<div class="floatright">(http://imageshack.us/a/img689/930/7a7e1932c1c8bc0987e1c1f.jpg)</div><br/>General Steel Orchid walked down the ranks, her orichalcum armor and grand daiklaive clearly marking her station, followed by a number of advisers who were keeping her appraised of the Metropolis military's strengths and weaknesses.  With so many troops, she certainly couldn't remember everything, but the large number of bits and pieces soon fell into a symphony of understanding.  She didn't have to remember everything; she only had to look for trends, similarities that she could keep in mind.<br/><br/>She rarely took the time to have any significant number of troops assemble for inspection.  Not only did it throw off the natural schedules of resting and duty which kept any good unit moving like clockwork, but simply seeing them stand around did very little to give her a sense for their strengths and weaknesses.  Of course, there were always a few, those nails that stick out from the board.  Some had to be hammered down, but a precious few were more worthy of attention.  Part of her task was to recognize the slivers of jade hidden within stone.<br/><br/>It also gave the troops a chance to see her.  She wasn't tall enough to be physically imposing, and the first glimpse of her had caused soldiers to balk on more than one occasion.  There was always some measure of usefulness in proving to the troops that you fought alongside them, that you were not beyond joining the battle yourself.  Soon enough, always sooner than expected, battle would show its ugly head to the troops and she would learn firsthand how correct she was in her understanding of their capabilities.