TITLE: "Boldly Going Where No Woman...
AUTHOR: BadGrrl
RATING: NC-17, explicit f/f sexual activity.
PAIRING: Zhaan/Chiana
SUMMARY: Chiana acts on her attraction to Aeryn during a strange occurance on board Moya.
DISCLAIMER: These characters belong to Henson, SciFi, etc, and no copyright infringement is intended by their use. The story itself is copyright BadGrrl, 1999.
FEEDBACK: Yes, please! badgrrl812@mailcity.com

Chiana couldn't stay in her quarters one microt longer. She had felt very restless since joining Moya, and desperately wanted someone to talk to. The others still treated her like a naughty child, and she hated the feeling that she, yet again, did not fit in with the others. That feeling had plagued her throughout her life, and she was beginning to think that she never truly would find a home where she belonged.

Blinking back tears, and hating herself for it, Chiana began walking quickly through the maze of corridors. Lost in her own black thoughts, she almost passed the terrace before she realized that she was not the only one still up so late.

Realizing that she had not been noticed, Chiana stopped just outside the entrance, leaning into the shadows, and willing herself invisible. If she was good at anything, it was hiding. She slowed her breathing and attempted to hear the conversation between John and Aeryn. From the looks on their faces, it was a serious talk. This could be interesting, Chiana thought to herself. She had been intrigued with the two of them from the beginning. They tried to hide their feelings for each other, but it was obvious to her that they were closer than they let on. For the thousandth time, Chiana looked at Aeryn, and wished that she had the guts to follow through on her own feelings. She raked her eyes over Aeryn's long legs, and flat sculpted belly, and felt her breath catch in her throat. Never, in a million cycles, will she ever be attracted to me. Its obvious what she likes. Chiana kept watching until John leaned in close and kissed Aeryn softly on the lips. Chiana felt her stomach clench, and quickly turned away and run back to her quarters.

Stupid, stupid, stupid! What the frell did you expect? She couldn't hold back the tears any longer, and she was sobbing by the time she threw herself down on her bed. She cried herself to sleep, feeling absolutely sick.

She awoke the next morning still very depressed. She wondered if she would even be able to look Aeryn in the eyes. What difference does it make, she barely speaks to me at all. Chiana wondered why Aeryn was so cold to her. Perhaps she thinks I'm going to try to get with John. In spite of her black mood, she smiled faintly. If she only knew!. Chiana had never cared much for men, other than to manipulate them to suit her needs. Just one more thing that had set her apart from her fellow Nebari. Same sex relationships were deemed irrational, and were taboo on her home world. Those who did not see it that way learned to play along with the game, or were "mentally cleansed." Chiana refused to go along with either option. Since leaving her home world, she had finally found a like-minded female along the way. But when she had been captured, the Sebacean woman had gone back to her family. It still made her happy to remember her friend, and for a moment she concentrated on how Kaleya had looked, and smelled and felt when she was pressed against her. And for a brief moment, she was at peace.

Then Chiana opened her eyes and looked around her quarters. It still felt like a prison cell. She didn't believe it would ever feel like a home. And that's all I've ever wanted, a place to call home. She doubted that she would find such a place while travelling on Moya. But for now, she had no choice. At least here was far away from Nebari.

Chiana really didn't feel like talking to any of her crewmates, but her stomach loudly reminded her that breakfast was a good idea. After washing her face and cleaning up, she started down the corridor to the mess hall.

The rest of the crew was already up, and preparing this and that for the first meal of the day. A look passed between John and Aeryn when Chiana came in, a look that did not go unnoticed by Chiana. Her heart leapt into her throat when the thought crossed her mind that maybe they had seen her running away last night. Oh no, please, no. They didn't SEE me there, did they? She calmed herself down enough to walk in and get some food. Trying to act as normal as she could, she sat down next to Zhaan, and tried to engage her in conversation. Avoiding Aeryn's eyes, she concentrated fully on eating and talking to Zhaan. She tried to dismiss her earlier intuition, and left the mess hall wondering if it hadn't just been her imagination. I was careful, they couldn't have seen me. Then she remembered her state of mind and how quickly she had turned and ran. Perhaps in her haste, she had forgotten to be invisibly quiet. Her memories of the night before were fuzzy; she had been so upset. She truly could not be sure of what she had done. Sighing, she decided that what was done was done, and couldn't be changed. Just one more reason for Aeryn to dislike me. Now she will never trust me. It seemed like her life would always be this way. Lonely.

Part 2.

"Maybe I should try to talk to her, Aeryn, I mean she really looked upset this morning, no matter how hard she tried to hide it."

"Its obvious, John! That's exactly want she wants you to do! She's just trying to get your attention..."

"Well, she doesn't exactly feel welcome here. I know how she feels. I don't see the harm in..."

"Well I do! She wants you for herself, John, are all humans this dense?"

"Don't start with the stupid human rap, Aeryn. Why don't you just admit what's really going on. You're jealous."

"JEALOUS! Of that little pest? Never!"

"No, Aeryn, you're just being the sensible, clear-minded thinker you always are, right? What's the harm in talking to her?"

If looks could kill, I'd be a corpse right now, John thought to himself. Aeryn stalked away, furious with him. Jeez, and its not even lunchtime. I will never figure out females, of any species.

Aeryn set out to find Chiana and set her straight. No matter what John thought, it was obvious to her what that manipulative little brat was up to. She wanted John, and was upset at seeing the two of them together last night on the terrace. And if something wasn't done right now, she believed that Chiana would do whatever it took to get him. It had taken Aeryn months to come to terms with her attraction to John, irritating as he was, and even longer to do something about it. Even now, she was loath to show any public displays of affection, and was angered that they had been spied on.

Determined to straighten her out, Aeryn headed right for Chiana's quarters. She was so wrapped up in her own thoughts of what she was going to say to her, that she almost didn't notice the tiny shudder that ran through Moya. Must be another effect of the pregnancy, She thought, dismissing any worry, and concentrating on the confrontation she was heading towards. Aeryn rounded the last corner and was about to reach Chiana's quarters, when suddenly all the lights went out. Moya lurched sickeningly and she nearly lost her balance. Chiana ran out in the hall to see what had happened, but nearly fell on top of Aeryn as the living ship tossed them around again.

"What the frell is happening!" Chiana yelled to Aeryn.

"I have no idea! Pilot! What is going on?" Aeryn tried to calm her pounding heart, but had trouble when Pilot did not answer.

"Pilot! John! D'Argo! Can anyone hear me?" Silence.

"Now what do we do?" Chiana tried to keep the fear out of her voice, but didn't do a very good job of it.

"Let's get out of the..." Aeryn stopped when she heard unfamiliar voices coming towards them. Chiana put her hand on Aeryn's arm and pulled her the opposite way of the voices. Quickly the two women silently padded down the long corridor, trying to put as much distance between themselves and the intruders as possible. Aeryn had a hard time keeping track of where Chiana was going in the near total darkness. I wonder why the emergency lighting is not on? Her stomach clenched in fear as she realized the intruders had done something to the power supply, totally cutting off almost every system, even environmentals. There was no air being cycled, in this part of the ship anyway. The air was quickly becoming stale. She gasped when she felt Chiana suddenly pull her into a tiny room she didn't even know existed. She felt rather than saw Chiana moving up a ladder into a crawl space just above them. She quickly followed her. As she climbed up into the room, Chiana pulled the ladder up with them and pulled the door shut, sealing the entrance they had used.

"They'll never find us in here!" Chiana sounded pleased with herself.

"How did you know this was here? I've been through this corridor hundreds of times, and I never saw it." Aeryn spoke quietly, afraid of alerting the unwelcome visitors to their location.

"Don't worry, you can scream your head off, they'll never hear you. This room is sealed tight. All Leviathans are pretty similar in physiology. Every one I've ever been on has had these little hidey-holes. Very convenient for non-paying passengers, wouldn't you say? Do you think those are Peacekeepers?"

"I have no idea, but it's definitely possible. But how did they get on board without alerting Pilot? This is bad." Aeryn suddenly stopped talking when the low hum she hadn't even noticed before stopped. Dead silence filled the small space. The very last of the power had been cut off. Not even the doors would open now. They were trapped.

"What's wrong, Aeryn, what happened?"

"The base power has shut off. The doors won't open now. Nothing on this entire ship is operational. Frell. We should have gone to the cargo bay, then we could have gotten into my Prowler..."

"And been blown up on the way out? Do you really think these people are unarmed?"

Aeryn realized Chiana was right and blew out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding in. Aeryn resigned herself to the situation. At least they didn't seem to be in any immediate danger.

"OK, Chiana, we seem to be stuck here for the moment. I guess we should just make the best of it."

Part 3

John was heading back to command when the lights suddenly went out, and the ship tossed him around. He stumbled and would have fallen flat on his face, if D'Argo hadn't broken his fall. He found himself face to face with the Luxan, and was very, very glad the lights were out.

"Would you get off me, Crichton?" D'Argo was none too pleased with his new blanket.

"Sure thing. What is going on?" John asked as he got back to his feet and peered around the darkness.

"We seemed to have lost power. Pilot, what are you reading?" Zhaan was as calm as ever.

"Pilot?" No answer.

"D'Argo, do you think you can make it to Pilot's chamber in the dark?" Zhaan asked.

"On my way." D'Argo moved quickly in the darkness towards Pilot's chamber.

John and Zhaan suddenly heard lots of footsteps moving quickly towards them. Suddenly command was full of tiny, glowing beings, chattering in a language not even the translator microbes could make much sense of. It was just too fast to comprehend. The creatures didn't even come up to John's waist.

"OK, Zhaan, this is too weird. We're being attacked by glow-in-the-dark Muchkins?" John's voice was incredulous. "What are they saying?"

"I can't understand them either, John." Zhaan seemed to be losing a bit of her cool.

The beings moved as a unit down the hall, the translator microbes having the odd effect of making their voices sound lower and almost insidious as they moved further away.

"What the hell? What do they want?"

"What the yotz is going on!?" Rygel floated in on his throne, bumping into things in the darkness.

"We don't know, Rygel. Some beings have come onboard, but we can't understand them. The microbes are having strange results with their language."

"Well get them out of here! It's almost time to eat..."

"Rygel, do you ever think of anything else? Where are Aeryn and Chiana? Has anyone seen them since the lights went out?" John seemed to be getting more agitated the longer the lights were off.

"Who cares! I'm starving!"

"Listen here, you little toad,"

"Crichton! Rygel! Stop it! We have to figure out what is going on. Let's see what D'Argo says when he gets back. Maybe Pilot has an explanation..."

"Pilot is as puzzled as we are." D'Argo seemed even grumpier than before he left. "All of the power has been diverted to...somewhere. He doesn't know where. Even the base power is off now."

"Well, it must be the day-glow babies. Where did they go?"

Almost before he could get the words out, the glowing beings rounded the corner, and circled around them, still moving in a unit. John could almost swear that they were singing.

"What is your purpose for invading our ship?" D'Argo bellowed.

The beings didn't seem to hear, or at least didn't understand what D'Argo had said. Then suddenly they stopped in front of Rygel and began to dance around him, joyfully singing and moving in unison.

"This is the weirdest thing I have ever seen." John said slowly, meaning every word of it.

Part 4

Time seemed to be moving very slowly in the tiny crawl space the girls were sharing. The tension between the two women was almost tangible. Aeryn was still upset with Chiana, and Chiana desperately wanted to tell Aeryn how she felt. But neither seemed willingly to be the first to talk. Then finally after an agonizing silence, Aeryn spoke.

"I was coming to speak to you about something, Chiana. About Crichton and me. We...we saw you last night, running down the hall. Were you spying on us?" Aeryn spoke softly, her anger mostly gone due to the life-threatening situation they were in.

"I wasn't trying to spy on you. I was just walking, trying to sort out my thoughts, and I saw the two of you, and..."

"And you stopped to watch us."

"No. Well, yes. But..."

"No, Chiana, you were spying. I've seen the way you look at John. Do you think you are going to come between us? Because..." Aeryn stopped when Chiana began to giggle. "What's so funny?"

"I'm sorry. It's just that, you think I want John?"

Suddenly they heard footsteps below them, and muffled voices that sounded very strange. Chiana almost jumped out of her skin, and gasped. They sounded so close. Unconsciencly, she grabbed Aeryn's arm with both hands. Scared to death and grateful for the contact, Aeryn reached out for Chiana and put her arm around her waist. The women sat there, holding each other for what seemed like an eternity. Then the scary voices moved away, until they couldn't hear them anymore. Chiana felt her heart slow down when she couldn't hear any noises below them anymore. Then she felt her heart start pounding for a different reason. Aeryn still had her arm around her, and the nape of her neck was mere inches away from her lips. She felt the desire to kiss her well up inside her. She wondered why Aeryn wasn't moving away, now that the danger seemed to have passed them by.

Aeryn was loath to admit it to herself, but holding Chiana just felt right. It must be lack of oxygen, it's making my thoughts fuzzy. But she knew deep down that they hadn't been in there very long, not long enough to have used up the oxygen. Still, she made no effort to pull herself away from Chiana. She felt her breath on her neck, and felt a wave of pleasure at the sensation. Why did it feel so good?

Realizing that Aeryn was not moving away, Chiana decided it was now or never. They both might be dead in the next arn, so what did she have to lose? She closed her eyes, and softly kissed the curve of Aeryn's neck. She heard Aeryn gasp at the contact, but she still did not move away. Feeling bolder, Chiana kissed her neck again, flicking her tongue across her smooth skin. Aeryn moaned and moved closer, searching for her mouth. She found it, and kissed her lips gently at first, then more passionately. Chiana probed her mouth gently with her tongue, savoring the taste of her. She almost felt out of her body, she was so astounded at what was happening. Am I dreaming? Or is this really happening? Then all thoughts left her mind as Aeryn pushed her down onto her back, kissing her more urgently. She reached a tentative hand up to rub her nipple, and gasped when Aeryn did at the contact. She nearly fainted with desire when Aeryn sat up and pulled her top up over her head. She fervently wished the lights were on so she could see her beautiful new lover. Chiana sat up and kissed Aeryn's breast, flicking the nipple with her tongue. Aeryn threw her head back and moaned with pleasure. She pulled Chiana up to her knees and tried to take her body suit off. Chiana helped her, getting undressed as quickly as she could. She flipped Aeryn over onto her back, and kissed her deeply, reveling in the feeling of her naked body covering Aeryn's. She worked her way down Aeryn's neck, kissing every part of her she had ever dreamed of kissing. She suckled each breast, making Aeryn's hips buck underneath her. She was astounded at how responsive Aeryn was to her touch. Chiana moved her hand down to Aeryn's waistband, and helped her out of her pants. She slowly moved her hand across Aeryn's stomach, and brushed the inside of her thigh with a soft touch. Aeryn responded by opening her legs wide, encouraging her on. She brushed the soft curls, and was delighted to find her very wet. She moved her hand slowly over her sex, reveling in the way it felt under her hand. Aeryn was breathing hard, and moaning softly, enjoying her touch. Chiana moved a cautious finger inside the hot wet lips, gasping when Aeryn did. Seeing that Aeryn wanted her to continue, she moved her finger up to touch the nub that was now the center of Aeryn's universe. Aeryn cried out at the contact, and moved her hips up to meet her finger. Chiana pleasured her clit, slowly rubbing her ringer up and down, then slipped one finger inside the coral opening of her vagina. The women moaned together as she moved her finger back out, then slowly back in, this time with two fingers. Chiana rubbed her cheek against Aeryn's silky thigh, and flicked her tongue out to caress Aeryn's clit. She marveled in the salty sweet taste of her lover, and began to move her hand faster. She felt Aeryn getting close to that brink, and slowed down, prolonging the pleasure both women were receiving. She moved her body so that she was straddling Aeryn's leg, and began to rub her sex up and down the length of her thigh. When she heard Aeryn crying out, she moved back down her body, and began to tongue her again, faster, suckling her clit, and pushing her over the edge of orgasm. She stayed with her lover, feeling her throb around her fingers and in her mouth, and licked all the juice that came flowing out.

She moved back up to lay beside Aeryn, and kissed her softly on the cheek. She was surprised to find that it was wet with tears.

"Are you ok? I'm sorry, I..."

"No, don't be sorry, I just have never felt this good before. I didn't know I could feel this good..."

"Shhhh. You don't have to say anything else." Chiana kissed Aeryn again, silencing the last of her fears.

Part 5

Back in command, the weirdness had taken over. The tiny dancers were still singing to Rygel, and no one had any idea why. Crichton, Zhaan and D'Argo had stopped trying to talk to them, and were just watching, wondering what the hazmana they were going to do. Then, as suddenly as they had appeared, the beings just disappeared. The light came on, and the power surged back into Moya. The image of Pilot appeared in the vid screen.

"What was that all about?"

"We are as puzzled as you, Pilot." Zhaan shook her head, looking bemused.

"It's obvious! They were here to honor their sovereign..." Rygel started to say.

"Rygel, those were not Hynerians. And who else gives a rat's ass about your royal frogness?" Crichton was not amused. "We have to find Aeryn and Chiana. Come on, D'Argo!"

"Right behind you."

Part 6

The lights came back on in the crawl space, very dim lights, but after the total darkness, it seemed very bright to the women.

"AAAhhh! The power's back on!" Chiana grinned down at Aeryn, and pecked her on the mouth.

"Aeryn!! Chiana!!! Where are you?" John's voice called out right below them.

"We're up here!" Aeryn called out, then realized her mistake, when she noticed that they both were still quite naked.

The girls scrambled to get their clothes back on, as Crichton fumbled with the latch.

"Here, let me do it," D'Argo said, irritated once again that Crichton couldn't work a simple door latch. He flung the door open and noticed the ladder. He pulled it down, and climbed up, sticking his head in the crawl space, just as the girls pulled on the last of their clothes. They grinned sheepishly, realizing that the Luxan knew exactly what had been going on in this tiny room while the lights were out. Looking very confused, D'Argo looked down at John and then back up at the women. He shook his head, and climbed back down.

"Are they OK? What's going on?" John demanded.

"They're fine." is all that D'Argo would say.

Part 7

Aeryn and Chiana climbed down the ladder.

"So what happened to the power, and who was on board? We heard voices and ran."

"I still have no idea. It was just too bizarre. Right now, I'm starving. I'll tell you all about it over dinner."

Chiana walked ahead, sensing that Aeryn and John might need to talk.

"So, did you and Chiana have that talk?"

"Yes. We did."

The End