A Quartermaster Ready To Pop

Posted on Sun Mar 30th, 2025 @ 12:59am by Senior Chief Petty Officer Karen Jinryo & Lieutenant Commander Joseph Nixon & Lieutenant Sara'draphia T'eseri

1,193 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Impending Midnight

Karen wasn't sure this was a good idea...

As a now three-time mother, Karen knew pretty well what contractions were when she felt them. She had been trying to time them when she received a message from Commander Nixon. Even though she was fairly sure her water was about to break, Karen hobbled her way down to the Commander's office to see what he wanted.

Joe looked up from his desk. He had wanted to meet the Quartermaster to introduce himself and see how things were prior to him coming onto the ship. He looked with eyes open.
"Wow - you are very very pregnant. I wasn't expecting that." he said laughing.

"Yeah, little Patrick here's already pushing his way downward..." Karen tensed up as she felt another contraction. "Fortunately, the contractions are still more than five minutes apart..."

"Right and I think that's good. I actually just wanted to meet you and go over what had been going on here before I was reassigned. Antyhing you think that needs to be changed." Joe said.

"Well, a lot's happened the short time this ship's been in service." Karen explained. "Even I don't fully know the details, as I've not been aboard too long myself. Anything from System HW-35 back I don't know about, but I can give you the low down on what's happened since System HW-35... Well, everything that I know about, anyhow..."

"That would be good, if you can. I don't want to stress you, and I'm no doctor when it comes to delivering babies." Joe said.

"Well, let's hope it doesn't get to that point..." Karen muttered. "Anyhow, I was brought on board alongside your predecessor, Lieutenant Raazym. Unfortunately, he got severely injured and needed to be medevacked, but I'm getting ahead of myself..."

Karen straightened herself out, and leaned against one of the chairs in front of Joe's desk.

"When I got on board, the mood on this ship was dark;" She explained. "Like, I don't know what the hell happened in System HW-35, but whatever happened, it did a serious number crew morale... I know the captain; I helped revive her band on a previous assignment, and even she was in a bad mood!"

Joe nodded. "Ok. That gives me some ideas. Do you know what any of them like - like hobbies music, activites?"

"Well, like I said, I know the captain loves blues music." Karen repeated. "I helped revive her little band that she did in the Academy. I'd wanted to meet Lieutenant Kogami, the Chief of Security, pick the brain of one of the original members, but..."

At that moment, Karen was cut off by a rather sharp contraction. This one was different from the ones before it, as through the pain, she audibly heard liquid gushing onto the floor.

"Oh, crap;" She muttered. "I think that was my water..."

"Ok. OK. This is NOT my area." Joe tapped his comm badge. "Nixon to Sickbay. It appears that the Senior Chief has had her water break in my office... Can we get a team to help escort her to sickbay?"

A few moments later, Sara transported into the room, “alright, let’s get you seated Senior chief” she said, quickly moving to Karen’s side and offering her an arm in support as she quickly waved her medical Tricorder over her two patients, “all is looking good so far. My team should be here soon”

"It's not my first rodeo." Karen muttered. "My body knows what it's doing by now..."

As the medical team arrived with the hover bed, Sara started handing out orders, “Nurse Pratchet, Nurse Kellye, make sure the path is clear to sickbay and it stays that way. Nurse Houlihan, let’s get our patients up onto the bed” She said as she helped Karen to her feet.

"Does the bed sit up?" Karen asked. "Once I lay down, I'm not sure I'll be able to get back up..."

"Do you all need help?" Joe asked.

“I won’t turn away a pair of helping hands, just do what I say when I say it” Sara replied before returning to her patient, “yes, it can it up, but once you’ve laid down, we won’t need you to get up again. Just relax and focus on your breathing”

"Okay..." Was all that Karen replied with.

Helping Karen up onto the floating bed, Sara and her team started moving towards sickbay. As they walked, Sara quickly scanned Karen with her tricorder, "everything looks good, proceeding along nicely"

Joe walked along side the biobed and everyone. He wasn't going to not help but he also wasn't dumb enough to get in the way.

--- Sickbay ---

Arriving in sickbay, Sara got to work handing out orders as she maneuvered the floating bed over to the closes biobed and, with the help of a couple of nurses, helped Karen over to the biobed. Walking over to stand beside her, Sara brought up the holographic display for the bed, "Computer, activate a sterile field around biobed 3." she ordered before looking to Karen, "would you like any anesthesia?"

"No thank you." Karen responded. "It's my third birth, anesthesia's only going to throw me off."

Joe stood back, watching as the medical team efficiently moved into action. He was no doctor, but he respected their expertise and knew better than to interfere. Instead, he focused on being present, offering support in whatever way he could.

"You're handling this like a pro, Senior Chief," he said, attempting to keep the mood light. "Way better than I would in your position."

Joe glanced over at Sara. "Anything else I can do? Or should I get out of your way?"

"I believe we have everything handled here Commander, thank you" Sara replied before turning her full attention to her patients. "ok, we're proceeding at a good pace. So far I don't anticipate any complications"

"Well, that's good..." Karen muttered. "I think the contractions are getting closer together..."

Joe offered a reassuring nod, stepping just a bit closer to Karen’s side. “That’s a good sign, right?” he said, keeping his tone calm and encouraging. He wasn’t entirely sure what else to say—childbirth wasn’t exactly his area of expertise—but he figured his presence alone might help.

He cast another glance toward Sara and the medical team, watching as they worked with practiced precision. “You’re in good hands,” he assured Karen, offering a small smile. “Just let me know if you need anything—water, ice chips, someone to yell at.” He smirked slightly, hoping to lighten the mood.



[A Few Hours Later...]

After several hours of pushing and screaming, Sara wrapped up the new bundle of joy in a blanket and gently handed them to Karen, "Karen, meet your new child"

Karen, worn out from labor, accepted the bundle of joy without question.

"Hello, Patrick:" She cooed softly. "Welcome to the universe..."

A mission post by

Lieutenant Commander Joseph Nixon
Chief Operations Officer

Lieutenant Sara'draphia T'eseri
Chief Medical Officer

Senior Chief Petty Officer Karen Jinryo
Quartermaster

And introducing...

Patrick Jinryo
Newborn

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