The Most Difficult Patient (Part 2)

Posted on Fri Apr 17th, 2026 @ 2:33am by Lieutenant Commander Nyxala Valentine & Lieutenant Colonel Ashok 'Ash', Son of Norath
Edited on on Fri Apr 17th, 2026 @ 2:33am

2,444 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Flight Of The Valkyries
Location: Marine CO's Office

And Now The Continuation:


Almost immediately, after the doors swished shut, Ashok stood up. His demeanor changed as he put on a stern look and approached the Doctor. "Let's get something straight, Doctor. You don't ever step onto my Marine deck and shout at me in the middle of my Marines. Furthermore, you don't ever storm into this officer unannounced. That door was locked and, when it is locked, you use the chime like every other officer would. Marine or otherwise. That code, you Chief Doctors have, is for emergencies only. I can assure you, your business here, is not an emergency!"

"And this scenario that just happened here, Colonel, could have been avoided at least four times. If you had bothered to show up to any of the three appointments that you agreed to and then just a few minutes ago." Her eyes blazed as only ice could, "If you hadn't pawned that Corporal off on me and just told me that you had your daughter here, we could have avoided any awkwardness." She took another step towards him, "And I will damned well open a door when it's shut and locked in my face just because someone doesn't want to take ten minutes to get their onboarding physical examination done. Would you rather I go to Captain Aisaka and ask her to order you to report to sickbay because you're avoiding me? THAT would be silly!"

Ashok took a step toward her, his eyes fuming, along with his frustration. "Had you hit the chime and waited to be allowed access, instead of barging in here, you would have seen my daughter in the room!" He shouted back at her. The Klingon took a moment to try to calm himself before speaking again. "Maybe, your primary focus, should be on the Captain. Or am I the only one who noticed, the woman being set to run this assault on an enemy that could wipe us all out, IS PREGNANT!" He returned to shouting before letting out a scoff. "Or do you make it a habit to ignore professional and Starfleet protocol when it comes to a Captain who isn't in the proper condition to run an operation like this? I'll tell you, Doctor, is speaks a lot about your professionalism."

"An operation that is more than like to get us all killed?" Nyx demanded, "Besides, the Captain attends each and every appointment she makes with me, so let me tell you, Colonel, she is perfectly healthy and in every condition to make sound decisions." She halved the distance between them, "If there were any doubt in my mind that she was incapable of handling the situation, I wouldn't hesitate to remove her from duty." Now there was a snarl to her voice, "She still has three weeks before she's due, by which time we'll all be dead or out of combat. I've handled childbirths before, even IN combat, Colonel, what I never expected was to see a Klingon who was SCARED just because of a wittle bitty pregnant person in charge. What do YOU do, keep them barefoot and in the kitchen?"

The Klingon immediately growled as he stepped closer to her, standing toe to toe with her. "Klingon women are more than capable of fighting on the battlefield. Many are even fast stronger and faster than any male warrior! Don't you EVER assume I think otherwise from me! I've seen female Marines go above and beyond to pull their counterparts off the battlefield and to safety. Many of those men who that they were superior to them. All of them were shown otherwise and never felt differently again. Especially in my presence." He pulled away slightly, looking down, holding himself as much as he could before growling again and stepping back to her again, looking eye to eye with her. "Her mental capacity isn't my concern. It's the fact that she is clearly within range of going into birth which could happen given the stressful situation we are in! Stress being something that is capable of inducing labor or is that something they don't teach Doctors anymore! The fact that concerns me the most, Doctor, is that there is an innocent life inside her and it could be snuffed out before the baby had ever had a chance to breath air for the first time or seen the world around it! Klingons are not accustomed to allowing an innocent life to be killed, especially one who was never trained to fight or kill on a battlefield! It's dishonorable for the warrior and his House!"

"And that's why I'm here, why I'm monitoring her situation at all times. Life is dangerous, Colonel, which is something that Klingons should perfectly well know. It's sure as hell something that MARINES understand. I understand you weren't on board when we rescued survivors from the Denmark; Weren't there when we did our damndest to save as many people from the Starbase as we could. Did THEY deserve to die?" Nyx shook her head, "Taiga didn't think so and I agree with her. And now Taiga has the courage to go do what needs to be done, not for HER, but for HER DAUGHTER. If it means taking a risk, she's willing to take it. I didn't take you for a coward."

Ashok growled, saying a group of Klingon expletives under his breath, before grabbing her by the throat and pushing her back. The nerve of her. The audacity of this human to call him a coward. Of all things. He saw battle while fighting with his men and for the Federation. Holding the Starfleet ideals proudly. Him, of all people, who fought the very enemies they were going into battle with now and forced to watch many of his men, many of them being friends, die in front of him. Some not even having a chance to raise the weapon and fight the enemy on their own terms. As he slammed her against the wall, his hand squeezed around her neck, while the other reached behind him. In the process of him breathing heavily, while bearing his teeth, he picked up on something. A smell. A particular smell he rarely ran into, but was taught to recognize it. The Doctor, while she didn't show, had a familiar smell. It was faint, but it was just like the Captain's when Ashok first met her.

The reaction from the Colonel hadn't been wholly unanticipated, though the suddenness took Nyx off guard as she flailed for a moment, one shoe falling off as she was lifted. One hand snaked behind her back for a moment until it found what it was looking for and as he finished speaking, she let the muzzle of the semi-automatic pistol rest on his chest, pointed directly at where one of his hearts was, "You have two choices," She choked out, knowing she didn't have another breath to take, "You can put me down gently, or I can put you down and then patch you back up."

As soon as he felt the barrel of the pistol on his chest, the hand behind his back immediately came back around, gripping the handle of a blade. It was quick. It was a reflex. He didn't even hesitate, although once he realized it, he knew it wasn't something he should have done. Ashok couldn't help it. It was a part of his training as a Marine and Klingon Warrior kicking in. Not thinking, just reacting. Turning his brain off and relying on reflex and training to take over. He finally realized the tip of the blade was at her stomach. In an area dangerously close to her womb.

"Lower the weapon or I take something away from you. The very thing, Aisaka, is failing to protect herself." Ashok said softly as he loosened his grip around her neck, allowing her to breath better. Even through the pain from the strength of his original grip on her.

Nyx managed to gasp in a breath as he loosened the grip on her airway, but didn’t lower the pistol, instead deliberately drew the hammer back so the only thing keeping it from firing was the pressure she had on the trigger and the sound of the hammer cocking was audible between them, “And then your daughter would have something taken away from her, and believe me, we don’t want either of those things.” In that moment she realized that the decision she’d been putting off had been made and the finger twitched slightly on the finger as she seriously contemplated shooting right then and there. But she was not about to back down, not until she was back on the ground, “Make your choice, Colonel.”

"I was taught to embrace death, even welcome it." Ash whispered back, his eyes locked, as the tip of the blade in his hand didn't waver. "We would die for our loved ones. For those who fight alongside us in battle. Marines follow a family code, which made it so easy for me to adapt. Why is it, that my race who are trained to embrace death and to fight like animals, embrace life far better than the people onboard this ship seem to? Why are all of you so quick to kill of your offspring instead of ensure they make it to the first day where they embrace their life and begin their journey?" He hesitated for a moment, a slight sad tone hitting his lips, as he added. "I wasn't there when my daughter had her first day. I didn't even know she existed until I found her... alone in a Romulan crib... her mother no where to be found. She didn't have the decency to take her when she ran away. She left her. She left her to possibly die to her enemies because she valued her life and not that defenseless child. I would never have left her behind. I would die first and I fear for anyone who ever got in between me and Cirilla."

“That is why Taiga is doing what she’s doing.” Nyx said, her voice softer than it had been, “Because if she ships herself off to the rear lines, she leaves her Family behind. That isn’t just herself, her husband and her daughter, it’s everyone here on Tokyo down to the last Private, the last Crewman. If she ships off to the rear where it’s safe and we lose? She’s lost everyone and would know that she’s next, that everyone’s families will die right alongside her and she refuses to let that happen on her watch.” Her voice hardened again slightly, “And I refuse to do that as well. ‘Always Forward’, Colonel.” She spat the motto of the 3rd Divisions Special Operations unit out. “And if I’m willing to go this far just to get you to submit to your medical exam, you can only imagine the lengths I’ll go to protect anyone else.”

"That's nothing a holo communicator with a strong signal can't fix." Ashok countered. "She can still command from the bridge and give orders while being with her family and a medical team in case she ends up going into labor before she's due. As a doctor, you should know, while the parents and doctors plan on a date, fate can often intervene and start things early. No device or medicine in the galaxy can prevent a bodies reaction." He replied, his face and tone stiffing again, before he suddenly heard the motto of the 3rd Spec-Ops Division Unit. He raised a brow and now understood her a bit more. She may wearing the Blue of the Medical department, but she once wore Green. The weapon. The hostility. Even the stare. It all made sense. "I respect that, Doctor. I really do. However, it changes nothing, because you'll have to explain to the little girl why you shot her father. Do you think she will understand why you did it? Do you honestly believe she will comprehend you, her new friend who promised to show her this dragon, that you had to shoot me because I didn't show up to an appointment three times? Are you prepared to explain to her why I deserved it? More importantly... would you expect her forgiveness? Would you even apologize or do you feel justified?" The Klingon moved the hand around her neck to her shoulder, still holding her to the wall, but also not moving his knife. "If you still plan to give me that check up... can you do it with one hand while the other still holds that gun to my heart? The sooner you lower it... the sooner I can sheath my knife and we can begin."

“I would apologize and actually mean it, but I didn’t actually expect this to go quite this far. Pax? At the same time?” Nyx used the Latin word for peace and she could see the turmoil in his eyes, but also saw the fractional nod, “On three. One, two, three.” As she spoke the third number, she simultaneously reset the hammer on the pistol as she let the muzzle swing up and away, finally pointing at a wall. The prick of the knife vanished in that same instant and the pressure holding her to the wall was released as well and she dropped a couple of inches, then two more as her left foot had to go even further now that the shoe was off of it. She moved the pistol away from between them, out to the side before reaching behind herself to slide it back whence it came. “For the record and on the record, I have Captain Aisaka’s situation well in hand, truly. And, so long as you hadn’t stabbed me, I really could have kept you alive even if I’d shot you through the heart. You Klingons have that second one after all, would have given me about two minutes to plug the hole.” She considered things and slid her other foot out of the high heel shoe, now leaving her at a six inch height disadvantage, but at least she could fully breathe now.

To Be Continued...

Lieutenant Colonel Ashok, Son of Norath
Marine Commanding Officer
USS Tokyo

Lieutenant Commander Nyx Valentine
Chief Medical Officer
USS Tokyo

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