it's a ruthless game
Character: Peter Hamilton
Summary: He would know.
He can only laugh at all the foolish soldiers who believe that things would get easier the further you climb up on the ladder of success because he has seen that it is not any easier the further a soldier got. Some fall into corruption and abuse their power and others start to abandon themselves to protect their subordinates because they have realised that if they do not care about them, no one ever will.
But as long as no one gives him a reason to say something or to share his observations, he will stay silent and watch with unholy glee how more and more once supposedly promising officers fall victim to the thirst to gain more and more power and how those who have been considered unimportant and not ambitious enough suddenly start to lead their squads and subordinates with far more self-confidence and skill than those who have started out as the military's golden kids and ended up in a position where they could no longer do anything.
He chuckles softly as he watches the newly promoted sergeants and corporals who are following their new superiors to their new offices. "I am curious to see more of them," he mutters.
"Stop giggling like a psychopath," his daughter snaps as she dumps another stack of paperwork on his table. "I know that you think that you can say already who will raise and who will fall but you have not perfected this skill yet."
"Still bitter that I told you that you'd end up as some housewife or society girl?"
"Yeah," she admits as she leans against his desk. "I said back then that I'd better things to do with my knowledge and my intelligence – like blackmail and bribes."
"There's a reason why I don't like you at the Investigation Department," he says with a smirk.
"This is not some sort of game, father," she states calmly. "And while I admit that being smart helped me out quite a few times so far, it is not the main reason why I am here. It took devotion."
"And luck because all of your predecessors ended up demoted or killed."
"You are saying this like is a bad thing and like someone is missing them," she replies, eyes resembling frozen emeralds. She is the best example for someone most people have counted out after the war because she is broken, no matter how proud she acts and healing goes slow for her. But she is still fighting because she has a reason to and this is what makes daughter and father two of the same kind – oh, and the fact that they look like the same person in a male and a female version might add to this.
She follows him as he leaves his office and they stride through the hallways, red hair and golden stripes and stars shining in the sunlight.