Aeryn, Leo & Angel walked into the transporter room and stood on the pad. Since the Stella Navis wasn't a big starship, they could only transport three people at a time and this time it were them. Reiko stood at the controls and Spike and Deyran stood by.
"Spike, you have the conn," Aeryn said, "I'll contact you when we return, okay?"
"Whatever you say," Spike said in his off hand manner, "you sure you can trust this Janeway woman? I mean, the Federation hasn't explored this far yet."
"I know," Aeryn said, "but they're in the database. The update I downloaded just before we entered the Gamma Quadrant had a last minute update about the Federation Starship Voyager that went missing, and was presumed lost, in the Badlands in early 2371. I read up on the specs and it's them, so don't worry." Aeryn smiled and nodded at Reiko.
"Coordinates set," she said as she tapped the controls.
"Energize," Aeryn said and the three dematerialized…
…and rematerialized on the transporter pad in Voyager's Transporter Room. When she regained her senses, Aeryn stepped off the pad and toward Janeway who stood there together with two men.
"Captain Janeway," she said.
"Captain Silverberg," Janeway said, smiling, "welcome aboard the USS Voyager.
"Thank you, I'm delighted to be back aboard a Starfleet Vessel." Aeryn said, "May I introduce you to two of my crewmembers, Leo Wyatt, our doctor and Angel, Chief Engineer."
Janeway slightly raised her eyebrows at Angel's single name and their general appearance and extended greetings with them. Then she turned around to indicate the two men standing behind her.
"May I introduce you to Commander Chakotay, my First Officer and Lieutenant Commander Tuvok, Chief of Security."
They exchanged greetings after which Janeway led Aeryn and consorts to the turbolift.
"I think it is best if we go to the Briefing Room and discuss the situation," Janeway said, "I'm rather curious about your unfortunate encounter. But if you like, you can get a tour of the ship first."
"That would be great!" Aeryn said, "It's been a long time since I've been on a Starfleet vessel."
"You have been before?"
Aeryn nodded; "I graduated from the Academy and served three years before I resigned and went out to explore with… my friends."
"I see, well, let's start down and work up, shall we?"
"Certainly Captain."
Janeway showed her guests around Engineering, a few labs, Astrometrics and so they worked their way up until they reached Sickbay. Inside the Doctor was introduced and showed them around until suddenly his commbadge beeped.
"Nicoletti to the Doctor! Medical emergency here, Torres has been hurt!"
"Computer, lock on to Lieutenant Torres and beam her directly to Sickbay!" the Doctor ordered.
B'Elanna Torres appeared on a biobed and the Doctor rushed to her and started scanning her.
"She's badly hurt," he said, administrating a hypospray and starting to prepare another.
"She's worsening faster than I can counteract," the Doctor added.
"Maybe I can help," Leo said, stepping forward, "I'm a doctor." He stood next to the bed and assisted the EMH in treating B'Elanna. It seemed to be working, but suddenly she went into seizure.
"She's hemorrhaging internally and heavy too," Leo said.
"At this rate she won't make it…" the Doctor said.
Leo shook his head and placed his hands on Torres' stomach area; "Not if I can help it!" he said. His hands started to glow and, on their own, the external wounds healed and B'Elanna stopped seizuring. The Doctor stood with surprise on his face as he pulled out the tricorder and scanned B'Elanna while Leo continued to heal her.
"She's stabilizing!?" he said, "The bleeding stopped… all her injuries are gone!?" The Doctor looked at Leo with amazement.
"How did you do that?" he asked as Leo took his hands away from Torres who was still sedated, "she's completely healed, she's healthier than ever!?"
"I'm a… eh… healer," he said, hesitating.
Janeway pulled her eyebrows up and clearly wasn't buying it.
"I think this needs some explaining," she said, as B'Elanna woke up.
After filling B'Elanna in on what had happened, eight people, five Starfleet and the three visitors headed for the turbolift.
It soon reached Deck One and they got out. They headed for the Briefing Room and sat down at the big table as Tuvok went away and got the rest of the main crew. When they were all there, Janeway turned to face Aeryn.
"I'm rather curious about the fight you were in," Janeway began, "and also how you got here in the first place. But mostly I'd like to know what just happened in my Sickbay."
"Well, Captain, are you ready for a long story then?" Aeryn said. Janeway questioningly raised her eyebrows as Aeryn turned to look at Leo.
"Are you sure you want to tell them the complete story?" he sent her telepathically.
"Yes, I feel they can be trusted, and besides, your action makes it kinda necessary."
"I had to, you know that."
"Of course, you couldn't have let her die."
"Captain Silverberg?" Janeway asked.
"I'm sorry Captain, I was… distracted," she said, "So, let's begin with how we got here." She smiled and scraped her throat.
"We were in the Gamma Quadrant, exploring, when we encountered a very hostile alien species, they had us massively outgunned and were way faster. We didn't know what to do so we used our Improbability Drive… and then we ended up here."
"Improbability Drive?
"Yeah, it's a new sort, very much a prototype and it will probably never get past that stage as it's almost uncontrollable to decide where you end up. It works by hooking up the logic circuits of a Bambleweeny 57 Sub-Meson Brain to an atomic vector plotter suspended in a strong Brownian Motion Producer. Basically, you put in a number which the computer reads as an improbability factor and based on that improbability factor, it takes you somewhere. Anyway, we used it in the Gamma Quadrant for the first time to escape and it got us here."
"I see," Janeway said, "And what about the fight here?"
"That was an accident, shortly after we got here, we encountered them and they just ordered us to stop and prepare to be boarded. And I'm a nice person, on the whole, but no one messes with my ship. So, naturally I refused and then they began firing, and we shot back, and… well, you know the drill I think," Aeryn said, adding; "We could have taken them if their shields had been just a little bit weaker."
Janeway smiled at Aeryn's rambling, she kinda liked this feisty young Captain, even though her gut feeling told her there was something very weird about these people.
"And now I'd like to know what happened in my Sickbay," she said.
"Yeah," Aeryn said, "and in comes the complicated matter. Um… okay. I travel with a bunch of… not very common people. Leo is one of them and he has the very special gift of healing people through his hands, a very useful thing in exploring."
"I see," Janeway said and turned to Tuvok and Chakotay. "Anything from you gentlemen?"
"I do have a question, Captain," Tuvok said, "I noticed that your Chief Engineer does not have a reflection… Why is that?"
Angel looked a bit stricken and glanced to Aeryn. She reassuringly smiled back at him.
"Angel is also a special case," she began, "he is… well… Angel's a vampire."
Tuvok remained stoic, while Janeway and Chakotay shared a look and Tom Paris started laughing.
"Vampires don't exist," he said.
"Angel if you would be so kind as to show him," Aeryn said, getting irritated by hearing the same reply for the nth time. Angel turned to look at Tom and put on his game-face. The he pulled his lips up to extra show the teeth.
"Satisfied?" he asked, and turned to the Captain. "If you don't believe, your doctor can check me and he will see that I am dead."
Tuvok raised his eyebrows and turned to Aeryn, "I am not familiar with the concept of vampires; how does this relate to the absence of a reflection?" Aeryn sighed.
"Well, I give an introduction; Vampires are an ancient race of demons, undead if you will, who live by drinking blood. A human becomes a vampire when he or she is bitten by a vampire and also drinks the vampire's blood in return. That is what happened to Angel. After that, they die and resurrect, usually the following night. After that… a vampire lives for one thing, to hunt for people to drink from and kill, and sometimes sire others, turn them into vampires that is."
"They are like the Borg," Seven said.
"Indeed," Janeway remarked, "they are somewhat like the Borg. But how is it possible that they are killers when the one sitting at this table is so…. Human?"
"Angel, and one other of my crew, are so called 'souled vampires', as far as we know, they are the only ones too," Aeryn continued, "You see, in dying a human's soul leaves the body, so when the body is resurrected, it is soulless and becomes a demon. Angel and Spike, my other crewmember, both got their soul back, giving them a consciousness. This was very hard for them in the beginning because it made them realise what they had done before, killing and such. But they learned to deal with it and have not harmed an innocent ever since. Um… further… Vampires are practically immortal, there are only a few ways in which they can die such as direct sunlight, holy water, and a wooden stake through the heart. As for the reflection, I don't really know why they don't have one, but it's a tell tale sign of vampires."
"Then how can they travel in space with all the suns and such?" Harry Kim asked.
"I can see a sun when it's projected on a viewscreen and things like that, I can just not see the sun through a window and I cannot be on a planet during daylight except when I wear thick protective clothing over all exposed body parts, hands, face everything," Angel replied.
"I imagine that must be hard for you," Janeway said.
"Not anymore, Angel said, "I've lived for a very long time, Captain, I've accepted what I am and its disadvantages. After all, there are a few advantages too."
"If you don't mind me asking," Tom chimed in, "how old are you?" Angel smiled at him, I became a vampire when I was 26, in 1753, you do the math."
Tom calculated in his head and his mouth fell open, "You are 647 years old?!"
Angel just nodded.
"I see that your crew is indeed rather 'uncommon'," Janeway said, "You mentioned another Vampire crewmember? I take it he is also rather long-lived?"
"Yes," Aeryn said, "Spike's…. um… approximately 500 years old, in fact he and Angel are related, in the Vampire sense of the word, Angel is Spike's grandsire."
"What do you mean with that?" Neelix asked?
"It means," Angel began, "that Spike was turned into a Vampire by someone I had sired. Technically, when you turn someone into a Vampire, you become a sort of parent to that Vampire and so, when your childe sires someone else, that is your grandchilde."
"And what about the advantages?" B'Elanna said.
"My senses are heightened," Angel explained, "I see, hear and smell better than most people and I'm stronger and faster than them…
While Angel told the others about the advantages, Leo sent a telepathic message to Aeryn: "I'm being called from the ship, it sounds urgent."
"Go. I'll explain it to them."
… and I also heal quick." Suddenly, Leo disappeared in a cloud of blue lights.
"What happened?" Janeway said as Tuvok took out a tricorder and scanned.
"Leo had to transport back to our ship, there has been an emergency.
"What kind?" Angel asked, all professional.
"Unknown," Aeryn said.
Tuvok was reading data from the tricorder and a PADD when he raised his eyebrows shortly.
"According to the sensor data," he said, "there has not been a transport."
"That would be correct," Aeryn said, "at least, not a transport in the scientific way. I already said Leo was special too, well, he not only has the ability to heal, he can do a few more things. He's a so called Whitelighter, a sort of Guardian Angel, if you would check him, you'd see he is also dead. But he is more or less telepathic and can transport himself, and others too if they're touching him, to practically any location within roughly 100.000 km. It's called orbing. He's also very old, 451 to be exact."
"Okay, any more surprises?" Janeway asked.
"Um… let's see, I've had Leo, Angel, Spike… I have two other crewmembers that are Trill, one joined one unjoined… oh and then there's me."
"Anything special about you?" Chakotay asked, amused.
"As a matter of fact, there is."
A few looks, mostly amused, were shared among Voyager's main crew.
"Is it really," Janeway said wryly, "do tell."
"Well, as you might remember I said it was nice to be back aboard a Starfleet Vessel," Aeryn began.
"Yes, indeed, you said so," Janeway remembered.
"Thing is, it's been a while since I was in Starfleet, I went to the Academy some time ago but I resigned three years after my graduation."
"Forgive me if I'm being rude, but you don't seem so old, to me, it looks like you're about… what… 28?"
"Technically, you could say I'm 25, because that's when I stopped living."
"Not you too!" Harry Kim exclaimed. Aeryn laughed.
"I'm an immortal, When I was 25 I got into a rock-climbing accident, I fell about 500 meters down, and died. But you can imagine my surprise when I woke up later without any injury at all. Luckily, Leo was nearby, he has been a part of my family for centuries, and he was able to help me find out what had happened. Immortality is a genetic thing, some people have it, most people don't; it's also not transplantable into others. What we can do is, well, practically live forever, there is only one way to kill us and that's decapitation. But anyway after I became immortal, I needed time to think and everything and I resigned from Starfleet."
"So when exactly did you become and immortal?" B'Elanna asked.
"2257"
"So you're… what… 143!?"
"Yes, I am," Aeryn said, "You know what, I'll show you, you've seen proof of Angel and Leo, now I'll proof I'm telling the truth. Angel…?"
Angel pulled a short knife out of his boot and gave it to Aeryn who extended her arm and made a straight cut, approximately 15 centimeters long, on it. It began to bleed at first, but suddenly small, blue, energy like tendrils sizzled over the cut and when Aeryn wiped the blood away with a handkerchief she had; the cut was gone, without a scar.
"Cool," Tom said.
"Captain Silverberg," Janeway said, "have you gone to the Academy with James T. Kirk?"
"Yes, Captain, I have, with James Kirk and Spock both. I have even dated Kirk a few times, didn't work out. I also served a year aboard the original Enterprise from 2255 to '56, under Captain Pike."
"Spike, you have the conn," Aeryn said, "I'll contact you when we return, okay?"
"Whatever you say," Spike said in his off hand manner, "you sure you can trust this Janeway woman? I mean, the Federation hasn't explored this far yet."
"I know," Aeryn said, "but they're in the database. The update I downloaded just before we entered the Gamma Quadrant had a last minute update about the Federation Starship Voyager that went missing, and was presumed lost, in the Badlands in early 2371. I read up on the specs and it's them, so don't worry." Aeryn smiled and nodded at Reiko.
"Coordinates set," she said as she tapped the controls.
"Energize," Aeryn said and the three dematerialized…
…and rematerialized on the transporter pad in Voyager's Transporter Room. When she regained her senses, Aeryn stepped off the pad and toward Janeway who stood there together with two men.
"Captain Janeway," she said.
"Captain Silverberg," Janeway said, smiling, "welcome aboard the USS Voyager.
"Thank you, I'm delighted to be back aboard a Starfleet Vessel." Aeryn said, "May I introduce you to two of my crewmembers, Leo Wyatt, our doctor and Angel, Chief Engineer."
Janeway slightly raised her eyebrows at Angel's single name and their general appearance and extended greetings with them. Then she turned around to indicate the two men standing behind her.
"May I introduce you to Commander Chakotay, my First Officer and Lieutenant Commander Tuvok, Chief of Security."
They exchanged greetings after which Janeway led Aeryn and consorts to the turbolift.
"I think it is best if we go to the Briefing Room and discuss the situation," Janeway said, "I'm rather curious about your unfortunate encounter. But if you like, you can get a tour of the ship first."
"That would be great!" Aeryn said, "It's been a long time since I've been on a Starfleet vessel."
"You have been before?"
Aeryn nodded; "I graduated from the Academy and served three years before I resigned and went out to explore with… my friends."
"I see, well, let's start down and work up, shall we?"
"Certainly Captain."
Janeway showed her guests around Engineering, a few labs, Astrometrics and so they worked their way up until they reached Sickbay. Inside the Doctor was introduced and showed them around until suddenly his commbadge beeped.
"Nicoletti to the Doctor! Medical emergency here, Torres has been hurt!"
"Computer, lock on to Lieutenant Torres and beam her directly to Sickbay!" the Doctor ordered.
B'Elanna Torres appeared on a biobed and the Doctor rushed to her and started scanning her.
"She's badly hurt," he said, administrating a hypospray and starting to prepare another.
"She's worsening faster than I can counteract," the Doctor added.
"Maybe I can help," Leo said, stepping forward, "I'm a doctor." He stood next to the bed and assisted the EMH in treating B'Elanna. It seemed to be working, but suddenly she went into seizure.
"She's hemorrhaging internally and heavy too," Leo said.
"At this rate she won't make it…" the Doctor said.
Leo shook his head and placed his hands on Torres' stomach area; "Not if I can help it!" he said. His hands started to glow and, on their own, the external wounds healed and B'Elanna stopped seizuring. The Doctor stood with surprise on his face as he pulled out the tricorder and scanned B'Elanna while Leo continued to heal her.
"She's stabilizing!?" he said, "The bleeding stopped… all her injuries are gone!?" The Doctor looked at Leo with amazement.
"How did you do that?" he asked as Leo took his hands away from Torres who was still sedated, "she's completely healed, she's healthier than ever!?"
"I'm a… eh… healer," he said, hesitating.
Janeway pulled her eyebrows up and clearly wasn't buying it.
"I think this needs some explaining," she said, as B'Elanna woke up.
After filling B'Elanna in on what had happened, eight people, five Starfleet and the three visitors headed for the turbolift.
It soon reached Deck One and they got out. They headed for the Briefing Room and sat down at the big table as Tuvok went away and got the rest of the main crew. When they were all there, Janeway turned to face Aeryn.
"I'm rather curious about the fight you were in," Janeway began, "and also how you got here in the first place. But mostly I'd like to know what just happened in my Sickbay."
"Well, Captain, are you ready for a long story then?" Aeryn said. Janeway questioningly raised her eyebrows as Aeryn turned to look at Leo.
"Are you sure you want to tell them the complete story?" he sent her telepathically.
"Yes, I feel they can be trusted, and besides, your action makes it kinda necessary."
"I had to, you know that."
"Of course, you couldn't have let her die."
"Captain Silverberg?" Janeway asked.
"I'm sorry Captain, I was… distracted," she said, "So, let's begin with how we got here." She smiled and scraped her throat.
"We were in the Gamma Quadrant, exploring, when we encountered a very hostile alien species, they had us massively outgunned and were way faster. We didn't know what to do so we used our Improbability Drive… and then we ended up here."
"Improbability Drive?
"Yeah, it's a new sort, very much a prototype and it will probably never get past that stage as it's almost uncontrollable to decide where you end up. It works by hooking up the logic circuits of a Bambleweeny 57 Sub-Meson Brain to an atomic vector plotter suspended in a strong Brownian Motion Producer. Basically, you put in a number which the computer reads as an improbability factor and based on that improbability factor, it takes you somewhere. Anyway, we used it in the Gamma Quadrant for the first time to escape and it got us here."
"I see," Janeway said, "And what about the fight here?"
"That was an accident, shortly after we got here, we encountered them and they just ordered us to stop and prepare to be boarded. And I'm a nice person, on the whole, but no one messes with my ship. So, naturally I refused and then they began firing, and we shot back, and… well, you know the drill I think," Aeryn said, adding; "We could have taken them if their shields had been just a little bit weaker."
Janeway smiled at Aeryn's rambling, she kinda liked this feisty young Captain, even though her gut feeling told her there was something very weird about these people.
"And now I'd like to know what happened in my Sickbay," she said.
"Yeah," Aeryn said, "and in comes the complicated matter. Um… okay. I travel with a bunch of… not very common people. Leo is one of them and he has the very special gift of healing people through his hands, a very useful thing in exploring."
"I see," Janeway said and turned to Tuvok and Chakotay. "Anything from you gentlemen?"
"I do have a question, Captain," Tuvok said, "I noticed that your Chief Engineer does not have a reflection… Why is that?"
Angel looked a bit stricken and glanced to Aeryn. She reassuringly smiled back at him.
"Angel is also a special case," she began, "he is… well… Angel's a vampire."
Tuvok remained stoic, while Janeway and Chakotay shared a look and Tom Paris started laughing.
"Vampires don't exist," he said.
"Angel if you would be so kind as to show him," Aeryn said, getting irritated by hearing the same reply for the nth time. Angel turned to look at Tom and put on his game-face. The he pulled his lips up to extra show the teeth.
"Satisfied?" he asked, and turned to the Captain. "If you don't believe, your doctor can check me and he will see that I am dead."
Tuvok raised his eyebrows and turned to Aeryn, "I am not familiar with the concept of vampires; how does this relate to the absence of a reflection?" Aeryn sighed.
"Well, I give an introduction; Vampires are an ancient race of demons, undead if you will, who live by drinking blood. A human becomes a vampire when he or she is bitten by a vampire and also drinks the vampire's blood in return. That is what happened to Angel. After that, they die and resurrect, usually the following night. After that… a vampire lives for one thing, to hunt for people to drink from and kill, and sometimes sire others, turn them into vampires that is."
"They are like the Borg," Seven said.
"Indeed," Janeway remarked, "they are somewhat like the Borg. But how is it possible that they are killers when the one sitting at this table is so…. Human?"
"Angel, and one other of my crew, are so called 'souled vampires', as far as we know, they are the only ones too," Aeryn continued, "You see, in dying a human's soul leaves the body, so when the body is resurrected, it is soulless and becomes a demon. Angel and Spike, my other crewmember, both got their soul back, giving them a consciousness. This was very hard for them in the beginning because it made them realise what they had done before, killing and such. But they learned to deal with it and have not harmed an innocent ever since. Um… further… Vampires are practically immortal, there are only a few ways in which they can die such as direct sunlight, holy water, and a wooden stake through the heart. As for the reflection, I don't really know why they don't have one, but it's a tell tale sign of vampires."
"Then how can they travel in space with all the suns and such?" Harry Kim asked.
"I can see a sun when it's projected on a viewscreen and things like that, I can just not see the sun through a window and I cannot be on a planet during daylight except when I wear thick protective clothing over all exposed body parts, hands, face everything," Angel replied.
"I imagine that must be hard for you," Janeway said.
"Not anymore, Angel said, "I've lived for a very long time, Captain, I've accepted what I am and its disadvantages. After all, there are a few advantages too."
"If you don't mind me asking," Tom chimed in, "how old are you?" Angel smiled at him, I became a vampire when I was 26, in 1753, you do the math."
Tom calculated in his head and his mouth fell open, "You are 647 years old?!"
Angel just nodded.
"I see that your crew is indeed rather 'uncommon'," Janeway said, "You mentioned another Vampire crewmember? I take it he is also rather long-lived?"
"Yes," Aeryn said, "Spike's…. um… approximately 500 years old, in fact he and Angel are related, in the Vampire sense of the word, Angel is Spike's grandsire."
"What do you mean with that?" Neelix asked?
"It means," Angel began, "that Spike was turned into a Vampire by someone I had sired. Technically, when you turn someone into a Vampire, you become a sort of parent to that Vampire and so, when your childe sires someone else, that is your grandchilde."
"And what about the advantages?" B'Elanna said.
"My senses are heightened," Angel explained, "I see, hear and smell better than most people and I'm stronger and faster than them…
While Angel told the others about the advantages, Leo sent a telepathic message to Aeryn: "I'm being called from the ship, it sounds urgent."
"Go. I'll explain it to them."
… and I also heal quick." Suddenly, Leo disappeared in a cloud of blue lights.
"What happened?" Janeway said as Tuvok took out a tricorder and scanned.
"Leo had to transport back to our ship, there has been an emergency.
"What kind?" Angel asked, all professional.
"Unknown," Aeryn said.
Tuvok was reading data from the tricorder and a PADD when he raised his eyebrows shortly.
"According to the sensor data," he said, "there has not been a transport."
"That would be correct," Aeryn said, "at least, not a transport in the scientific way. I already said Leo was special too, well, he not only has the ability to heal, he can do a few more things. He's a so called Whitelighter, a sort of Guardian Angel, if you would check him, you'd see he is also dead. But he is more or less telepathic and can transport himself, and others too if they're touching him, to practically any location within roughly 100.000 km. It's called orbing. He's also very old, 451 to be exact."
"Okay, any more surprises?" Janeway asked.
"Um… let's see, I've had Leo, Angel, Spike… I have two other crewmembers that are Trill, one joined one unjoined… oh and then there's me."
"Anything special about you?" Chakotay asked, amused.
"As a matter of fact, there is."
A few looks, mostly amused, were shared among Voyager's main crew.
"Is it really," Janeway said wryly, "do tell."
"Well, as you might remember I said it was nice to be back aboard a Starfleet Vessel," Aeryn began.
"Yes, indeed, you said so," Janeway remembered.
"Thing is, it's been a while since I was in Starfleet, I went to the Academy some time ago but I resigned three years after my graduation."
"Forgive me if I'm being rude, but you don't seem so old, to me, it looks like you're about… what… 28?"
"Technically, you could say I'm 25, because that's when I stopped living."
"Not you too!" Harry Kim exclaimed. Aeryn laughed.
"I'm an immortal, When I was 25 I got into a rock-climbing accident, I fell about 500 meters down, and died. But you can imagine my surprise when I woke up later without any injury at all. Luckily, Leo was nearby, he has been a part of my family for centuries, and he was able to help me find out what had happened. Immortality is a genetic thing, some people have it, most people don't; it's also not transplantable into others. What we can do is, well, practically live forever, there is only one way to kill us and that's decapitation. But anyway after I became immortal, I needed time to think and everything and I resigned from Starfleet."
"So when exactly did you become and immortal?" B'Elanna asked.
"2257"
"So you're… what… 143!?"
"Yes, I am," Aeryn said, "You know what, I'll show you, you've seen proof of Angel and Leo, now I'll proof I'm telling the truth. Angel…?"
Angel pulled a short knife out of his boot and gave it to Aeryn who extended her arm and made a straight cut, approximately 15 centimeters long, on it. It began to bleed at first, but suddenly small, blue, energy like tendrils sizzled over the cut and when Aeryn wiped the blood away with a handkerchief she had; the cut was gone, without a scar.
"Cool," Tom said.
"Captain Silverberg," Janeway said, "have you gone to the Academy with James T. Kirk?"
"Yes, Captain, I have, with James Kirk and Spock both. I have even dated Kirk a few times, didn't work out. I also served a year aboard the original Enterprise from 2255 to '56, under Captain Pike."