The story is told from the perspective of Dr. An Nguyen, the Chief Medical Officer for Erika Hernandez, on the Columbia (NX-02). In February of 2160, Nguyen is a witness to First Contact with the Daranaeans, the only known sentient marsupial canid species in the galaxy. But what Nguyen and the others find is oppression of the two lower female castes, and institutional sexism. Both of these women are subjugated, and evidently the standard treatment of them is to keep them barefoot and pregnant.