Perry watched as the French colonel, a Norwegian sergeant and another Marine left the command post soon after the radio announcement, followed by other staff going about their jobs. She noted that there was no message on the radio other than to establish the French officer as the new CO. No orders, no evaluation on the situation. The corporal knew the men would soon be asking questions because she was asking them to herself already. Things were actually worse than they looked, and would not improve if command was not more decisive. But it was not her job to second-guess or play backseater to the officers. And honestly, maybe some uncertainty would help a little. Get people back on their feet instead of their asses. The sector had been too calm and people had gotten too sloppy.<br/><br/>A little bit of implied danger might be just the thing to get them rolling.<br/><br/>Speaking of which, Perry saw a US lieutenant with a pistol out. A latino woman, 101st Airborne. Perry had seen her around before, but the MARSOC people mostly kept to themselves. Made sense, seeing how they were among the last competent people left around. They went out on patrol, checked sectors, sent reports, and since they were obviously doing their job and didn´t abuse logistics, the officers allowed them to do as they please, assuming they were being professional. And that was true, for the most part.<br/><br/>It did not occur to her that they might be about to get new, far more dangerous work to do until the lieutenant called out to her. Saluting the officer right here in the frontline would have been the stupidest thing to do. Instead, the woman straightened her posture into what passed rather convincingly as a `sitting at attention´ position. The corporal listened to the lieutenant, noting the name on her tag. Cervantes? Wasn´t that the name of a famous Spanish writer? Her Spanish lessons back in high school were very far now.<br/><br/>"I´m doing fine, lieutenant. Thank you for asking." Perry answered with her Southern accent and slow enunciation, which made her sound like she had to put effort into speaking correctly, but was actually a way to buy herself time to think. She nodded respectfully as well, not noticing the cool stare her blue eyes directed at the officer. It was the kind of stare that the quiet Marines had. Not the ones that screamed `Semper Fi´ at the top of their voices, but those who whispered it to themselves before doing something very violent to someone. That, unfortunately, was a look Perry had had no means to get rid of for some time now. "What about you, if I may ask?"