One Night On Starbase 43 (Part 1)

Posted on Sun May 24th, 2026 @ 6:05am by Captain Taiga Aisaka & Lieutenant Commander Ryuuji Takasu & Lieutenant Commander Nyxala Valentine
Edited on on Sun May 24th, 2026 @ 6:07am

1,680 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Flight Of The Valkyries
Location: Starbase 43
Timeline: March 16th 2397

The shuttle was granted a priority landing spot as soon as it dropped out of warp, the door to the shuttlebay open and waiting. Nyx had draped a sheet over the gurney and as soon as the shuttle settled onto the ground had hit the hatch release and let the rear door down to reveal a full medical team standing by, two of the orderlies hopping up on the ramp before it had fully opened to take charge of the gurney.

There were three medical officers present as well and even as the two nurses began wheeling Taiga at a trot to the door, one was already hanging additional bags onto the tree and connecting them while another was taking vitals to confirm what the displays were saying. The third took a glance over Nyx and noted the discolorations, "What's happening?", he asked as he tugged Nyx into motion. She followed, expecting Ryuuji to follow in turn with the child.

"Intermittent heart failure with a ventricular leak due to a spreading necrosis affecting heart tissue. Pericardial sac has been drained several times, I performed a surgical debridement on the trip over and sutured the ventricle shut as a temporary measure. Patient is postpartum by about..." She glanced at a passing chrono, "Five hours, complications include splenic bleeding and abdominal wall perforation of unknown means, I performed a splenectomy and emergency procedures to stop the bleeding. Blood pressure is low and falling, I've done everything I can to prop it up possible."

"You got her here alive, that's not bad on it's own, doctor. Any idea what was causing the bleeding?" They were just behind Taiga's gurney as they wheeled her through the corridors rapidly.

"None. I initially thought it could be ulcers, but the necrosis?" Nyx shook her head, "I didn't wait to run tests. I'm not sure an Armitage medical bay would have been able to handle it timely, much less since the ship was about to go into combat. She needs undivided attention from a full team." She hesitated a moment, "Patient two is a newborn infant, child of the Captain, no response for three minutes after an emergency C-section but appears to have a full recovery. I haven't had time for a follow-up examination, so we need to detail a physician to do that." She gestured behind them, "The child's father is going to bring her to sickbay behind us."

"You did the right thing." A tall woman with brown hair said as she rushed over. She looked to be in her mid-fourties at most. She was wearing a long blue medical coat and on her collar were four pips. "Doctor Dawn Pallister." She introduced as she stopped short of Nyx. "Head of Medical Here."

"Doctor, Nyx Valentine, C-M-O, USS Tokyo." Nyx nodded back at the new doctor, the one she probably needed to talk to most about this case, "I've got blood samples for testing, but Mrs. Aisaka is going to need a consistent infusion and a far more comprehensive surgery than I was able to do on the ride over. We need to see if I resected enough tissue to cut out the entire necrosis."

Dawn nodded. "Understood." she turned to the smaller woman next to her, who looked like she was in her mid twenties and held the rank of Lieutenant Junior Grade. She shared a remarkable resemblance to Dawn. "Rachel. Run up to surgery theatre three and start the preparations."

Rachel nodded. "Yes Mum... I mean doctor." she said as she turned on a heel and took off at a good speed.

Dawn turned back to Nyx. "This is your patient doctor. Do you want to take lead on this? Rachel, I and the other medical staff here will assist when you need us. However Aisaka here is your patient."

She then noticed Ryuuji, who was carrying the newborn in his arms. "I gather you are the father and husband?"

Ryuuji nodded as he clutched the newborn in his arms. "Yes Doctor I am."

"No need to worry," Dawn said softly, giving him a reassuring gaze. "We'll do our best to ensure that your wife gets through this. We will do everything in our power to save her."

Nyx wanted to interject to correct the other doctor by saying that Taiga would be all right, but couldn't bring herself to do that when she knew she could be wrong. "Someone is going to be with you shortly to do the normal post-birth exam on your daughter, Ryuuji, but I don't expect anything wrong with her." She gave him a reassuring smile, "And I'll appreciate any help you can give me, doctor, especially if there's somewhere I can change into something clean?"

"Lets get the patient to the surgery theatre." Dawn said. "There are changing rooms there." she told her. She then turned to look back at Ryuuji. "We have a paediatrics facility aboard. One of the doctors here can take you there and ensure your daughter is all good. You're welcome to take and stay with her of course."

Ryuuji nodded. "I'll take her. Please... look after Taiga."

"We will do our best. No need to worry." Dawn replied softly as she shared looks with Nyx. "Shall we doctor?"

"Yes, ma'am." Nyx nodded, taking cues from Dawn as she led Nyx away from the father and daughter, "How much of what I said to the receiving team did you hear?"

"A little. Can you fill me in with the details?" Dawn replied.

"Right." Nyx nodded as they walked, doing a recap of of what she'd said before, "I'm at a complete loss as to why her heart was dying, is dying, but if we can't resolve that, we're going to need to replace it sooner rather than later. I came too close to losing her on the shuttle ride here to have her check out on me now."

"Hopefully we won't have to replace it." Dawn replied. "It could be due to stress on her circulatory system. Luckily, we can repair any damage or stress we come across." she explained as they stepped into a turbolift. "We have some of the most advanced medical technology here, so no doubt that we can save her."

"That's what I want to hear..." Nyx said in relief, "I started off as a combat medic, so I got used to being without the high tech assists. This is going to be a true blessing to me." They rapidly made it to the surgical area and one of the preparatory room and Nyx immediately began to strip off the outer layer that was stained with Taiga's blood, replacing it with a more standard surgical outfit, "I hate these things... They make me look fat."

The door swished opened and Rachel returned. "Everything is ready. The patient and surgical bay has been prepared." she explained. She was also wearing medical scrubs.

Dawn nodded. "Thank you Rachel. We'll be out shortly." She turned to Nyx and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "You've done remarkably well. No one will think any worse of you if you want to catch some well deserved sleep and rest." she assured her. "This could take a few hours, and we need everyone in there to be the best they can be."

"One time I performed open heart surgery to remove some shrapnel while in combat conditions and on the run from the remains of a regiment having been awake for over thirty-six hours. I'll be fine." Nyx smiled with a shrug, "I'll tell you what, I'll let you take the lead, but I'm not inclined to leave the Captain's side until I know what's actually going on with her, besides, I want another look at her heart and those sutures I put in."

"If you say so. But first, how about you drink this?" Dawn said as she walked over to the replicator that was set into the wall. She turned back around holding a cup of very strong smelling coffee. "And, like I said. She's your patient. So, I'd like you to lead. You know her medical situation better than any of us." she explained as she held out the coffee.

The coffee smelled pretty good, but Nyx resisted reaching out to take it. "I really shouldn't." She said, referring to the coffee and shaking her head, "I just found out a couple weeks ago that I'm pregnant, so I'm trying to stay away from both caffeine and alcohol. Not something I planned, but it still happened."

Dawn blinked a few times in surprise. "Don't worry. One cup won't hurt you. Trust me, I drank plenty of coffee when I was pregnant with Rachel, and she turned out alright." she smiled proudly. "Now, down the hatch. We have work to do."

Finally Nyx accepted it and took a tentative drink of it before finally just downing the whole thing when she was sure it wasn't too hot, "Right, let's go. At least we won't have to worry about the initial incision, I just taped her up for easy access."

Dawn let out a small smirk. "Well, that makes it easier." she said as she opened the door into the surgical bay.

Once in the room, Nyx's face turned all serious and one of the assistants put a mask on her face and gloves on her hands, while Nyx wiggled her fingers to make sure there was no loss of mobility as she stepped up to the surgical table with all of the readings. A quick glance around showed her she had several assistants, a very new aspect to her life at this point, then became familiar with the current set of vitals on the Captain and the cleared away surgical area.

To be continued...

Posting by:

Captain Taiga Aisaka
Commanding Officer
USS Tokyo

Lieutenant Commander Nyxala Valentine
Chief Medical Officer
USS Tokyo

Lieutenant Commander Ryuuji Takasu
Chief Strategic Operations Officer
USS Tokyo

Also guest starring...

Captain Dawn Pallister
Chief Medical Officer
Starbase 43

Lieutenant Junior Grade Rachel Pallister
Medical Officer
Starbase 43

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