The way the campaign is set up is chapters with down time in between (cause I have no interest in role playing 4 months of patrol duty with nothing happening).
Down time will usually be time back at Clarion Station or the planet and will allow for some creative character development on the player's part, spending exp, spending credits and if your interested uncovering clues about whats going on in the campaign from your contacts which could on occasion turn into a side trek.
That said Down time is ideal for transferring in new players.
Also if real life is treating you like a baby treats a diaper and you need to drop out for a time give me a heads up and your character can be "transferred" to other duty or for training for as long as you need or till the campaign winds down.
I don't really have much interest in running your character as an NPC other than to get them to a chapter break.
Nor will I offer your character to someone else to assume in game- your character will remain your as the nature of this campaign will easily fascilitate transferring in or out crew at need.
I have 2 major story lines planned (each should be about a few chapters each; well at least the first one will) and some nebulous ideas floating around as well so this campaign can go awhile as long as we're having fun.