<USS Avalon> Checking In

Captain Adrian Jackson Phillips 
Sgt. Dora Fane,Delta Company
Marines
USS Avalon
NCC-27926-C

Dora was all unpacked and settled in. She had reported in and was surprised it
was to a Regalian named Walker and not her old friend. When she learned he was 
in the brig, she knew she'd be heading there just as soon as she could. He was 
the
reason she'd transferred to the Avalon's Marine Unit. With her fire lizard all
fed and sleeping on her bunk she decided now was as good a time as any to see 
her old comrade in arms. She had listened to the scuttlebutt in the Marine 
dining rea about why the captain was in the brig. Sometimes she just didn't 
understand why these Starship captains interferred with Marine business. 
Everything the captain had done was completely within his rights as being in 
command. What did these soft navy types know? Marines had to have stricter 
discipline. They were the ones that were on the front lines during any 
conflicts. If you couldn't trust the person next to you, the chances were that 
you'd go "home" in a body bag. She was sure glad she didn't have to have 
Jackson watching her back. Well, time to stop gathering wool and get her butt 
down to the brig. She glanced in the mirror,straightened her uniform and 
automatically dropped put her phaser in its holster at her waist and headed for 
the door.

Adrian sat quietly in his brig cell, whittling away as he finished up a rather
decent looking model of the USS Avalon. He had chatted with James, the marine 
on brig duty, for a while to catch up on how Walker was doing and how the ship 
was going, where they were going, etc, but now he was back to his whittling and
working out, things which kept in occupied in the day. After a moments he began
to hum a song his mother had taught him a long time ago, waiting for something a
little more exciting to happen. The cell was starting to get old.

Dora walked into the brig and nodded to the marine on duty. He did a double take
and quickly looked back at the cell. She walked up to the cell looking exactly
like the captain. No wonder the marine was confused. Dora winked at the marine
and walked to the cell and stood at attention. "Reporting for duty on the
Avalon, Sir!" She grinned, has she rearranged her cellular structure back to the
form and face she'd taken on when she joined the marines all those years ago.

A rather audible laugh came from Adrian's mouth as he watched Dora change back
into herself. "And look at what the cat dragged in, Sergeant Dora Fane herself!"
He motioned over to the marine on duty, who lowered the holo-shield for Dora to
enter. "Come in, though I admit it's not as cozy as my quarters are." He
chuckled to himself as he rose from his seat, seeming happy again after a few
days of whittling.

She entered the brig after leaving her phaser outside and sat down and smiled. 
"Why is it everytime I let you out of my sight, you land in the brig!? But man, 
you sure are a sight for sore eyes. Maybe now that the Admiral is here, they'll 
let you out. So catch me up on all thats been going on. I hate coming into a 
show half way through."


"Well, I promise being in the brig isn't my fault, simply a misunderstanding. 
I'm sure you've heard about the situation with a few of our marines doing some 
rather unrash actions from Walker."
He chuckled to himself before continuing. "As for the Admiral, who knows. 
Hopefully he'll understand the Marines way of working things, but he's not a 
big 
fan of us, so we'll see what happens." "This ship has been a buzz of activity. 
We cleared through the one they left in some minefield, and from what I last 
heard were on our way back to some planet which apparently had a huge 
explosion, a science facility or something like that."
"I've been training Walker, he's the regallian who's in charge of Alpha 
Company. 
He seems competent enough, but I think this sudden taking over of command, 
which I'm sure the boys and girls aren't happy about, has put him a little 
uneasy. 
Then again, there is that whole Ensign Erridam issue too."
 Adrian paused for a moment as he looked Dora over. "But we'll get to those 
stories in a little bit. What have you been up to that you managed to get 
assigned over to my unit again? Can't get away?" He laughed. 

"Get away? I requested this posting just to make your life interesting. As to 
what I've been doing, well, I've been on special assignment where my hmmm 
special skills were a bonus. I was dropped on a number of planets for special 
recon for starfleet security. Lets just say I had an interesting couple years 
fraught with danger and some real exciting moments. I'm not really at liberty 
to 
say anymore than that sir. You know the old song and dance of it. Then I got to 
go visit my parents at their posting on Vulcan. Remember, my father is a 
diplomat and my mother, the doctor, teaches at the Vulcan Science Academy. It 
sure is nice to be here now. All that weather I've had to endure for the past 
couple years from one extreme to another was hard on a girls complexion. I 
really missed being out in space." 

"Now, back to business for a minute sir. Can I trust this Walker? Do I have to 
go through him now instead of you for special training in the holosuite so I 
can 
learn what my squad can do? We need to be able to work together and I need to 
know who I can trust and they need to know they can trust me to get them 
through the thick of any situation. Also I detected confusion, the start of 
what could soon be a morale problem and some anger at the ships captain and 
crew and I also noticed some anger directed at me when I came aboard from the 
ships crew for me as a marine. I don't want any marine to lose their pride in 
being a marine, and I feel that could happen here sir. I feel the need to work 
all that fustration out of them and work them so they are too tired at the end 
of the day to get into trouble. Also some special training will renew their 
confidence and pride 
for being a marine. We don't need anymore trouble. The marines are not happy 
that you are here and there could be trouble between the two types of crew we 
have here, the navy and the marines." 
"And who is this Talia bitch that seems to be right in the middle of the 
trouble? You can be sure I'm not going to give her the kid glove treatment 
unless ordered to. All I've heard, I don't want to put my life on the line for 
a 
lily white maiden like her that has no business being on a ship with all her 
mental problems. No wonder the Regallians sent her to us. They must not have 
wanted her either. A baby chickling like that is always trouble. Remember too 
sir that I'm looking at this with the eye of an observer and not someone who's 
been here as the problem built. I need to have a complete free hand to train my 
men sir. Will I have that?" Dora grinned and then said, "ok, end of speech. 
Your 
turn sir." 


It was hard for Adrian not to laugh, but he managed to contain himself a grin 
instead. "Ahh, well thanks for giving me the opportunity to speak Ms. Fane." He 
rose slowly and walked over to the far wall before continuing. "I'll answer 
your 
questions first and then I'll see what else we have time for. As it stands 
right 
now, Walker is the interim Commanding Officer for the Marines at the moment, 
seeing as how I'm in prison awaiting a trial or some such. I don't agree with 
it 
either, but I believe that the XO of this ship overreacted and she's a bit too 
set in her ways to understand how we operate. Walker's an alright fellow, 
though 
he's also regallian and I think him and Miss Erridim are a bit of an item so be 
careful. He doesn't like the situation that he's in because some of the boys 
aren't too thrilled with whats going on." 

He shrugged his shoulders and turned back to face Dora. "I think things will 
smooth over a little now that your here, at least on the marine side. While 
Walker is a capable man, he's not Starfleet and that makes some folks weary for 
him to be in charge of the entire company. Once I'm out of here we'll 
straighten 
out these issues among the marine/navy lines, but until then just make sure 
they 
don't get out of control." Adrian streched out his arms for a moment before 
continuing, after all he's been in a cell for several days now and physical 
training only goes so far. "As for the Erridim girl, I don't like her much 
either, only because she seems to have a bad record with men. One or two 
incidents I would understand, but too many people seem to be having issues. I 
reccomended that she be confined to her quarters until things calmed down, but 
the XO of course didn't want to hear any of that. She might warm up to you 
though, since your a woman and all that. Don't treat her any differently then 
you'd treat anyone else, thats my advice." 

"As far as I'm concerned" Adrian continued, "the training is of course free 
reign and I have no problem giving you and your squad all the time you need. 
Unfortunately of course I'm not in that position, but I will mention your 
requests to Walker and explain how you plan to operate and that it gets the ok 
from me." He smiled and chuckled. "Did that answer all of your questions Ms. 
Dora Fane?" 

Grinning, Dora stood and gave a perfect salute. Yes, sir and I will take your 
advice also. I'll also file all the paperwork out and flood Walker with my 
requests as well. I should get going now but I'll come visit often just to keep 
your life interesting. It sure is good to see your sorry self again sir. I look 
forward to the time when your out of here and back where you belong. Just yell 
if you need anything sir. 


"Just don't do anything I wouldn't do." He grinned and nodded as Dora headed 
off to go get settled and take care of things. "Good" Adrian said to himself. 
"Now we've got someone who knows what they're doing onboard." 

Dora turned, motioned to the Marine and left when the forcefield came down, 
picked up her phaser and left the brig with her mind already on training 
schedules and paperwork she needed to file.
--
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Sometimes when we are generous in small, barely detectable ways it
 can change someone else's life forever. 

        Margaret Cho, weblog, 
                             03-11-04 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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