Delphi Challenge

by Bob Blanton

  “That is unfortunate since you have five minutes before that shuttle blows up around you.”

  “Commander, even if we evacuate, your destruction of the shuttle will kill us.”

  “Evacuate and we’ll shield you from it,” Fitzgerald said. “You now have four minutes!”

  Three figures jumped from the shuttle as the shuttle continued to accelerate. The distance between them and the shuttle started to grow as the shuttle continued to accelerate away from them.

  “Jackson, put your Fox between them and the shuttle,” Fitzgerald ordered.

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  Fitzgerald waited the full four minutes before giving the order to launch a missile at the shuttle. It exploded in a fiery ball, giving away the fact that it was carrying a huge load of atomic weapons.

  “Captain, they have destroyed the shuttle!” the alien sensor operator announced.

  The captain gave a loud roar. “Helm, make course for that space carrier. We are going to ram it!”

  “We don’t have enough reaction mass to change course that much! Sir.”

  “Rotate the ship, I’ll use the fighters in the flight bay. Commander Dumak, prepare your fighters for maximum burn.”

  “Yes, sir!”

  “Belay that order!” Lieutenant Lantaq yelled. He was standing behind the captain. The captain’s face was slack and he had Lieutenant Lantaq’s dagger protruding from the back of his skull. “I have assumed command. Open a channel to the Victory.”

  “Yes, sir!” the communication officer replied with obvious relief.

  “This is Captain Lantaq, I have assumed command of the Mortarka. We are now attempting to comply with your orders. We do not have enough power in our gravity drives to decelerate sufficiently to achieve orbit, and we do not have enough reaction mass to do so either.”

  “I believe we can help you with that,” Blake announced. “Hold your course steady.”

  “We will comply.”

  “Stand down your weapons. We are going to place a probe on your ship.”

  “What kind of probe?” Captain Lantaq asked.

  “Stand down your weapons!” Blake ordered again.

  “Our weapons are down.”

  “Fitzgerald, have one of your Foxes place a missile warhead on their hull, attach the probe to it,” Blake ordered.

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Catie can you jump them into Artemis Proxima?” Blake asked.

  “Yes, if they stay on course.”

  “Then let’s try it.”

  “Payne just needs to position his jump ships and we’ll be good to go,” Catie said.

  “Oh, right. Lieutenant Payne, please position your jump ships ahead of the alien ship; we want to send it to Artemis Proxima,” Blake ordered.

  “Yes sir.” Payne maneuvered the ships so they were in front of the alien ship. He slowed them so the alien ship had a relative velocity of 300 meters per second. “Ready.”

  Catie opened the wormhole.

  “Wormhole confirmed,” Lieutenant Payne reported.

  “We’re ready,” Catie informed Blake.

  “Captain Lantaq, you’ll see four ships in front of you; they’re about two million meters away. You need to steer for the center of them,” Blake communicated. “We have placed a probe with a warhead on it. If you fail to comply with any of our instructions, your vessel will be destroyed.”

  “We will comply. What will happen when we fly between the ships?”

  “You will see,” Blake said.

  ◆ ◆ ◆

  Two hours later the Mortarka went through the wormhole to Artemis Proxima.

  “What happened?!” Captain Lantaq demanded. His entire bridge crew was scrambling at their stations to try and make sense of their sudden shift in location.

  “You’re in Artemis Proxima’s system,” Blake explained. “You should be heading toward its star. Use its gravity well to slow your ship down, then put it in orbit at the fringe. We need you to be at sixty AUs for the next step. When you reach that point, we’ll get back to you and bring you over to Artemis Prime’s system and complete our discussions.”

  “Yes, Admiral. It will take us three weeks to slow down that much, and we will be on the other side of the system when we do.”

  “That will be fine, just make orbit then. I will talk to you when you do,” Blake said. “Please don’t make me blow your ship up.”

  “We won’t.”

  “Thank you,” Blake said before he cut the communication channel with the alien ship. “Good work everyone. Now, stand down, and get back to work. Captain Clements, you have command. I’m going to rendezvous with the Roebuck and see if I can make it back in time for my niece’s graduation.”

  Chapter 24

  Graduation

  Sixty-eight graduating cadets walked out onto the parade ground to take their seats. If anyone was counting, they would have noticed that sixty-eight was one more than the number of first-class cadets. Catie had made it. She had finished all the necessary course work and had gotten a nod from Uncle Blake that she would be allowed to graduate. She’d dyed her hair back to its natural color, and had worn colored contacts for the last two weeks while her eyes returned to their natural color. She’d let her skin adjust with time, darkening to the shade she now preferred. She took her seat in the last seat on the last row.

  “Who is that girl?” a cadet asked.

  “I don’t know. I don’t remember her from class. She seems quiet, maybe we never noticed her.”

  “That’s hard to believe, especially since she’s wearing a sash that says she’s graduating with honors.”

  “Maybe she’s just a bookworm.”

  “Shhh!”

  “I would like to welcome the families of our graduates to the Academy,” Commandant Lewis said. “It is an extra-special occasion since they are our first graduating class, a distinction that they will carry with them throughout their careers. And to make the occasion even more special, Admiral Prince Blake McCormack is on stage to greet each graduate as they receive their degrees. He will be making the keynote address.”

  Commandant Lewis continued with her commencement speech, citing all the firsts that this class had accomplished. Finally, they started to hand out the degrees.

  “Graduating with honors, our Valedictorian, Cadet Colonel Miranda Cordova.”

  ◆ ◆ ◆

  “And our last graduate, graduating with honors, Cadet Alexandra MacGregor. And it is especially my honor to announce that Cadet MacGregor is actually Lieutenant Princess Catherine Alexandra McCormack!”

  The crowd went wild as Catie walked across the stage. Blake broke protocol and gave her a hug before shaking her hand for the formal picture.

  “You have some explaining to do,” Commandant Lewis said as she shook Catie’s hand.

  Catie continued across the stage and picked up her parchment from the staff secretary and returned to her seat.

  “Can you believe it, Princess Catie was in our class the whole time?!”

  “Not our class, the one behind us. And that would be Lieutenant Princess Catie, and a full lieutenant, too.”

  “Jamison, you sure know how to pick the right people to piss off,” Ensign Barkley said.

  “Oh, shit. I might as well quit now; she’s going to make my life hell.”

  “Bawk, bawk!”

  “I wouldn’t worry about it. I’ve heard she only gets even once for each transgression.”

  Jamison just moaned.

  Blake went to the podium to give his speech.

  “Good afternoon,” Blake started. “First, let me explain that last announcement. Cadet McCormack’s father wanted his daughter to have enough of an Academy experience that she would be able to fully internalize what it means to be a member of the Delphi Defense forces. Some of you in the audience may not understand that, but I’m sure all of our graduates do. The experience at the Academy forms a bond between cadets and between each cadet and the service. Obviously, sending Princess
Catherine to the Academy was out of the question, so with some minor cosmetic surgery and a few modifications to the records, we invented Cadet MacGregor. But all of that just underscores how important the Academy is and how much these cadets in front of you have accomplished.”

  Once Blake finished his speech, Miranda got up to do hers.

  “Oh, my. This is definitely an honor. I’d like to thank my parents, my instructors at the Academy, and my friends. This accomplishment would have been impossible without the help I received from all of you. I would like to add a comment about Cadet MacGregor. Never in my wildest dreams would I have guessed that she was the Princess. We’ve had a class together, and have become friends. I wouldn’t be standing here if it wasn’t for her help with one of my classes. And as Admiral McCormack said, it is a testament to what it means to attend the Academy that none of us knew who she really was. . . .”

  ◆ ◆ ◆

  The cadets were finally able to parade out into the crowd where they met their families or friends. Each was eager to have their new rank insignia attached. Catie found her mother Linda, Liz, and her Uncle Blake waiting next to Commandant Lewis.

  Catie snapped off a salute to them as she approached. “Hi, I hope Uncle Blake explained everything.”

  “He has, but I still expect you to join me for dinner later this week and provide your own explanation,” Commandant Lewis said.

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Now, I’ll leave you to it,” she said before turning and moving toward another group of cadets.

  “Mommy, will you pin my boards on?”

  “Of course,” Linda said. Blake handed her the box with a new set of lieutenant boards in it. She replaced Catie’s cadet boards with them, then gave her a kiss.

  Blake and Liz stepped back and saluted, “Lieutenant McCormack.”

  “Thank you, sir, ma’am,” Catie replied as she returned the salutes.

  “Now, go talk to your friends, I’m sure they’re bursting with questions,” Linda said.

  “Mother, this is my friend, Lieutenant McCormack,” Miranda said after she gave Catie a salute.

  “Oh, my. I can’t believe this,” Ms. Cordova said. “Where did your father run off to?”

  “Hellos Ms. Cordova, it’s an honor to meet you,” Catie said.

  “The honor is mine.”

  “Oh, don’t let that princess stuff get in the way. Miranda and I are friends.”

  “I’m glad to hear that. Here’s her father, Joaquín. Joaquín, can you believe our daughter is friends with the princess?”

  “It doesn’t surprise me,” Mr. Cordova said. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Princess.”

  “Just call me Catie.”

  “Here come Joanie and Yvette,” Miranda said.

  “We’ll leave you girls to chat,” Mr. Cordova said as he guided his wife away.

  “Alex, I cannot believe you!” Joanie said. “Princess Catie, and you crawled through all that mud.”

  “That was fun.”

  “Oh la la, they do say that royals are sometimes a bit crazy,” Yvette said. She and Joanie stepped back and gave Catie and Miranda a salute.

  “As you were,” Catie ordered.

  “I bet Jamison messed his pants when they announced who you were,” Yvette said.

  “I’m sure he did,” Miranda said. “I wish I could have seen the look on his face.”

  “I’m sure there is a video of him,” Catie said.

  “Of course there is,” ADI said. “Would you like a copy?”

  “Send one to all of us,” Catie said.

  “What?” her friends asked together.

  “I was just informed that they caught Jamison on camera; I’ve asked them to send videos to all of you.”

  “You have spies; that makes sense, you’re a princess after all,” Yvette said.

  “Oh, it’s just ADI. You know, the DI for Delphi Station. She and I are friends and she has access to all the cameras,” Catie said.

  “Oh, friends with the all-powerful DI,” Miranda said.

  “We could be friends, too,” ADI whispered into Miranda’s Comm.

  “Oops. Yes, let’s be friends,” Miranda said.

  “So you have to tell us all your secrets,” Yvette said. “Was that Liz I saw over there with Admiral Blake?”

  “Yes,” Catie said.

  “Good, let’s go and change, then the Princess can take us all out to dinner and we can talk. Possibly Liz can join us and give us some of the real dirt,” Yvette suggested.

  “Sure,” Catie said as she sent Liz an invite.

  “Catie, don’t you dare leave without talking to me,” Sophia yelled as she struggled to make her way through the crowd.

  “Who’s that?”

  “Oh, I guess you’d say she’s a friend,” Catie said.

  “You guess?”

  “She’s a reporter. She wrote that book, Princess Catie, The Inside Story.”

  “Oh, that was a good book,” Miranda said. “It seemed like she liked you.”

  “I guess, but it messed my life up for a while.”

  “Hi, I’m Sophia,” Sophia said as she finally reached Catie and her friends.

  “Sophia, this is Miranda, but of course you know that. This is Yvette LeClair, my roommate at the Academy, and this is Joanie McCoy, my roommate during Basic. Guys, this is Sophia Michaels, my friend from before the Academy, and the owner and reporter for the Delphi Gazette.”

  “Sophia Michaels, as in Admiral Michaels’ daughter?” Miranda asked.

  “Yes, he’s my father,” Sophia said. “Now Catie, will you give me a statement?”

  “I am delighted to have been able to attend the Academy incognito. I will treasure the experience for the rest of my life. I am especially grateful to have developed the friendships I did with many of the Cadets. The camaraderie among the cadet core was a great asset to my ability to complete my year. I would especially like to thank Commodore Lewis for her guidance and leadership. There, is that good enough?”

  “For now,” Sophia said.

  “Why doesn’t Sophia join us for dinner?” Yvette suggested.

  Catie shot daggers at Yvette, who seemed oblivious to her. “Why not, it’s going to be a roast anyway, might as well bring a fire starter,” Catie said.

  ◆ ◆ ◆

  “So Sophia, how did you meet Catie?” Yvette asked. They were at Deogene’s drinking wine and waiting for their orders.

  “She’s the first person from Delphi that I met,” Sophia said. “We met in Tijuana, Mexico, when my family was flying here because my father had pissed the president off.”

  “Oh, that must have been tough.”

  “It was. But Catie helped us out . . . got my mom and me to the clinic to get the birth control nanites, got me a Comm before everyone else.”

  “I can see why you became friends. How did you come to start the Delphi Gazette?” Miranda asked.

  “That was Catie’s idea. I suggested ADI should do a newsletter since she always knew what was going on. Catie said ADI would help me do one. That’s before I knew ADI was a DI.”

  “Then you wrote that book,” Yvette said.

  Sophia winced. “Yeah, I wrote it, then hid from Catie for a few months.”

  “Why did you hide?”

  “She has a habit of getting even when you make her mad.”

  “Did she get even?”

  “Yes.”

  “I did not!”

  “Oh, can it, everyone knows it was you.”

  Catie just smiled and shook her head.

  “What did she do?” Miranda asked.

  “Once things calmed down, I came back home. One morning I was taking a shower and the water turned my hair and skin green.”

  “How did that happen?”

  “They couldn’t figure out how she did it, but I know she did. I dyed my hair but my skin had a green tint for weeks after.”

  Catie giggled a bit.

  “See, she admits it!”

  �
�I did not, I just thought that green being the color of greed was appropriate.”

  Liz snorted. “That’s as much of an admission as you’ll ever get from her. We do know that nobody else had a motive.”

  “But I didn’t have the means or opportunity,” Catie said.

  “Pfft, if anyone could pull it off, you could,” Liz scoffed.

  “When did this happen?” Miranda asked.

  “The end of July.”

  “We were in Guatemala then.”

  “That wouldn’t have stopped her.”

  “Let’s talk about something else,” Liz suggested. “Are you three telling me that you had no idea that Catie might not be who she said she was?”

  “No clue,” Joanie said. “She always was being nice and helping everyone.”

  “I was a bit curious after the simulations,” Miranda said. “She seemed to know more about it than anyone else.”

  “I just knew the rules for the last one. And about the jump ships,” Catie said.

  “But that fire drill?” Miranda asked.

  “Oh, that was because I figured out what the aliens were going to do at Artemis.”

  “The aliens?”

  “Oh, you don’t remember that we had an alien starship approaching Artemis?”

  “Cer Catie. That information was not released. Only the U.N. security council knew.”

  “Oops. I’ll explain later. Let’s just say the simulations tournament was staged to come up with the strategy for dealing with an alien incursion into a system.”

  “Interesting.”

  “I did wonder how she was able to type all those papers so fast,” Yvette said. “Did you have ADI type them?”

  “No! I would never do that. I type about six hundred words a minute,” Catie said, offended that they thought she would cheat.

  “How can you type that fast?!”

  “You didn’t tell them?” Liz asked.

  “I couldn’t.”

  “Tell us what?!”

  “Catie and Dr. Metra developed this process where a doctor puts nanites at the nerve endings in your coccyx that used to control your tail. Catie uses those to type,” Liz explained.

  “And it lets you message in your HUD and control things with it without using your hands,” Catie added.

  “Can we get these nanites?” Miranda asked.