Life of a Soldier

Garet stood by the door, waiting for the OK to enter. After a few seconds he heard 1st Lieutenant Floten acknowledge him allowing him to enter. The doors slid open silently as Garet walked into the room and saluted Floten in the military fashion.

"What is it Private ?" Floten enquired.

"Sir. Permission to speak freely." Garet replied.

"Granted."

" We've been on this ship for about a month now and I've been talking with a few other Marines who have been around longer than myself, such as Corporal Hendricks and it's come to my attention how little the Marines are actually accomplishing here."

Lieutenant Floten put down his book and looked up at Private Jax with a mix of confusion and anger. "What do you mean...accomplishing nothing ?"

"Well sir. In the time I've been here I've only been able to participate in one mission, granted the help I gave there you said was almost invaluable, but that was one mission."

Lieutenant Floten continued to sit in silence, listening as Private Jax continued his complaint. "The way I see it sir is that we Marines are only important in ground missions and that doesn't say much when most of what goes on takes place on this vessel. After the Jem'Hadar attacked the crew the security officers pretty much handled that and now after the most recent attack engineering is taking care. Even when the ship itself is attacked the Marines can do little more then stand by and watch it happen."

"So what your saying…" Lieutenant Floten said quickly shutting him off. "…is that you want more field time ? Or is it you want to be the "hero" again ?"

"Not at all a hero sir, I just want to feel like an equally important part of the mission, same goes for the rest of the Marines."

Lieutenant Floten nodded in silent agreement, obviously thinking about a different place in time.

"Sir, there are two scientists trapped on a Dominion base somewhere, if we spent more time looking for that, then the Marines could actually do something to help this mission, rather then just taking up space."

Lieutenant Floten stared at Private Jax for a long while then finally stood up.

"Alright Private, if you want more field time I'll talk to the new Captain and Lieutenant McQueen and ask if we can double efforts on finding these rogue scum. I appreciate your eagerness but let's not rush to be killed to soon." He said. "But I am sure you were told that the Marines on this ship are only a small part of this ships ideal. The Taurus is on a mission of peace, we're merely here if things go pear-shaped."

Garet smiled. "Sir, I'm not the one who should be worried about death. Thank you sir."

He saluted Lieutenant Floten and walked out of the room with a bit of energy in his step. Finally, a chance at some more action.