Wasn't there somebody- anybody- who could take this hornet's nest out from Marcia's hands? She was a 2nd Lieutenant, akin to being an honorary, lower-class officer given the title out of pity instead of any real effort on her part. The chocolate-haired Latino glanced around at the uniforms of other men and women to search for silver bars, oak leaves, birds and stars and other symbols, and while she could have sworn that she had seen a few around, nobody was making an effort to speak. The air was tense and people looked as if the floor was about to collapse under their feet at any moment. Somebody had to say something, and despite Marcia feeling heavier than any sandbags she placed down in basic, she figured she needed to step up.<br/><br/>The two enlisted men, a US Marine and a European, possibly Norwegian, were the catalysts that pushed Marcia into the spotlight. She played her part with as much reservation as she could muster- a hand went out to run through her brown locks, her features smoothed to a professional level and her stance, though rigid like a mouse caught before a tiger, retained some relaxed attributes.<br/><br/>"We don't know that, Private," Marcia replied to McNab after a hurried, flustered salute back to the Sargeant Major. "We're here on the front line, and High Command is back quite a way. We'll see about clearing the message up when we reconnect with HQ. If we reconnect."<br/><br/>Oh Christ, Marcia hoped this wasn't the case; she didn't want NATO to abandon her.<br/><br/>"Either way, we'll have to do some research, stay on the radio or send runners to figure out what's going on with NATO if they're-" The Lieutenant cut her speech short and looked over to Eriksen as if she just had a dismal thought. "Sargeant, have you walked the perimeter recently? Do we have men at their posts watching the line?"