The Gist: Salaryman spends the week reading each situation not-quite-right. Following 6 months of academy, he lands an interview with General Zettour, but his proposal to out position the enemies of the Empire could be read as ‘not trying to win’ the war, which traps him in a quick alternative proposal: build a Battalion strength Mage force for rapid deployment and precision strikes. The mages would not ever hold ground, but simply destroy high value targets, which will undermine the enemy’s will (and manpower) to fight.
This is not so much a miss-read of the situation, as it leads to a result he was not intending. Rather than join the planning staff, s/he is promoted to lead the proposed Battalion, which will likely be even more dangerous than working the front lines…
nice kid’s chair brah!
Tanya Degrechaff makes a few other incorrect reads of the situation, including her belief that painting her Battalion as a one way ticket to hell, where only the few survivors will receive glory, would dissuade people from joining. Quite the opposite, as she lives in a death or glory society, where those who can join, will. She can barely fault them as, in her own way, she follows the same principle.
The Verdict: the play between smart and very logical planning from sallaryman, and his/her total surprise and frustration when plans don’t go the way they are expected to is one of the gems here. Similarly, watching his/her opponents in high command equally terrified by Tanya’s promotion and growth in command, gives the entire show a great degree of humorous irony.
And god damn, I love that Tanya has to sit in a high-chair to join the command officers for dinner!
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