Disclaimers: Star Trek: Voyager belongs to Paramount. Buffy, the Vampire Slayer belongs to Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, the WB, Kuzui Enterprises, Sandollar Television, and Fox. Characters and concepts were used from both shows without permission. No copyright infringement was intended. This story was written solely for entertainment, and no money was exchanged, so please don't sue.

Timeline: For BtVS, it takes place four hundred years after it. For Star Trek, this is before Tom was stripped of rank and made an Ensign and after the Federation won in the Dominion War. It also takes place after the fifth season finale and the sixth season premier when Voyager ran into another Starfleet vessel that was using energy from an alien life form to get home.

Please, please, please send me some feedback! And remember, think positive while you're writing it! Flames will be printed out and given to a friend of mine's German Shepherd, and unless you're a friend, you don't want to mess with this dog.

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Captain Samantha Paulus of the U. S. S. Bumbarger did not hesitate to use her almost power-drained phaser to burn a new doorway through the door to her own quarters. The doors themselves wouldn't open, because the controls had been fired upon what must have been several days ago; she wasn’t sure. She hadn’t been near her quarters in that time.

She walked into the dark quarters and said, "Computer, lights."

The computer complied, and the lights turned on. Paulus spotted the object of her desire, a large glass case on the right wall, and started walking over there. She got three steps before the lights began to dim, then flicker. Paulus paused only a moment before continuing her trek to the case.

She smashed the glass case with her empty hand phaser. After the glass fell away to the ground, Paul reached into the case with both arms, and a few minutes later, took them back out loaded with a phaser rifle the length of her arm. She made sure that it was loaded before heading out of her quarters and down the hall.

The klaxons along the walls flashed on red alert, like it had for several days. The lights flickered every few minutes. But other than that, nothing indicated that her ship and its crew were in jeopardy.

She approached an intersection and turned right. She walked for a long time down that hall before she spotted the first body.

He was lying in the next intersection, dead, next to a rifle. His chest was covered in blood from a phaser blast. The captain ran up to him and bent down. She put her rifle in one hand and checked his neck. She found what she was looking for. Two small bite marks were on the left side of his neck, and they were dripping with blood from the vein beneath them.

Paulus felt his neck for a pulse. She felt none, but that did not assure her that another of her crew was dead. She kept her fingers on the vein and waited, holding her breath.

There. She could feel a faint pulse coming from a heart that had just started to beat again, and she knew it wouldn’t get any faster.

Paulus stood up and stepped away from the undead ensign. She aimed her phaser at his head. The chest would do no good, because he’d just get back up again, and that was the last thing anyone still alive on the ship needed. Paulus fired.

The phaser blast connected with his head and reduced it to nothing. The ensign’s body exploded into dark-green dust and floated to the ground.

Paulus picked up the dusted ensign’s rifle. It was half-full. She turned left on the intersection and walked on, carrying both rifles.

The engine room was up ahead. She knew what to expect. If she was lucky, nothing hostile would be there. But she doubted it.

The double doors opened at her approach, but stopped half-way. They didn’t stay that way, instead moving back and forth. Paulus jumped through before they decided to close the entire way and keep her out. The only other way into the engine room was through the Jeffrey’s tubes, which she knew was not safe. The ship’s attackers had flooded them the moment they got on board several days ago, and she suspected they were still there. She knew they went there occasionally, because she’d had to use them more than once and had found one or two waiting for her.

The engine room was a mess. Consoles lay smashed to pieces on the ground with occasional sparks flying from them. Other consoles and the walls were scorched from phaser blasts. In a few places along the wall, dent marks and blood had been left.

Lying everywhere on the floor were more bodies, more lieutenants, ensigns, and commanders from Paulus’ crew. Their blood literally covered the floor like a new coat of wax.

The only thing that remained intact was the warp core. Their attackers had been smart enough not to cause a chain reaction that would obliterate them as well.

Paulus stepped over the bodies. She had already inspected them earlier that day, and knew they would stay dead. One of the consoles near the warp core was scorched only slightly. Paulus walked over there, placed the rifles on the ground, and bent over the console.

She had been trying to gain control over her ship for the last day and a half. She hadn’t made it to the bridge. The ship’s attackers had either killed its crew or made them like them, like the ensign she’d found out in the hall would have been, to take care of the ship. They were on the bridge, trying to regain control and power.

Paulus worked on it for several minutes before she knew she had it. "Yes!" she cried. She did not have control over the ship, but she would soon, because of what she’d finally been able to do. She had gotten enough control to burn all of them on the bridge. They were allergic to sunlight, so all she had to do was reroute power to the lights, make them as unbearable as the sun, and she would regain control of her ship and be able to help whoever was still alive out there.

She heard a shuffle of feet behind her. Paulus bent over, picked up a rifle, and spun around. She aimed it toward the sound.

Her second in command stood only a few feet away from her. "Captain?" he asked.

Paulus narrowed her eyes. She wasn’t sure if he was still a member of her crew or not, and she didn’t want to kill him to find out. "Is that really you, Bernstein?"

"It is, Captain." He nodded toward the console. "Is there anything I can do?"

Paulus still didn't trust him, but she didn’t have the time to find out if he was trustworthy or not. She lowered the rifle and stepped to the side of the console, so it and Bernstein were in her sight. "I’ve found a way to burn our attackers on the bridge to dust."

"Can I see?" Bernstein asked, stepping closer.

Paulus wasn’t taking any chances, whether or not he was still human. "Why don’t you stay over there."

Bernstein nodded. He glanced over her shoulder so quickly she would have missed it if she hadn’t been waiting for it. Paulus picked up the rifle and spun around, bringing it up to fire.

But it was too late. Two of the ship’s attackers fell from above, landing on her back, and she was knocked to the ground. The rifle flew across the floor and stopped against a smashed console.

The other rifle was still under the console she’d been working at moments before. She tried to reach for it, but the two penning her to the ground grabbed her arms and held them firmly behind her back.

They pulled her to her feet and held her. Bernstein approached her, grinning. "I think I’d rather get closer, Captain," he said.

His face transformed to one of a demon. His eyes changed to an ugly shade of dark yellow, and the skin on his forehead rose and covered half of both of his eyes. He opened his mouth to reveal sharp fangs hanging from his gums. He released a predatory growl from deep within his throat, then licked his lips.

Paulus struggled, but the two holding her were too strong. She could only watch as Bernstein bent over her neck and opened his mouth. She could feel his hot breath on her skin.

She cried out when his fangs pierced the vein in her neck and struggled more violently. But soon, her struggles got weaker and died out along with her screams, and her nearly drained body sunk to the floor.

The last thing she heard before slipping into unconsciousness was Bernstein’s voice, saying, "Now you’ll know what it’s like to be a vampire, Captain."

"Captain's Log, star date _____." Janeway said, lying in bed. Her lights were out, and she was trying to go to sleep. But she was too worked up to, so she decided to do her log instead. "Voyager has just departed from the Veridian solar system. We have made a quite successful first contact with the inhabitants of Veridian III. Lieutenant Tuuvok and Seven of Nine accompanied me during the negotiations. Voyager is now back on its coarse to Earth, of which all of the human members of my crew miss. End log."

Captain Janeway sat up on her bed and threw the covers back. "Lights," she called. The computer complied, and she stood up and walked over to the replicator on the far wall. Her shift would start soon, and she needed a nice cup of Earl Grey to get ready. She replicated the liquid, sat down on her sofa, and drank it, thinking about the past few days.

After the negotiations were over and Voyager had left the system, life on Voyager had gone back to normal. The Veridians were a peaceful race, and had accepted them immediately as welcome guests to their planet. Janeway had given everyone a shore leave to the planet. Captain Janeway and the rest of Voyager's crew had returned the Veridians' courtesy by showing them around the Starfleet vessel. But their visit had ended and they had to leave, which everyone regretted.

Her Comm badge chirped from its position on her table. "Chakotay to Captain Janeway," Chakotay’s voice said.

Janeway walked over to it and pressed it. "This is Captain Janeway."

"Captain, there's something here I think you'd like to see."

"On my way." Janeway said, slipped on her starfleet uniform vest. She pinned the Comm badge to her shirt and left her room, heading for the nearest turbolift.

She arrived at the bridge several minutes later. "What’s the problem?" she asked.

Chakotay turned when she arrived, then faced the view screen again. "See for yourself," he told her.

Janeway stopped next to him and looked at the view screen. "Is that what I think it is?"

Chakotay nodded. "It’s a worm whole, Captain. And it leads to the alpha quadrant.

Janeway looked at Chakotay. Voyager had been stuck in the delta quadrant for several years, and it would several more decades to get home. This was a dream come true for them all. "Harry, is it stable to pass through?"

"It is, captain," Harry Kim said from his console at the front of the bridge. He pressed a few more keys. "Captain, it’s collapsing. There’s a ship coming through."

"Can you identify it?"

"It’s starfleet issue," Harry said. "The U. S. S. Bumbarger."

They could see it appear through the worm whole now. Seconds after it had passed through, the worm whole collapsed.

Janeway watched it disappear, and hope burned away inside her. They would just have to find another way home. "Are there any survivors?"

Harry shook his head. "I can’t pick up any-wait, the sensors are picking up very slow heartbeats."

Janeway walked to her chair and sat down. "Open a channel."

"Channel open, Captain."

"This is Captain Janeway of the Starship Voyager. Do you need assistance?"

"We’re getting a signal, captain."

"On screen."

The image on the view screen disappeared to be replaced by a human face. Behind her was what must be the bridge of the starship, or what was left of it. Several crewmen were repairing consoles in the background. "This is Captain Paulus of the starship Bumbarger. Do you have any idea where the worm whole deposited us, Captain?"

"You’re in the delta quadrant, Captain."

Captain Paulus’ eyes grew wide. "The delta quadrant?"

Janeway nodded. "What happened to your ship? It looks like it sustained heavy damage."

Paulus glanced behind her at the carnage on her bridge. "Oh, we ran into a Cardassian freighter that wasn't following the treaty," she told Janeway.

"Treaty?"

"You don't know?" Paulus asked, surprised. "We've been at war with the Dominion until only a few months ago." She smiled. "We won."

"Glad to hear it. Do you need assistance?"

"If you care to spare a few of your men, yes, we do. I lost most of my crew trying to fend the Cardassians off."

"I’m sorry to hear that."

"Thank you, Captain."

"Perhaps you could come over to Voyager and talk about the major parts that need repairing, things you'll need more than a few crewmembers to work on."

Paulus smiled. "I'll come over as soon as I can."

"Glad to hear it. I’d send those crewmen over immediately. Janeway out."

Paulus looked at the view screen. On it was an image of the star system. In the distance was the other starship, Voyager. Farther away in the background was a cluster of planets, and from the energy trails they'd found from scans, Voyager had come from that direction.

The smiled she’d worn so warmly in front of Captain Janeway had been replaced by a glare. Janeway had been too human for her taste. Always wanting to be kind to others. It made her sick.

"Should we kill the crewmembers she’s sending over?" Bernstein asked. "I want to kill something. Replicated blood just isn’t something I’d prefer to continue drinking for the next sixty years, if Hudson’s calculations are correct." Hudson was their science officer.

Paulus turned to her second-in-command. The ugly visage he'd worn when he'd drunk all of her blood only a few days ago was on his face. The other crewmembers had them on as well while they replaced the consoles on the bridge.

They had gotten complete control of the U. S. S. Bumbarger. Several hours ago, after a week-long seige. The crew had either been brought across or had been vaporized with phasers. An hour before, they'd

"Sixty years is nothing to a vampire. You’ll just have to live with it." She turned back to the screen and gazed at Voyager. A smile reappeared on her face, but this one was anything but kind. "I want to play with the crew of Voyager first. It may just be…fun."

"They've probably done a scan of the ship," Bernstein said. "They know about our slow heartbeats. They may start asking questions, which would be bloody annoying."

Paulus whirled around again. "Then we'll kill them." She walked toward her second-in-command and leaned toward his neck. "Until then, we'll have our fun. It may just be amusing." She kissed the skin above blood vein flowing through his neck. With her vampiric hearing, she could hear his heart beating. It was slow, but it was there. Paulus nibbled at the vein, which cause Bernstein to release a sharp cry.

"Not here, Samantha," Bernstein said, pulling her back. "We were going to have fun with Janeway and her crew, remember? We have to act by regulation for the next few hours. Then we'll have our own fun."

Paulus smiled at her sire. "I can't wait." She walked away from him and stood in front of the view screen again, then turned back around to face her crew. "Game faces off, guys. Don't let the prey know you're the predator until it's too late. It's much more fun that way."

Her crew complied, and their faces transformed back to normal. Bernstein smiled at her and bit at the air in her direction. His yellow eyes betrayed a lust he couldn't keep hidden, and stayed there after he transformed. Paulus smiled at him, her eyes also filled with lust.

A few minutes later, the turbolift, which their engineer had fixed two hours ago, opened. Three human Starfleet ensigns and a lieutenant stepped out. All held kits, some medical, others containing tools to help repair the ship. "Hi," the lieutenant said. She stepped out of the elevator, and was followed by the ensigns. "Captain Janeway sent us to help. What can we do?"

Paulus smiled, kinder now, at the humans. She nodded to Bernstein. "Commander Bernstein will tell you what to do." She walked around them on her way to the turbolift. "I've got a meeting with Captain Janeway."

The senior staff of Voyager sat around the table in the briefing room. Janeway had called a meeting after her conversation with the Bumbarger's captain. She wanted to talk to her crew about the mysterious heart rates the scanners had found.

When Janeway finished giving her report, she asked, "Does anyone know of a race if the federation with that type of heart beat?"

"The ship's databanks give no indication of a species of that kind, captain," Seven said. "And I don't believe the Borg have ever run into one."

Janeway turned to the doctor. "What do you think, doctor? Have you ever encountered any patients with that kind of heart rate?"

The doctor shook his head. "No, captain. This is all very fascinating to me."

"It could be that the sensors were malfunctioning," Tuuvok suggested.

Janeway looked at B'Ellana. The half-Klingon shook her head. "The sensors have been working perfectly, captain."

Janeway's Comm badge chirped. "Ensign Falterman to Captain Janeway," a male voice said.

Janeway tapped her Comm badge and said, "Go ahead, Ensign."

"Captain Paulus is ready to beam aboard, ma'am."

"Beam her to transporter room two."

"Yes, ma'am."

Janeway stood up and headed for the door. "B'Ellana and Chakotay, come with me. Tuuvok, remain on alert in case we need assistance. Everyone else, back to your stations."

Part Two

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