Chapter 22
KITTINIR
“So it’s agreed that colonists who originally signed up for a Mylos scholarship and who are already attending classes, who choose to opt into the Dragonii mate match program, will have two choices depending on circumstances,” the Dragonii ambassador, Helkohr, said.
“In the first instance, if matched, and their mate is within Dragonii space, the Dragonii in question will have their notification sent and travel arrangements made for them to meet at the nearest convenient space station to the designated colony world. The human mate will be given an escort to said space station without delay, their institution of higher learning will be notified, and arrangements made for them to complete their current course at a distance. Their scholarship will carry over to the Mylos-Dragonii extension courses being set up for the Dragonii colony worlds, Outer Rim, and space stations hosting human military personnel. In the second instance, where they have yet to begin their studies, the human mate shall be given the option to start their education via the extension courses, switch over to job skills and/or agricultural studies on their world, or postpone such further studies until they decide when or if to do so.”
Murmurs of assent went around the conference table.
“Excellent. Now I’d like to know how the curriculum development is going, particularly with the language courses.”
Anything further he had to say was interrupted by my kunnarskyn and his wrist comm beeping urgently.
“Sorry, it must be something urgent,” I murmured at the same time Helkhor paused to check his device.
I heard him draw a sharp intake of breath as I read my own message.
Not to be a drama llama, but please come to sickbay immediately. No delays. Yes, this means right the fuck now! Go with the ambassador who will also be on his way.
“Ritsha!” Helkhor shouted. “We must go.” Turning his attention to the group assembled for the meeting, he added, “My apologies, but it seems the stars have favored us - a match has been made, and it is a matter of utmost delicacy. A comm will be sent out later to reschedule.”
With that, he looked directly at me. I swallowed.
“I’m supposed to go with you for some reason.
” Given that he said it was a delicate matter, and we were to go to sickbay, I wasn’t going to say anything else and cause a possible diplomatic incident.
He gave me a curt nod, and together we left the room, the aide who also seemed to be some kind of guard ahead of us, him in the middle, me close behind, and his official guard standing outside the door bringing up the rear.
“I need to get on a secure channel as soon as we have secured the three males. Jesse Wilson will need to be assigned two guards of his own. He is not to be left unguarded for a single moment, no matter how he protests. Our official transport needs to be ready to leave within the hour, and the linen in the royal suite freshened. We’ll need to have his measurements scanned before leaving, so we can comm ahead so clothes fitting his new station can be readied for him. ”
“Which prince?” Ritsha asked, his voice low.
Helkhor glanced over at me. “I can rely on your silence until official announcements are made? Commander Gundar has already been apprised, at the same time as me.”
I nodded. “Upon my honor.”
Helkhor modded, knowing a Mylos’ honor was no small thing. “It’s Prince Jorhree.”
Prince Johree…my mind tried to figure out who he was in the hierarchy. “The youngest of the princes?” I ventured. “The governor of one of your colonies?”
“Yes. Our longest established colony, as a matter of fact, Rednath II. Though, it's usually just referred to as Rednath, as none of the other planets in the system are capable of supporting life. The colonists who first established it,” he paused as we got into an elevator and Ritsha requested Xeranos take us to the shuttle bay where we could take a small shuttle over to the Fleet’s flagship.
“As I was saying,” he continued, “the colonists who first settled Rednath wanted a simpler way of life. The entire planet is more or less a living museum of our early spaceflight era, though only the main city and the royal farmlands outside of it hold that status officially and are open for tourism.”
“So, this Jesse will feel right at home?”
The three Dragonii exchanged glances.
“Perhaps,” the ambassador replied cautiously without elaborating further.
No further conversation ensued as the elevator came to a halt, and we got off.
A shuttle was waiting for us, and we made the trip in no time at all, which was spent by Ritsha busily sending comms as instructed so their ship would be ready for departure.
From the shuttle bay we landed at, it was a very short walk to the sickbay, which was the main one for the Fleet. The receptionist greeted us warmly.
“Let me just notify Betty that you’re here,” she said. “She’ll take you to where they are, and show Kittinir here to Dr. Proslo's office along the way.”
“That would be excellent, thank you,” Helkhor told her with a smile that made the receptionist blush.
She glanced down to open a comm using her communications panel. “Nurse Betty? They’re here.”
“On my way!” came the cheerful reply, and sure enough, within mere moments, a bubbly young human female nurse appeared.
“Hi, I’m Betty, Dr. Proslo’s mate. It’s my honor to take you where you need to go today.
If you’ll all please follow me.” She executed a quick turn and began walking off without further ado, taking us along a corridor with several exam rooms on the side, before turning down a branch.
She stopped at one of them, which bore the nameplate of Dr. Proslo.
She didn’t knock or anything else to let him know she was entering, but as his mate, that was no doubt a privilege reserved just for her.
“Honey, Kittinir is here to see you,” she said, going over to where the doctor was reading something on his tablet. He glanced up, returning an affectionate look with her.
“Thank you.“ I have an early finish today, so I’ll stop by the market and pick up the items on your list.”
“That would be wonderful,” she smiled at him, bending down to give him a quick peck on his cheek. “I’m off in an hour, but I promised to go jogging with Maria.”
“You go jogging,” he reassured her. “I’ll prepare dinner while you're out, so it will be ready as soon as you come in and shower.”
“You’re the best,” she told him.
Helkhor cleared his throat. “As endearing as all this is, could we please get to the colonists and the prince’s mate?”
“But of course.”
“Call me if he has a panic attack or anything,” Dr. Proslo said, suddenly all business.
“We will, thank you.”
Betty escorted them away, leaving me with the doctor.
“Please, sit down. I have some rather startling news for you.”
I pulled out the nearest chair in front of his desk and sat, my mind going into hyperdrive, wondering just what he had to say that warranted an urgent office visit.
“It’s nothing terrible,” he hastened to reassure me. “In fact, it’s wonderful news, albeit with a bit of a caveat. Really quite extraordinary, really.”
Okay, then, now I really was confused.
Dr. Proslo gave me a warm, gentle smile.
“First of all, let me be the first to congratulate you. You’ve been mate matched.
” This did not help relieve my confusion in any way, shape, or form.
Usually, we simply were notified via kunnarskyn and sent our match’s profile to read as we traveled to greet them and bring them home.
“I know, I know, you didn’t get the usual notification from Xeros about it, but that’s for two reasons.
Firstly, you’re the first Mylos to match with two humans. ”
Two? Two humans? This was indeed astonishing news. Poly matings weren’t unheard of, but usually they were with species where that was the norm rather than the exception.
“Secondly, it threw a red flag up, as my Betty would say, as you know one of them and have met several times. Close contact, as a matter of fact, yet your mating drive was not triggered. This prompted Xeranos to notify me and run a deep dive into your records. Thankfully, we are certain we found the reason.”
I’d been in frequent, close contact with… was it Carl? Nebula! Please let it be Carl and not my TA or anyone else.
“When you were a year old, you lived on Rikithis Station, where your Mylos father was a systems administrator. Niez Fever swept through the station, which is generally harmless except occasionally to those who haven’t undergone puberty.
You caught it, and a closer look at your last DNA scan shows that you were one of the few to be affected in some way.
The glands that activate your mating display are not being given the brain signal they should to kickstart the process, something which goes undetected until it’s being actively looked for, as it’s so rare.
I’m going to give you an injection of nanites, which will stimulate those glands.
To avoid shocking your system, the nanites will start with weak signals and ramp up to normal over the course of a week.
Well, that and so you can have time as a trio to figure out your mating.
Incidentally, Xeranos ran their profiles together, and they also perfectly matched each other, so your mating is a perfect 3-3-3. Congratulations again.”
“Who?”
“Xeranos, please send him his mate profiles now.”
“Sent!” came the cheerful reply as my kunnarskyn vibrated to let me know I had a message, a nice change from the urgent alert I’d gotten earlier.
Dr. Proslo stood. “Let me get the injection I have prepared out of the way before you have a look. Or you can have the injection and follow me to where they are waiting for you, just down the hall.”
It seemed silly to look now if they were just a few doors down, so I resisted the urge to peek now.
“Please tilt your head. This has to go in your carotid.”