Max headed back to Terminus with Nico and the Tech crews, who had finished the basic coding of the biometrics for all of the Command Staff of the new vessels, and prepared to receive their new crew members.
They should be ready to arrive in only a few more hours, and the maintenance teams reported that all of the rooms were ready for them to move in, including the possibility that they might receive a reinforced Regiment of infantry.
The chances of that seemed pretty low since Max had specified Kepler soldiers so that they could take full advantage of the new augmentic suits, but he really didn't know for sure how things had been going on the new Reaver homeworld or how many vessels full of refugees and trainees they had taken in since he left.
Thirty minutes before the scheduled arrival time, Max opened the portal to the open area in the Capital city and watched as the scene of over a thousand assorted humans and demihumans appeared in front of him.
What Max knew as the Demihumans were the descendants of human colonists who had chosen to adapt themselves to their new world instead of adapting the world fully to themselves. Most had bestial traits or increased physical skills to make up for an aspect of the human body that was lacking in their new environment, but at the most basic level, they were still mostly human.
None of them lived anywhere near Kepler since their colonies were on the very edges of the Galaxy and far from the strongholds of humanity. Some of them even came from the far side of Klem territory, isolated and forgotten refuges of humanity that only the Reavers even remembered the existence of.
They had mostly come from Reaver vessels and Mercenary ships who had taken them on board as paying passengers. Anyone who would sign up for such a voyage was among the most adventurous, or the most desperate, of people, so they had the sort of personality that wouldn't mind working on a traveling vessel like Terminus.
The variety would also make their guests from the Alliance feel more at home when they came to visit, Max hoped. Like the Valkia, there were others with wings here, as well as many who could be called giants by human standards, but unlike the Alliance members, they all shared a common genetic base.
Max stepped through with Nico at his side, and the crowd burst into applause for their new employers. The sight was enough to crack Max's serious demeanor, with his Telepathy skill flooding his mind with positive thoughts and hope for the future.
The jobs that almost all of these people were applying for weren't skilled trades, so very few of them would have much education, and even fewer would have any sort of trade skills, but Max could always train from within if they needed more professionals in the future.
That was how most Reaver Companies did it, but until this moment, Terminus hadn't had enough people to fill their staff, much less enough to be diverting them for extended onboard training.
"Welcome, everyone. As you have guessed, I am Commander Keres of the Terminus Trading Company, and this is Tarith Rage, my second in command. The planetary staffing society has given me a full write-up on every one of you, as well as a glowing review of your personalities and skills.
For your sake, I hope you can live up to the hype. Life aboard a working ship is not always easy, and it is almost never slow, so we will need you to adapt quickly and learn from the senior staff members.
Now, does anyone have any questions?"
Most remained silent, eager to get started before anyone could change their minds and send them back to the odd jobs pool, but one hand did shoot up in the air, a very large woman with small, round animal ears on her head.
"Is it true that you are running a Cruise Ship for tourists aboard your Flagship?" She asked.
[Darla. Demihuman, mixed with Ursa family traits for cold resistance and increased strength.] Nico informed him with a quick message.
So, she was part bear, which made the sheer size of her make sense. Max could also see that she was one of the skilled employees who had signed on for a Technician's position.
"Technician Darla is it? Yes, it is true that we are running a Cruise Ship, but we should mention that most of our guests are so-called extreme tourists from other Galaxies who view us as violent savages working our way toward civilization.
For that reason, everyone was thoroughly vetted for personality. We don't need to prove their worst suspicions right.
But it also means that there will be many new and unexpected issues and short-notice alterations to the ship. That is why we need skilled Technicians like yourself to keep up with the demand." Max explained.
"Oh, there was a thing like that back on my homeworld. People would go and see the primitive tribes and how they lived." One of the other new hires whispered to the person next to them, catching Max's attention with their thoughts.
It wasn't that far off the truth, at least for some of the species. The Illithid just thought that they were interesting, and the Innu were more interested in new technology than anything else, but the little access they had made to the Alliance's social media showed that Humanity was viewed more as a curiosity than a serious contender for membership by most.
"If there are no other urgent concerns, please step through the portal and find your division head. They will have signs posted on the bay wall to guide their new members to the correct locations." Max instructed.
He could meet them all later. It was too much to individually get to know thousands of people at once out here in a public park. That left him with only the infantry force to meet, and they should be here soon.
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