if she was in on the secret and noted "well you're on a ship now, Your Majesty, and you seem to be okay."
"Yes," the bard agreed, "but this is different. I mean it doesn't even feel like we're moving at all."
"Oh, that's the inertial dampers," B'Elanna explained, "I can assure you, we are moving."
As she tucked in to her own meal, Xena asked out of couriosity "exactly how fast are we going, Captain."
"Warp 3" came the reply, "in your terms that would be about 11,700,000 kms a second."
Simultaneously Xena and Gabrielle froze with their forks half way to their mouths and stared unbelievingly at the captain. Xena was the first to find her voice but was less successful at controlling it. "11....uh...million...uhm...er..a second!?" she stammered.
"That's right, Highness" came the calm reply.
"Wow! That's....that's fast!" came Gabrielle's stunned, breathy tones.
"Not really," B'Elanna informed her, "Voyager is technically capable of Warp 9.9. That's about eighty times our present speed."
There was a clatter as Gabrielle dropped her fork and went extremely pale.
* * * * * *
"Did you see that?" Xena asked her wife as the couple walked out of the captain's readyroom after their first 'lesson' in Federation ethics. "mh'hm" replied Gabrielle, "I've been noticing it since we got here."
"What?" enquired Torres, as she showed them into the turbolift.
"Oh, nothing" Gabrielle denied nonchalantly, flashing a surreptitious, knowing smile at Xena.
"I saw that look," accused the engineer, "what is it?" and smiling wickedly, Xena slowly bent down to whisper loudly in the Klingon's ear, "I think she likes you."
B'Elanna looked genuinely puzzled as she enquired "who? What are you talking about?"
"Who do you think? The goddess Artemis," Gabrielle said sacastically, but when that didn't alleviate the engineer's confusion she rolled her eyes and added "the captain" with a gesture designed to emphasise that she was stating the painfully obvious.
The young Klingon turned beetroot red and spluttered "don't be ridiculous!" but her tone was far from convincing. Gabrielle stepped up to the woman's side and added softly, "you like her too, don't you?"
B'Elanna began to fidget and her blush deepened impossibly. Looking between the expectant eyes of the two women, she acknowledged "I think we've....become friends" and gave a brief, uncomfortable smile as she tried to calm herself down.
"Friends?" asked Gabrielle, "is that all?"
"Yes, what else could there be?" B'Elanna asked sadly, "she's the captain."
"B'Elanna," sighed the bard, "the sexual tension between you two is almost tangible and there's clearly some emotional feelings too. She is a woman, you know."
"Yes," came the desolate reply, "a woman who happens to be the captain of this ship and my commanding officer."
When the couple saw how desperately unhappy this situation made their new friend, they decided to drop the subject. It was not until they were alone in their private quarters that evening, enjoying the sensuous experience that the large bath afforded, that they took it up again. "B'Elanna's in love" observed Gabrielle as she settled back into Xena's arms, fitting neatly between her long legs.
"In love?" enquired the warrior, running her hand through her wife's golden hair, "do you think it's that serious?"
"I do" replied the bard.
"And what about the captain?" Xena asked, trusting her wife's instincts completely in these matters.
"It's hard to tell. She's so reserved."
"I'll say," agreed her spouse, "do you think she ever relaxes?"
Gabrielle took a deep breath and slowly let it out as she melted into the wamth of the water around her and the body behind her. "I don't know," she mused, "but I'm sure she has feelings for B'Elanna and she's trying to supress or deny them or something."
"That's really sad" Xena said, running her hands down Gabrielle's body.
"Hmmm" replied the bard softly. The sound was partly an agreement and partly a sigh of contentment as Xena's hand lightly cupped her breast, the other sliding down below the water line. "Mmmhh, Xena," moaned the young woman as the warrior's long fingers found what they were looking for, "what are you doing?"
"Just exploring," her wife explained tenderly, "this is a ship of exploration, isn't it?"
End of Chapter Four
