It was not easy to join the Combined Fleet Expedition that the Mycroft Civilization was organizing—and that is for Mycroftians alone, leaving aside how the Sartreans, Starherders and demons handpicked their most elite.
Reserve crew chosen to join the expedition must be impeccable in both ability and status: they would either have to hold experience of multiple Void adventures or were determined to have excellent talent, and certainly be adapted to Void travel.
Then, in a brief four months, those reserves would be educated in various practical operations with thought acceleration, both through Spirit Terminals and in reality, thereby 'creating' a large batch of experienced crewmembers. After learning how to operate and going through multiple assessments in spirit simulation, veteran Starherder and Sartrean crews would guide them so that they could present their virtual experiences in reality.
