In "Infection," Garibaldi tells one person, who's been looking
for
Sinclair (and whom Sinclair is ducking) that "the commander'll take
any
opportunity to take out a fighter; he's like that." Sinclair is
first and
foremost a *pilot*, this is what he loves. And thus he does it
wherever he
can (also to continue his flight pay, he like any other officer
needs to log
in X-hours of flight time per month).

In "Soul," there's only room for one ship to go out and link
up with
another ship that's out of control, it's not a combat situation, so
it makes
sense for Sinclair, since he has the most combat/flying time on the
station,
to go out after it. It's also a potential first-contact situation,
which
doubles the importance of a command officer. I "Midnight" he goes
out because
there's something that he knows that others wouldn't know to react
to.

But at the same time, in "Midnight," when the first distress
calls come
in, it's Garibaldi who takes out a ship; in "Believers" it's
Ivanova. In the
combat-heavy "Raiding Party," it's Garibaldi and Ivanova in ships,
while
Sinclair stays behind in C&C. In "Believers," Ivanova states that
regulations
require the presence of a command officer in long-range flights
that may
involve combat.


jms