“No! You can’t do this to me!” Valentina’s voice was thick with mounting despair as she looked around the table.
“Oh no no no, you won. Fair and square. She’s all yours now.” There wasn’t even the slightest shred of pity in Jameson’s. In that triumphant grin on his stupid smarmy face as he pressed his thumb on the dataslate and it made a cheery noise of acknowledgement. Sealing her fate. Dooming her. “It’s your own fault for not asking questions, Madcat.” He’d known she’d want the latest Allied Dynamics LRT-15d for her squad’s long range support, and wouldn’t look any further. Ask why he'd want to give up a brand new mech. Why he had one. Bet on it.
They’d all known, Valentina was coming to realise. Now that it was too late. Now that she knew that she was part of the package... Everyone else around the table, everyone in this ‘impromptu’ little pick-up poker game in the officers’ mess had been her CO at one point or another. She could feel the collective sigh of relief in the room now that she was no longer their problem. Wouldn’t ruin their lives any longer with insubordination and reckless behaviour.
Just hers.
Again.
“Damn it! You bastards!” Valentina’s fist slammed on the table, making the cards dance. Toppling stacks of poker chips. Her stacks. That she’d won so easily. She’d thought she was on a hot streak. That Lady Luck was finally smiling on her. Showering her with golden riches. She’d been showering her with something all right.
Story of her life.
As the others shuffled out, some of them at least having the grace to look embarrassed, belatedly, now that they were free and unburdened, Valentina stared at the tabletop. Traced the fake wood-grain in the formate with her eyes, not really seeing it. Remembering her. Going through pilot training together. Her dangerous antics. How she burned brightly, like an irresistible flame. Being with her. Loving her. Hating her. Missing her. Aching for her. Like a phantom limb, blown away in a thermonuclear explosion. An apt comparison for her, and what she did to Valentina. Would be doing to her again. Now that Valentina’d finally managed to rebuild her life from the ashes. After almost a decade of struggling, of clawing her way back from the blast pit of despair. Of slowly rising in the ranks.
No. This time would be different. Valentina knew all her tricks. Could steel her heart. Armour her soul. Prepare her defences, now that she knew the storm was coming. Now that she was forewarned. Never again.
Valentina’s resolve lasted exactly one night. One look in those clear green eyes during the morning briefing. A smoky “Hey there, tin-tin. I guess I’m one of yours now, huh?” drifting her way. That little quirk of a broken smile, drawing attention to the tiny freckles on that cheek Valentina knew so intimately.
Blasted with the power of a thousand suns, everything she'd so carefully prepared came crumbling down. As if it'd never existed. Valentina's heart and soul stood naked before her. Her greatest love. Her worst enemy. Her everything.
“Hey.” A sigh. Not of resignation, but of longing. Of hope.
Sucker.


