Max watched on the viewscreen as small ships began to dock at every conceivable location along the hull of Absolution. Even the maintenance airlocks had been deemed sufficient docking space for shuttles without anyone important on them, and all of their new residents were in a partying mood.

It hadn't taken long once the Reavers were on board to get things organized and start setting up all of the essential services aboard the newly minted ship, and now they were preparing for the pre-commissioning party.

Technically, you could consider the ship in commission, as it had its crew on board now, but it hadn't been assigned any tasks yet, and most of them hadn't even unpacked, so it was more of a move-in and party atmosphere.

The guests from other Reaver Companies had been guided to public areas of the ship, away from where the inhabited residential areas were, and Max was preparing to head over himself to greet their final round of staff.

Through an unfortunate turn of fate, the Crimson Fists Mercantile Fleet had fallen on hard times, losing two ships to debt collectors before Pirates disabled their final ship, and the Company had to declare themselves insolvent and beg leniency from their creditors.

The Commander had been buying goods on credit to sell elsewhere, but after a number of bad calls that didn't cover the cost of transport and purchase and then the loss of all three ships, they had nothing left to give, and the Reaver Council stripped them of their status.

That had proven to be a great opportunity for the Terminus Trading Company to fill two-thirds of the needed Reaver staff. With a World Ship to pilot and manage, they were in need of skilled crewmen, and the men of the Crimson Fists were more than eager to get back to work.

Of course, Max had politely declined all of their senior staff, as they should have been the Commander's Inner Circle, stopping him from making such a horrendous series of mistakes, but they had failed, and it wasn't a good example for his crew to take them in so soon after they had been disbanded.

Terminus Trading Company was desperately short on qualified leaders at the moment, and he had already had to send his Battalion Commanders to pilot ships, despite the fact that they would have been much better remaining in charge of a Mecha force.

There simply weren't enough Reavers that had proven themselves capable and trustworthy to fill all of the positions that needed a competent and trustworthy subordinate, so Max had to make do with what he had.

[Commander, the majority of the staff is gathered in Central Park, awaiting your arrival. Once your speech is done, I have scheduled four hours for you to socialize with the crew before the other Commanders are in the park for the party.

It's not a whole lot, but it should be enough to start to get to know the new staff, and we can adjust attitudes as necessary later.] Nico suggested.

[I'm a bit afraid to ask what you mean by that, so I won't ask, and you can try not to think about it once I get there. Give me three minutes, and I will be on your doorstep.] Max replied, then left to get in a shuttle.

On the bright side, he believed that he had found the perfect Admiral for Absolution. Lord Commissar Penner was a battle axe of a woman, sharp of tongue, wit and features, but she was completely fearless about speaking her mind, and she knew how to keep order.

If there was anyone who Max would trust to put in charge of his home when he was away, it was a Commissar who had led infantry Regiments both through the mud and blood of combat and from the operations center on a planetary scale.

If she could see to it that as many soldiers made it home alive as possible, she could certainly do the same from the command seat of a World Ship. She had been running a mixed martial arts gym on Rae 5 when she saw the recruitment post come through and had initially applied for the position of chief of police.historical

Once Nico had seen her qualifications, she forwarded the application to Max, and now he would get to give her the good news as soon as he landed.

Nico had sent her to pick him up from the docks, and he would present her with her badges as soon as she accepted Command of the Ship's Navigation and piloting crew. The Admiral was in charge of all docks, movement and deployments, answering only to Max, or his second in Command, if he decided to depart the vessel and leave Nico in Command of the ship for some strange reason.

That was honestly a terrible idea. Nico would take the World Ship into combat at the first opportunity, so he would prefer to leave the Admiral in charge the same way that he did with Admiral Drake when he left Terminus.

"Commander Keres Max. It is a pleasure to meet you. My name is Eleanor Penner, but you can call me Commissar. Everyone else does." The scarred woman greeted Max as he stepped out of his shuttle.

"I have a better proposition. I need an Admiral to keep this riffraff in order. I think you would be perfect for the job as a battle-seasoned Lord Commissar. How about it? Do you want the job, Admiral Penner?" Max replied.

For a moment, he thought he saw a mistiness soften the woman's hard expression before she gave him a stiff salute and a small smile.

"It would be an honour Commander."

Her thoughts betrayed the joy and gratitude that she was hiding behind the hard exterior of a military discipline officer, and Max couldn't help but smile back.

"You know, it's likely to be a lot more work than just being the Chief of Police, but I am glad you accepted. I really didn't want to search for someone else who was qualified to lead the crew of a World Ship." He told the new Admiral.

Max took her badges of rank out of his pocket and passed them over for her to attach to her coat, an old Infantry Commissar's jacket, mostly red with gold trim and made of thick wool that was uncomfortable in every weather condition.

"Welcome to the crew, Admiral. Now, let's go greet the crew before Nico gets bored and starts a fight club or something." Max joked.

"She's already started a drinking competition, and nobody has realized that she's a cyborg yet." Admiral Penner replied in a dry voice, making Max sigh.

He would have to hurry so that he could save his new management team from their own poor decisions.

When Max and Admiral Penner arrived in the Central Park area of Absolution, the staff meeting had already devolved into the beginning of a raging party. Everyone was getting to know each other, as Max had hoped, and they were all getting along, despite coming from very different cultures.

"Shut the feth up! Your Commander is here." Admiral Penner shouted into a microphone, bringing everyone's attention to the front of the park where they had just walked up onto the podium to give the arrival speech.