Delphi Federation (Delphi in Space Book 6)

by Bob Blanton

  “What do you need?” Blake replied.

  “For the security, should we use constables or some of Kal’s people?”

  “You’re going to have Morgan with you, so I’d have her pick three more from Kal’s team. Then use constables for the rest.”

  “What about a first mate?”

  “I’ll find you one,” Blake said.

  “Thanks.”

  “Anytime. Hey, are you okay with going?”

  “Sure,” Catie said. “It’ll be fun, or at least interesting.”

  “Good attitude. See you later.”

  “Bye,” Catie said. “Morgan.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Morgan replied.

  “Call me Catie.”

  “Sorry, Catie, just an automatic response,” Morgan said. “What do you need?”

  “Can you pick out three Marines from the security service to bring with us on the asteroid mission? Families can come, and it includes a twenty percent deployment bonus.”

  “Sure thing. Hey, do I get the bonus too?”

  “Of course, you do.”

  “Alright!”

  “And would you work with Constable Chief Nawal to come up with sixteen constables to come also? I think we can have half of them be trainees.”

  “On it, boss.”

  Catie sent a memo to Dr. Metra asking her to recommend which Paraxeans she should choose for the crew. Then she sat back and looked at her list. She had to find four pilots to handle the shuttling activities as well as to provide security in case of some issues. They would carry two Lynxes and five Foxes on the mission.

  “Well, start with who you know,” Catie thought. She sent messages to Jason, Kasper, Lieutenant Kay Owens, and Lieutenant Mariam Beaulieu, asking if they were interested in the assignment. It would be a six-month rotating assignment, just like the medical staff. She copied Blake on the messages. Blake sent an immediate response nixing Kasper’s name from the list; he said he had him assigned to another task.

  “Call Mrs. Kaanapu,” Catie instructed her Comm. Mrs. Kaanapu was the principal for the Delphi City school system.

  “Hello, Cer Catie,” Mrs. Kaanapu said. “What can I do for you?”

  “I need two teachers to go to the asteroid belt. We’re taking a ship there, but eventually, we’ll have a small space station. We’ll rotate staff every six months, and there is a twenty percent bonus for being off-world.”

  “Oh, I might be interested in doing that,” Mrs. Kaanapu said. “I’ll ask around and get back to you.”

  “Who else do I need?” Catie thought. She’d asked Chief Hopkins to fill out the crew requests. She trusted his judgment and hoped that he might actually go as the ship’s Master Chief. “Of course, if I miss adding someone, either Uncle Blake will take care of it, or I can have them sent out on one of the supply Oryxes. But that would be embarrassing.”

  ◆ ◆ ◆

  “What’s with this?” Catie yelped.

  “What happened?” Blake asked.

  “Yes, what’s the problem?” Samantha asked. “You sounded like someone took your Christmas candy.”

  “You shouldn’t be checking your messages at the dinner table,” Marc scolded.

  “Look who’s talking,” Samantha said.

  Catie sat there while everyone got their licks in. Finally, she could get a word in. “How did I get assigned a flight on Christmas?”

  “Oh, that doesn’t sound fair,” Samantha said.

  “Did you block Christmas out as one of your holidays?” Blake asked.

  “No, why should I have to?” Catie asked.

  “Our employees practice a lot of different religions,” Marc said. “The only way to be fair to everyone is to have the employees designate the days they want as a holiday at the first of the year. That way, the schedulers can balance the work schedule.”

  “Oh, I guess I missed that memo,” Catie said. “Now what do I do?”

  “Someone will be happy to take it for a small consideration,” Blake said.

  “You mean I have to pay someone to take it?”

  “Sure, back when I was a lowly ensign, I used to make extra money doing other officers’ holiday duty,” Blake said.

  “How do I find someone?” Catie asked.

  “There must be a bulletin board that the pilots use for messages. Post on it; in fact, someone might have posted an offer to do Christmas duty,” Blake said.

  “Darn it,” Catie said.

  “Oh, come on. You guys act like you’re paupers, and each one of you is worth a few billion dollars,” Samantha said.

  “ADI scolds me when I waste money,” Catie said.

  “I won’t this time,” ADI said. “I should have made sure you blocked out your holidays.”

  ◆ ◆ ◆

  “Hi, Catie,” Sophia said as she slid in next to Catie at Ruth’s diner.

  “Hey, what’s up?”

  “I hear you’re going to the asteroid belt.”

  “Sure, I gave you a blurb about it for the Gazette, didn’t I?”

  “Yes, but I also hear that families are going along.”

  “Oh yeah, I guess I didn’t update you after we decided that.”

  “No, you didn’t,” Sophia scolded. “And I hear that Artie is going.”

  “I haven’t heard that,” Catie said.

  “Well, apparently, his parents are going as the teachers, and he’s going to go with them.”

  “Cool,” Catie said. “Then, I’ll have at least one friend on the ship.”

  “That’s nice,” Sophia said. “Now, I wonder why you haven’t invited a member of the press to come along and document this historic event.”

  “Does that mean you want to come?”

  “Yes. I am a member of the press, after all.”

  “You’re welcome to come. Are your parents okay with it?”

  “Hey, I’m almost seventeen, I should be able to go if I want to.”

  “Then you’re officially invited. We plan to leave on January second. Let me know if you need any help convincing your parents.”

  “Don’t worry about me,” Sophia said. “Now, this is going to be so much fun. Maybe I’ll win an award; I’ll be the first journalist to report outside of Earth’s orbit.”

  “And I thought you just wanted to keep me company,” Catie teased. “What about Chaz?”

  “A journalist has to suffer for her art,” Sophia said. “It’s only six months, he’ll survive.”

  “Now I’m going to have lots of friends on the mission,” Catie said. “Here comes our waiter, have you decided what you want?”

  “I always get the same thing,” Sophia said. “A half turkey sandwich and a salad.”

  “I’ll have a cheeseburger with guacamole and fries,” Catie told the waiter.

  “And to drink?”

  “Just water for me,” Catie replied.

  “I’ll have a Diet Coke.”

  “Be right up.”

  “So, have you managed to get any dreamy guys to be on the crew?” Sophia asked.

  “Other than Jason, I’m not sure who’s going to be on the crew yet. I’m still looking for a fourth pilot. Kay Owens and Mariam Beaulieu are the other two.”

  “You’re not going about this right,” Sophia said. “You don’t need two female pilots. You could have filled those slots with dreamy guys.”

  “I’m the mission leader; I can’t let things like that sway my choice. I need to have people I can trust.”

  “Pooh, you’re no fun.”

  “Sorry, you’ve got journalistic integrity, I’ve got command integrity.”

  “How many people are going?”

  “We’re going to have over one hundred twenty Earthlings and twenty-four Paraxeans.”

  “Oh, so I’ll get to meet some Paraxeans,” Sophia said. “I didn’t get to interview any of the scientists, and haven’t managed an interview with any of the prisoners you brought back.”

  “But, you know …” Catie said then stopped. She almost said
that Sophia knew Dr. Metra, but the fact that Dr. Metra was a Paraxean was a well-kept secret. As far as Earth knew, the Sakira was a shipwreck, and that there were no Paraxeans onboard her. All of the crew had been brought to Earth under the guise of being captured on Ganymede.

  “What?” Sophia asked.

  “You know you can get my help to schedule an interview with one of the Paraxeans. You should go to one of the clinics we’ve set up. You could interview the doctors and nurses.”

  “Where do you have them?” Sophia asked. “I don’t want to go to Guatemala; it sounds too dangerous.”

  “It shouldn’t be now,” Catie said. “They’ve taken care of the cartel that was trying to take over the clinic.”

  “Still, there must be one in someplace exotic.”

  “We have a clinic in Morocco,” Catie said. “There’s one in France, Canada, Germany, and we’re opening one in England.”

  “Oh, Morocco sounds exotic. Could you take me there? We could go for Christmas.”

  “I’m not sure I can go. I’ve got all this mission prep to do.”

  “Oh, pish, you know you can work remotely. Don’t be a baby, let’s go. Besides, you’re the only one with enough money to take me.”

  “So, that’s the only reason you like me, my money!” Catie hissed, giving Sophia a hard time.

  “It wouldn’t hurt, but you’d need to start spending some of it on me before it would affect my opinion.”

  Catie and Sophia laughed. “Okay, I’ll ask Daddy if we can go.”

  ◆ ◆ ◆

  “Daddy, Sophia and I want to go to Morocco for Christmas,” Catie said after she entered her father’s condo.

  “Why Morocco?”

  “Sophia wants to interview the doctors at the clinic, and me, well I’ve never been—unless you call being kidnapped and forced to stay on the boat a vacation there.”

  “We’ll have to see if Kal has enough people available to provide security,” Marc said, ignoring her sarcasm. “Do you want to stay in Casablanca?”

  “That’s what we were thinking,” Catie said.

  “Might be tough getting a hotel room that time of year.”

  “But we know people in Morocco, won’t they be able to help?”

  “Let’s check with Kal first. Call Kal,” Marc instructed his Comm.

  “Hey, Marc, what’s up?”

  “Catie wants to go to Morocco for Christmas; do you have a team available for security?”

  “Sure; we’re getting ready to change over the security at the clinic; we can send the team out early with Catie, then they can stay after.”

  “Great, let me see if we can find accommodations for them before you make any changes.”

  “No problem, just let me know.”

  “Later. Call Ayyour Dahmani,” Marc instructed. “Sayid Dahmani, how are you doing?”

  “I am well, and you, my friend?”

  “I am well also. I have a favor to ask. My daughter wants to visit Casablanca next week. I was hoping you could recommend a hotel where we could get a block of rooms,” Marc said.

  “Nonsense, my friend. I have a villa just outside of Casablanca. She will stay there,” Sayid Dahmani said.

  “We wouldn’t want to impose on you,” Marc said.

  “It would be no imposition. Nobody is there except the staff. I am in Rabat for this month so she would have the villa all to herself. I will of course meet her when she arrives and introduce her to the staff.”

  “That would be most generous of you. Is there anything she could bring you?”

  “I have all that I need,” Sayid Dahmani said. “Will you be accompanying her?”

  “I’m not sure yet, I am not planning to. Perhaps her uncle will want to go with her.”

  “Very good. I look forward to meeting her.”

  While Marc finished up the call with Sayid Dahmani, Catie called Blake.

  “Uncle Blake, I’m going to Casablanca for Christmas. We’re staying at a villa; do you and Jackie want to come?”

  “This is kind of sudden,” Blake said.

  “I was having lunch with Sophia, and she thought it up,” Catie said.

  “I’ll check with Jackie and get back with you.”

  “Okay, bye.”

  “Hi, Catie, to what do we owe the honor?” Samantha said as she came in.

  “I was asking Daddy if Sophia and I could go to Morocco next week.”

  “What gave you that idea?”

  “Sophia.”

  “Hi, Sam,” Marc said as he got up and walked over to kiss her hello. “You wouldn’t want to go, would you? Catie’s going to have a villa.”

  “I do need to talk to the king about docking rights for our new carrier,” Samantha said. “And Morocco is just a short hop from Paris.”

  “So, we’re in,” Marc said. “Is that okay with you?” Marc asked Catie.

  “Sure, we just want to check out the city, do a camel ride in the desert, that kind of thing,” Catie said. She quickly messaged Sophia about the additional guests on their adventure.

  Chapter 26

  Taking Command

  “How was your Christmas break?” Blake asked Catie. They were meeting over lunch to review the asteroid mission.

  “It was fun,” Catie said. “Too bad you and Jackie decided not to go. Sayid Dahmani met us at the airport and took us to his villa. Boy, is that place nice! It has a private swimming pool that’s enclosed so that even his guards can’t see in.”

  “That makes sense, given the culture,” Blake said.

  “That night, he took us to Casablanca for dinner at one of the best restaurants. The next day we loaned him the Lynx so he could fly back to Rabat.”

  “The least you could do.”

  “After Christmas, we took a camel ride into the desert for a camping trip. Daddy and Sam went to Paris instead.”

  “Was riding a camel fun?”

  “I guess so, they stink and have a bad temper. But the next day we got to drive the jeeps! That was really cool! I’ve never driven anything before. We had so much fun driving that we stayed another night,” Catie said.

  “Oh, I forgot you’ve never driven before,” Blake said. “We should start teaching you how to drive; might come in handy one day.”

  “Like Kal will ever let me drive.”

  “Probably not. So, how’s your mission prep going?”

  “It’s going well,” Catie said. “We’re still on track to launch on Saturday. Is that why you wanted to have lunch?”

  “Not really. I want to give a few more details on your mission parameters,” Blake said.

  “Sure.”

  “The Sakira, although a MacKenzie vessel, is part of the Reserve Fleet. So, you’ll have to be both her Captain, appointed by MacKenzie Discoveries, as well as her Commander appointed by the Defense Ministry, specifically me,” Blake said.

  “Oh, I was wondering how that would work out,” Catie said. “Am I going to stay on active duty?”

  “No, we’re changing the way we do that. As of yesterday, you are on reserve duty, so you’re available to command a commercial mission on behalf of MacKenzies. But you will have a military contingent on the ship. You’ll be their de facto commander since you’ll be the captain of the ship.”

  “Yeah,” Catie said, clearly implying that this was old hat.

  “As their leader, you need to project authority, maintain discipline, and set an example.”

  “Okay.”

  “So, while on the mission, you’ll need to wear a uniform when on duty. You will also need to follow certain decorum when interacting with the crew. You are their captain; their fate, and possibly their very lives, will be in your hands.”

  “Ah, I guess I knew that,” Catie said, suddenly a lot more interested and more serious.

  “And by uniform, I do not mean your ship suit,” Blake said.

  “That’s the only uniform I have.”

  “That means you need to get some made,” Blake said. “Here’s the l
ist of approved uniforms for the various occasions you’ll be expected to be in.” Blake flicked Catie the list. “Have a couple of each made; I’d recommend three or four of the day uniform. Also, have a few of the military uniforms made as well. They’re almost the same.”

  “Oh, I see.”

  “You know how to address your commanding officer from experience, but now you need to know what to expect and demand from your crew,” Blake explained. “I know you’ll have friends in the crew, your crew will know you have friends in the crew, but you must be careful not to show any favoritism or even a hint of preference. You can joke with your friends in private, but not in public. In public, they’re your subordinates, your crew, and you need to treat them like that.”

  “You mean I can’t tell a joke to lighten the mood, or tease someone?” Catie asked.

  “You can tell a joke, but you have to be careful. Teasing is a dangerous thing to do in public. As the captain, it can be taken as veiled criticism or even a reprimand. I generally prefer to avoid that. When it’s a small team, four or five people, you can get away with it. But when you have a crew of over fifty, it generally causes problems. You’ve mostly been in command of small teams, which is why we’re having this conversation. You have to up your game.”

  “Ohhh, I see,” Catie said.

  “It’s not as bad as it sounds,” Blake said. “But you have to think about it, keep it in the front of your mind at all times. Here’s a short list of books you should read.”

  “Why didn’t you give me these before now?”

  “Hey, I know you read like six thousand words a minute, why mess with your Christmas break. You’ve had enough to do getting the mission ready. Read Leaders Eat Last first; that’ll set the tone for you. We’ll talk about this again before you launch.”

  “Thank you, sir,” Catie said.

  “Hey, when we’re alone, it’s still Uncle Blake.”

  “Your father is taking me to dinner for my birthday,” Blake added.

  “That’s nice. Is Jackie going with you?”

  “She’s in Wellington with her girlfriend.”

  “That’s too bad.”

  “What are you giving me for my birthday?”

  “A card, like usual,” Catie said.

  “You could be my date.”

  “Sure.”