Page 19 of BaOBy
Grace nodded her head. “I can absolutely help Catalina. The three that are further along—I know how to help them—I’m just not sure we have enough time. How long would it take to travel between Viant and Megoth?” she directed the question to her mate.
Falcon didn’t hesitate, which told Catalina he’d already done the calculations. “Using a Guardian ship, me taking you to them, two weeks. You have three very pregnant women on Megoth who are about to deliver—we know your leaving is not an option. Any other ship, from Viant to Megoth, would take about two months.”
BaOBy spoke up. “We liberated an Astro Stealth 3000 from the Andaran’s fleet.”
Every man in the room replicated the flash of a smile on Falcon’s face. “You’d be here in a month.”
Grace shook her head. “There isn’t enough time. This isn’t a surgery that can be programmed into the med bay robots. It’s not something I can walk Cameron through.”
Before the doctor could continue, Casey interrupted. “I have a question. The brothers use cryo pods to rotate in and out of stasis when they aren’t busy. That is not technology we use on Earth, so I’m not sure how it works. Can we put the women in the pods? Would doing that keep the pregnancy from advancing long enough to get them to you?”
Catalina watched the Chancellor and Falcon suck in a breath. Grace looked confused. “Falcon?” she asked her husband.
Falcon grinned and hugged his mate. “Casey, that is the perfect solution! The answer is yes. The cryo pods were designed to maintain life but cease all aging and bodily functions. They would be frozen in time. For the three women who are close to term, you could rescue them immediately. You won’t be able to move the pods to the ASC. It takes days to shut them down, disconnect everything, and then reprogram each one. If you keep the pods where they are it will only take minutes to get the women settled and begin stasis.”
Grace beamed. “Good. Rescue the women. If you can, don’t wake them or jostle their bodies. Put them in the cryo pods and head toward me. I’ll have time to do some research. My first thought is to keep them at some stage of cryo while I remove the fetus. It would be great to have raptizears in stasis, unable to move since they are close to term and dangerous. The procedure I plan to do is a cesarean delivery. I won’t risk these women’s lives by trying to time the extraction to ensure the raptizaers live. If they do, fine. Falcon is a Guardian. He will take control of the beings and turn them over to the Galactic Alliance.”
He nodded. “We’ll be able to track genetics and discover which mated pairs paid for this service. And make our point—rather clearly—of what the penalty is for using what they’ve termed a throwaway womb. I’ve already had discussions with those in charge.”
Chancellor Yce nodded. “As have I.”
Cat grinned. “You can do genetic testing. In fact, you should. However, I gave Baby a duffel bag full of information that includes copies of the contracts for the Andaran’s services for the three women. I don’t have anything on who paid for me. But that doesn’t matter. So, will I be going into stasis?” She refused to be nervous about that procedure. It wouldn’t be worse than being pregnant with a killer baby. “Can I ask what a Guardian is? You said Falcon is a Guardian.”
It was Falcon who answered her second question. “Guardians are the ultimate protectors of the universe. Not like the police. There aren’t enough of us to be everywhere we would be needed. An example of what we do—is keeping beings like the raptizaers in their own world. That way, they can’t move to another planet or dimension and decimate other life forms.”
“Okay, that makes sense.”
Shaking her head, Grace answered the question about stasis. “Stasis and surgery aren’t the best options for you. Because you are only three months along, the raptizaer is about the size of a lime. We can encourage your body to end the pregnancy and pass it without surgery. It’s a fairly simple process that is safer for you and one Cameron can assist with.”
Frowning, Cat looked across the table to Casey, who put her fingers up to make a fairly small circle. “A lime is about the size of a Yama fruit before it’s ripe.”
Cat nodded her head in thanks.
“The Chancellor explained about the brothers and their mating bands. He said that Bao’s bands recognize Catalina as his mate. Is that true Bao? Are you sure?” Grace asked.
Baby’s grin was fierce. “Yes.” He rolled up his sleeve. “One of the signs that we’ve found a mate is when the larger bands break into smaller pieces. Mine have done that. They itch. Vibrate. And when Catalina is near, they move. Give me your hand for a minute, Cat. Please?”
She let him take her palm and place it about six inches below the tattoo on his right bicep. She was shocked to see the little bands shift down his arm, racing toward her. He quickly pulled her hand up before they reached her… and rolled the sleeve down.
Grace was grinning. “Thank you for letting me see that. Humans have few psychic gifts. They don’t include such wonders as mating bands. Chancellor Yce said he used DNA from the Megoth dragon royalty. I spoke to Megoth’s Dragon Prince, who is married to one of my best friends. He told me the bands will guarantee the mate’s health. They work overtime to heal any damage and will even extend Catalina’s life to match yours, Bao.”
Casey raised her hand again. “I can attest to that. When Brode rescued me, I was dying of lung cancer. The bands healed me.”
Brode interjected, “The healing process was extremely painful for Casey until I discovered if her hand was on my bands the pain disappeared.”
Next, Cameron chimed in. “I had a brain bleed that wouldn’t stop. I was very close to death when Reb encouraged his mating bands to cross into my body. They healed me overnight.”
Reb smiled at his mate and brought her hand to his lips for a soft kiss. He looked up at the monitor and met Grace’s gaze. “Yes, and as long as I kept her hand on y markings, she healed without pain.”
Grace sighed. “Amazing. When Lauren goes into labor, I’ll make sure Daxter, her Dragon Prince, is in the room. On Megoth, dragon royalty has a history of multiple births. My ultrasound won’t be delivered until next week, so I don’t know how many babies Lauren is carrying. But if Daxter’s mating bands work as pain relief, it will help.”
“Wait! Chancelor Yce, if you used dragon royalty DNA of the brother’s mating bands, does that mean we could have twins or triplets?” Casey asked, but all three of the human women turned immediately to the screens. Casey turned to Cameron and hissed, “Or our own little league team?”
Grace raised her eyebrows and sighed. Before Chancellor Yce spoke, she nodded. “Probably. Megoth dragon royalty is famous for their litters of pups. We won’t know until one of you gets pregnant. When it happens, you need to reach out to me. Come to Megoth so I can tell you what is happening. Med bays can monitor the heartbeats for twins. Anything more and it confuses the machine.”
Yce nodded his agreement.
Turning, Grace faced Catalina. “If you agree that Bao is your mate, I suggest we allow the mating bands to become part of your body. They’ll help with the termination process and be the backup plan if anything goes wrong. Which I don’t believe will happen. I’ve sent a list for some of the herbs Falcon assures me you can find on Viant. Along with the formula you will need. You ingest the compound and allow the med bay automation to put you to sleep. When you wake up—the process will be complete.”
