Chapter Twelve

Chapter Twelve

Catalina

Grace's voice was compelling. Strong. "Catalina, how long ago were you kidnapped from Earth? And do you remember where you were taken from? It would help me understand what terms you might be familiar with."

She shrugged. "I was young. Seven or eight maybe. I could read simple sentences in English. As near as I can figure, I'm somewhere around twenty-seven years old. I don't remember anything about where I came from. I could talk, and for a long time, I remembered a few songs. Those have faded now. But the woman I lived with, my first owner, taught me how to read and shared her books. For some reason, she had quite a few books from Earth. All were in English. One was called an en… cyclo… pedia. Did I say that right?" At Grace's nod, she continued. "So, between what I've learned over the years and my translator, I should do okay."

Cat glanced at Casey and Cameron. They nodded. Cat grinned. "Plus, Casey and Cameron can help me figure it out."

Grace turned and smiled. "Okay, that helps me a lot. Now I'll tell you about me. I'm an obstetrician. An OB is a doctor who focuses their efforts on pregnancy, childbirth, and a woman's reproductive system. I do all of that, but I specialize in genetics and genetic counseling—which is what a child inherits from their parents. Your hair and eye color, health traits. I also work on environmental issues that can cause health problems for the woman and child. I've always done a great deal of lab work in my practice. Trying to help circumvent health issues and genetic diseases that are often passed from the mother and father to the child," she explained.

Leaning in, her gaze locked on Cat. "This is important for you because I'm often called upon to save the mother—when carrying a pregnancy to full-term would kill her. I also want to state—that I understand you aren't the mother of this fetus. It is not a baby in my eyes, nor should it be in yours. It is the method an evil man selected in order to kill you. Your life is what is important here. Are you willing to let me help you?"

The woman's green eyes focused on Cat. Grace was telling Cat that she wasn't unique. The circumstances were different, but the doctor had dealt with this before. Slowly nodding, she pleaded. "Yes, Grace. Please help me." Cat reached for Baby again, holding tight to his hand.

Grace smiled. "Absolutely. Now I need some specifics. How long ago were you impregnated?"

"Three months."

The dark-haired doctor frowned at her. "The gestational period for the raptizaer is ten months. You look as if you are closer to six. I'll have Cameron run a couple of tests so we know what is going on."

"Oh. I forgot." Cat stood and turned away from the room and the monitors. She reached under her dress and pulled out the pillow. Spinning back, she flattened the dress to her body. "Sorry. I've worn the pillow day and night for over a month. I wanted my guards and the Andaran to believe my stomach was larger. That it was hard for me to move around and made me clumsy. That way, they don't watch me as close as they would otherwise. They believed I was too big to climb out the window in my room."

Grace beamed at her. "Brilliant!"

Chancellor Yce beamed and applauded her actions, as did the others in the room. Casey and Cameron hooted with laughter. "You go girl!" coming from both women.

For the first time in her life, Catalina felt as if she belonged. That she had family and friends. She could feel the smile on her face and a heavy weight… lift from her heart.

"Do you know how far along the other women are? I was told the Andaran implanted three additional Earth females with raptizaers. Is that correct?" Grace asked.

Cat closed her eyes. The question reminded her that this wasn't over. That it wasn't just her. Taking a deep breath, she explained, "There are three women. I've never spoken to them, as Jacanas keeps them sleeping. They have tubes in their veins that run to bags that the guards change. I was told their nutrition comes from those bags, and probably the drug that keeps them asleep. I can tell you that all three of them are very thin. Their bellies are so round now that they are kept on their sides. Like this," she made a half circle from under her breast to the bottom of her stomach.

"So, there isn't a lot of time," Grace murmured.

Cat shook her head. "It's worse than that." She rubbed her cheek where she still had a visible bruise. "The Andaran came to the house yesterday. I was in the room with the three women. I often read to them. I hid the book and hurried out into the hall. Jacanas was furious." Rubbing her cheekbone again, she sighed. "As evil as that man is, he rarely lowers himself to actual violence. He prefers psychological torture and uses his guards to deal with the actual beatings. But he hit me yesterday after I refused to choose a woman so he could torture me." She couldn't stop shaking.

Baby pulled her into his arms and held her tight. "It's okay, Cat."

"No, no, Baby, it's not okay. It's horrible." Tears rolled down her cheek.

Chancellor Yce moved in front of his desk. "What do you mean, Catalina? What did Jacanas want?"

Closing her eyes, as if she could make it go away, she swallowed. "He wanted me to choose one of the women. He's coming back tomorrow night, with plans to wake one of them. His goal is to force the raptizaer to fight its way out—and make me watch it. So, I know what to expect when my time comes. If you are going to save the woman with the brown wavy hair, you need to rescue them before tomorrow night."

Chancellor Yce exploded, "I want that man dead! Lan, call in BinjaOB. Is he out of stasis?"

Cat didn't miss the sudden grins on all the brothers' faces, including Baby's. Lan nodded. "Yes. We are all awake. He's out getting a feel for the area. I'll ask him to join us."

"Do that." The powerful man took a deep breath, controlling his anger. He turned to the doctor and her mate. "Grace, Falcon, do you have any idea how to help these women?"

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 are designed to maintain life, while they 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 more research. My first thought is to keep them at some stage of cryo while I remove the fetus. It would be great to keep the raptizaers 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 my 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! Chancellor 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, "Multiples are already an option for the two of us. We could deliver 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."

Lan passed a handheld device to Baby. "Here is the formula, Captain." He looked up at Grace. "Our Captain can look at anything and decipher the chemical composition. He creates most of the medicinal items we use on our ship, the DoMicile. I imagine he'll do the same thing here."

"Grace. How long do I have before I need to do this?" Cat asked.

"I would recommend as soon as the compound can be created. Every day the being inside you will increase in size," the doctor clarified.

Baby looked up. "We have everything we need on the DoMicile… if not within this med bay. We can do it tonight."

Cat shook her head. "No! First, we need to save the other women and kill Jacanas."

Behind her, a powerful voice filled the room. "I believe that is my job."