Early Hours Complications (Part 1)

Posted on Fri Apr 17th, 2026 @ 2:35am by Captain Taiga Aisaka & Lieutenant Commander Ryuuji Takasu & Lieutenant Commander Nyxala Valentine
Edited on on Fri Apr 17th, 2026 @ 2:37am

1,846 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Flight Of The Valkyries
Location: USS Tokyo Captains Quarters & Sickbay
Timeline: March 16th 2397 - 03:20

[Captains Quarters]

Taiga's eyes snapped open as intense pain erupted through her body. She stared at the ceiling, her eyes wincing as her hands instantly clasped to her rounded out belly. She started to breathe heavily, and she could feel the sweat starting to run down from her forehead. "What the..."

She looked over at Ryuuji, who was still sound asleep next to her.

"Ryuuji..." she said weakly. However it didn't wake or even stir the much larger man. Another wave of pain overcame her, and she winced again. "RYUUJI!" she finally shouted out.

Ryuuji sat upright in an instant. "Computer lights!" he called out. The room was suddenly flooded by the lights. He looked over at Taiga. She was laid there in intense pain, in her cropped camisole and some loose shorts. He looked down at her belly, around her lower section the sheets were soaked by liquid.

"Oh crap..." he said. "Taiga, are you in..."

"What Do you think?!" She snapped back. "This baby is..." she tried to conceal a scream of pain, but it only just escaped her lips. "Yeah..."

Ryuuji instantly swung his legs out of bed. Almost instantly he was on Taiga's side of the bed. He reached out and tapped her comm badge which was on her bed stand. "Takasu to Sickbay. Medical Emergency. Two to beam directly to sickbay!"

In an instant, both of them disappeared in a haze of blue and white light.

*** Nyx’s Quarters ***

“Doctor Valentine, you have an Alabaster call for sickbay.” The calm voice behind the words was clearly tinged with stress and the words themselves snapped any out of her slumber. This was why she’d set up a code word for emergency situations, a word seldom used that she could mentally connect to the need to respond immediately.

“Report.” She slurred as she swung her legs over to the side of the bed and glanced at the chrono that was on the nightstand. Her alarm would be going off in an hour and a half or thereabouts at least. “Lights.” Her eyes narrowed at the sudden influx of photons from the fixtures.

“Captain Aisaka beamed in thirty seconds ago, she’s gone into labor.” There was a decided accent to the voice.

“I’ll be right in.” Nyx said as she stood and reached for the uniform she’d designed for ease of putting on and taking off, despite not being regulation. “How are her vitals, Doctor… Montembeault?”

“175 over 117 with a heart rate of 102 for the Captain, Doctor, profused sweating, pain is a ten of ten.” Taiga could be heard in the background, “Infant heart rate is at 98… Mein Gott..” The doctor stated suddenly, then her voice went firm, “We have a breech birth, doctor, with umbilical complications.” This time the tone of voice had gone lower, meant for Nyx alone.

That got Nyx moving, not bothering with socks as she slid into comfortable shoes rather than the heels she preferred. Of course, makeup was off the table now as well, so they’d be seeing her as she was. A whistle brought a flutter of leathery wings as she cinched the waist belt down just before the weight of the drakeling hit her shoulder. “Move her to OR-1, I’m forty-five seconds out max.”

*** Sickbay ***

True to her word, Nyx hit the door at a fast walk so that they wouldn’t realize she’d run the hundred fifty feet from her quarters to sickbay. She put on a wholly false smile as she entered, spotting Ryuuji almost immediately and moving towards him, “Good morning Commander, about ready to become a father I see?”

Ryuuji, whose hand was being tightly squeezed by Taiga turned to look at the doctor. He shook his head, giving her an urgent look. "Sort of."

"YOU Bloody better be!" Taiga snapped at him. She then tried to once again contain a scream of pain. "Kuso, itaiyo!" she shouted out in her native tongue.

Nyx shot a look at the redheaded doctor that was next to stairs with that smile that boded nothing good. She was supposed to have the Captain into the operating room, but the helpless look told the tale. Nyx gave a glance towards the hover gurney as she walked up to the Captain, giving a quick whistle that sent the drakeling on her shoulder flying to the hanging nest-sling on the ceiling. Nyx gave Taiga a warm smile, but the lack of holographic life signs above her meant that the other doctor had at least that much initiative not to show the patient. She glanced at the panel beside the bed as the gurney came sliding over, “We’re going to move you into a different room, Captain, for privacy’s sake.” Her voice was smooth, no hint of dismay at what her eyes beheld, “If you’ll scoot over to the gurney? I don’t want you walking at the moment.”

Taiga nodded weakly in response. "Sounds..." she paused as another wave of pain overcame her. "Good...."

With another look at the other doctor, Nyx and she slid Taiga over onto the hover-gurney, "Let's let Lieutenant Takasu stay out here for now," Nyx stated simply, pushing the moving bed now herself, “I’m sure he won’t get into too much trouble being unsupervised for just a few minutes, will he?” She forced a small chuckle.

"I want to be with Taiga." Ryuuji said simply. "I can stay out of the way, but I want to be there. For both of them."

"Not right now." Nyx said simply, "There are going to be things in there that you won't be able to unsee, and yes, I know you've seen everything that she has to offer." This time the smile was a grim one. "I need you to trust me right now."

A look of disappointment spread upon Ryuuji's face. "Ok. Just keep me informed." He said. He looked around the sickbay. "And please. Take care of them both." he placed a hand on her shoulder, desperation and concern in his dark eyes.

The redheaded doctor kept Taiga moving in as Nyx stopped and faced Ryuuji, "She's in the best hands possible. As soon as I can give you any news, I will, I promise."

Ryuuji simply nodded. He then began making his way over to the small waiting area, at least then he could sit down and be out of the way.

Nyx left him there and stepped inside, waving the door closed behind her and exhaled before rapidly stepping over and sterilizing her hands and moving to Taiga's side again, assisting the other doctor in moving her over to the operating table and keying in the full display and wincing, "Taiga, I'm going to come straight with you: Your baby is not in the right position and the umbilical cord is wrapped around her, so you're not going to be having a natural birth. The danger is real at this point and I need your blood pressure down so you're not putting more stress on her, so I'm going to sedate you fully before I perform an emergency Caesarian Section. Still, I need your consent before I do this."

Taiga looked up at the doctor. "Is that..." she winced again. "Necessary?"

'Yes.' Nyx said to herself, already motioning for the tray of surgical tools to be brought over and wishing she had an experience nurse with her instead of Doctor Aria Montembeault, not that she wasn't good at her job, "No, but I would highly advise it. If you insist on staying awake, if at any point I feel you absolutely have to, I'll do it without further consultation. You would still be getting a local anesthesia so you won't feel what's going on."

Taiga nodded. "I want that." she said wincing again. "I want to be awake when the baby is here." she said. "Don't tell me if its a boy... or a girl... until... they're here...." she winced again. "We... Ouch..."

"General, quarter dose." Nyx told Aria before she picked up another hypospray and met the other doctor's eyes and shook her head slightly. She should have just insisted, but mothers-to-be were stubborn. Nyx slid the shirt Taiga was wearing up and tucked it under her breasts before carefully selecting twospots just below the ribcage and pressing the hypo to them before rolling the Captain onto her side partway and injecting the final dose at the same height, but at the spine before gently rolling her back down.

"Eighty-six." Aria spoke gently and Nyx cringed.

The Betazoid pressed gently on Taiga's stomach, "Do you feel anything right now, Taiga?"

"No..." Taiga replied, her voice indicating that the pain was subsiding. "The pain is going away..." she explained as she sounded more relaxed.

"Good." Nyx quickly erected a privacy field before reaching for the laser scalpel, hovering over the abdomen and pausing.

"We could just transport the baby out." Aria suggested in a whisper, "Save the trauma and potential issues."

Nyx shot her a glare, "Do you know what the survival rate for infants who are born via transporter? That's not a risk I'm willing to take unless there are no other options at all." At that, the other doctor backed down and prepared to support Nyx in the procedure to come.

After hovering for a few more seconds, Nyx exhaled deeply and finally made the incision, deep enough to cut through the muscle layer as well, "Retractors." She glanced up at the readings, "Eighty-two." Now her voice was monotone, her entire being in the moment. Six seconds later, the incision was held open and Nyx decided she didn't have time to do things properly and reached in, nudging aside the organs to reach the uterus while Aria set up presser fields to keep them clear. Finally the uterus was clear in front of them and a red light blinked above them.

"Where's Ryuuji?" Taiga asked as she tried to looked around, but also tried to keep still. She wanted him to be with her for this, although she wasn't the biggest fan of sickbay this was starting to scare her a little.

Nyx remained silent, but her hands moved with urgency as she made a rapid incision to made a wide cut in Taiga's uterus and placed the scalpel aside as one hand reached through the incision, followed by the other hand. Within moments, she withdrew the infant and with quick hands unwound the umbilical cord from where it was tight around the neck and body, "Clamps. Scalpel, cut the cord." It was rapid-fire and suddenly the baby was free, but not moving, not breathing on her own and Nyx cradled her in her hands as she whisked her towards the other small bed in the room, "Deliver the placenta, account for it all, then start the exam, check for problems."

"Its... not crying... Aren't they supposed to cry?" A panic was now in Taiga's voice. "Doctor? Why is my baby not making a sound?"

To be continued...

RSS Feed