A man, in his twenties walks into the office. If the officer didn't look at his face closer, he would have thought for sure he was well in his forties. The recruitment officer looks him up and down and then up back to his face. His face had not been shaved for a while. His nose was long and crooked as if he had been in a few brawls in his time. His hair was black with a few strands of premature grey. The officer looked down at his feet again and saw that when he walked in, he had a very pronounced limp. The old-looking young man held a knotted, darkly wooded cane with a steel handle in the shape of a lion. The officer had seen quite a few grim faces, but there was a peculiar aura about him. The officer didn't know what to think of him, so he started the conversation plainly.
"Name."
"Robert, Robert Huntington, sir"
His voice did not quaver like most of the recruits. This was going to be a hard one to break.
"Age."
"21 sir."
Seeing as he had a struggle standing in one place, the officer said,
"No need to call me sir, I've gone through with thousands of you. Please, sit."
"I'd rather not sir."
His voice was confident. This boy did not want any type of pity from anyone.
"Ok...Tell me Mr. Huntington, what brings you here?"
"I believe it may be fate, sir. I was convicted of a crime I did not commit. I was... I was convicted of a murder."
"Were you put in trial justly?"
Now with some quavering in his voice,
"Yes sir, but I was the only one around to be convicted of."
"Who was the victim, my... my..."
"Spit it out!"
"My Step-Brother... you see, it was a Kusarian. My brother was a former BAF officer, Lt. Charles D'White? It was a quick death."
"Do you have any remaining relatives, we could contact them to get an..."
All the sudden, back to his formal self when he came in,
"No sir, they are all dead. Stokes attack."
Showing Pity and seeing that the young man could not bear it anymore he stood up.
"I see, give me your application and come back in a week."
"Thank-you sir."
"Please, if you have any concerns. Call me."
"It's 20-years sir."
"20-years what?"
"Prison, I've heard the Leeds mining pits are Hell."
"I'll talk to you again Mr. Huntington."
The man limped out of the office with the "tap, tap, tap" of his cane.
