Honorary Marine rank: extra pay and unexpected authority

A fictional captain with three medals of valor also holds the honorary rank of colonel of Marines. A planetary garrison commander uses that status to bring her under his authority, so the distinction has an inconvenient consequence for its recipient. Royal Navy officers holding Royal Marines rank provide the historical parallel: the rank supplied additional pay without naval promotion. Repeated crises eventually make both promotion and further medals difficult to keep awarding. The exchange ends with a joke about asking a monarch which titles of nobility remain available.