Directorate Order 2192/07-G-441
The order that made the rank — and the man. For the whole history of the ISCA exploration service, those who held the chair of an exploration-class vessel were Commanders. This order brings a new grade into existence: Captain. It takes effect not on a date, but on a signature — that of Commander Marcus James Cole, aboard the ISV Resolute, on the nineteenth day of her first deployment.
GENEVA OPERATIONS DIRECTORATE · ISCA EXPLORATION SERVICE
ORDER ESTABLISHING THE GRADE OF CAPTAIN · 2192/07-G-441
PREAMBLE
Throughout the history of the ISCA exploration service, the holder of the chair of an exploration-class vessel has carried the rank of Commander. The command chair has been the Commander's chair; the responsibility has been the Commander's; and the grade has served the service well in every deployment to date.
The Geneva Operations Directorate, having reviewed the scope, duration, and isolation of exploration-class command, and the weight borne by those who hold it beyond the reach of recall or relief, orders as follows.
ARTICLE 1 · ESTABLISHMENT
There is hereby established, within the ISCA exploration service, the grade of Captain. The grade of Captain is the grade of an exploration-class chair-holder appointed and confirmed under this Order. It is created by this Order and did not exist before it.
ARTICLE 2 · NO RETROACTIVE EFFECT
This Order is not retroactive. It does not apply to any chair-holder who held command before its effective moment, nor to any who has departed the service. Commanders of the exploration service who served before this Order served, and are recorded, as Commanders. The grade of Captain attaches to no prior command and to no prior holder.
ARTICLE 3 · EFFECTIVE MOMENT
This Order, and the grade it establishes, becomes effective at the moment of the acceptance signature of the first holder. The first holder is Commander Marcus James Cole, holding the command chair of the ISV Resolute on Day 19 of her first deployment, 2192.
Before he signs, Marcus James Cole is Commander, and the chair he holds is the Commander's chair. At the instant his acceptance signature is affixed, the grade of Captain comes into force, and he is Captain Cole. There is no interval between the two states. The rank and the man begin together.
ARTICLE 4 · CONTINUITY OF PRIOR SERVICE
RECORD NOTE · PRIOR COMMAND OF THE ISV RESOLUTE
COMMANDER ELARA VASQUEZ
The chair-holder of the ISV Resolute immediately preceding the first holder named in Article 3. Commander Vasquez held and relinquished her command as Commander, and retired from the service as Commander. Pursuant to Article 2, the grade of Captain does not, and shall not, apply to her. The record stands as she stood.
ARTICLE 5 · ENTRY INTO FORCE
This Order takes no further act to enter into force beyond the acceptance signature specified in Article 3. Upon that signature, all references in the standing instruments of the exploration service to the chair-holder of an appointed exploration-class vessel shall be read as references to the Captain, save where the record of prior service requires otherwise under Article 2.
ISSUED BY: DIRECTOR, GENEVA OPERATIONS DIRECTORATE · for the Directorate
ACCEPTED BY: M. J. COLE · ISV RESOLUTE · DAY 19, FIRST DEPLOYMENT · 2192
ORDER REF: 2192/07-G-441 · EFFECTIVE AT ACCEPTANCE SIGNATURE · IN FORCE