[ And considering who his last commander was, that's high praise. ]

The previous team was murdered by their commander, who had become possessed due to the orb containment not being powerful enough to avoid corruption once many of them were rejoined together.

Degar and Viveca changed their regrets after that happened. To bring them all back and send them back to where they came from without memory of what had happened - something I don't quite agree with, I wouldn't want my memory tampered with! The price they paid to forge new contracts was that they'd be bound here to fix things, avoid something like happening again, and completing their mission.

Viveca had been gravely injured, so her consciousness itself was bound to the station as it's AI.