Prologue

Time had run out hours ago. "Where are my pain meds!" the young woman screeched, momentarily overwhelming all the other noise in the room.

Lieutenant Gage inwardly winced from the screaming as she held her weapon and stood at attention next to the head of the head of the bed. She had been put in charge of guard detail for Amelie and her unborn child as a highly classified assignment, and the details of the mission were sketchy. "Please, it hurts so much."

A highly dangerous hostile was in pursuit of the pregnant woman and their lead had been 36 hours. They were to protect her through childbirth and get them to a safe house.

The Woman’s answered, her gentle tones filling and soothing every space in the room left raw by the screaming. "Medications don't make the pain go away, dear heart. They only hide it so your mind can't feel it."

It had been 40 hours.
"That would be better, yes, please," Amelie said, panting.
Lieutenant Gage held her weapon and stood at attention next to the head of the bed, but inwardly flinched.  Amelie had been in labor for almost ten hours and it looked incredibly painful, although Lt. Gage wasn't sure all the shrieking was necessary. Subconsciously the lieutenant covered her abdomen with one hand, and then resumed her grip on her gun. Even through the reinforced concrete walls, Lt. Gage was sure everyone else in the subterranean military medical facility could hear Amelie's cries.
            "Please continue with your duties.  We must now focus on the child." The green eyed woman's voice was instinctively obeyed, and the doctor checked Amelie's progress. The room's grey walls barely held The Woman and the six other people crammed inside it. It was claustrophobically small, the one hospital bed going almost the entire length of the room. Lt. Gage stood near the head of the bed and could've reached out and touched the back of the guard watching the door without extending her arm fully, while the guard at the foot of the bed had to cram himself into a corner to give the doctor and the nurse room. She didn't want to die in a box like this.
           "I don't think I can do this, I can't do this," the young woman begged, looking first down towards the aging doctor's masked face and then up at the ageless one. "I can't breathe, I've already been doing this forever..." Amelie's voice trailed off as she started to cry.  "What if my baby never comes?" The Woman stiffened.
            "Give her pain medications."  Her mild voice penetrated every object to the edges of the room.
            Amelie's eyes were wide when The Woman turned back to face her. "You said I couldn't have any pain meds because I need to be clear for the journey ahead. You said it would be too dangerous for the drugs to make my mind foggy."  The young woman's eyes started to droop as the large dose of medication the nurse injected into the IV flooded her system.  "Why is it not too dangerous now? What's happen...ning?" her mouth slurred around the words, but her slackening face did not lose its fear.
            "What now?" asked the doctor.  "She's too far under to push, and a C-Section at this point would be mortally dangerous to both mother and child."
            "I will assist them," The Woman began with her eyes closed, this time her quiet voice wrapping around her like a coat, or a shield, and Lt. Gage felt the powerful presence of The Woman dim. The green eyes snapped open and focused with alarming intensity on Lt. Gage. "This child is coming to us unprepared for this world.  I can complete the preparation, but only after the child is safely on the outside. You who will be a mother, please go and assist the doctor. He will need extra hands." 
"Yes, lady," Lt. Gage responded, too used to following orders to question or give in to the fear in the pit of her stomach. She set down her M16 rifle and went to the struggling doctor.  Then she stood there, helpless, with her hands half raised.
            The Woman whispered so softly that only Lt. Gage could hear her. "The baby is blue."
            "The baby is blue!" The doctor shouted.  "Nurse, I need a neonatal respiratory unit immediately!"
          "That is not our greatest concern." The nurse stopped mid-stride.  "The danger will be in removing the baby without damaging the mother. The baby's head will crown in a moment- rest your hand on his head to hold the ridges in place."
            "Ridges? Shredding holes!" the doctor exclaimed, staring at the hard triangular spines on the baby's head and then at Amelie's slack face.  "Is she a full dragon? I needed to know that hours ago." The doctor placed his gloved hands over the spikes and tried to guide the infant to freedom.  The line of spikes in the middle of the head continued down to the bottom of the neck. The infant's head came fully out, blue-tinged skin and slightly reptilian features tiny and well formed. 
            After the shoulders has passed, along with the initial shock, the birth went smoothly until the tail.  The ridges, which had faded along the back of the neck, re-emerged along the tail and the umbilical chord was wrapped around it.  Even with the  four hands of the doctor and the nurse, they were unable to get the baby out safely.  
            "Okay, lieutenant, here we go. Take the baby's head and torso," the doctor instructed, "he'll need to stay with his feet elevated above the head. Nurse, once your hands are free you hold the leg and tail apart and I will untangle the chord.  Do not compress the chord!" he snapped at Lt Gage, who was awkwardly trying to hold the babe around the tummy, "at the moment, that's the most important thing keeping the baby alive."
            The guard tried to keep her hands from shaking as she adjusted her hold on the slimy infant.  Although the sky color and faint pattern on the skin suggested scales, the skin was baby soft and slick.  She  knelt and adjusted her hold so that the infant's head was resting near the crook of her elbow, keeping the feet high.  The weight of his body was supported equally by her forearm and her abdomen as she drew the tiny body close, protected from his spikes by the long woolen sleeves of her uniform. He was warm. Being blue and scaly looking, she was surprised at how warm he was.
            "Good," noted the doctor, carefully trying to separate the tail and the chord, "your hand is free. You need to clean the fluid from the mouth and the nose. The baby can't breathe until you do." The nurse pulled a bulb syringe off of the instrument table with her one free hand and handed it to the lieutenant. The doctor continued. "Suction the mouth and nose and squirt it into the cloth. You're doing well."  Lt. Gage gave a quick nod but stayed focused on the task. 
Monitors began beeping wildly. "She's coding!" the doctor shouted. He jumped to his feet and rushed to her side. "Nurse, get a cart now. She's hemorrhaging internally. We have to stop the bleeding." The nurse and the doctor frantically worked over Amelie's prone body, and Lt. Gage and the dragon baby were momentarily forgotten.
            Three times she filled the syringe and emptied the baby's mouth. Three times she held her breath, waiting for the baby to inhale. There was no sound. The pulsing of the umbilical chord slowed. Time seemed to wrap itself around the barely pregnant soldier and the newly born child, starkly contrasting the activity and speed of the others around them.  
"Why isn't he breathing?" Lt. Gage demanded.
"The umbilical cord was damaged by the baby's tail spikes. I would guess he hasn't had enough oxygen during the entire delivery." The doctor was still furiously trying to stabilize Amelie. "They've both undergone significant trauma. I doubt he'll survive."
            "But he has to," Lt. Gage thought about the picture of her husband she kept in her pocket. They'd decided to wait to have children until the world settled down and they were more established in it, but apparently that wasn't going to happen. She hadn't even had the chance to tell him that she was pregnant. Their baby was still inside her, no larger than a grain of rice. This baby in her arms was dying without his mother. What if she were the one laying on the bed while a stranger held her child?
"No," she whispered. She bent her head low over the small blue reptilian baby.  "Breathe," she said, "please."  She covered the strange wedge shaped mouth with her own and forced air into the baby's lungs and then allowed the air to exhale. Again she breathed for the little life in her arms. Three, four, five, and then a little cough. A louder cough. A perfect human baby wail. The newborn screwed up his face and had a proper first cry, telling the world how cold, bright, and empty it was. 
            Military training and field experience kept Lt. Gage's expression calm, but tears leaked from her eyes. The nurse glanced up from her work over Amelie. "I wouldn't have been sure that CPR would work."
            "It had to work," the lieutenant whispered, "didn't it lady?"
            She looked up from the child to the empty space behind Amelie's head, but The Woman was gone.  The guards at the foot of the bed and door were also gone. Outside could be heard small popping and banging noises, like a fireworks display far in the distance. Her comm piece buzzed to life in her ear.
"Ruan de Argos is approaching from south southwest with a contingent of Shae. They have opened fire on our position. Lt. Gage, what is your status, over?" 
            "We've been found," she said, but inwardly she cursed. Ruan de Argos was the hostile? This would not end in a firefight. It would be a bloodbath. The doctor's face was grim as he stared intently down at Amelie and Lt. Gage continued to speak. "We have to hide them."
            "How?" exclaimed the nurse, "hide them where? She's still unconscious and bleeding, and if we move her now she'll die."
           A small circle of light flared to life behind Amelie, and grew brighter and larger. "Give me the child," The Woman's voice came out of the light, and as it faded she was standing back at the bedside. Lt. Gage rose slowly, cradling the infant she took to The Woman.
            "Little one, be well," The Woman instructed the squalling newborn. The wailing quieted, although the squirming did not. The Woman cradled the child close into her chest, snuggling with the baby while the sounds and screams of battle raged just outside the concrete walls. "This world is not the only one that will demand much from you, and yet it is vital that you do not as yet know who you are." She smoothed the tiny forehead with the same comforting motion her hands had used to caress the mother's.  "For that, you will need to be prepared in another way and your gifts secreted, to be saved for a different time."
            The Woman wrapped both arms around the tiny bundle, and bent her head down to kiss it. Her flowing golden hair surrounded them, and the child was completely hidden from view. When The Woman raised her head, a normal pink human baby lay in her arms. The Woman turned to Amelie and placed her hand on the sweat-soaked forehead.
            "This is a trial and a time you would also be best to forget," The Woman's voice was compassionate, but firm. Her hand rested gently over the closed eyelids of the prone woman. "Once I have taken Amelie and the child, there will be no reason to continue the assault, but Ruan will know that the child has been born."
            "What if he didn't know, my lady?" asked the nurse. "We could create the certificate of still birth and the one for the mother's death, and that should throw him off long enough for you to get a little further away."
            The Woman nodded. "Do so.  And a record of cremation. All this must be a secret. The knowledge of this child must not leave this room." The Woman, still holding the now peacefully sleeping infant, placed her free hand on the lieutenant's bowed head. Her hand felt like sunshine.
            "The child you carry inside will be well, born whole and healthy, and will live to be proud to call you mother." The lieutenant took a deep, shaky breath, and a tear slid down her cheek, but her eyes never wavered from the hallway and approaching danger. "You will survive this battle. But a darker day is coming, and for that, we are not prepared."
            There was an earsplitting crash, the floor bounced, and an orange-red light flashed brightly enough that no one could see for moments after.  When their eyes had readjusted, The Woman, Amelie, and the baby were gone.
"Did Amelie die?" the nurse asked.
"I don't know," Lt. Gage and the doctor responded together. Lt. Gage continued, "but we know the baby survived. That's enough."
            The comm unit in her ear buzzed again. "Lt. Gage? Alpha team has arrived on site. Ruan is redoubling his efforts but has informed us that he is open to negotiation as he has the right of parentage. Is that true? Lt. Gage, respond. Over."
"Right of parentage is no longer in effect. Child was stillborn dragon, mother was killed in childbirth. Internal hemorrhage and blood loss. Inform Ruan that hostilities are useless and negotiate cease fire. Over."
"Acknowledged. Over and out."