[Supply staff of the First Battalion, please bring in the rations synthesized by the food processors from Terminus and the water barrels. Get these people fed and watered as quickly as we can, I don’t think they’ve eaten in days, packed in that tiny hold.] Max ordered as they walked.
Nico got off the ramp at the third level and turned to walk through the crowd, much less tightly packed on this level than the first two had been, stopping only when she reached a middle-aged woman with a stroller.
“Commander Keres, meet Sasha, Sandy, Sara, and Sal.” Nico introduced the four children, two sets of twins, to Max once they arrived.
“Hello, little ones.” Max greeted them, and the four children waved happily at him snacking on shared portions of a protein bar that their caretaker had given them.
Two were boys and two were girls, but all had blonde hair, and the older sisters had a very familiar style of ringlets curled into hers.
“Are these who I think they are?” Max asked.
“They are. Meet Miss Molly, an adoption agent from Kepler Terminus. When the evacuations began, the foster parents returned the children to the system, so when Miss Molly took them and bought passage off the planet, it was back under the Max surname, and I noticed them immediately.
In fact, I would have even if I didn’t have their names, since they look so much like you used to.” Nico told him with a smile.
“Pardon, but can someone explain?” The adoption worker asked.
“Commander Keres is Keres Max, formerly Samantha Max of Kepler Terminus, and the older brother of these four children,” Nico explained, and the woman’s eyes went wide in shock.
“You were supposed to be dead, killed along with the entire crew of Abraham Kepler after turning Traitor to the Empire.” The woman informed him.
“False on all accounts. I am not dead, or a traitor, and I clearly am not aboard Abraham Kepler, which as of the last message that we received, has not been destroyed.” Max informed her.
“Well, it is good to know that they have someone in this world, even if you are a Reaver now. Do you think that there will be real food soon? The trip was only supposed to be two days, but we have been almost a week now, looking for a safe port that will accept us.” Miss Molly explained.
“There will be tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches soon. It’s the easiest to produce items for our nutrition supply processors to come up with in such large quantities, so that’s what everyone is getting.” Max informed the lady, while the kids cheered.
Dave had the same response when he found out that was what they had made from the Food Replicators as well.
Max decided that he had a new job for the old veteran. He was an official Government babysitter for Max, even if it was undercover, and he would do a great job again, especially with help.
Reincarnation might have changed everything about Max from his potential to his genetic code, but he still felt a sibling fondness for these four children and hoped that they could be safely settled down on Rae 5 once they returned. But in the meantime, he could move them out of the refugee area and into a spare room in the First Battalion quarters.
There were a lot of mouths to feed, but the sandwich production had been improved so that they could be directly produced wrapped in paper, and the soup came out hot in a sealed tub with a spoon attached to the lid, so cart after cart was sent to the floors to distribute food.
There was a lot of cheering from the children and laughing from the adults, but everyone seemed happy to at least have gotten food.
[There will be a proper meal this evening, ship time, but we thought you could use something to eat in the meantime. We weren’t expecting so many to have fit in that tiny ship, so extra rations are being prepared, and we will be heading to your new home right away.] Max informed everyone, using the intercom in the storage bay.
He took the lead, while Nico took up the rear and they headed out of the bay before flagging down a transport cart to take everyone to the Aft crew quarters.
“There are a few spare rooms near my quarters. They’re not perfect, since they were intended for enlisted soldiers, but they should do well enough for these purposes.” Max informed them.
“He must really be our brother, he’s way nicer than that foster family.” One of the twin daughters informed Miss Molly.
“I even found a friend from back home to help watch you until you get off the ship. Do you remember Dave, or were you too little?” Max asked.
“I don’t know anyone from where our biological parents lived. We weren’t even two yet when we were sepum-rated.” The little girl stumbled over the big word.
“That’s fine. He’s a good friend of mine, and he might remember you, so I will ask him to help Miss Molly for the next few days. He even has access to the good snacks.” Max told the girl with a wink, unable to tell them apart with a glance.
Dave met them at the door, with a wet cloth in hand and four sets of pajamas ready, two for boys and two for girls.
“I suspect that soup and sandwiches were messy, so I came prepared. But who is this lovely lady? You didn’t tell me that you had captured an angel.” Dave greeted them, giving Miss Molly his very best smile.
“Smooth, but you’ll have to do better soldier boy.” Molly laughed.
“I’ve got all day to work on it. Come in, the bunks are ready, and I prepared them with retainers so the little ones don’t roll out. I wasn’t sure if the boys were walking yet.” Dave replied, rolling himself backward to let them into the ten-bunk communal dorm room.
“This is all for us?” Molly asked, looking at the plush couches, television, holoprojector, and fully stocked kitchen, with synthetic versions of the fancy dishes that the Nobles preferred.
“This is what we have. It is meant for a wing of Light Mecha Pilots, but we didn’t have enough to fill all the rooms, so you can use this one until we reach the planet unless you’re captured by Mary Tarith, who has entirely too many boys of her own, and loves little girls.” Max laughed.
“That Mary Tarith? Her family donates a lot of money to children’s causes, and she was all over the news when the fighting broke out.” Molly told him.
“Oh, trust us, we know. She’s here on board right now, and I’m going to guess that she’s bored and upset that she didn’t have anything do to this time, since it didn’t require an outside specialist.” Nico told Molly with a wink.
“If you say that the news is wrong, I will believe you. You’re here after all.” Molly agreed, then sighed as the girls began running around the living room examining everything.
“Pick your rooms for the trip girls. I will bring your bags.” Dave called.
That should keep them busy for a while. The rooms were all absolutely identical.