Editing Melody Leigh Haverstaad (section)

===Serving Onboard USS Marlboro===
Melody, typically full of herself, joined the crew of the USS Marlboro thinking the universe was hers to be had. She didn’t expect, however, that her years worth of education and how she flew by her classes would leave her nearly unprepared for the way things were onboard ship. She once made mention of how she excelled in everything at Crew School to her Senior Squad NCO, and she never forgot his reaction. He simply smiled and said “That’s fine lass, now here’s the fleet.”

If Melody was still a hellion or loose cannon after graduation and her first few months on the Marlboro, it was the Alvarian VIII incident which cured her of it. It was her first introduction into real combat, this time against the forces of the Dominion. The Dominion and the Federation were constantly bickering about territories just their side of the Wormhole; often-times that bickering became the equivalent of a turf-war, which thankfully never blew up into a full-blown war. The Marlboro had been assigned to Alvarian VIII and her tactical forces deployed ground-side to protect a colony there when several Jem Hadar squads came against the colony for no reason given. The Tactical forces were not surprised, but casualties tended to be heavy. Only quick thinking and quick orders saved the colony from being flanked and destroyed, and it was then that Melody learned her no-nonsense approach to her job. She continued to be fun-hearted off duty, but on duty, she became the paragon of seriousness.

The Marlboro would come against the Jem Hadar and other Dominion forces four other times during her seven years on board, three times more in ground combat. She was decorated for valor twice and with a wounded lion twice for being injured in combat. It was usually after these bouts of combat that she would be promoted, and she rose as high as Petty Officer First Class while with the Marlboro.

During her last year on the Marlboro, the Cardassian/Federation war was sparked and the entire fleet moved into combat. Melody, as a senior Petty Officer, was often-times found in charge of ground Tactical units during close combat, or to take enemy bases. Several of the battles were bloody, but none so much as the Battle of Chin'Toka where the Cardassians had built a fortified forward base. Twenty thousand troops, including a Petty Officer Haverstaad, hit the dirt in that battle while hundreds of starships battled it out for Space Supremacy. After thirty hours, Starfleet commanded both the skies and the base, but at the expensive of nearly half the troops and nearly 90 starships, including her own USS Marlboro.

'''''Authors Note: No, this is not the Dominion War from DS9, that war never happened in Freedom’s timeline. But Chin’toka is a major system in the area, so why not?'''''

Melody found herself in command of a nominal platoon, a Tactical command usually reserved for a Starfleet Officer above the rank of Lieutenant. She hadn’t had a choice in the matter, however, almost every officer above the rank of Ensign had been killed, and the three that were left from her division of forces had become gibbering wrecks during the fire-fight. She had forcibly taken command when they had proved unable. 

She was transferred to the USS Destiny, one of the ships which had escaped major damage in the battle above, and beamed there directly with what was left of the Marlboro’s Tactical forces.