15 Kylian

I was terrified. Sorrel had commanded we all go to the control deck. The reason we needed to tell Conta about this new development. Dimatri was the last to join us and he looked down right scared himself.

His eyes swung to Misha, 'Tell me I did not lie to her brother!'

'If she is in danger we can not take her onto the station,' Amiri stated.

'Calm down both of you. We are going to call Conta and speak with him about this. Kylian you will help explain things based on her scans. Everything will be fine.' Misha was our rock. He was not our leader not really but he was Sorrel's second. Sorrel stepped in only when he had to. Sorrel seemed to hate talking. If things got ruff though we all turned to him for guidance.

Conta appeared on screen along with seven other screens. The way they looked at us said it all. These were Princes. "Misha what happened? You already spoke with me today."

"We have been made awear of some information that is time sensitive and thought it imperative to inform you," Misha told him.

"What is it?"

"Her breeding cycle is beginning in fourteen sun cycles. We need to know she will be safe during the beginning of her cycle."

"None of us would harm a female. Nor would we force her to mate!" one of the Princes snapped out.

"Kylian," Misha said, while gesturing me forward.

"We are not trying to insult or dishonor any of you. The fear comes from the fact she will be bleeding for seven sun cycles," I said. I kept my voice even.

"What?"

"What did you do that she is already hurt?"

"You attacked her?"

The Princes began shouting all at once. "Enough!" Conta yelled. "What do you mean Kylian? You are their medic explain."

"She informed us that she was going to need to eat more often in the coming days," I said us to keep Dimatri from taking their anger alone. "When we asked why she informed us that humans have a breeding cycle. Typically the breeding cycle is the same as their Planet's moon. Twenty eight sun cycles. The first stage is to prepare the female body to carry the future young, as she called it, child for two hundred and eighty sun cycles.

She called it the bleeding stage of her cycle. Her body will begin what she called a painful process in which it crushes the lining of a specific reproductive organ. The crushing is to skin off that lining so she can regrow it in preparation." I pulled up her scans and shared it. "I believe the organ to be located here based on her account." I circled the crux of where her legs met.

"So this is natural?" Conta asked.

"Yes. Apparently she has been experiencing this event for many sun revolutions. The implant you see in the picture helps extend her breeding cycle. It temporarily makes her less fertile. She seems to have had it put in place to make it easier on herself until she was able to find a suitable mate. It is removable.

The Princess expressed concern of being on the station when her bleed cycle began. As we look like her Planet's animals. This is a problem because the animals there will hunt females in their bleeding period by smell."

"I do not think any of us would hurt a female intentionally but the fact is she will be releasing breeding and prey hormones. More than a few races on the Station are predators on their native planets," Misha said.

Dimatri came forward to speak then, "She expressed that a number of inconvenient side effects came from the bleeding stage. If she was attacked in such a state she would find it harder to survive."

"We do not attack animals in the breeding stages. Even if they are hurt we will not hunt them," Conta stated.

"We do not attack females of any race," one of the Princes said. I recognized one of the Vuldroi race. They placed high value on all females. So much in fact that a single female may have close to fifty mates. Most of those she would never mate with but instead they would watch over her and any cubs. It was considered an honor just to protect a female.

"I think I speak for all of us when I say we would never attack a female. Even if she smells like prey she will be safe. We all have practice being around races that would be considered weaker than us." I did not recognize the race of this Prince. Even so his words were true enough. Many races coexisted on the station. The other Princes made sounds of agreements.

"Tell us more about this royal female, Medic." My eyes flicked to the Prince. Why was he even in the call. His kind tended to take multiple females for every male. Only the strong could claim a female. Assuming she was willing. The male had large arms and legs. His whole body was covered in fur except his face and front torso. He was a Theivva. Of all the males here, his race was the closest in shape to her.

"Such as?" I asked.

"What is she looking for in a male."

"Males. She is looking for more than one mate."

"As small as she is?"

"She is able to grow her cubs within her body for Two hundred and eighty sun cycles. She has fifty sun revolutions of breeding ahead of her. A kingdom that she rules over and people to protect. You believe she will settle for a single male?" Sorrel asked.

"Why not?" He asked. "If a single male is strong enough he will be able to see to all her needs."

"Perhaps but he will not be able to keep up with her breeding demands as well as rule and protect," Dimatri said.

"What do you mean by that," Vuldroi Prince asked. I caught sight of other males behind him. His fur was light yellow. The edges darker than the base. He sported seven white tipped bushy tails. The Princess would love him for them. He appeared very similar to the Princess aside from those tails and his pointed ears that sat a top his head. I knew from experience his kind had clawed paws.

"Towards the end of her bleed phase a second phase will start," I said. "Once the second phase starts she will need to breed regularly every sun cycle for the next eighteen sun cycles."

"I do not think any of us would be able to manage that as well as rule two Kingdoms on our own,' spoke one of the unknown Princes. Dimatri probably knew them. He had more diplomatic training. I had only learned what was necessary to be a Medic and work the medbay. I was taught how to keep people alive until help arrived. I could patch up a select few races but not nearly enough to recognize a race outside of a scan.

"What reason could she have for needing to mate that often?" The Theivva Prince yelled.

"For one mating helps with the pain she experiences from her bleeding cycle. You would deny a female comfort when she is in pain?" Amiri asked. Amiri had taken a liking to the female. We would not be able to claim her as mates but she may be willing to keep us near her as protection. It was an honor I think we would all gladly accept.

"How?" The Vuldroi asked. His kind would never deny a female every comfort they could provide. If it cost them in the process so be it but it would be worth that cost if she felt better and was happy.

"If the act of mating is done correctly her body will produce a hormone that helps with the pain."

"If it is done correctly? What if we do not do it correctly?" That Prince again. He had feathers intermixed with his hair. His wings marked him as one of the races that could fly naturally. Those feathers were brown with white stripes.

"Then is will cause her pain mentally. Mating for humans can either be pleasurable or hurt. They do not mate just to reproduce. The act of mating can cause the female's body to create one of two hormones. It will create a bonding hormone where she will associate you with a positive out look. Or disgust. Those hormones seem to play a part on how well the pregnancy goes as well."

"So if we are bad the first mating any chance we have is gone?" The Theivva asked. Clearly displeased.

"She will not mate you just because you are male. She has a long time to go before she is out of her breeding revolutions. More since the implants are slowing the pace of her fertility loss. The first a human female mates with a male it has more to do with trust. If you hurt her on purpose just because you can then she will never mate you again."

"No male would harm a female just because he can!" The Theivva yelled.

"Human males do."

"What?" The Vuldroi looked sick at the idea.

"It is another reason for the implants. Male humans will force mate females while they are weaker. When they can not fight back properly. Even taking them while they are heavily pregnant and no longer able to do much of anything. The implants can help prevent a forced mating from taking root. Such cases are generally painful and result in wounds for the female. Some males will even drug the females so that they are not even able to move during the event."

All of the males recoiled. All of them looked sickened by the very concept.

"Why?" the feathered Prince asked.

"Because they want the child not the female. A human female who is not well cared for during pregnancy will often die in the birth process."