Start of a new life
Edmond set aside the finished reports that documented the results of the last commission. He had been working for the better part of two hours and it was time for a walk. Enterprise could probably do with one too, given that she had been sitting at her desk for a good part of the day and needed the exercise. Edmond walked into the outer office where Enterprise was putting some files away and gently rested his hand on her shoulder. "Would the two of you care to accompany me on a promenade?" he gently whispered in her ear as he rubbed her belly.
Enterprise smiled and replied "Just let me fuel up and I'll join you." She walked over to her desk and downed one of the fruit-vegetable smoothies she had kept for in-between-meal snacks that she had been increasingly needing as her pregnancy had gone on. She was about 6 months in but was looking more like 8 months these last few weeks.
The couple walked hand-in-hand from the office to the circle around the fountain in the center. Enterprise looked preoccupied as the pair a bunch of destroyers play fighting near the fountain.
"Something on your mind?" Edmond inquired.
"They are so like children yet when it comes time to fight, they are like adults." Enterprise looking troubled. "Whereas my child will be a helpless baby."
"I will do all I can that make sure she is kept safe. Remember we have a whole fleet of babysitters." Edmond reassured her.
"But how will we be able to explain to her why things are the way they are. If only there was a way that she could understand why her friends will be going to fight," Enterprise replied. "It's just that I can't help but feel tha-ahh…"
Enterprise suddenly collapsed to the ground clutching at her stomach.
"What's wrong?"
"The baby, she's coming!" panted Enterprise.
"What? You're not supposed to be due for a few months!"
"She's coming now!" Enterprise's groans became sharper and her breathing more labored.
Edmond lifted Enterprise into his arms and ran towards the infirmary. Fortunately, both Vestal and Akashi happened to be there at the same time and immediately took charge of the situation. Edmond was ushered into the next room while the two started work. He paced for what felt like an eternity before Akashi ran in and shouted at him to come over. Edmond was aghast at how weak and drained Enterprise looked and that she wasn't pushing anymore.
"We've found the problem," stated Vestal urgently, "the baby is draining Enty's wisdom cube to power its own. It had been slow at first but this sudden birthing process is putting Enty's cube under a huge strain." Edmond looked closer at Enterprise's stomach and found that it had gotten bigger since this morning.
"Is the child really growing rapidly?"
"Nya! She certainly is! It might not be possible to birth the child like this. We will have to do a cesarean," Akashi stated while examining Enterprise using her special senses.
"Are you kidding?" Vestal protested, "With Enterprise's cube being so depleted, a cesarean could be fatal!"
"What if we used the energy from blank cube from the lab? Could you get the baby to draw energy off of it and get Enterprise stable?" Edmond tried to sound calm but his voice was shaking.
Both of the medics agreed that is was worth a try and Hermione was sent to retrieve a cube. She returned quickly with the cube and Edmond held it atop Enterprise's stomach while Vestal and Akashi pooled their powers together to channel the cube's energy into the infant. Suddenly the cube flashed and everyone in the room was dazzled….
Enterprise awoke. She felt no pain or much of anything at all for that matter. Then it hit her, the baby bump was gone. Panic suddenly set in and she looked around and saw Edmond who had been sitting next to her.
"Honey, where is…."
"She made it. Vestal and Akashi are examining her right now. How are you feeling?"
Enterprise immediately relaxed. "Oh thank goodness. The last thing I remember was that cube lighting up. I must have passed out from the shock. I just feel tired right now."
Edmond nodded but looked nervous. "Enty there is something you need to know about our child. She…didn't come out quite as we expected." Before Edmond could further elaborate, Enterprise suddenly heard voices coming from outside the infirmary door. The door opened and Hermione entered. "My apologies you two but she insisted on me taking her."
Enterprise's jaw dropped. In Hermione's arms was not an infant but a small girl. She had long white hair and bright green eyes and clad in a small hospital gown. The girl looked very sleepy but perked up the moment she saw Enterprise.
"Mommy!"
Enterprise continued to stare in shock for a while but then shakily recovered. "Y-yes, I am your mommy." Hermione gently laid the child on Enterprise's side. Enterprise hesitantly reached out and touched the girl on the cheek. "You…were…inside me…only this morning." Edmond rested his hand on the top of the girl's head causing her to turn round.
"Daddy!"
"Yes that's right, I'm your daddy." Edmond was processing this slightly better but still feeling shaken about the whole thing.
"Mommy, Daddy, who am I? And what am I?"
"Who are you? Right you need a name," said Enterprise. She thought for a bit. "How about Liberty? Would you like to be called that? Is that alright, honey?" Edmond nodded.
"Okay, Mommy. But what am I?"
"You are part human," Edmond replied, "and you are part Kansen, which means you are a ship and also a girl. At least part of you is anyway. Does that make sense?"
"Okay, Daddy, if you say so." The newly christened Liberty suddenly looked sleepy again. She wrapped Enterprise's unresisting arm around her, snuggled into Enterprise's side and promptly fell asleep.
Enterprise finally asked the question that was on her mind. "How?"
"We believe that the blank cube acted as a catalyst for a Kansen-type birth instead of a human-type birth." Vestal replied thoughtfully. "It somehow removed the baby from your womb and birthed her into a more advanced state. Lucky break I know, but it would help if we knew how those things fully worked before stuff like this happened."
Hermione moved to pick up Liberty but Enterprise shook her head. "Please, if she's stable right now, I would like her to sleep next to me. Vestal?"
Vestal nodded and waved Hermione away and told the couple to inform her the instant if things take a turn for the worse. The three of them were finally alone together. Edmond ran his fingers through his sleeping daughter's hair. "She is the spitting image of you. You must be so proud."
"Yes but she has those bright green eyes of yours," Enterprise replied. "I look forward to seeing what else she has of you the longer we get to know her."
Edmond looked thoughtful. "Yes so long as she has the good parts. You need to get some rest now."
A week later
"So tell me Vestal, what are your thoughts on our child?" Edmond inquired as the doctor finished sitting down.
"Well, in a nutshell, she is physically eight years old. She has basic language and mathematic skills and understands basic hygiene and social mores. However, she appears to fatigue easily and sometimes has trouble focusing. Her personality seems less developed than most newly created Kansen. There is also the matter of her energy levels being low but I would put it down to just being born. I have compiled the finer details about her condition and my suggestions in this file here for you to read in your own time."
"Do you know why Liberty was born the way she was? For the first six months, it seemed like a normal pregnancy."
"Well, I have a theory about that," the repair ship replied, "You know how you let Enterprise become your full-time secretary so that she would still be able to make a difference despite being out of action? That might have been a mistake. She was privy to everything that was going in the war with the Sirens, including all the ups and downs of the conflict. What is the longest has she been out of action prior to pregnancy?"
"The longest vacation she was on was two and a half weeks," Edmond replied, "And towards the end she was getting a little restless."
"Well this is just a theory, but I think the prolonged inactivity got to her. Enterprise is dutiful to a fault. I believe the burden of being off duty for so long caused her to subconsciously accelerate both the pregnancy and the development of the child."
Edmond looked troubled. "I hope Enterprise doesn't beat herself up over this. It's not like any Kansen has ever produced offspring via sexual reproduction before."
"Exactly," Vestal reassured, "like I said totally a subconscious reaction. Therefore, I will be reporting to high command about this and making the suggestion that in the future, pregnant Kansen must be kept in locations and/or situations that are conducive to their psychological well being and of course have spare blank wisdom cube on hand when it is time for delivery."
"Please keep me posted on any other finding you may have during your observations." Edmond got up. "If it's okay, I want to see how those two are doing."
Edmond entered the room containing his wife and child. Liberty was held upright by Enterprise's right arm as she rested on her head on her mother's chest. The girl looked awake but sleepy, in fact she always seemed to be tired. Enterprise's other hand was stroking the head of her pet eagle, who had fluttered in of her own volition. Enterprise turned to Edmond and smiled. "I think Grim has fully accepted Liberty as a part of me now. Of course, I don't think that the two should play together yet but I know that she watch over her as much as she does me." Edmond nodded and moved over to Liberty and stroked her hair. Liberty gave a soft hmm sound and leaned in towards his hand. There were still so many questions and unknowns about this child and how she would grow but for now they all just appreciated the quiet moment of familial togetherness.