Welcome Baby

Posted on Wed Mar 22nd, 2023 @ 4:53pm by Lieutenant JG Miraj Derani & Lieutenant Colonel Azhul Naxea & Lieutenant Commander S'hib

Mission: MISSION 0 - History Speaks
Location: The Ice caves
Timeline: MD06 1800
2736 words - 5.5 OF Standard Post Measure

Running Taxi Service between the cold planet and the crippled Elysium meant Miraj had been able to retrieve various things from her quarters. They were miraculously untouched , though it had been a careful climb through the corridor to get there and reclaim the two wrapped packages from her sea chest.

And now she was hurrying through the chilly evening in the gap between her last trip back down and going for food, she was hurrying into the Marine camp hugging the gifts to the fur lined parka she was wrapped up in.

Here and there, small groups of Marines were huddled round camp heaters, and she felt their eyes on her as she headed towards the extra insulated shelter that had been put up for the Colonel, S'hib and their new baby. At least no-one was shouting at her.

Reaching the pre-fab's door she knocked, the sound muffled by her chunky mittens, and waited to be invited in.

It was silent after she knocked, the chill wind whistling through the camp around her until the door creaked, the groaning of ice parting to make way for the rush of warm air.

The door didn't open fully at first, whoever was on the other side holding it tightly so the wind could not take it off its frozen hinges.

A moment later and the all too familiar click of hooves and S'hibs snout appeared. "You're late by the way..." he smiled as he opened the door further, stepping to the side to allow her in.

Miraj slid inside as fast as she could, to keep the heat in, and started knocking the slush out of her boots. "I'm sorry. I'm short ground crew and Bravo had a stutter I wanted looking at. The type 9's don't like the damp."

"Sit down and rest for a bit," Naxea offered with a gesture.

"I'm fine," Miraj waved Naxea's concern away even as she half collapsed into the chair. "You must be completely exhausted, you've had a baby."

"True but S'hib has been wonderful so far in taking care of Sle'anna so I've been able to rest up when not overseeing Marine matters," Naxea stated as she looked at the presents that had been set on the floor of the shelter. "And what's this?" she gestured to the presents.

Miraj pushed the biggest, a solid mass wrapped tightly in a shimmering violet gift wrap across to them. "These are for you, and for baby. I guessed a bit on the size, given that you're normal," she nodded at the colonel, "and you're huge," she grinned at S'hib. "But it's bound to fit for at least a couple of weeks, at some point, eventually."

"Thank you but there was no need to go through all of this, especially given our situation," Naxea said.

Inside was a baby onesie, lying on top of a large coffee-table style actual book. The onesie was black, and featured a stylised white baby skull sitting over a pair of crossed rattles. Underneath, also in white, it said Yo ho ho and a bottle of milk!. The book had a cover featuring two faces, facing away from another and despite being blocked out in shades of blue and purple and red, it was clear that one had trill spots and vulcanoid ears, and another had less pronounced klingon ridges. The title said Child Of No Worlds: Stories of growing up as hybridized-species children, in their own words.

"I read it when I was trying to get into the Academy." Miraj explained. "I wish my dad had it when I was little."

"It's very thoughtful," Naxea said as she picked up the book and thumbed through it. The contents page showed headings like Best of Both Worlds: mixed heritage as a superpower; What is Mixed/Other anyway?: Finding identity in an unhybridized universe; Not Enough & Too Much: Passing, Acceptance and the outsider The inside was filled with text, key words and phrases highlighted, and photos of hybrid children of different ages, some with their families some with on their own, some happy, some pensive, as the stories they accompanied dictated.

"You're welcome," Miraj craned her neck to look around the cramped quarters. "Is she awake? Can I see her"

"She is asleep but..." S'hib said softly as he walked, heavily hunched over to the back of their hut while beckoning Miraj to follow. "It's all she does at the moment, I think it's the cold..." He said without trying to sound too concerned.

Ahead of him lay Sle'anna, her long but tiny frame hidden beneath layers of blankets as she slept inside her cot.

"But it's a good thing we're not in a tent anymore..." He added as he stepped around whatever Starfleet was calling survival beds and leaned into the padded cot, gently moving blankets for Miraj.

"Oh, she's gorgeous!" Miraj squeed, trying to keep her voice quiet to not waking the sleeping infant. "so tiny!" The little girl lay flat on her back, arms thrown up either side of her head, as completely relaxed as it was possible to get. "Hello Sle'anna," Miraj cooed, brushing her little finger gently across the soft soft skin of the baby's cheek. "I'm your aunty Miraj. I'm going to teach you all the coolest thing, like all the best sea shanties, and how to tie a monkey's paw, and then, when you're old enough, I'm going to teach you the best thing in the world, how to fly!"

Sle'anna squirmed in the crib, letting out out a whimper as she opened her large dark eyes that fell on Miraj, blinking as she began to cry. Naxea recalled it had been awhile since she ate and moved to the small replicator, tapping the panel for warm infant milk. A bottle materialized. She moved over to Sle'anna and picked her up, swaddling her in the blankets before grabbing the bottle of milk. "Here, why don't you hold and feed her?" Naxea asked.

"Can I? Are you sure? I've not done this before." She took the bottle of gently warm milk with its long teat and bit her lip. How did you juggle the baby, its blankets and a bottle. She only had two hands.

Naxea chuckled, grinning at Miraj. "Sure. Why not have a seat and I'll hand her to you. Just support her head with the crook of one arm while feeding her the bottle with your other hand."

Miraj moved, sitting back in the chair she had vacated a few minutes ago, and passing the bottle to S'hib. Then she held out her arms awkwardly for the precious treasure.

Naxea leaned down, holding Sle'anna out for Miraj to hold, and the young pilot took the baby carefully, like she was handling antique porcelain filled with nitroglycerine. It took a little wiggle, but she got the crook of elbow in the right place for the baby to rest its head on the meat of her arm. Big brown eyes blinked at her over a long face with soft folds across the broad nose, and Miraj's heart just melted at the cute. "I'd say she's got your nose," Miraj giggled. "But I don't really know who to say that to."

"I'd say a bit of both of us," Naxea chuckled. Miraj seemed to be good with Sle'anna and she seemed to have warmed up to Miraj quickly.

Sle'anna gurgled a bit, not really a laugh, not a cry, more a drawn out hiccupy sound. Miraj melted, "Yes, yes, here's your grog. Down the hatch, little matey." She very cautiously held the bottle towards the baby's lips, and was quickly rewarded with small sucking sounds.

"You're a natural," Naxea stated as she moved to sit down in a chair. It had been almost a week since she had given birth and she her midsection and body was still recovering from the C-section and pregnancy.

S'hib meanwhile had not stopped smiling, the muscles in his face aching from the fact as he gently walked over.

"I had a feeling you would be." He said softly as he came to a stop behind Naxea, his hands gently pressed into her shoulders as he nudged the side of his head against hers.

"Which is a relief because every Sequus needs a second mother, especially a filly... which... is what I wanted to ask you." S'hib continued, tilting his head so the question was more directed to Naxea though clearly, it was to them both.

"Now that Miraj is here..."

He paused briefly, letting his words sink in before opening his lips once more.

"Now I know... I know I don't follow every custom my people have, but I think this one is important."

Naxea felt speechless as she looked at S'hib. He had not even discussed this with her before and now he was laying this on her and Miraj. Making it even worse was asking it for the first time in front of someone else, placing undue stress on her. If she said no, she would look like a selfish person, and she didn't want to cause conflict around Sle'anna. She closed her eyes and let out a long sigh after realizing her jaw had been so tense from her containing the urge to slug S'hib. She looked from S'hib as she stepped away to Miraj. "Sure," she felt herself say. "That would be great."

"S'hib," Miraj looked a little pale. "I'm..." slightly terrified, "not sure. I mean, I'm barely out of the academy. I don't know anything. I'd mess it up. I don't even know lullabies, just sea shanties. And most of those are dirty."

The cold air suddenly felt thick and heavy as he watched Naxea step away, nothing was going to plan, the birth, now this... everything had been rushed and he couldn't keep pace with it.

"I don't know anything either Miraj, I'm a Stal... I... I've been making it up as I go." He said feeling himself shrink, ears flicking back against his head.

"But If anything happens to either of us..." He said gesturing to Naxea. "I just don't want Sle'anna to be alone."

A sigh left his lips as he finally sat down, his legs suddenly feeling weak.
"I understand it's a big ask, for both of you..." He paused for a moment, resting his long face into tired and cold hands.

"I already gave my answer, S'hib" Naxea said, looking back at him before putting a smile on her face as she looked at Miraj. "You're doing well with Sle'anna, so you can keep feeding her," she said as she threw on her artic coat and zipped it up. "Besides, I'm scheduled to check in with the Marines through the HQ Building." With that, Naxea stepped out, throwing the hood over her head as she did so. The last place she wanted to be at the moment was around S'hib. She was sick and tired of those stupid Sequus customs as she stomped through the biting wind that froze the tears running down her cheeks. She had endured five months of physical anguish to deliver a never seen before hybrid baby only for S'hib to give the role and title of mother to another woman!

"Narrhh sesuh bando." S'hib snorted, hiding his vulgar words behind his native tongue as he ran his hands over his forehead and into his mane. "Esa me'ka... Meeraj," He said, finding himself speaking her name in Sequellian.

"She is my forest, my everything..." He exclaimed, waving a hand at the door. "Yet everything I do of late sends me further into those accursed dunes... Narrhh, red sands." He exclaimed.

Miraj put the bottle down and squeezed S'hib hand. "None of this is easy. I'm sure this is what she had in mind for baby's first nursery." Then she pushed the other gift over to him. "This is for you. I was waiting for when you and the colonel got married. But I guess now is as good a time as any." The box was about 15 centimetres square, and seven deep, it was a dark glossy green, wrapped with a brass-coloured ribbon.

He reached over, taking the box and clutching it gently in his hands before placing it in his lap. "You didn't have to get me anything." He said while looking down at the box, thumbs tentatively tracing its exterior.

"It was important."

S'hib smiled, a confused smile at best happy nonetheless. He then looked back down, the lengths of ribbon sliding smoothly off the green casing. "If it's a holopicture of me in that dunes damned outfit you had me wear, I..." He began, talking as he opened the box and his eyes caught sight of what was important.

Inside, coiled up, was Miraj's hair. it was the elaborate braid that the High Priestess had woven into her hair not long after she'd first come aboard. Dozens of braids of different sizes weaved in and out of each other, intricately building the patterns along the whole half meter. She'd meant just to pull out one or two for him, but then she'd realised she had no idea how to pull it apart without destroying everything, so Miraj had just tied it off at the nape of her neck, and then cut it off, and put the whole thing in the box.

He didn't say anything at first, finding himself staring deeply at the coiled mass of pink braids in disbelief as a teardrop fell onto the dark green box.

"Thank you," He said, closing it quickly before palming dry his eyes. "truly... this means a lot."

It was an understatement if there ever was one, as until now he had only the mane of one other entwined in his own... Naxea's, though that one meant a great deal it was still only one in the eyes of other Sequus, something he resented... a constant tug of war with his own culture and the hearts of those around him.

Eventually, in a few years, it would have been two, once Sle'anna was old enough to start growing a full mane to spare.

But now it would be three.

Miraj was right, he thought while looking at Sle'anna, a hand clutching the length of Naxea's dark hair entwined in his mane. this was important, but not at the expense of others.

"You might want to wait a bit before you put it in." Sleanna was still reaching for her daddy's hair, and wriggling inside her little sleeping bag, and Miraj hastily handed her over in case she dropped her. "I don't want to get shot by the colonel."

She stood back up. "As for the other thing. You won't need me because nothing is going to happen to you both. But, if it does. I promise I'll get her back to her family, on Earth or Bajor, whichever is closer." She took a deep breath. She knew this bit might hurt. "I'm just a pilot. I don't think I can do more than that."

"You already are more than just a pilot, Miraj... but I understand."

He sighed, as he finished speaking, diverting his attention to the little cloven hands grasping tightly at his mane. "I guess I just didn't consider that she already has a second mother... Me." He confessed with a slight laugh, realising there was no Sequus translation for the word father.

Miraj stared at him. "Oh." oh that was no good. "Look, I know I'm not the best at peopling but that sounds to me a lot like you just renounced your own child, to the colonel's face."

an awkward expression crept onto his face as he looked back up, not at Miraj, but just... vacantly staring at the far wall. "I don't suppose you know if flowers grow on this planet?" he said finally turning to face her.

Miraj sighed and held out her hands for the baby. "I think you're out of luck. You go grovel, I'll babysit."

Sle'anna let out a frustrated snort as she was tugged away from his mane, her hooves kicking furiously until she was in Miraj's arms, her eyes once more staring up unblinkingly at the strange colour above her.

"Ensign, it's been an honour serving with you." S'hib remarked, giving the laziest salute of his career before walking towards the door.