The Elder's Mate

Fourteen - Useful

"There is nothing to fear."

"I'm sorry if I'm a little weary to be treated like a science experiment again."

Rhage knelt before Artemis in the ship's medical center. She eyed the medic suspiciously while she bit her lip and had a protective arm over her swell. Anxiety peppered her scent with sourness that had the two Yautja uneasy.

"I...assure you...no harm." The medic, Tare, assured in broken garbled English. He stood off to the side with a tablet in hand watching Rhage work to calm Artemis's worry.

The Elder Yautja nodded, his cloudy blue red tipped locs swaying gently about as he tilted his head slightly. He had a gentle hold on her shoulder for reassurance. Her anxiety was strong but he hoped to quell it so they could proceed. The medic was to examine her so they could have an understanding of the health of the growing pup and her own health.

Artemis had spoken of being denied adequate nutrition on Earth, so he wanted to take precautions and have her examined for her and the pup's safety.

She finally caved in with a nod. "Okay."

Rhage nodded towards Tare, who helped Artemis onto the examination table where she lied flat on her back under the scanner. Her hand squeezed Rhage's in a death grip while the machine did a few sweeps back and forth up the entirety of her body.

A wide blue light passed over her, the machine making no noise as it did the scan. The machine was like a combination of an MRI, CAT scanner, Ultrasound, and various other human medical equipment combined into one, and much more advanced than humans could currently come up with. It would take them a couple of centuries to even try to catch up. Said machine was busy giving the medic and Rhage a full read out of the results in their vertical red symboled writing.

A real time image of her womb also appeared on the screen, the inside of her portrayed similarly to the 3D scans pregnant women had on Earth. Rhage felt many emotions he had never felt for a pup before, except for Dhare of course, but this was different. He was seeing the pup created with his mate, Artemis.

The pup, as far as he could tell, looked human. It was surprising, considering that Yautja genes were typically the dominant rather than the recessive genes. When the pup was born they were likely in for some surprises that the scans wouldn't pick up.

"Is everything okay, Rhage? You two are too quiet." Artemis strained to see the large rectangular screen that was mostly turned away from her.

Rhage smiled, "No, all is well. The pup is very healthy and so are you."

A big sigh of relief left her mouth. Her small hand squeezed his hand again.

"Well? Spit it out! Boy or girl? Let me see!"

Tare chuckled as he swiveled the screen where she could see it. He and Rhage watched her face change from anxious to the biggest smile she had ever shown. Her dark blue eyes swam with emotion, some she had rarely shown. Rhage rubbed the back of her hand with his thumb in slow circles as he watched her drink in the image of their growing pup.

"Boy." Rhage pulled her into his chest when she sat up to hug him. He nuzzled her while she wrapped her arms around his neck and rained little kisses on his skin.

They pulled apart to look closer while Tare read through the other results of the scan. "Leader, her body and pup are both in good health. The scanner indicates she will be full term in two months' shorter time than a typical ooman pregnancy." He pointed out the lines of text with a finger as Rhage leaned closer to see for himself, "She is now five months along and nearing the sixth. The growth of the pup is estimated to be typical of a Yautja gestation."