Respect

*Dear Mrs. Fredericks,

My name is Major Jon M. Phanan, Commanding Officer of Alpha Company, USS Leviathan-A. I have had the pleasure of meeting and talking with your son Private Jason Fredericks over the past few months he has been onboard the Leviathan, and he has proven to be a man of great moral character. He is a very bright individual that enjoys his duty as a Marine, and as a son of the Federation.

That is why I am very sorry to inform you that your son has died. He died gloriously in battle defending our ship from an evil enemy, and you should be very proud of your son. By doing so, he saved countless lives of Starfleet officers and crewman, along with his fellow Marines. By doing so, I have awarded him the Bronze Star and Purple Heart posthumously.

Once again, I am very sorry for the loss of your son. I would like add, though, that by his death, hundreds more will live.

Warmest regards,

Major Jon Phanan
Commanding Officer Alpha Company
Federation Marine Corps. *

Jon Phanan typed up the last of the regards letters, and saved it to his database. The next thing he'd have to do is send it down the chain of command to Lieutenant's J'Lan, and Truman, and finally to Sharpe, the ranking NCO. As he turned off his computer, he rose from his seat, and made his way out of his small office. The door opened, and led in to a small foyer where a private had been assigned to act as an assistant.

"Private Ryan, inform Lieutenant J'Lan that he is to assemble a squad of his eight best for this afternoon's war games against Truman's group for 13:00 tomorrow."

"Yes sir, I'll get right on that." Ryan spun around in his chair to access a computer off to his side. Jon left the office, and made his way down the corridor. Despite the fact that he lost many good Marines in the ensuing confrontation, Phanan was please with the way that his group performed. There was a total of twenty-three dead, many more were wounded. Doctor Katts had talked to Jon earlier informing him that the Marines that had survived would make complete recoveries. In fact, the only one still in Sickbay was Corporal Grenkin who had to have a bone replaced with an alloy one. He would be out after another day so the body would accept the replacement.

As Phanan walked down the corridor he came across another sign reading "You're in Marine Country." Smirking, Phanan continued down the corridor. Captain Devore was gracious enough to block off the rear sections of Decks four and five for the Marines and their training equipment. The decks were cleared while Marine style barracks were put into place. This meant that they didn't enjoy they're one man rooms anymore, however, the one now shared his or her room with three others.

The spare room was converted in to a mess hall on Platoon Alpha deck, and two large holodeck training facilities on Platoon Beta deck. Phaser rifle ranges were also installed along with shower rooms, heads, and the liking. Unbeknownst to Jon at this point, Truman and J'Lan found a little room for an officer's club room. The size of the room was only equivalent to half of a standard Fleeter's quarters, however, this room contained nearly all of the synthahol on the entire ship, (along with a few alcoholic bottles that Truman was able to aquire.) Besides the officer's club, there was also ample space to install Phanan's office, along with a contingent briefing room, and two smaller individual briefing rooms for each platoon. It was a nice setup, especially with what Marines were subject to on other less "Marine Tolerant" vessels.

As Phanan passed two Privates, they immediately moved off to the side of the corridor, and saluted. Jon returned their salute as he walked passed. The two then continued on their way. Continuing down the hall, he came across to Starfleet crewman who mockingly moved off to the side and saluted with smirks on their face. Jon stopped, and turned to face the two. "Something funny to you crewman ?"

"Not at all Major," one replied, attempting to keep a straight face.

Phanan moved closer, adjusting his fatigue shirt with a signature Picard tug. "Funny how you say something like that with a stupid grin on your face." Jon moved past him slightly, and activated a control panel and brought up an image of the battle that had ensued a few days ago. "You see this crewman ? This is an image taken by Corporal Barnes after the Marine next to him was decapitated. Let's see what happens next..."

The image sprang in to life with Barnes moving as quickly as his magnetic boots would let him. Him, and his Marines moved fast towards the Bridge complex. As he looked towards his left, another Marine was kneeling down to take another shot one of the "dogs" jumped on him and began shredding him to pieces. A piece of bio matter flew, and smacked in to his face plate. He quickly wiped off his face plate, and fired at the "dog", blowing it in to pieces. Jon froze the image again.

"Twenty-three of my Marines died out there protecting your sorry lives. The next time you want to mock something, you mock a sorry bunch of ingrates like yourselves. I won't let you ridicule my men and women. Do you understand me ?"

"Yes, Major." The two young crewman responded in unison. They both held worried looks on their faces.

"Now get out of my site, and for your best interest, stay off these decks. You're dismissed." The two quickly made their way down the corridor, and on to a turbolift.

"That was slightly harsh." Sergeant Sharpe said, making his way around the corner.

"Not really," Phanan replied. "Those are Crewman Mulden and Crewman Forestal. They're two screw-offs, or so their evaluations say."

"How did you know ?" Sharpe asked.

"Captain Devore alerted me to them because of their resentment to the Marine Corps. They like to harass us for being 'of less importance' then Starfleet is." Jon shook his head. "At any rate Sergeant, how about a drink ?"

"In the forward lounge with all of the Starfleet personnel ? Needless to say Major, we don't exactly blend in wearing these fatigues."

"That's the point my friend." Jon grinned, and the two made their way towards the lounge.