1) Alright, that makes sense.

2) That's kind of what I figured, but I wanted to be sure I was right. I also had a less specific vision of it, just that it gave him permission to be there and to work on Alexi's behalf, hadn't gotten so far as the rest of it yet. So thanks for the clarification. 

3) Well, credit where credit is due. :-) I'm looking forward to some good "war stories" about duty and the dangers of command. Something where I get to use the line, "If you make a bad call with your company, you lose money, maybe you have to downsize and some of your employees lose their jobs. If I make a bad call, people lose their lives, or worse, their freedom." 

I just look forward to making the point that there are good reasons why Erik is so much more "angsty" than Alexi, even apart from Alexi's mild disconnect from emotion. Also, imagining conversations is fun.