Chapter 440 - 440 Bringing in New Members

Even with Kaiden's new heavily armed and armored corvette serving as a protector, Avery's new carrier ship that was disguised as a cargo vessel still attracted an astounding number of pirates.He had gone so far as to turn off the false cargo data to try and make the craft seem less appealing, but this actually had the opposite effect.

Since the priates were no longer able to tell what sort of loot was onboard, they figured that it must have been something so valuable that the transporters wanted to keep it hidden.

Gang after gang of pirates assaulted them at nearly every hyperspace entrance and exit that it slowed them down by more than a day.

It seemed that the safer route that they were taking was only considered as such because the priates that were around only went after targets that appeared to be weak.

Considering that they were using hyperlanes capable of accepting Avery's massive carrier vessel, it was typical for the route to be populated by large caravans like the one Avery's team had escorted from the Yuson System to the Phregon System.

That meant that a lone cargo ship with only a single escort was quite appetizing for the pirates that made their living by killing and plundering.

Of course, if Avery really wanted the priates to back off, he could keep all of his ship's weapon systems out in the open and let anyone that came by know that they were dealing with a fully armed warship on par or perhaps stronger than an Alliance Police battleship.

However, he did not want the priates in the sector to catch onto this trick so soon. Which was why when pirates did attack, he made sure that none of them escaped.

His plan was to start hunting them down and destroy their bases once he had collected the crew members he and the leaders of his team had recruited.

But that would not work if the pirates were wary of every Ontembaar model cargo ship that flew by. And Avery did not want to have to travel to a new sector just to find pirates that were not aware of his strategy.

It was also not practical to deploy any more guards to serve as deterrents.

They were operating the carrier vessel with a skeleton crew as is. Just having Kaiden and his people leave was already putting a strain on everyone. A big ship needed a big crew to run it properly even with all of the automation systems onboard.

Eventually though, after destroying well over two thousand pirates and five days of travel, Avery and his team finally reached their destination.

When they exited hyperspace onto the outskirts of the Granvard System, everyone braced for another attack.

Around hyperspace entrances and exits were where a lot of pirates liked to stage ambushes, since they knew that was the best place to find a steady supply of traffic.

Thankfully, the Granvard System was more highly populated than the other places that they had passed through.

There was an alliance Police patrol ship within sensor range that served to dissuade any priates even if there were any around.

"I always knew that priates were a menace, but I did not understand to what degree until now." Jasmine said, once it was apparent that they were not in for a fight this time.

Avery nodded his head in agreement.

When they traveled around as an apparent group of mercenaries, pirates almost never attacked them.

Yet as soon as they took on the guise of a large cargo ship, those same outlaws flocked to them like insects to sugar.

It made Avery realize all the more why merchants always wanted to hire strong mercenaries as guards or even went so far as to maintain their own private force.

"There are some that like the feeling of basically running their own private kingdoms, and others that have vices that go against the law. Pirates are always going to be around so long as they can live their debauched lifestyles by taking whatever they want from other people. Space is just too fast to get rid of them all it seems." Kasandra spat. Clearly having no sympathy for pirates.

Not that anyone in Avery's team did. After seeing a pirates' base firsthand and witnessing what horrific modifications they were willing to subject others to, it was easy to understand why pirates were treated as vermin that needed to be exterminated.

While the three of them complained about pirates, the rest of the crew laid in a course for Granvard I, the largest station in the system and where the new members of Avery's crew had been instructed to gather.

At light speed, the trip took around four hours, but it was at least completely peaceful.

Avery sent out a few messages ahead of time to check in on the gathered recruits and learned that most of the people that had signed up and been accepted had already arrived.

He had set up accommodations ahead of time, and for those either skilled enough or showed high levels of determination, he had even paid for their travel costs.

This was certainly not something most mercenaries would do, but Avery was looking to only hire those that were already accomplished or showed high levels of potential. Investing a bit now to create a competent crew that respected him was a small price to pay as far as Avery was concerned.

When they arrived at Granvard I, it took a while to get permission from the port authority to dock.

There was no hangar large enough to house such a large ship and learned that it was actually a heavily armed vessel and not the cargo ship it appeared to be had set off some red flags and made a lot of people nervous.

It was not often that a craft other than those belonging to the Alliance Police came along that could threaten an entire station.

Fortunately, Avery's status as a five star mercenary and recipient of the Silver Cross of Heroism helped to assuage any of the port authorities' worries.

Once the carrier was maneuvered into position, a cylindrical docking ring extend and attached to the vessel's main airlock. Allowing for travel between the enormous craft and the station.

"I was worried for a bit that we were going to have to shuttle everyone over. That would have been a pain."

Avery knew that hangars that could accommodate a ship the size of his carrier would be few and far between, and the ones that did exist would typically already be reserved.

Even docking was not always going to be an option, as the vessel was simply enormous. It was larger than a lot of stations actually. Only decent sized colonies would be able to receive it.

Granvard I was able to accommodate the docking request thankfully. Though, the cost per day was fairly high.

Not wanting to stay for too long, Avery sent out a message along with directions for those accepted into his crew to make their way to the carrier ship. It was finally time to bring in the full crew.

"Ezra, Kasandra, Jasmine, Liesel, Kaiden, Olivia, and Burke. Let's go and greet our new crew members." Avery said, instructing his leaders to come with him.

Using the carrier's internal transportation system, they arrived at the largest meeting room on the ship that was over thirty thousand square meters.

This would be more than large enough to accommodate the slightly more than twenty-five hundred crew members that would be joining. Though, if Avery ever filled up the vessel's total crew capacity, it would be a bit of a tight fit to hold them all.

There was already a raised stage set up at the back of the room prepared for Avery and the other leaders of his team.

The plan was for all of them to welcome the new crew members and give a couple of short speeches. Then once that was done, they would hold a welcome party for a few hours before transitioning the crew into their new life.

At first, people trickled in slowly.

The ones that were arriving ahead of the majority of people either looked extremely excited or nervous. In some cased both.

Avery recognized that a majority of this group came from the adult orphans from Azade. They were all fairly young. Being primarily between seventeen and nineteen years old. With only a handful of them being in their early twenties.

While none of them had any experience out in space, they were the ones that had passed the aptitude test Avery had set up and showed drive and potential.

No doubt that they had been lured in by the free roman and board, along with the higher-than-average pay.

Of course, they would be risking their lives, but they now had far more chances than they would have had on Azade to advance themselves both monetarily and in their skills.

Not long after the first wave, many more people began coming in.

There was now a larger mix of experienced spacefarers among those that would be striking out for the first time.

Naturally, Avery had not wanted only promising newbies. He needed some people to show them the ropes as well, so he had made sure to recruit some retired Alliance Police officers, and mercenaries that had served as crew members on other ships before. Obviously making sure that there were no problems in their backgrounds before hiring them.

Eventually, everyone that was scheduled to arrived was accounted for.

'I guess it's time for me to address them all as their boss. I was never the best at public speaking to large crowds. Still, I've got to make sure to leave a good first impression. I don't want my crew to think of me as a bumbling fool on the first day.' Avery thought as he stood up from his chair and took center stage.