Speak With Private Sinclair

Sinclair seems panicked as Sarah approaches, pacing back and forth, running a hand through his hair as he goes.

“Private..? You doing alright..?” Asks Sarah, taking care to speak softly as not to startle the poor bastard.

“N.. no Sarge..! None of us are..! The fucking Warden crashed, the Lieutenant’s gone, we have MAYBE a few days of food… WHAT THE FUCK ARE WE GONNA DO?!” He seems on the verge of a panic attack, he’s hyperventilating and he’s having trouble stopping himself from shouting as several other marines look over, watching the scene from a distance.

“Hey, we were TRAINED for this, first things first, once day breaks we get to walking, see if we can find a colony, a planetary supply line, or hell, help might just come to us, the crash wasn't exactly subtle, if there’s a colony anywhere nearby then they’ll know we’re here…” Sarah takes care to keep things gentle, with a man this close to panic, shouting and threats won’t do much more then put a bandaid over the wound.

“But… how do we know there’s a colony anywhere near here..? This place is desolate, no ground for farming or ranching, no bodies of water for fishing, we might be MILES from the nearest colony… we don’t have the food to wait…!”

“Then staying put is off the table, so what do we do? We march, we walk until we find something.” Her words are confident, seeking to instill her resolve into that of the rank and file.

“And what if we don’t find nothing..?” His words are a little calmer now, he’s stopped his pacing, focusing on the Sargent.

“We’re still marines, Sinclair, we’ve got everything we need to get by, if there’s food to be found we’ll find it, if there’s folk to be found, we’ll find them too.” Sinclair has begun to steady out now, the words sinking in and putting his fears to rest.

“We were built for this Sinclair, now get some rest, come morning we’ll beed to get on the move.” Sarah walks off, leaving Sinclair to mull over her words, but he’s not the only one to have heard them.

Across the camp marines who had listened in return to their places, having heard the conviction in McClintock’s words, having seen the resolve in her face. It’s raised morale ever so slightly.