Deltic

"The bomber was right, partially. The moon Cynda might be shattered by blasts at the stress points he names, but it would require far more explosives, and of a higher grade, than Gorse has in its stores."

- Deltic reports her findings to Vidian

Deltic, nicknamed Lieutenant Strangechild by her crewmate Commander Nibiru Chamas, was a lieutenant in the Imperial Navy and the Planetary science specialist of the Imperial Star Destroyer Ultimatum during its mission to the Gorse system. She provided a report for the industrialist Count Denetrius Vidian and Captain Rae Sloane on the possibility of destroying the moon Cynda using explosives, causing the Count to set in motion a plan to destroy Cynda in order to more efficiently harvest the mineral thorilide. She later accompanied Sloane and the Ultimatum to Calcoraan Depot to help collect explosive Baradium-357 for use in destroying Cynda; however, Vidian was ultimately stopped from destroying the moon and revealed to be a traitor to the Empire. Deltic greatly enjoyed working on the destruction of Cynda, joining a betting pool as to how much damage the destruction of Cynda would cause to the surface of the planet Gorse.

Biography
"We have a betting pool going on down in Planetary Sciences. If something takes out the World Watch Plaza building in Gorse City in this calendar year, I'm taking my shore leave on Alderaan!"

- Deltic reveals the betting pool to Sloane

The human female Deltic served in the Galactic Empire's Imperial Navy as a lieutenant and as the planetary science specialist onboard the Imperial-class Star Destroyer Ultimatum during its mission to the Gorse system. Commanded by Captain Rae Sloane, the ship and its crew were tasked with aiding industrialist Count Denetrius Vidian, who had been sent to the system to improve the efficiency with which the mineral thorilide was mined on the planet Gorse's moon Cynda. After Vidian was given a report outlining the dangers of using explosives to mine on Cynda by the demolitionist Skelly, Vidian had Deltic run projections based on Skelly's claims that too much explosive mining would destroy the moon.

Deltic found that Skelly had been partially correct, as Cynda could be destroyed by explosives; however, such a blast would need a higher quality and greater quantity of explosives then Gorse had in all its supplies combined. She then confirmed for the Count that after the moon's fragmentation, large quantities of thorilide would remain in the system and so could be harvested, although warned that some of the mineral would be ejected from the system entirely and some would end up on the surface of Gorse. Vidian was uninterested in the fate of those on Gorse's surface, but Sloane demanded to know what Deltic's findings predicted would happen. The Lieutenant explained that parts of the moon would fall as meteors, with the amount depending on what stage of Cynda's lunar cycle it was destroyed at. She then speculated that the meteors would cause catastrophic seismic activity on the planet and potentially cause it to start spinning again, since it was held stationary by Cynda's presence in its orbit. Ultimately Deltic suggested that the destruction of Cynda might make no changes Gorse at all, or destroy the planet's entire biome in the next ten years. Deltic then mentioned that it was possible that the destruction of Cynda would cause the breakdown of large amounts of the thorilide located there, making it unharvestable, and suggested that a test should be carried out to make sure the moon was not being destroyed for nothing. Sloane then dismissed Deltic who saluted and left.

Vidian elected to destroy Cynda based on Deltic's report, and after a test which proved the thorilide would not break down after the moon's destruction, he ordered that a fleet of mining vessels be sent from Gorse to his space station Calcoraan Depot, where they were to collect quantities of the explosive Baradium-357, which was strong enough to destroy Cynda in the quantities Vidian possessed. Onboard the Ultimatum, Deltic joined several other members of the Planetary Sciences department in a betting ring concerning how much damage the destruction of Cynda would cause on Gorse. She made a bet that the World Watch Plaza building would be destroyed by debris within a year of Cynda's fragmentation. When the Ultimatum also traveled to the Calcoraan system where the depot was located, Sloane brought Deltic with her to the station in order to explain the process Vidian was carrying out, starting with how the vessel Forager functioned, as the Count planned on using it to harvest the thorilide left in the Gorse system. Deltic then mentioned the betting ring to Sloane who dismissed her.

Vidian managed to get the explosives back to the Gorse system, but his plan to destroy Cynda was ultimately foiled by a group of rebels consisting of Skelly, the Jedi-in-hiding Kanan Jarrus, the pilot Hera Syndulla and the Sullustan Zaluna Myder. Sloane and her crew ended up turning on Vidian when it was revealed he had planned to betray the Empire, and for her role in his downfall the Captain was honored at a ceremony on Gorse and awarded a permanent posting as Captain of the Ultimatum. Deltic and other members of the Star Destroyer's crew attended the ceremony, but were then sent back to the ship while Sloane attended a celebratory party.

Personality
"Nothing could happen. Or you could see the destruction of the whole biome in ten years." "Ten years!" "Or not. It's almost worth doing just to see what would happen."

- Deltic informs Rae Sloane what she speculates might happen to Gorse after Cynda's destruction

Deltic was greatly excited by the report she put together for Vidian on the destruction of Cynda, and grinned as she delivered it to him and Sloane and chuckling when revealing the damage that would be done to Gorse. When speculating on the amount of damage that would be done, Deltic postulated that it might be worth destroying the moon just to see what would happen, as she was unsure of the exact effects, although she later suggested tests should be made to make sure that the thorilide would be harvestable after Cynda's destruction, otherwise Vidian's plan would lead to a "waste of a good moon".

Deltic took part in a betting ring concerning the damage that Cynda's destruction would wreak on Gorse, planning to spend her winnings on shore leave to the planet Alderaan if she won. When Sloane brought Deltic to Calcoraan Depot, she was deeply impressed by the starship Forager and explained how it worked to Sloane in great detail, although using informal terms like "goodies" when referring to thorilide particles. Deltic deeply annoyed Sloane, who wanted to dismiss the Lieutenant out of an airlock after she revealed her part in the betting ring and was glad Deltic was sent home after her award ceremony as she was worried that Deltic might cause her embarrassment. Commander Nibiru Chamas, who also served on the Ultimatum, referred to Deltic as "Lieutenant Strangechild".

Behind the scenes
Deltic first appeared in the novel A New Dawn, which was written by John Jackson Miller and released in 2014. In the endnotes for A New Dawn, which Miller released on his blog Farawaypress.com, he revealed that Deltic's line "It's almost worth doing, just to see what would happen!" was a close runner up for his favourite line of dialogue in the whole novel.

Appearances

 * A New Dawn