"This sure is a shite hole innit, captain?" A man standing next to Captain Sharpe commented.

Standing next to the newly appointed captain of the 13th legion was Sergeant Major Harry O'Kief.

The Sergeant Major was a man of heavily built mass. His entire body was ripped with muscles and scars could be seen on his hands, forearms and generally all over his body. He had a chiseled face with closely cropped black hair. A scar could be seen running down his left eye rendering blind. But that didn't stop him from leaving the Imperial Army.

Currently both men are dressed in their red dress uniforms resembling their modern day counterpart upon which rows upon rows of medals and awards could be seen hanging off their chests.

However, the most eye catching award was the Legion of Honour. It takes the form of a golden medal which is supposed to be pinned above the left chest and bears the symbol of the Imperial family, a griffon, with two swords crossed underneath it.

The requirements to be awarded such a prestigious award was that the individual had to perform a deed in the midst of battle which would've seen the indivual dead. Hence the reason why a majority of the awardess are currently decomposing bodies in a wooden box buried six feet underground. Only a minority of the awardees are still alive after the deed they've done.

And that's where the similarities end.

Since Captain Sharpe was a commisioned officer of the Imperial Army he had golden embroidery on his uniform and a golden aiguillette looping through his right shoulder and its pointed tip hanging off his right chest. On the cuffs of his sleeves there was a particular red diagonal stripe fringed in gold going up from the bottom left to upper right.

This was what was known as a service strip. Each strip was earned after three years of service in his Imperial Majesty's Army.

As for Sergeant Major Harry O'Kief since he holds the most senior enlisted rank in the Imperial Army his uniform had silver embroidery and a silver aiguillette as part of his uniform. However, as befitting of someone who holds the most senior enlisted rank in the Imperial Army O'Kief had seven service strips fringed in silver running down the cuffs of his sleeves.

On their waists each carried a cavalry sword they had gotten after a bet with some officers and on their shoulders was a bag filled with their personal belongings and equipment.

However, in contrast to their spit shined medals and boots glistening off sunlight stood a dull and barely maintaned garrison quarters with cracks appearing across the walls.

The Garrison fort was surrouned by a stone wall with a wooden gate. On either side of the gate were two guard houses upon which two sentries could be seen standing inside with their newly issued musket standing at attention having seen the Captain Miller and Sergeant Major O'Kief disembark from the carraige which brought them to their destination.

"Sir! Sergeant Major!" The Sentries saluted by holding their fists over their shoulders. But such an action was troublesome as they were carrying muskets.

Perhaps I should teach them some rifle drills. Miller thought while observing their salute.

Miller and O'kief both returned the salute.

"I see the 13th has been issued their muskets." Miller commented.

"Y..Yes sir!" A sentry replied with a tinge of nervousness in his voice.

"What's your name legionary?"  Miller asked the sentry in an attempt to make the man relax.

"Corporal John Mannings, S..Sir!" This time the sentry was sweating buckets even though they were in the cold territories of the North which means that the weather was cool and windy and there's no reason for the man to sweat buckets unless...

Miller and O'Kief looked at each other and understood what the previous Legion commanding officer was like. When Miller was assigned to the 13th legion he was told that the previous Legion Commanding officer mysteriously "disappeared" in a minor skirmish with the northern tribes but Miller didn't give much thought to it. And now he understood why the staff officer who was handing Miller his transfer order told him that fact.

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In the Empire it wasn't unheard of for officers to abuse their men. In fact, the empire actually discourages such treatment with officers who are caught court marshalled and dishonestly discharged from the Imperial Army and which is also the reason why the legion wasn't under investigation and the empire had turn a blind eye to what happened to the previous commanding officer.

"Relax Mannings. It's not as if the bloody emporer himself is standing in front of you right now ain't he?" Miller cracked a joke in another attempt to lighten the mood.

"No Sir!" This time the sentry was relaxed.

"Good. So what about you?" Miller turned and faced the other sentry who was staring at Miller's uniform which was full of medals.

The sentry having noticed that he was caught staring immediately looked up at Miller with a fearful face.

Miller grimaced inside to see a man reduced to such a pitiful state.

"Heh. So you want to be like one day huh? A chest full of medals?" Miller joked with the other sentry to hopefully help him relax.

The other sentry not expecting such a comment was shocked but quickly replied with a "yes sir!".

"What's your name boy?" Which is not an insult considering that Miller is in his early 30s while the man standing in front of Miller was in his early 20s.

"Private James Roght, Sir!"  

"Well Roght, if you wanna be like me you gotta start by removing that pitiful state of mind and be the most meanest baddest fighting machine the Empire has ever seen!"

"Yes sir!" The Private now with a much more confident look to his face answered when all of a sudden Miller removed the top of his uniform and handed it to O'Kief who now had a smile on his face knowing what his captain would do next like how we usually would do to a newcomer to his cohort.

The Private now had a confused look on his face.

"Punch me." Miller pounded his scarred bare chest ,save a singlet and a pair of suspenders, with his fist.

"Sir?" The Private asked again. Unsure if the moment his legion had gotten rid of a undesirable officer and gotten insane one in return,

"You heard me Roght, Punch me!" Miller pounded his chest twice to create an effect.

Roght unsure of what to do did what he does best, following orders. Crossing his fingers, Roght took a step back and punched half-heartedly.

He had expected the insane officer to fall on his butt and be embarrased and try to hide it with scolding him or maybe use his actions against him and issue out a corporal punishment just for fun like their previous commanding officer.

But instead Roght felt like he had punched a wall.

"You call that a punch?" Miller pounded his chest to signify his point.

"No sir!"

"Well, try again!"

This time Roght decided to punch with all his might.

This time it had achieved a much better result with the officer taking a step back but even that is better than nothing.

"This. This is what I call a punch." Miller nodded approvingly at Roght.

"Keep on practicing and maybe one day you will be able to knock me on my arse."

"I will sir!" Roght ,now having regained his confidence, beamed at Miller.

O'Kief having seen that Miller had finished what he wanted to do handed the captain back his uniform.

"Now that the pleasantries are over. Do any of you lads mind escorting us inside?"

"No Sir!" Mannings and Roght both replied together.

"Roght, go with the captain and the Sergeant Major. I will stand guard here."

"Thank you Corporal."

"You're welcome Captain."

"Right then, lead on Private!" Miller smacked Roght on the back prompting him to lead Miller and O'Kief into the garrison fort.