The way that particular mission was supposed to have worked was when you got to range 0 of the dock it would automatically kick in, no other action needed on your part.
There was a glitch in the code however, so it wasn't firing properly. I've included a fixed version in my mission pack (Met_NWRecharge.scr IIRC) if you want it.
As for modifying the starting prestige, you can use Notepad or Wordpad or Word or pretty much any text editor. The Character.gf file is in the MetaAssets/ServerProfiles/SinglePlayer folder I think.
dave