Loading the Autosave file should take you back to the last combat or last time you left port.
Pressing ESC and selecting "Save" from the campaign menu will save the game in its current state to the filename you specified at the start of the campaign.
Thomas Chesterson is the default commander name. If you go to Options, Game tab there is a text box at the to titled "Default Commander Name". You can change this to anything you wish.
Then when starting a campaign you can enter a new commander name or stick with your default name.
Hope this helps
