by AE Roud
Pilan looked around the area and thought about what he could use as a temporary crib, something he could move without much fuss, open and shallow, and something that he could park near his desk or bed. It took a couple minutes of looking around his area to figure out a good item that was not in use.
“Get that equipment caddy out of the closet. The one that I always trip over. Damn thing will be of some good use, and I will not trip over it with it right beside me.”
As Pilan held the cub and rocked the cub in his arms, Tara retrieved the requested item. When she returned, she went about gathering items from around life hold to make a soft, comfortable bed in the top shelf of the cart with sides tall enough to keep the child contained, for a little while at least. It would not be long before the baby would begin to roll and crawl on her own.
Pilan looked at the mobile bed and smiled, then gently placed the sleeping cub in it, hoping she would not wake up.
The cub did not wake. She stretched then curled up in the folds of the blanket.
Tara whispered, “Is there anything else you need?”
Pilan looked up. “No, I think I have it under control now, thank you,” he answered in a low voice.
“Call me any time if you need me,” Tara said, then left.
With the cub bathed, fed, diapered and asleep in the mobile den, Pilan sat down and relaxed in the quiet of the area. His quiet was short lived when the doors opened, and in came several females, each holding a toy. He stood and motioned for them to be quiet, then pointed to the cub asleep in the mobile bed.
“We’re here to see the cub,” one of the females said in a whisper, then handed him the stuffed toy and walked closer to look at the sleeping cub.
Pilan could do nothing at that moment but accept the toys. Around a ship, even one the size of Zicata, word traveled fast. He realized that if he wanted to remain in control of his work and living area, he needed to place time limits on visitors that came to see the cub.
* * * *
In her office off the main bridge area, Scona stood, staring down at the planet Prin as it rotated below. Her mind circulated with thoughts and ideas of what to do about the cub. She did not like the idea of reporting to Prin authorities of finding the cub in what the laws deemed as an abandonment situation. Once the cub was out of her hands, there was no way she could keep contact with the cub, and that bothered her.
Then secure her future in your family. What is a better Life Day gift than the life of a newborn grand cub? Zicata said.
Scona thought a moment and nodded. “That would be a good thing, but what if the cub’s mother was in trouble, as Pilan suggested? We need to find out if that is the case first before doing anything else.”
The cub is a newborn, so her mother birthed her at Sharpak Life Hold. Have Pilan check with the chief life holder there for information.
Scona smiled and nodded. “Thank you, wise one, I will do that.” She stood and walked out of her office and down the hallway.
When she entered life hold, she stopped just inside the door. The room was at capacity and maybe over with female crewmembers.
“Visiting hours, are now over. If you have a medical reason for being in life hold, you may stay, otherwise, everyone must leave,” Pilan said.
A couple minutes later, life hold was empty of crew except for Scona and Pilan.
Pilan acknowledged her without looking up from the work on his desk. “Captain, are you ill?” he asked.
“No, I’m not ill. I came to speak with you about the cub. We need to contact the authorities on Prin. Zicata suggested the mother birthed her at the local life hold. We need to find out.”
“I already made that inquiry. I am waiting for a call back from Chief N’pard.” He stopped working, sat back in his chair and looked at Scona. “When I called and spoke to the Chief, told him why I was calling, he mentioned that the emergency technicians brought in a deceased female earlier. During the examination of her body, he found the reason for her death was due to complications during birth. There is a very good chance that our cub belongs to the deceased female. I sent him samples to match.”
Scona nodded. “We will give the cub to the female’s family.”
“The female did not have any family,” Pilan said. “N’pard told me that the female was a patient at their Falory OBGYN clinic, and they knew her well. She was a local, lived and worked on a small farm outside of town. Her partner, the cub’s father, was killed in the Station Sixty-Six accident.”
Scona thought a moment. “So the cub has no one besides us?”
“That is true,” Pilan said. “I am seriously thinking about asking your mother to adopt her. I think it would be a great Life Day gift and give this cub a good future. She’s had a real hard start in life.”
Scona smiled. “I was thinking down the same lines. I will contact Mom, tell her of the cub and see if she is willing to take this cub into our family. If she is not, then I will adopt the cub. That will allow her to stay onboard with us. Whichever way things go, we will need to start the adoption paperwork.”
Pilan nodded. “Would you mind putting my name as the adoptive father? Together, we can raise this cub if your mother does not wish to take on the responsibility of raising another cub this young.”
“It will be an honor to place your name in the adoptive father’s box,” Scona said, then turned to leave.
The communications console rang, and Pilan answered. “Life hold, this is Pilan.” he stated.
“I have a Chief N’pard from Prin on hold for you,” the female communications officer said.
“Put him through.” Pilan motioned Scona to come closer to listen to the call.
A moment later, a voice came across the link. “Hello, Pilan?”
“Yes, N’pard, this is Pilan. How can I be of assistance?”
“Just wanted to let you know, the cub does match the female from today. Prin authorities found the reason for the cub being in the trash. The female died in front of a small print shop. When the situation happened, the assistant at the print shop was picking up the trash in the alleyway. He remembers picking up a bunch of clothing and throwing said items in the trash. He was unaware that there was a cub bundled up in that clothing, and the cub made no sound. I think the cub being in the trash was all an accident.”
Pilan nodded. “N’pard, I thank you for calling and letting me know that. Now, I wish to inform you that the cub is no longer abandoned. We are contemplating several options, but the one that will finalize her future is her adoption by Captain Scona A’ger as her mother and me as her father. She will be well taken care of, I can assure you.”
The link was quiet a moment. “I am glad to know this. I was going to ask that you bring her back to me. My mate and I would adopt her as well. Can we ask that she also be part of our family? She may want a connection to her home planet and her mother. My mate and I can provide that.”
Pilan looked at Scona who nodded in agreement.
“That is an excellent idea. Both Scona and I are in agreement with that request. It is an honor to have you in the family, Life Holder.”
Over the link, Scona and Pilan heard the tone in the background.
“We have an emergency coming in, I only have a couple minutes,” N’pard said. “My partner suggested the name Dorea K’ger. The cub’s mother was known to us as Dora.”
That information surprised both Scona and Pilan. Scona nodded her acceptance of the name.
“That is a great name, and we are in agreement. We can speak of other things later as I can hear them paging you to emergency.”
“Have a good night, goodbye.” A click signaled the communication closed.
Pilan closed his end and looked at Scona. “So, is there anything else we need to discuss right this moment? It is getting close to Dorea’s feeding time, and I need to fix her bottle.”
Scona shook her head. “I will call Mom and ask.”
“No, don’t. Dorea is our child. Our names will be on the paperw
ork as her parents,” Pilan said.
Scona grinned. “You just made that decision, didn’t you?”
Pilan nodded. “Yes, I did, just a moment ago.” He looked at the cub as she began to stir from her sleep. In the next moment, she began to cry. Pilan picked her up, and her cries stopped. “I need to get her bottle.”
Scona chuckled. “I will start the paperwork and get things going. I will tell my mom of this though. She has experience in raising cubs that I do not, so she will be my knowledge base.”
“Sounds good to me,” Pilan said.
Scona was walking toward the door and stopped, turned and looked at Pilan. “Would you like Zicata to provide her with her own room?” she asked.
Pilan scowled. “No, for the moment, she will sleep in her bed in my room.”
“What if I want her to sleep in my quarters with me?” Scona asked.
“Then I will bring her and stay as well,” Pilan said. “Her main quarters will be here with me.”
Scona chuckled. “Okay, Life Holder, but I warn you now I don’t like wild parties in my quarters. Mom told me about some of your wild nights.” She smiled and left before Pilan could reply.
* * * *
With the cub fed, diapered and once again asleep, Pilan moved her bed to sit next to his desk in his office where he pulled up her file to input more of her information. He just got to work when his link buzzed. “This is Pilan, go.”
“Pilan, I have a VIP visitor that has arrived to assess Dorea,” Scona said.
“Assess her for what?” Pilan asked and heard a scratching sound as Scona turned the communicator on her desk toward the visitor in her office.
“Life Holder, this is Queen Tevi. I need to assess the cub to find out if she is of royal lineage. I am aware of her situation, and congratulations to you. No harm will come to the baby. As I have stated before, I am not my predecessor.”
Pilan was shocked. Not once had he ever thought the cub might be of royal lineage. “Um, sure, but I just put her down.”
“That is good, as a sleeping mind is not as active and easier to evaluate,” Tevi said. The link clicked closed.
A moment later, Pilan turned and saw Tevi standing behind him. He gave her a half smile, then noticed she was in jeans and a shirt and wore hiking boots.
“Not a formal visit, just a necessary one,” Tevi said, and stepped closer to the makeshift bed where the cub slept.
Pilan stood up and stepped in front of Tevi, blocking her path.
She stepped back and nodded. “I understand your need to protect the child, but I need to do this for her future as well as that of all the Falory in the Quadrant. It only takes a moment or two, and I do not need to touch her, just look down on her. Please allow me.”
Pilan was suddenly very fearful of this stranger, who was not a stranger. He swallowed hard then stepped aside to allow Tevi to step closer.
Tevi looked down at the sleeping cub and smiled. “She’s very calm.” A moment later, she stepped back and turned to Pilan. “She is not royal.”
Pilan relaxed. “My apologies for my actions, I meant no harm. It’s just,” he pointed to the cub, “she’s had a very rough start in life and I became attached to her in only a few hours.”
Tevi smiled and nodded. “I understand, and I wish all children had the protection of parents like you and Scona. Again, my congratulations, and now, I say goodbye.” In the next eye blink, Tevi disappeared from his office.
Pilan sat down and waited a few minutes, then keyed Scona’s personal number. The ringer rang once, and she answered.
“Well, what did Tevi say?”
“She is not royal.”
“Wow, I am glad of that. Did you know that if Dorea was, Tevi would be a part of our lives? Can you imagine having her and Min around all the time?”
“No, I can’t. What I want to know is how she knew? The cub’s not even a day old yet, and Tevi already knew about her. How does she know that stuff?”
“I asked her about that, and she told me that the Marrotts are on alert to inform her when children are born or born under unusual situations, especially on Prin. Apparently, Prin produces more royals than other planets. The cub’s situation spurred Zicata to inform Min.”
Pilan yawned. “It is time for me to go to bed. I will talk with you more about this in the morning.”
“Goodnight, Life Holder. I know you will not sleep well tonight. The cub will be up in a couple hours. I will come to breakfast in the morning to give you a break.” The link closed.
Pilan looked at the cub and smiled. “Yeah, I know. The next few weeks are going to be rough.” He finished the report he was working on, then cleared his unit and turned it off for the night.
He moved the cub’s mobile bed into his sleeping room and placed her against the wall. He checked her diaper, found it dry and clean, then turned toward his bed and scowled.
His bed was full of items that the cub would need in the near future. Toys, a real crib, body wash for a baby, special formula, bottles, bottle cleaner and a ton of pre-folded cloth diapers. There was a card propped up against the items.
Pilan picked up the card, opened and read the single line that referred to them saving the cub from certain death that day.
Angels have no wings. Congratulations, Queen Tevi and the Marrott Min.
About the Author
AE lives in New Mexico with her husband, three dogs, three house and numerous barn cats. Pastures surround her home but with all the mousers on the property, she does not have a rodent problem. There, when not dealing with real life items, AE's mind wanders the Cosmos for the ideas that fall into place in her books. In her free time, when she has any, AE designs jewelry using horseshoe nails. Some of the proceeds from her books and jewelry go to her favorite charity; a big cat sanctuary in Kingston, Tennessee called Tiger Haven.
