Delphi Federation (Delphi in Space Book 6)

by Bob Blanton

“If you wear that red dress, that would count as my birthday present.”

  “Ohh, you still want to see if it’ll shock Daddy.”

  “It’ll shock him; I just want to see how he tries to hide it,” Blake said.

  “Okay. Where are we going?”

  “To that new Moroccan restaurant. Marc thought he’d treat me since I stayed here and held down the fort while you guys went off and played.”

  “Then he should be taking you to a French restaurant, like he and Sam went to in Paris.”

  “I like the idea of the Moroccan place better. I’ll pick you up at seven.”

  ◆ ◆ ◆

  “Do I pass muster?” Catie asked, bouncing on bare feet in her red dress. She did a quick pirouette to show the dress off.

  “The dress is perfect, but there’s still too much little girl,” Blake said. “Morgan, can you do something with her hair?”

  “What are you looking for?” Morgan asked.

  “Sex bomb; I really owe Marc one, and this is going to be great!”

  “Oh, sounds fun, I’m going to switch with Cassie so I can come in with you; I’ll let her do the outside detail.”

  “The hair?”

  “Sure, I can fluff it up. That’ll make her look great. And I’ll touch up her makeup, too. Ruby red lips work for you?”

  “You’ve got the idea.”

  ◆ ◆ ◆

  “Okay, Catie, walk behind Morgan, so your father won’t see you. I’ll signal when I want Morgan to step back. Then you step up and give your father a nice sexy smile and say, ‘Hello, Mr. President.”

  “You know he’s going to get even with you for this,” Catie said.

  “Sure, but it’ll be worth it. Besides, what can he do that’ll even come close to this? Ready Morgan?”

  “Ready.”

  As they approached the table, Morgan’s presence made it obvious that Catie was with Blake.

  “Blake, are you having such a hard time with women that you had to bring your niece as your date? That’s not like you,” Marc said. “Where is she?”

  Blake waited until Marc took a sip of wine, then signaled Morgan. She stepped to the side and Catie stepped up.

  “Hello, Mr. President,” she said, trying her best to sound like Marilyn Monroe.

  Marc snorted his wine out his nose and spilled half his glass. Samantha pushed away from the table to avoid the spray from Marc as well as the sloshing wine.

  “Are you okay, Daddy?”

  “What the . . . where did you get that dress?”

  “I bought it for my birthday,” Catie said, “but Sam messed that up with that ball of hers.”

  “Good thing,” Samantha said. “That is definitely not the look we’re going for.”

  “What’s wrong with it?” Blake asked. “She would make the cover of Vogue.”

  “That would be a problem,” Samantha said. “Who did your hair and makeup?”

  “Morgan.”

  “Morgan, if you ever do that again without alerting me, I’ll make your life a living hell,” Samantha said.

  “I’ll be sure to alert you in the future,” Morgan said with a big grin.

  “I think we need them to reset the table for us,” Blake said. “Someone couldn’t handle his wine.”

  “You are going to pay,” Marc promised.

  “But the video I have of this is priceless.”

  “Blake, you will not share that video with anyone!” Samantha said.

  “Just the board members,” Blake said.

  “NO!”

  “At least Liz and Kal.”

  “Only with the caveat that I’ll kill them if it gets any further,” Samantha conceded.

  ◆ ◆ ◆

  “I cannot believe that dress,” Marc said after Blake and Catie left. He and Samantha were having after-dinner drinks.

  “Neither can I,” Samantha said. “But you do realize that once she got the reaction out of you, she quit caring about how she looked.”

  “She did?”

  “Yes, she never fiddled with her hair. She didn’t look around to see if anyone was looking at her, and she sat like a pilot, not a model. So, you can relax; she’s still your little girl.”

  “Sure, but for how long?”

  “You do know that she’s still having Dr. Metra control her hormones?”

  “I thought she was, but we haven’t discussed it,” Marc said.

  “Well, currently they’re targeting a gradual increase until she’s twenty-five,” Samantha said.

  “But, how will that change her maturing? Not that I want to deal with it, but teenage angst is an important part of growing up.”

  “There’s plenty of angst about how to fit in, dealing with the changes in your body, and just coming to terms with responsibility,” Samantha said. “Not having to worry about sex on top of that gives them a chance to figure the rest of it out before they do something stupid.”

  “That’s a relief; at least I think it is.”

  ◆ ◆ ◆

  Catie went to get her new uniforms made the next morning. The dress uniform was a dark blue jacket with a stand-up collar. It allowed a bit of flare at the hips on the women’s jacket. Their concession to style. The pants were the same color and were tear-away.

  “Thank god for that,” Catie thought. You wouldn’t want to be having to sit down to pull off your pants so you could put on your exosuit. Emergencies didn’t care about formal events.

  The day uniform was a black and gray camo shirt and pants or skirt with the same fast-change considerations. As the captain, she was entitled to wear a white beret or a ballcap with both uniforms. Everything had been designed to take into account that she would be wearing a shipsuit under it. There were skirts available for women, but to Catie, that didn’t make sense with a shipsuit on, although she guessed that some might view it as just leggings. The shipboots could be ankle-high or calf-high for both men and women. As she flipped the pages, she saw that both men and women were given the option of wearing a kilt. She had to laugh at that; she wasn’t sure if she was willing to try it. She decided she’d have to talk to Liz and Sophia about the styles and how they would go with the black, gray, or white shipsuits. The dinner jacket was a simple tuxedo jacket with a faux shirt attached, leaving her with only one thing to take off during an emergency.

  For now, she decided to stay with trousers for all three uniform types. She’d experiment with skirts or kilts later. She sent in her order, and while she was at it, she had shipsuits made for her in the white and black styles; she had only worn the slate gray ones so far.

  ◆ ◆ ◆

  On Friday, Catie reported to Blake wearing the military dress uniform she would wear for the ship launch ceremony.

  “Reporting as ordered,” Catie announced as she entered Blake’s office.

  “Have a seat,” Blake ordered. “You look nice in that uniform. I like the beret.”

  “Thank you.”

  “So, what did you learn?”

  “I read all the books you suggested,” Catie said. “I guess they were good, most of it seemed kind of obvious.”

  “That’s because you naturally do most of it. Your father could have written any of those books. He’s a natural leader. But tell me the key points.”

  “There really is only one,” Catie said. “Your people come first.”

  “Break it down a little for me.”

  “You have to earn their loyalty and trust. You do that by listening to them, even when you don’t like what they’re saying. You have to figure out why they’re saying it because unless they’re worthless, there’s something in there that you need to take under consideration or take care of. Praise in public, scold in private. One scolding outweighs ten accolades,” Catie said.

  “Oh, and you have to protect them from the likes of you,” she teased.

  “That’s exactly right. You’re their boss; you can’t let anyone threaten them or scold them. Their actions are your responsibility,” Blake said. “W
hat else?”

  “If you trust them, then they’ll start to trust you. Don’t overmanage them; they’re going to spend a lot more time thinking about their job than you can, so you have to let them do it. You need to keep on top of what they’re doing, but not to the point of micromanaging them.”

  “And?” Blake prompted.

  “People want to belong to a team, to be able to contribute to the team’s success.”

  “I think you have it. There isn’t all that much difference between being the ship’s captain and the ship’s commander; you just have a broader responsibility when you’re on active duty. When you’re just the ship’s captain, your duty is to your crew, then MacKenzies. Are you ready?”

  “Yes, sir,” Catie stammered.

  “A little scared?”

  “Just a little.”

  “That’s good; you wouldn’t be a good leader if the responsibility didn’t scare you,” Blake said. “So, I’ll see you tomorrow on Delphi Station at o-nine-hundred for the change of command ceremony.”

  “I’ll be there.”

  “Dismissed.”

  ◆ ◆ ◆

  Catie woke up at 0400, after tossing and turning the whole night. She had flown to Delphi Station the night before, so nothing would get in the way of her making it to the change of command ceremony, a good thing since it couldn’t happen without her.

  She took her run with Morgan and the ever-present shadows, had a light breakfast, and then finally, it was time to prepare. She put on her dress uniform, a blue double-breasted jacket with two rows of gold buttons. She selected the ankle-high boots and the white beret. She really liked the way it laid over the right side of her head, slightly shadowing her right eye. Next, her medals; she had tried to get out of having to wear the actual medals, preferring the ribbons instead, but Uncle Blake had overruled her.

  First, her marksmanship ribbon; her distinguished service medal, won for the design of the smart missiles and Odin’s Fist; her combat medal, won for participation in the battle against the Paraxean rebels; and her Delphi Cross, won for flying one of Odin’s Fists on the mission that disabled the battle cruisier.

  Catie stepped back and looked at herself in the mirror. She thought she looked smart, a bit dashing, and hopefully ready to take command of the Sakira. At that moment, she realized that she had been preparing for this moment since that first night in Hawaii when she’d discovered that her father had found a starship. And she realized how much her father had been preparing her. “Oh, please let me be ready!”

  “Are you ready?” Morgan asked after she rapped on the door to get Catie’s attention.

  “I certainly hope so,” Catie said as she opened the door.

  “My, don’t you look like the dashing captain,” Morgan said.

  “I’m not the captain yet,” Catie replied.

  “Oh, but you will be, sir!” Morgan said, giving Catie a smart salute.

  “Thanks, Morgan,” Catie said after returning the salute.

  ◆ ◆ ◆

  Until she got underway, the Sakira wouldn’t have any gravity, so in deference to the civilians attending the ceremony, the change of command ceremony was held in the gravity section of the hub on Delphi Station. Catie arrived precisely ten minutes before the beginning of the ceremony. She stood to the side while the final preparations were made.

  Finally, Blake entered the room to start the ceremony. “It’s an honor to be able to send one of our starships out on a peaceful mission,” Blake said. “The Sakira will be going to the asteroid belt to set up a mining operation. This will provide Delphi Nation with the critical resources we need to continue to grow our Navy and to continue to lead Earth into the age of space travel.”

  Catie barely heard the rest of his speech as she nervously waited. Next, Captain Clark gave a short speech, focusing on the service Sakira made during the war and his honor to have been her captain.

  “You’re up,” Morgan said as she elbowed Catie out of her reverie.

  Catie approached the podium and removed the fancy scroll from under her arm. She opened it and read, “Delphi Defense Forces Order Number 3987, to Lieutenant Catherine Alexandra McCormack, on January Second, twenty twenty-one. Madam, you are hereby directed and required to proceed aboard the DSS Sakira to report to Captain Kevin Clark, Commanding Officer DSS Sakira, for duty as his relief. Upon assuming command, you will proceed to the asteroid belt where you will oversee and institute mining operations and the construction of a space station, and provide local security in service of the Nation of Delphi. Signed, Admiral Blake Augustus McCormack,” Catie finished with a flourish. She then carefully rolled the scroll, turned to Captain Clark, and said, “Sir, you are relieved.”

  “I stand relieved,” Captain Clark replied. He then shook Catie’s hand, stepped back, and saluted her. “Good luck, Captain.”

  “Thank you, Sir,” Catie replied.

  Blake stepped to the podium. “I would like to clarify some things for the members of the press, and some of our less experienced people,” he said. “Sakira is a private vessel, wholly owned by MacKenzie Discoveries. However, based on recent events, Delphi Nation has established a policy that all civilian spacecraft are part of our reserve fleet, to be called up to active service should the need arise. Because of that, we require that every captain of such vessels also be a member of our reserve fleet and be able to step into the role of ship commander. This ceremony made Lieutenant McCormack the captain of the reserve ship Sakira. Should the need arise, the Sakira and her captain will be called to active service. However, as of now, the Sakira is returned to reserve status, and this mission will be conducted under the direction of MacKenzie Discoveries.

  “I want to congratulate Captain McCormack on her new appointment in the reserve fleet.”

  Catie returned to the podium to give her remarks. “I am honored to have been selected for this mission. To be able to carry on the efforts of MacKenzie Discoveries to open the solar system and the galaxy to human exploration and settlement is as exciting as it is humbling. I look forward to working with my crew and our mission personnel aboard the Sakira to establish MacKenzie Discoveries’ first space station beyond the bounds of our planet. Please join me in celebrating this occasion.”

  Catie stepped back and indicated the reception area and then walked there with as confident a stride as she could muster.

  “Congratulations, Captain McCormack. We’ll see you in your cabin after the ceremony for more appropriate congratulation,” Marc said as he shook Catie’s hand.

  All her friends came up to her to salute and call her Captain. Sophia had Chaz take a picture of Catie with her holding a microphone and asking a question. Catie couldn’t believe that she’d let Sophia talk her into bringing Chaz along as her cameraman.

  “How does it feel to be the first woman to command a starship?” Sophia asked.

  “It feels daunting and exhilarating at the same time,” Catie said. “It is such an honor to have this opportunity, and I want to thank the board of MacKenzies for putting their trust in me to accomplish this mission.”

  “Captain,” a young lieutenant said.

  Catie instinctively looked for his name tag, but remembered there were no name tags on the dress uniform. “You have me at a disadvantage, Lieutenant,” she said.

  “Lieutenant Derek Payne, reporting for duty, I’m your first mate, and your XO if we’re activated,” Lieutenant Payne said as he saluted. “We’ve actually met before.”

  “We have?” Catie said. She was surprised; she was usually very good with names and faces.

  “We barely got a chance to talk,” Derek said. “It was at the victory party. I was a bit messed up then. I had quite a few burns on my face and neck.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry,” Catie said. “How did that happen?”

  “Got my Hyrax shot out from under me. The laser pierced the shell, and the slag from it got me in the face. The pilot capsule ejected, then one of those auto sealers shot off and closed the hole.�
�

  “Glad to hear that. When did you arrive?” Catie asked.

  “I got in last night. As I’m sure you know, I was serving on the Enterprise until I was picked for this mission.”

  “Yes, I know,” Catie said. Blake had specifically selected Lieutenant Payne, a twenty-eight-year-old graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy, and one of the men who had opted to resign his commission and stay with Delphi after the president ordered them all home. She’d reviewed his file, both the U.S. file and the one from Delphi. He was an exceptional officer, and that scared her a little.

  “You were injured in the last battle as I recall,” Catie said.

  “Yes, right after you and your team got your Hyraxes blown up on purpose and attacked the battleship,” Lieutenant Payne said. “It must have taken a lot of courage to do that. After having it happen to me, I can’t imagine ever willfully letting my jet get blown up on purpose.”

  “Courage, I like that word,” Catie said. “Usually my friends use other words to describe that mission.”

  “Such as?”

  “Insane, crazy as a loon, around the bend,” Catie recited.

  Lieutenant Payne laughed. “I’ll let you get back to the celebration. I read all the files on the crew on my way here, so I’ll be ready to get to work as soon as we’re allowed to leave the party.”

  “Thank you. I look forward to working with you.”

  “It’s an honor to be able to work for you,” Lieutenant Payne said.

  ◆ ◆ ◆

  “Mister Chang, get us underway,” Catie ordered. She was seated in the captain’s chair on the bridge of the Sakira. The passive restraints in the chair helped to pin her in place, so she didn’t have to worry about the microgravity. Lieutenant Payne stood beside her, using the magnetic couplers in his boots to maintain his position.

  “Aye, Captain,” Mister Chang said. He used the Sakira’s thrusters to back her away from Delphi Station. Catie was impressed with his skill; she could barely feel the maneuvers.

  “Captain, we have cleared the safety zone. Delphi control has given us permission to engage gravity drive,” Mister Blanchet announced from the communications station.

  “Set course for point bravo in the asteroid belt,” Catie ordered.