In response to a newsgroup posting in a Xena newsgroup I once wrote a little story with both Jennifer Lien and Reneé O'Connor in mind. It's more Gabrielle oriented than Kes, but maybe you'll like to read it anyway. It's intended for people who have seen Xena's Sacrifice II (even though I haven't) and Voyager's The gift. Maybe it's not suited for very young people.

It answers the question of how both Kes and Gabrielle can return to a tv screen near you. Maybe like this:

Part 1

In episode 5.1 of ST:Voy the captain is negotiating on a planet where the people only want to talk with the highest ranking person. The ship meanwhile receives a distress call and goes off to investigate. They discover that it wasn't a distress call, but that there is a fierce battle going on between a ship and big space dwelling creatures. These creatures emit high pitched electromagnetic shrieks, on many frequencies. Some of those Voyager misinterpreted as a distress call. The alien ship seems to be losing the battle...

Contact is made with the ship and on the view screen we see the very distorted image of Leia: Starwars Princess. We also recognise that this time Leia is played by Reneé O'Connor! She says that her ship is about to explode, so everybody is quickly transported over to Voyager. Leia rushes to the bridge, and orders all food replicators to be shut down and a zigzag course to be laid in towards the centre of the group of space creatures.

Chacotay protests that he is in command of the vessel. Tuvok explains that on a Starfleet vessel there's a strict hierarchy, but during his speech the first volley of energy discharges hit the ship and drain the shields to 50%. Paris and Kim have been looking at Leia ever since she entered the bridge, totally smitten with her elf-like appearance. 7/9 followed Kim's gaze and when she reached Leia, she was stuck as well. 'Now I want to be human!' she exclaimed. Leia ignored all this and looked straight at Tuvok while she slowly started to dance. With subtly seductive hip and midrif movements she slowly walked up to Tuvok, whose hands, and then his whole body, started to shake. Having come up to his console she reached out to him with her hands and without touching followed the contours of his body. He clearly was totally immersed in her. She suddenly leapt on top of his console and grabbed his face strongely between her hands. Instead of kissing him, for which Tuvok closed his eyes, she bit him in the neck.

Tuvok fell on the ground, shaking, and Leia had a large piece of bleeding flesh half hanging out of her mouth. Tuvok's eyes opened widely and with his skin tingling all over his body he rose. 'I think she should get control' he stated, out of breath but calmly. Leia jumped down from the console and took the piece of flesh from her mouth and held it between her hands. It disintegrated into blue light particles that spread out over her body, which she accepted with pleasure, and lust. When her body had absorbed everything, Leia placed one hand on her naked belly and burbed. 'Take him to prison' she said while pointing at Chacotay. She had recognised from his tattoo that he was made immune to her ritual for capturing someones spirit.

With the shields only at 1%, the ship finally followed her instructions to the letter and the attacks ceased. Mentally she cursed that indian tribe that also made her lose the previous ship. They arrived at the centre of the group, where the biggest space creature was. This was the queen.

Photon torpedos were armed, fired, re-armed and fired again, until the creature's queen was completely dead. The food replicators were switched back on and the smell of the possibility of food, coming from the centre of the group, was not offensive and threatening anymore to the creatures. They now even accepted Voyager as their new queen. Leia ordered to release a honey-like substance in large quantities into space. The creatures crawled around Voyager, ate the honey substance and made pleasure noises. 'Now this ship finally can go home' Leia said and they set course to earth, surrounded and protected by the creatures, whose wake even speeded up their voyage. Janeway was never seen again.

Part 2

Back in ancient Greece (ep 4.1), Xena mourned the loss of Gabrielle. She was sitting near a campfire. With the flames lighting her face we could see Xena was fighting the most difficult battle of her life: against her own tears.

The flames went out. In the darkness, we could just about make out that the ashes reshaped themselves into the lovely image of Gabrielle. Xena thought she was going mad and slapped her own face.

'That's what I can do,' a voice said behind Xena. She quickly stood up, turned around and drew her sword. The person standing there was Kes. 'I saw your friend was in trouble,' Kes explained, 'because time didn't exist for me. I entered her thoughts and with my matter controlling skills I let her plunge into harmless water, so she didn't die.'

'So why are you here, and not Gabrielle?' Xena asked, smiling because she thought she had spotted the flaw in the explanation. 'But I am Gabrielle,' Kes said. 'It's all very confusing, but when I entered her thoughts, we both became what we wanted to be. I believe she's now between the stars living out her own fantasies. I always aspired to be good and unselfish, which Gabrielle succeeds in better than I ever did. I transformed her body to look like mine, to try to avoid some of the confusion.' Xena relaxed and put her sword back on her back. 'Very well. I believe you, for now.'

In the morning Xena was teaching Kes to fight with the staff. Kes's body was strong, and skills from Gabrielle remained, but Kes's mind had never done it before. But Kes learned fast. In the afternoon Xena took Kes along to the castle of King Krexasis, who had asked Xena to join a little celebration he had. Xena was curious, so she had decided to go. Just before entering the city, Xena and Kes were attacked by a group of bandits. Xena's sword, her flips and kicks and Kes's staff knocked out many people, but there were too many bandits and they fought too organised, so they managed to capture Xena. They left Kes alone, because they did not know who she was. Xena was brought to Krexasis's castle, where the celebration could begin.

The former warlord and now king Krexasis wanted to recapture his former glory. He needed Xena's bad side and he would integrate it with his own. Together they would be Xenasis and rule the world. Ares would be pleased. In fact, he was present. It was going to be a difficult procedure, splitting Xena's personality, putting them into two bodies, integrating one of them with Krexasis body and personality. Many gods were necessary to accomplish this and Ares had done all the groundwork already.

When Kes finally entered the room in the castle where all this was taking place, after much pleading, persuading, deceiving, seducing and staff swinging, the good and the bad Xena were already separated. The bad Xena was of course not sticking to any agreement and she killed Krexasis, as well as anybody who came near her. The good Xena tried to treat the wounds of the fallen soldiers and she pleaded with her bad self to stop.

Ares saw that a Xena who couldn't lead an army because she killed any soldier who came near her, wasn't going to be very useful, so he started to reintegrate the two Xenas. But both turned to Ares and asked him not to do it. The bad Xena couldn't see any use for her good side, it only held her back, while the good Xena couldn't bear being one again with the side she despised. The way the procedure was, Ares could not continue unless there was at least one mortal who wanted it. And Kes was the only other mortal left. Did she have to save the life of the two Xenas, one of which she certainly couldn't stand and the other was probably also going to be too spineless to be liked. Or did she have to bring back the original Xena, who she had already grown to like?

Kes sat down on the ground. This was exactly the kind of thing she wanted to avoid by becoming Gabrielle. Kes, back on Voyager, would choose the selfish option and get the one back she liked, for that reason only. But it meant killing two people. However, if she did nothing, she would not directly be involved in the murder of the real Xena, so she wouldn't have any blood on her hands. Would Gabrielle choose that? Kes didn't know. She honestly didn't know. She wasn't Gabrielle, she was Kes, and no amount of soul searching is going to change that. There was no point trying to be someone else, she thought, you always have to be yourself. This thought transformed Kes back as Gabrielle and Gabrielle back as Kes.

Would Gabrielle ask for her friend to be returned, even if it means killing two other people? Well, only Gabrielle knows...

The next day we see Gabrielle and Xena walking through the woods. Xena looks like she gained the calm and stability of Gabrielle, while Gabrielle almost seems a fusion between Xena's good side and Gabrielle's impatient nature. The way it looks, the real Gabrielle as we know her is gone.

End

Written by Gidi Kroon, on 27 May 1998.

Complaints? Updates necessary? Whatever? E-mail me: Gidi Kroon.