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She made it to the screaming soldier. “I’m here,” she whispered. She clasped the warrior’s hand with both of hers. He instantly relaxed at her contact. Wrinkles at the corner of his eyes on his pinkish-purple face, contorted in pain. His head tossed from side to side, and he mumbled something about the bag across his chest.

“We’ll worry about the bag later. Let me take it off you, and we’ll get you help,” Charlotte said.

“No.” The Klagan struggled to sit up despite his obvious pain. He pulled the canvas bag closer to his chest with his free hand. He brought Nell’s hand to the bag. “Gentle.”

Nell blinked in confusion.

“In…” the warrior’s eyes glazed over.

When Charlotte touched the bag, the soldier fought with his limited strength. “Don’t touch.” His voice was low, with a hint of a threat.

Nell placed one of her hands on Charlotte’s arm, pointing with her finger at the sedative she held in her hand.

Nell sat on the stretcher next to the warrior. “I’ll protect the bag. I promise.”

He allowed her to unclasp the hook and pull the bag onto her lap. Nell gasped when the bag began to make a soft noise and wiggled. “Oh!”

“What do you have in there?” Charlotte murmured to the warrior.

Nell flipped the canvas top up, exposing a human infant nestled inside, surrounded by the black fabric of what appeared to be a warrior’s tunic. “Baby.” She placed her hand on the baby’s chest and sighed as she felt the infant’s chest rise and fall with each breath. “Safe.”

In an effort not to startle the soldier, Nell gestured with her chin to Charlotte.

Charlotte peered into the bag. “A baby!”

“Mine.” The sedative took effect, and the Klagan struggled with words. “Human.”

“Is it your baby?” Charlotte asked.

“Mine… protect,” the warrior murmured before succumbing to sleep.

“All right,” Charlotte said. She pulled two identification bands from out of thin air. The band barely wrapped around the soldier’s wrist, while she had to wrap the second twice around the infant’s leg as it poked out from the bag. “Father and child,” she said. “We have to keep them together.”

“It’s human.”

Charlotte glanced at the wounded soldier. “It’s his baby. I won’t separate them.”

“What do I do?” Nell whispered.

“We’ll have to get the baby out of here while Maklr works on the wounded.”

“It’s father.” Nell sat on a narrow piece of the soldier’s stretcher.

“How long until help arrives?” Charlotte asked.

“What is that?” Maklr asked, pointing to the bag. “Protocol dictates that we strip the injured of all nonessentials until we accurately assess their injuries. Get rid of the bag.” He reached for the bag, but Nell cradled it to her chest.

The bag moved as the baby kicked and failed its arms.

“What?” Maklr ran a scanner over the soldier.

“His baby is in the bag,” Charlotte explained. “We’ll keep them together as long as possible.”

“Is the baby injured?” Maklr asked.

Charlotte shrugged. “I don’t know. Can you take the baby out?”

Nell nodded. Her gentle hands lifted the baby from the canvas bag. She cuddled the newborn to her chest. The baby’s blue eyes stared up at her; its tiny mouth formed a perfect O before letting out an ear-piercing howl.