Midori Murakami finds herself standing in the engine room watching her engineers repair her damaged engines. This is but one of the things damaged on her ship but she feels this is the most serious. Her XO is standing beside her giving a report on the progress of the other repairs and seeking her approval on needed supplies.

“It all is sound, Takata-kun.” replies Midori as the XO finishes his report. “Proceed. And see if you can get supplies for a celebratory dinner for the crew. They did a good job in the battle.”

“Thank you ma'am.” nods the XO. “I will pass the word of your approval to the crew.”

Midori nods as she goes back to watching the repairs. Inside she is almost glowing with affection for her crew. But she will never allow herself to show. They did a good job but she feels that if she lets herself look human in their eyes they feel that she is fallible. And she will never allow that. They must obey her like she were the Empress herself. Which being the commanding officer of the Echo, she is an avatar of the Empress and the Empire as a whole. Her word is law. And there should never be any hesitation in obeying her orders.

She feels some question is good of course. But they should be relayed through the proper channels while the orders are carried out. If she asked someone to cause her boat's reactor to overload. They better ask how quickly. But she sighs to herself as she turns from the work crews and heads to her personal quarters. Once there she drops into the chair behind her desk. Thanks to being the commander of the submarine she has the largest quarters but they are still small. She has a desk and a bunk with a door leading to a private bathroom. She also has more storage space in the room than any other quarters on the Echo. But her eyes fall on the katana that she was given when she received command of the boat. She lets out a sigh and almost jumps out of her skin as a cat jumps into her lap.

“You don't look worse for wear Artemis-chan.” states Midori as she begins to pet the cat which starts purring. “If only all was as calm as you.”

Midori sighs again as she drifts off in thought. This operation went well but not without cost. And she start planning for what to happen next.