Ah, ahem. ^_^;
Actually it looks like after the 4 "stripes" as you call them (though I prefer
to think of the scale going from 0-3 rather than 1-4 since the edge piping is
standard), the next rank (the highest one in the Imperial army) is to add the
little curlicue things on both the neck and coming around from the back to the
middle of the chest. I don't think the epaulets indicate a different rank,
but are merely a dress form of the same uniform.
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"Zu jeder Zeit, an jeder (sic) Ort, bleibt das Tun | Walter Amos
der Menschen das gleiche..." - Galactic Heroes II | amos@sedl.org