Not much for anyone to do, really, until we encounter something... or reach the pirate base, whatever comes first.<br/><br/>Once we encounter something, of course, there will be plenty for Cortez to do.  For starters... he doesn't have Sarah to drive his ship, so he'll have to make his own tactical choices for the Kobras Aquairre... even if perhaps he doesn't, say, make the pilot or gunnery checks personally... (although he COULD do either of those if he really wanted to, as he's capable of either piloting a ship or firing it's guns...)<br/><br/>It'll be up to Cortez, (if he wants to act, anyway) to give the NPC's orders... to decide what three actions they take in addition to handing out bonuses.  Besides picking, say, course and speed and what targets to fire at (which pretty much falls to him to chose), he'll have plenty to do with his skills as well... like "Put your back into it!" Charm tests, and Command tests to prevent morale loss... you could even contact the enemy ships and intimidate them into surrendering... (or at the least, cause a loss of morale...)<br/><br/>But most important will be your choosing what the Kobras Aquairre actually does when the actual encounter starts... even if it's NPC's doing the actions, it's you that gives the directions.<br/><br/>As for Thraxius... there is a TON for him to do once the action starts.<br/><br/>Thraxius can make tech use checks to increase speed... (his tech use will make the Kobras Aquairre consistantly the fastest ship in the fleet if he uses it) repair anything that breaks, triage the wounded, reducing casualties... (both very important)  He can "Aid the Machine Spirit" to increase the ship's detection or maneuverability...<br/><br/>And, like anyone else, he can think... and come up with solutions for problems that come up.<br/><br/>Speaking of things for Cortez to do... with his skills, one of the most effective things he could do in the future, if we get, say, a fighter wing to do it with, would be, for example, "hit and run".  After you make it to the enemy ship, the important part is the command test.  Win that, and you seriously damage the enemy with your command skill as the weapon.  Leading boarding parties is also to Cortez's strengths, as he can almost certainly defeat any enemy commander in the necessary command tests required.