[david lowbridge]

Gibraltar wrote:

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Commentary on Chapter 5:

Torlik’s fortunate not only to have an opportunity for a fresh start on a new ship, but to have someone willing to listen to his problems. Granted, he didn’t take the opportunity to share with Paul, but the fact that a fellow crewmember cared enough to offer is something at least.

It certainly appears that the ‘official’ account of what happened aboard Victory has been buried by Starfleet Command. The cover story doesn’t do Torlik justice, and was doubtless put in place to paper over the captain’s cowardice and dereliction of duty. It’s a damn shame that he’s had to live with those nightmares and the stain the incident has left on his professional reputation.

The conversation between Dr. Burton and Commander Hawke finally sheds some light on Burton’s bad attitude. Her fragile emotional state is obviously impacting how she interacts with other personnel, and clearly not for the better.

What happened to Torlik and the events of the Victory will be dealt with in the next book, but his history, and his actions are still important to this story as you need some background to understand him. But for the events portrayed so far, it certainly was an injustice, and something that should never have happened. Dr Burton and Commander Hawke's romance play an important role in this story, it will be an emotional tear jerker for one of the characters. As with much of the crew (and starfleet at the moment) fragile emotional states are rife - the Dominion War took its toll on a lot of personnel. I'm glad you are enjoying the read.