NOVEL NEXT Chapter 23: Chapter Twenty-Three: By Medical Protocol
[0730 HOURS - OPERATION OVERLORD II - SECTOR SEVEN]
USS Mount McKinley, Command and Control Ship
Strategic Reassessment Conference
"Sir, Medical reports another consistent pattern in the casualties," the lieutenant reported, laying out the latest figures. "The precision of their defensive positions is unlike anything we've encountered."
Admiral Morrison studied the mounting reports. The patterns nagged at his tactical instincts. "Get me General Montgomery at British Command. Priority channel."
[0732 HOURS]
"Monty," Morrison began after the connection was established, "I believe I've identified what makes Colonel Tanya's defensive doctrine so effective. She's using our own medical response protocols against us."
[0735 HOURS - CROSS-SECTOR COMMAND]
"Go on," Montgomery's interest was clear even through the static.
"She's studied our field medicine procedures. Every defensive position is precisely placed to exploit gaps in our medical evacuation routes. That's why the casualty patterns feel so mechanical - she's turning our own medical doctrine into a weapon."
A plausible explanation. A comfortable one. One that fit their understanding of conventional warfare.
[0740 HOURS - SECTOR SEVEN COMMAND]
"Look here," Morrison pointed to the tactical display. "Every strongpoint is positioned to maximize the distance to aid stations. Their fields of fire precisely overlap our evacuation lanes. It's not just good defensive positioning - she's deliberately targeting our medical infrastructure."
The intelligence officer nodded eagerly. "That explains the consistency in the reports. She's not just fighting our combat units, she's systematically disrupting our entire medical support network."
They had found their answer. One that made perfect sense to minds trained in traditional military doctrine.
[0745 HOURS - FLASH TRAFFIC]
FROM: SECTOR SEVEN COMMAND
TO: ALL AMERICAN UNITS
RE: OPERATIONAL RESTRUCTURING
"Execute immediate tactical retrograde. Enemy commander has compromised medical support doctrine. Withdrawal necessary to restructure casualty response protocols."
[0750 HOURS - SECTOR SEVEN STATUS]
"Sir," the intelligence officer reported with growing conviction, "analysis suggests enemy command has extensively studied American field medicine procedures. Their entire defensive network is optimized to exploit our medical support doctrine."
Morrison felt the satisfaction of a puzzle solved. The mechanical precision, the strange patterns - it all made sense if you assumed she was specifically targeting their medical infrastructure.
[0755 HOURS - COMMAND ASSESSMENT]
"She's brilliant," Morrison admitted to Montgomery over the secure channel. "Turned our own medical protocols into a vulnerability. We'll need to completely redesign our casualty response doctrine before attempting another assault."
None of them realized they had constructed a comfortable fiction. They saw the sophisticated targeting of medical resources - a real part of her system - and mistook it for the whole. The true horror of her mathematical efficiency remained safely hidden behind their own limited tactical understanding.
[0825 HOURS - SECTOR SEVEN COMMAND]
They would withdraw. They would regroup. They would develop new medical protocols, convinced they had identified the source of their defeat. The real equations - the cold mathematics that had reduced warfare itself to pure calculation - continued their merciless computation unrecognized.
Their satisfaction at solving the puzzle blinded them to the greater horror they had yet to comprehend.