Micky gathered up his troops. He was performing impromptu drills but he was aware it wasn’t going to be enough. He was being voluntold onto the field tomorrow. While as a senior centurion he was able to ignore the legates commands somewhat, so long as he followed through with the general outline of the strategy he was aware it would not look so good since he was accidentally promoted by the legate.

It was understandable since neither Micky or the legate realised what ‘army’ promotions were like. Basically, a field promotion is putting somebody in command and seeing if they survive. If they survive the command without fubar then the promotion stuck. If they fubar and or [Dead] then you had your answer. The legate had meant for the command position to be a humiliation for Micky, and for a senior centurion it was. But for a noble son of some high position it would have been the perfect chance to ‘earn’ a field promotion. They could have then gone back and talked about how they were field promoted to their buddies and lord it over them. Afterall, field promotions didn’t matter how you got them, just that you did…

This also made Micky realise that there were only actually two factions in the army. The first was the army faction itself, then the noble faction. The army faction were those that were in the army, promoted in the army, or had a noble familia that was central to the army. The noble faction was those centered around the nobility and their politics and games. Then there were the many schools of thought. These weren’t factions per se, but how all the factions were divided. Simply put, they would be whether to attack or defend… If we were severely simplifying it. Basically there were two factions and how they decided which tactic to employ was a vote in faction, then a vote in total. However, there were many occasions that this wasn’t decisive as the factions themselves would be divided. This did not mean that the in total vote wouldn’t have been decisive though…

Basically it was a clusterfuck and Micky only had ten centurions and their second and thirds to deal with. Altogether he only really had 20 people to deal with at a time, because the seconds only counted as half, mostly when the centurions weren’t present for the meetings, that were frequent as Micky needed to get things ready for their death sentence. In many ways, this was the true test for his promotion as opposed to his promotional assignment…

Even getting all of the commanders to the meetings at one time, or at all, was a problem. Sure they met at some of them, but many commanders ‘had things to do’ and this was true for the most part. This was especially so for the two new centurions that he had promoted. One of them was promoted from within, while the other one was placed in command.

Micky had a tough decision and many candidates, but in the end Micky chose based on loyalty over capability. One Might think to choose the more capable candidates, since obviously one must choose the most capable and meritorious for the job. But Micky needed to stabilize his own position. This meant he needed somebody that would be loyal and follow his orders first, and possibly even their own intuition second. This wouldn’t fit a capable person, as they may follow what is best for their centuri to the detriment of the overall strategy.

In the end, Micky picked the two, one being a young and fairly talented officer that had been undervalued as she was backerless. This meant that she had been turned over repeatedly in favor of less capable commanders with noble lineage and backing. This also meant that she was eager to please, and specifically please Micky. Micky had no doubt that if he asked her to do anything, including jumping in his bed or worse she would do so right now. In many ways this ‘promotion exam’ was more important for her than it was for him.

The other was one of the noble scions that Micky had rescued. Specifically the most competent one. Micky wasn’t simply looking for loyalty over competence, he valued them closely, but loyalty was the finisher. And a young officer that had been kicked around and passed over, as well as the man that literally owes his life to him would make the cut, no doubt.

The woman’s story was actually interesting since even now there was an officer who had originally taken command, without authorization, that was still claiming that it was unlawful and an ‘abuse of power’ for Micky to remove him from command. And had the man had any qualifications aside from his noble title, Micky might have humoured him. Unfortunately, the man was a waste of space Micky wasn’t happy to entertain. Funnily enough, even threatening to get Micky on the legates bad side. Clearly, this fop did not know who he was talking too…

Anyways, the young woman was lithe, but muscled. She had a passable figure, but nothing that was special. If anything it was on the lower side of ‘passible’ but above ‘unfortunate’ *Phew* (Fist pump, she had made the cut off just barely!)... stop stealing my screen time! Anyway, she had an average athletic figure and wore a sporty style that was refreshing and popular amongst her soldiers. Many of whom looked up to her for her earnestness and dedication. However, many of them didn’t realize her ambition. She was willing and driven to climb higher and would do anything for the opportunity, and those that would give it, to climb higher. Honestly she scared Micky a little…

... But, Micky didn’t have a lot of options, so she made the cut and became the centurion. It was a much simpler decision for the young nobleman. This meant that the total centurion count of army to noble faction ended up as 6/4 respectively. This was actually impressive since the count was usually in favor the other way. However, this was good for Micky since he was cleanly in the army faction after what the legate had pulled. On the other hand, had he had a backer of any kind, he would be swapped to the other faction, no question.

Micky mused about faction when he eventually ended up on the defensive general and wondering what faction he was in. But Micky quickly moved on when an idea started forming on his tactics for the upcoming slaghter and suicide mission. It was clear he was going to request double the slave corp for fodder but… there was an idea here. Why shouldn’t he be defensive about it?

The more Micky thought about it the more Micky realized being defensive might be the best move. So what if the spearhead was blunt? Micky didn’t care about the legate's inane strategy. He had been failing regularly recently anyway. This small skirmish was already supposed to be producing results and granting rich's galore as the kingdom raided the other side… Instead, they were the ones being raided and the legates' promises were failing to compensate for the expenditure.

Micky smacked his forehead. Of course! Shields! He should equip his entire retinue with shields! Can’t hold a sword? It’s fine so long as you can hold a shield! It was fine, he wasn’t actually expected to be a spearhead anyway, the legate just wanted him as arrow fodder and siege fodder. That was his real purpose. Micky needed to make sure he had shields, lots of shields, some soldiers would even have two shields! Or more! It didn’t matter so long as they occupied the enemy forces for long enough for the more senior troops to slaughter them. Yes, this Micky could work with. They should already be able to make a shield wall. And besides, just because you were occupied with a shield didn’t mean that your friend couldn’t stab the enemy with a spear while you kept them off. Or the ever present arrow and magic barrage. Yes, it was oddly fitting since he had gained his [Command] talent skill this way in the first place.

Micky sent out the orders, he would need to bring in the centurions for another meeting and planning session, but it would be worth it. Be damned their paperwork and requisition forms! They needed to be here now!