Chapter 15.2 – At a Loss
During these past few days, Persephone’s mood was extremely terrible. Not even the rare bright and beautiful sunshine outside of the long and narrow french window brought her the slightest bit of happiness. As soon as she opened the to-do icon, the countless documents would pour out like a waterfall, turning her computer screen into a large garbage heap and only reorganizing itself after a few seconds. Originally, Persephone was rather fond of this display feature of receiving documents, because in her eyes, most of the routine tasks were garbage. However, for some reason, the things she had to deal with suddenly increased by several times. Whenever she saw the extremely cute to-do icon, Persephone would have the urge to strangle it.
Persephone had was already using her fastest speed to deal with matters, and inwardly, she had constantly prayed for there not to be this much work the next day. However, under the mountain of paperwork, there was finally one representative manner that tirelessly managed to evoke her fury.
This document was precisely the application for follow-up action on Su’s pursuit.
That day, due to O’Brien’s request, Persephone casually overruled this plan. Of course, when O’Brien brought up this matter, he didn’t know that Luthor’s operation had already failed. He merely made this conclusion off of his impression of Su and his analysis of Luthor’s small troop. When Persephone saw the contents of the report, there was a slight increase in admiration for her own little brother’s decision. It was mere admiration and not an approval, as compared to the mountain of things filling her screen, this matter truly was an incomparably insignificant matter.
Persephone’s original intention was that since a captain wasn’t enough, then she should just send out two captains. Even though her signature only contained a simple overruled word, the experienced officers would act with incredible consideration to draft up a new plan. Then, they would go through normal procedures so that it wouldn’t reach her again.
This matter should have ended like this, but who would have thought that one or two days later, this document returned untouched to her screen. Persephone didn’t even look at the contents of this document before directly writing the word overruled. According to the procedures of the Black Dragonriders, Commander Julio should have once again written the contents of the new plan and then find his own superiors to approve it and not skip a level to find Persephone. A superior could skip a level to examine and approve something, but that didn’t mean that a subordinate could skip a level and report to a higher superior.
Another day passed, and the follow-up plan popped up on her screen again. In addition, it blinked with the notification of importance, bringing it to the top of her to-do list. Persephone resisted her anger with difficulty and once again wrote the word overruled on it, sending it back. Then, she once again buried herself into her endless work.
She definitely wasn’t some hard worker. However, since she was in this position, then she had to take on the corresponding responsibility; this was one fact that Persephone was clear on. As such, she forced herself to work from morning to night, resting only three hours each day. The current Persephone was extremely similar to an office lady.
While Persephone was buried under work, the old man floors above her was extremely relaxed, each day spending most of his time observing Su’s activities within N958. The sexy and exaggerated female assistant whose face was as cold as an iceberg would send Persephone’s reply back to the follow-up request as soon as it was made to the old man’s desk. Apart from this, the old man didn’t seem to have anything else to do.
Occasionally, this plan of action would continue along the normal chain of procedures and did not get sent to Persephone. The old man would then use his own authority to skip a level and overrule it. As a result, after two days passed, when the new plan came, the old man noticed with satisfaction that the plan had once again been sent to Persephone.
In all of the Black Dragonriders headquarters, the most miserable individual was Commander Julio.
The defeat of Luthor, who was under him, had become a huge matter that even the guards of the building knew about. They didn’t talk about the embarrassment of failure, and instead talked about how the commander’s follow-up plans for some reason drew the attention of important people, moreover being directly overruled each time. What was most shocking was that the ones that participated in this overruling wasn’t just a single person.
When the plan was overruled a second time, Julio superior suddenly fell ill and requested a one month leave. Commander Julio didn’t have any familial background, and as such couldn’t ask for any sick leaves, so he could only brace himself and stick it out.
More and more rumors began to spread regarding the commander. As for why he would receive such special attention from important figures, there were all sorts of speculations. No one dared to casually discuss those important individuals, and not even good friends would bring up this subject. As such, all of the speculation rested on the commander. From his slightly protruding belly and slightly darker skin, all the way to the strength of his body odor and number of chest hairs, all types of discussions about him were being made. However, no one doubted the commander’s ability to handle matters. From the day he entered the building, the commander had proved his shrewdness and competence over these seven years. He excelled even more at assessing the strength of enemies, drafting up a corresponding plan of action, and selecting suitable personnel to deal with the situation. The commander’s individual strength was nothing special, but he obtained his position through wisdom and not physical power.
However, at this moment, the commander began to grow doubts about his own wisdom. The first time his plan was overruled, it was still within the boundary of his expectations. A single captain specializing in Perception Domain was a bit weak, even though Julio himself felt that the small troop’s fighting strength was already more than what was needed.
The commander amended the plan and added a Combat Domain commander and sent it back. This time, when the commander’s superior was just about to approve it, who would have expected that as soon as he finished signing it, another higher superior showed up and decisively issued a veto! This time, he was stupefied for a whole thirty minutes!
That afternoon, this colonel fell sick, claiming that he needed a whole month of treatment to recuperate.
Julio, whose natural disposition was to act carefully, spent a long time pondering and assessing the plan and didn’t substantially modify his plan. In the third amendment he made, he only switched a Perception Domain captain for a similar ability lieutenant commander. He still felt that the amount of combative force was still overkill. Meanwhile, perception, tracking, and searching abilities were more important. Even though the Black Dragonriders possessed enormous resources, they shouldn’t be squandered. The commander did not forget his decision-making or formulation skills because of some unfortunate overrules. Due to his superior falling ill, Julio braced himself and directly sent it to Persephone.
What came after was a straightforward overrule.
The commander felt like he was going mad. If not because of some problem, how could these plans that hold clear superiority be overruled?
Persephone had an extremely important engagement to attend that evening. Right when she was about to leave the office, the familiar document just happened to beging blinking.
Fifteen seconds after issuing the document, the commander received the quickest overrule he had ever obtained.
