Kirk winced. That was not good news. "In what order will the systems fail?

"Lights, consoles. I have diverted the channels to power only this console on the emergency power. Then heating systems, followed by oxygen filtration. With the size of the cabin and three occupants it will take approximately fourteen-point-four-three minutes for the oxygenation to drop dangerously low and another two minutes to become unsustainable for human life."

The Captain nodded and turned back to the floor as contraction hit the pregnant woman. "I'm going to try to find the emergency supplies. Hopefully, the baby will wait until we're out of here." He dropped his voice further. "And Spock, I know I don't need to tell you this, but if it comes down to it, the baby and the woman take precedence over both our lives."

His First Officer inclined his head. "Of course, Captain. Children are valued on Vulcan; I would not willingly allow one to perish." Spock turned back to his work.

Carefully keeping his balance as another rock struck the ship, Kirk made his way back to Samantha. "Sam, I have some bad news." He reached out and pushed her hair off of her forehead. "We're going to be cutting it close." He snorted. "As usual."

"What do you mean?"

"We should be out of here before life support goes down. But it's going to be tight. Spock's having to reprogram the computer, and it's a slow business. I'm going to look around for the emergency kit just in case, but we're at least going to lose lights and most console power before we get out of here."

She nodded. "Okay."

"Okay?" Kirk laughed. "That's all you have to say about that? Okay?"

She laughed with him, a lower, sweet laugh that made him smile. "I trust that two Officers from the flagship Enterprise have a better chance of getting me out of here than anyone else."

He saluted her humorously. "We'll try, Ma'am." Standing, he moved some rubble away and looked around. "I'm going to search for that kit."

Three hours later, things were going downhill fast.

Kirk had searched the entirety of the small bridge, moving the bodies of the dead crew members so they laid respectfully side by side near the Captain's chair.

Kirk had also managed to find the emergency kit, but it had been kicked around by some dying crewmember as chaos had gripped the Miranda. Half the supplies had been scattered outside of the bulkhead door, which was now firmly closed against the vacuum of space. Despite his efforts, Kirk had only managed to salvage one small heated blanket, a half-liter sachet of water, an empty hypospray, and two oxygen masks.

Only two oxygen masks. Even worse, they were the old models, from some of the original starships, the type that made sharing a mask nearly impossible. They were flimsy and the more times they were taken off, the more rapidly they deteriorated, making them nearly useless.

The lights had gone off forty-three minutes ago, leaving the three stranded in the dim light of the console on which Spock was desperately working and a few emergency strips that were sealed onto the other stations and the Captain's chair.

The temperature had started dropping rapidly fifteen minutes later. Kirk had taken the blanket and wrapped it around Samantha, breaking the heating packs and starting their chemical reaction. He knew his First Officer had to be freezing, but Spock didn't complain, only hunched over the station and increased the speed of his flying fingers as their breath became visible and hung in the air around them.

Kirk knelt by Samantha as his First worked, teeth on edge as time wore on and the contractions forced moans and shrieks from the young woman. He rubbed her back, gave her water, and wished desperately that Bones was there.

As if reading his thoughts, Samantha spoke up between contractions. "Who's Bones?" She managed a smile at his surprised face. "You said earlier that he would kill you for being the person to deliver the baby."

Kirk laughed. "Bones is my CMO. We were friends back in the Academy; his real name is Leonard McCoy. Bones is a nickname; short for "sawbones" because he can do just about any medical thing the old-fashioned way, without technology, just like the old Earth doctors."

"Sounds nice." Samantha bit off a moan as another contraction hit. "And he'll kill you because..."

"Because he's an old-fashioned Georgia doc and actually likes to do things like deliver babies, and he's going to jealous that I'm the person who got to deliver a Terran baby in the middle of deep space." Kirk rolled his eyes. "That's Bones for you."

They were interrupted by Spock. "Oxygen filters are down, Captain."

Kirk internally swore a blue streak. "How close are we to getting the shields down?"

His First Officer was disturbingly white- the cold was leaching away his body temperature. Kirk probably didn't look much better, but at least he was more used to the cold temperatures than Spock.

"It will be close Captain." Despite his firm voice, a look at Spock's face, something in his eyes and his body language confirmed the contrary to Kirk; they weren't going to make it off before the oxygen levels became fatally low.

"Take the second oxygen mask, Mr Spock." Spock opened his mouth to argue.

Kirk's eyes flashed at his friend and fellow officer. "That was an order, Commander Spock. It is only logical that you wear the mask, since you're working. Put it on and get us out of here."

Spock didn't argue, but Kirk could see his reluctance at leaving the Captain without a mask. The console was frosting over, and Spock was having to work increasingly hard to program the computer. His fingers were leaving damp patches in the frost as the air froze and melted around where he touched the controls. Leaving Spock to put on the second mask, Kirk snatched up the first and walked back to Samantha, sliding the fabricated material over her face and tightening the straps.

Carefully, he slid a hand under her skirt. He swore, out loud this time. "Sam, the baby's crowning. You're going to have to push. I know this isn't the ideal place to deliver, but you don't have a choice. Besides, I've heard of at least one baby born in space that turned out pretty well."

He smiled and stood to walk around to her other side and almost fell. The oxygen was getting dangerously low; small spots swam in front of his eyes, competing with the white of their breath hanging in the frigid air.

The baby was coming. "Spock, how long can you hold your breath?" Kirk called out, not bothering anymore to be subtle about the extreme effort it was going to take to keep them all alive.

Fortunately, Spock understood. "Just tell me when, Captain." Kirk nodded, kneeling again and waiting for the little black spots to recede. They did, but alarmingly slowly.

He could feel the top of the baby's head with one hand as Samantha crushed the other in her grip. "Push, Sam, push!" Kirk braced her feet on his thighs, wincing as she shoved against him. "Come on, the baby's almost here, you're doing great..."

He managed to free his hand from Samantha's grasp and roughly pulled his shirt off with one hand, exposing his skin to the frigid air in the tiny bridge. "Come on... come on..." Slowly, he supported the baby's head, guiding it into the dark room.

Samantha was sobbing through the filter mask, but pushed. Kirk caught the baby as it slid into the world and an instant later Spock was carefully placing his own oxygen mask over the tiny face and securing it with hands that were bone white and shaking from the cold. The First Officer hurried back to his station and frantically continued to type.

The baby's cry, slightly muffled by the mask, was the happiest sound Kirk had ever heard; as long as it was crying, it was alive.

Fumbling with stiff fingers, Kirk used a small pocketknife that he had disinfected to cut the umbilical cord, tying it off with a sterilized bit of the blanket. He slid the baby into his own shirt and wrapped him (for it was a him) tightly, handing him to his mother and standing to stagger, shirtless, over to Spock.

The Vulcan nodded at him, then at Kirk's communicator. Kirk staggered over to get it off the floor. "It has a sequence to cycle through; it will be down in ten minutes, exactly." The Vulcan took his hands off the controls and moved over to wait near Samantha, catlike despite the lack of oxygen and probable near-hypothermia.

Kirk flipped open the communicator, feeling his chest moving too fast as he tried to find air in a room that didn't have enough oxygen. "Kirk to Enterprise."

"Sir! Can we -"

He cut them off. "Nine minutes and thirty seconds. Start trying now. Have a med team ready." His voice sounded strange in his ears and he could feel himself swaying, fighting the lack of oxygen. Spock stood to help him, but sat back down rapidly, his face even whiter as the world probably greyed out around him.

Kirk could see Samantha start to take off her mask, probably to give it to one of them. "No," he croaked. "Leave it on."

She nodded.

"Spock..." Kirk started towards his First with the intent of somehow warming him up, shared body heat and all, despite the fact that Kirk didn't have a shirt on and would probably do very little to help. The thermometer in the console beeped; they had dropped below negative ten degrees fahrenheit.

He didn't make it to where Spock was sitting, hunched over and conserving energy, trying to keep his delicate fingers warm. Two steps towards his friend, he pitched forwards to his knees, the world swimming, and heaving around him, his hands waving through the air as he attempted to find oxygen that didn't exist. Spock was blurry on the edge of his vision, having dragged himself off the deck to his suffocating Captain.

"You'll make it before you pass out?" Kirk whispered, chest heaving.

Spock nodded.

"Don't..." He sucked in a stale breath. "Don't let her take the mask off."

Spock nodded again.

Kirk slumped against the steps to the chair, the frigid raised metal and plastic biting into his back. "Good luck, Spock."

If he wasn't severely oxygen deprived and about to pass out, he would have sworn that Spock had smiled at him as he raised his hand in the Vulcan salute. "Live long and prosper, Captain."

Then the baby was crying again and Spock's hand was icy and dead on his bare shoulder and his ears were ringing and the world was fading in a burst of gold sparks...