Little Miracles in Dire Times

Posted on Sun Feb 8th, 2026 @ 7:08am by Lieutenant Amu Hinamori M.D. & Lieutenant Commander Nyxala Valentine & Lieutenant Soyo Hamada

1,978 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: The Return
Location: Sickbay USS Tokyo
Timeline: February 27, 2397

[Sickbay]

Sweat ran down Amu's face as she held her belly with both hands. The contractions were coming more regularly now. She had been timing them using the monitor whilst trying to watch her own vitals. They had gone from ten minutes, to five and were now every four minutes. She knew that it wouldn't be long now until her son was here with them.

The lights in the small private room were still fading from dim to light. She could sense that the Tokyo had problems with its power, and the shaking had stopped. But where the Tokyo was, or if the battle was over didn't concern her now.

She reached and tapped her comm badge. "Doctor Valentine..." she said through gritted teeth. She knew that the doctor was busy, but she was starting to need some help.

"Amu? Amu!"

Glancing up, Amu was just in time to spot a familiar head of salmon-colored hair as she jostled her way over to where Amu was seated, an emergency medkit slung over her shoulders.

"Shouldn't you be..." she winced. "Elsewhere helping with..." she winced again. "The injured?"

The nurse- no, scratch that, she had a name- Soyo quickly shook her head. "As far as I'm concerned, Amu, your situation right now is as much a priority to me as is any one of the injured here," she stated calmly, and firmly, as if she'd had this talk a half-dozen times before. "Now, tell me what's wrong and I'll try and stabilize you until Doctor Valentine arrives, got it?"

"Oh I don't know! Perhaps I'm about to push this baby out of me!" Amu snapped. She soon came back to her senses. "Sorry about that..."

"It's fine," Soyo assured her as she began rummaging through her medkit. "Has Doctor Valentine already given you a terbutaline injection?"

Amu nodded simply.

"Damn," Soyo muttered, evidently not too old to be using profanity. "Right, so it sounds as if the terbutaline's already starting to wear off, which indicates to me that the cervix is beginning to dilate; just for frame of reference, about how far apart have your contractions been?"

"Down to about five to four minutes apart." Amu replied simply. She winced again her hands clasped to her belly. "I imagine within the next couple of hours he'll be here."

"About how long has this pattern of contractions been going on?" Soyo inquired as she pulled out a hypospray containing a moderate sedative.

"Ever since we engaged the enemy. I've not really been keeping track of time..." Amu admitted. "I've been..." she took a deep breath as she braced, another contraction coming through. "A bit busy..."

"Right, so that was about... five hours ago? Which would mean..." Soyo quickly ran the numbers in her head. "Alright, so that means that we are probably looking at three hours at most, so let's get you situated and ready for delivery, just in case."

Setting the hypospray down, she proceeded to help Amu up out of her chair and move her over to the adjacent bio-bed.

"If you could lie on your side, please?" she requested as she furnished a clean, waterproof pad and laid it down along the bottom third of the bed.

"My side?" Amu questioned.

"It should keep you relatively comfortable while still helping to move your baby into the ready position," Soyo explained as she went about closing the privacy curtains. "May make it a little more difficult for us to assess fetal heart rate, but that's what we've got tricorders for; what's important is that we get you comfortable and ready for the pushing stage."

Amu sluggishly moved to lay on her side. "Not a technique that I'm familiar with..." she admitted. She winced again. "I could do with a painkiller or something..." she said as her breathing got heavier.

"Already on it," Soyo replied as she grabbed the hypospray and pressed it up against Amu's neck. "Hold still for just a moment..."

Pssshhhh!

The ship shook slightly and the lights flickered. It was a harsh reminder that they were in the middle of a battle. Amu held her belly with one hand. "At this rate, the battle will shake this baby out..." she scrunched her eyes together as a wave of pain came flooding through her body. She swore out in her native Japanese tongue.

"This is nothing new, Amu," Soyo calmly assured her. "Women have been doing this for thousands of years, and have survived delivering children in equally dire circumstances; your body will know when it's time, got it?"

Amu nodded simply. "I know... but never imagin...ed it like... this..."

"Right, then," Soyo announced as she stood up and tapped her comm badge. "I need an obstetrician to room 610, stat; patient is in active labor, and delivery is anticipated sometime within the next three hours; I repeat, obstetrician to room 610, stat."

It was only about fifteen seconds later that Nyx came sweeping in with a neutral look on her face rather than her usual smile. The result of constant patient-to-patient-to-patient work, "I'm here, the local obstetrician and pediatrician and trauma surgeon and general do-it-all." She forced her mouth up into a slight smile as she looked at first Amu, then the readings on the screen, "We should have had another four hours before any frank labor should have started, but I don't think we have three hours, maybe an hour at most... Dilation is at six centimeters."

"Crap, we're that far along?" Soyo remarked with a look of concern. "This may go a bit faster than I was expecting..."

She looked over at Amu. "Not that it's going to be an issue unless we say it is; just take some deep breaths, and move your legs every now and then to help get the baby into position."

---

[About an hour later]

Amu's breathing was now heavier and heavier. Sweat was now running down her face as she had returned to a sitting position. "This... baby is coming... now..." she said through deep breaths. "I think we... need... doct..."

"I'm already here Amu, no need to summon me." This time the smile on Nyx's face was genuine. She'd taken some medication herself and now felt like a million dollars, "I'm here for the duration at this point, but once that terbutaline has worn off, this is going to go fast."

"I'm afraid that happened about an hour ago, Doc," Soyo lamented.

"Sorry..." Amu replied as she opened her eyes. "I'm not keeping.... trac..." she paused again as another contraction overcame her. "How long?"

"At this rate, it could be any minute now," Soyo remarked as she studied the tricorder readings. "Cervix is already at full dilation, and the fetus has fully descended."

She looked back up at Amu. "It's a little tricky to explain without making a graphic comparison, but if at any point you begin to feel this intense, uncontrollable urge to push an object the size of a grapefruit through your vagina, that's about when your body's ready to start pushing."

"Very... descriptive..." Amu replied as she gripped the edge of the biobed tightly. "Oh yeah... there is it..." she said trying not to scream out.

"Say no more," Soyo replied as she moved over to Amu's bedside and gently grasped as hand. "You squeeze as hard as you need to, okay?"

Amu took her hand and gripped it hard. For such a young and petite woman her grip was impressive and strong.

The room shook again and the lights flickered. However Amu ignored it, she had bigger problems than the ongoing battle outside. She had her own battle to win, the deliver the baby that had been safely nurtured inside her belly for the last nine months.

Amu gripped the edge of her biobed tightly as the unbearable urge to push down overcame her. She let out a scream as she began to push down, it was an unusual feel yet it seemed natural. This was it, she was finally starting to push and bear down. She swore out loud in her native tongue of Japanese too as another contraction caused her to start another push.

The shudder of the ship reminded Nyx that she was also needed elsewhere, but if anyone had been in critical danger, someone would have come for her. She positioned herself between Amu's legs and took another look under the drape just to make sure everything was going properly.

The ship then seemed to jerk and move. The inertial dampeners must have taken some damage, but the ship just seemed to jump to warp speed.

Nyx's hand slid under the head as it emerged and she gave a smile, "That's the hard part done, one more push and you've got this." She said in a soothing voice.

Amu nodded as her grip tightened, squeezing Soyo's hand ever tighter. She let out another scream as she felt a huge urge to push. She bore down her eyes closed as she scrunched her face, sweat running from her forehead and running over her eyelids. Amu let out another screa as she pushed and finally, her son's head breached and the pain seemed to fade away.

Nyx let the child's small body slide out into her hands and got to quick work with the two pre-laid out clamps to the umbilical cord before cutting it and doing a quick assessment of the baby even as she spoke, "Congratulations, Amu, you have a son." She cradled the child in her arms, supporting him fully as she finally took a step around and brought the baby over to the new mom as he started to wail as newborns were wont to do.

"You did it!" Soyo proclaimed as she gently rustled Amu's shoulder. "Amu, you did it!"

"I... did... it..." she breathed heavily. She gently took the baby and held him close to her chest. He had settled now and was sleeping in her arms. Tears began to run down her cheeks as she cried, the sheer emotion overcoming her. She embraced the newborn close. He seemed so tiny, so delicate, yet he was here. A new life entering the universe, a new miracle, and tiny moment of happiness and life that had been born around nothing but conflict, death and destruction.

"Hello." she whispered to the new born. She ran a thumb over his tiny forehead. "I'm going to take good care of you. You have nothing to be scared of. Mummy is here..." she told him softly. She relaxed back a little as she held him close, the sound of her heartbeat comforting him as she cradled him close.

"You did well, Amu," Soyo congratulated. "Now, as long as you don't need anything else from us right now, Doctor Valentine and I still have a lot of casualties to attend to; but if you need us at any time, don't hesitate to summon us, got it?"

Amu nodded keeping her eyes on her son. She slowly looked up at Soyo and Nyx. "Go help the others. I can handle things here..." she paused. "And, thankyou..." she ran a thumb over his tiny delicate forehead "from both of us."

Soyo turned her head to Nyx and nodded. "I think we've done all we can, Doc."

"It was truly my pleasure." Nyx smiled at Amu, knowing that she'd also have another handful with Talia in the near future as well, but there were real casualties to deal with as well, "I'll be back in to check on you in about an hour at most and we'll do a more thorough exam on your son." And she was already moving back towards the door.

Posting by:

Lieutenant Nyxala Valentine
Chief Medical Officer
USS Tokyo

Lieutenant Amu Hinamori M.D.
Flight Deck Chief Medic
USS Tokyo

Lieutenant Soyo Hamada
Nurse
USS Tokyo

 

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