SADLY, TOPHAT LEAVES US DUE TO COVID COMPLICATIONS
Unfortunately, with the RL situation and risks to a certain target group in his close company, along with his line of work,
@Top Hat has to step away from the sim. This has been known for a little bit, and some plans have been made in regard to the situation with his characters not being available for inheritance, and him writing the First Officer, Ranaan Ducote.
As for Ducote, he'll end up in stasis, but with injuries that may prevent him to ever be thawed and live. Obviously this will be a heavy thing to bear for Blue Tiran, but IC things are being planned out in that regard, so stay tuned on that development. Nator 159 was also caught in the same blast in the Spearhead Lounge, and she ends up in stasis. Valkra is on the
Allegiant mission, wherein she can be KIA at an appropriate time. As for his Vulcan tactical officer...
...we decided that the Butterfly Effect in which T´Less was replaced by his character in Episode 05 will be reversed, so that instead of his character, T´Less has been aboard the entire time. This requires some further editing on my part, and the Crew Manifest has yet to be updated in any capacity just yet (3 am as it is here), but T´Less will be available for inheritance, along with Vivan Martin (who was also caught in the blast, and may be thawed if a writer wants to write her eventually).
The list might be updated as needed, to add more characters when applicable.
As for the chain-of-command, with Kai Akoni in stasis, Deputy Ida will have to take the role of Acting Chief Security Officer, and appoint Adam Kingston to take her duties while she is on the
Allegiant. Natalie Stark is 2XO, so she supports Ives until a new First Officer is picked. That might not be until much later in the Episode, depending on the development, and if there is no better candidate available that makes IC sense, Ives might pick Jennifer Dewitt since she has the experience and has been Lt Cmdr for 5 years. I'd hate to pick a character of my own, though, so let's see what the future brings.
Thank you so much for all the time you've vested in this sim,
@Top Hat , and you should know you'll always be welcome back here!
Best,
Auctor Lucan