Star Trek: Odyssey: Catalyst of Sorrows
Captain Jermaine Allensworth walked down the corridors of Deep Space Nine's habitat ring. It had been four months since he lost the Alexandria to the hands of the Terran Empire. There were so many things going on lately that he sometimes lost track of the date. Hoshi had gone into labor and she was in the infirmary giving birth to the twins with Dustin by her side. Commander Merriell was on an assignment to try and get the Imperial forces off of Cestus Three. And then there was his own terminal condition that was slowly destroying him. Doctor Plumley was unable to find a cure for it yet but was confident that she could find one.
He was deep in his thoughts that when he turned the corner, he bumped into someone. He reached out and grabbed the person by the shoulders to help keep them from falling over.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I wasn't paying attention to where I was…" He stopped in midsentence when he realized who he bumped into. It was Lieutenant Dowler. It was the second time he had done it. He smiled when he saw who it was. "I'm sorry, Lieutenant. I didn't mean to bump into you like this again. We keep running into each other like this."
"Quite literally, sir." She said returning the grin.
He really needed to pay attention when he walked now otherwise he would knock the poor girl into retirement if he kept this up.
"It seems like I never see you unless I'm walking down a corridor and thinking about things. Even then I still don't see you because if I did, we wouldn't bump into each other like this."
Dowler smiled at his remark. She was glad that he wasn't one of the uptight captains that never smiled and if a situation like this occurred with one of those type of captains, it would play out with her saying: "I'm sorry, sir. I won't happen again." And they would reply with: "See that it doesn't, Lieutenant." Then they would walk off. Captain Allensworth on the other hand, admitted fault and expressed concern for her when he bumped into her.
"What do you think about when you're walking down the corridors, sir?" She asked.
Allensworth was a bit hesitant on the answer. Dowler immediately realized she crossed a line that she didn't mean to cross.
"I'm sorry, sir. I didn't mean to pry."
"It's okay, Lieutenant. It's a simple, innocent question. There have been things on my…"
Allensworth stopped and found it hard to breathe all of a sudden. He placed his hand on the wall for support as he bent over. Dowler reached out and grabbed her captain.
"Sir, are you all right? What's wrong?"
Allensworth was trying hard to breathe that he couldn't respond to her questions. She stood up straight and tapped her comm. badge.
"Medical emergency to corridor H twelve A of the habitat ring."
Lieutenant Commander Zofchak stood in the infirmary on Deep Space Nine. He held the hand of Hoshi Sato that was like a vice grip. Her grip was strong and seemed like she was going to rip his hand if not his entire arm off. Hoshi moaned, screamed, yelled, gritted her teeth and breathed heavily. They were the typical sounds a woman made while giving birth.
"Come on, Hoshi. Push." Plumley said from her position between Hoshi's spread legs.
Hoshi yelled as she made the push, not to mention gripped harder on Dustin's hand. She wanted to tear Amanda's head off and bounce it all over the Promenade. She made it sound so damned easy, why didn't' she try it. Hoshi then realized that Amanda had three kids of her own that were living with her husband on Cestus Three.
Cestus Three was attacked four months ago by the Terran Empire while her family was still there. Amanda has had no word on her family's status. She has been able to put up a strong front while on duty but God only knows how she is when she's by herself. Hoshi admired that Amanda could push aside her personal problems and focus on helping give birth to the twins.
"Come on, Hoshi, we almost have Kyou out." She said.
Dustin and Hoshi decided that the first born would be Kyou and the second would by Ryou. Kyou was almost out, which meant that Hoshi had to go through this a second time.
Every nerve in Hoshi's body screamed at her. Pain pushed against pain, and she thought she'd die or pass out at the very least. She wanted to stab Dustin with a Klingon pain stick right about now. She loved him dearly but for these seconds that seemed like forever, she hated him.
Then suddenly, the pain, the circumstantial hate for Dustin all ceased and all she heard was the crying coming from Kyou. Her breathing slowed to a steady pace.
"Good job, Hoshi." Amanda said. "Ryou will be ready to come out in a few minutes."
Dustin kissed Hoshi on the top of her head as he walked over to Doctor Bashir, who was wrapping Kyou in a blanket.
"One beautiful baby girl." Julian said as he handed the infant to Dustin.
Dustin walked over to Hoshi and held the small child down so she could see the face. At that moment, Hoshi instantly fell in love with Kyou and she then looked forward to seeing Ryou. To hell with the pain if she was going to get another beautiful child.
The minutes passed by very quickly and Hoshi was ready to push out Ryou. Dustin set Kyou down on the anti-gravity sled that Bashir had set up to place the twins after they were born. He then returned to Hoshi's side with her hand in his, and just like before her grip was like a vice.
It didn't seem to take as long or seem as hard for Ryou to be born as it was for Kyou. Soon, Ryou was out and crying just like her sister was. Bashir wrapped up Ryou and both he and Amanda handed the new parents each a twin. Dustin held Kyou as Hoshi held Ryou.
The two parents were all smiles as they held the small infants. Dustin handed Kyou over to Hoshi, who now held both twins. Her attention went from one to the other and tears of joy were about to fall from her control.
"They're beautiful." Dustin said. "Just like their mother."
"Congratulations, you two." Amanda said. "You did great, Hoshi."
Hoshi looked up and smiled at the doctor. "I couldn't have done it without you, Doctor."
Amanda smiled before she and Bashir left the room to allow the new parents be alone with their newly born twins.