Captain's Log, Stardate 68129.8

Posted on Mon Jul 28th, 2014 @ 6:10pm by Captain Tim Williams

||Mission 1 (Orphans) Day 29, 1000hrs
||USS Highlander, Captain's Ready Room

Captain's Log, stardate six-eight-one-two-nine point eight. I have just granted Horatio Hawke a pass on his final command test, and as such I hereby record that he is promoted effective immediately to the rank of lieutenant commander, and appointed as first officer of the Starship Highlander.

Hawke did well in his final exam, which is always one of the most difficult; making the decision to send a member of your crew particularly a close friend - to their deaths in order to save the ship and the remainder of the crew. Hawke knew what he had to do, and after examining all other options, didn't hesitate to give the order when it was needed. I remember my final command test, and having to order my ship to turn tail and run, leaving my friend Sath to the mercies of a Romulan torture team. I knew then that it was only a simulation, just as Hawke's situation was today, but no matter what anybody says, there are real emotions at play when you give any order with those circumstances attached.

With his official promotion to my first officer, I'm putting Hawke in charge of the teams on the surface working to get the colony on Dreyas Four up and running. Ethan has already begun working with them to get their prefab structures erected, but there is still a lot more work to do before we can leave these people on their own here. As well as keeping me at arms lengths to the colonists, it will be a good experience for him to develop his command skills in a new environment.