[GERMAN NAVAL INTELLIGENCE - 0200 HOURS]
"Three major supply channels," Major Olaf marked the map. "Rotterdam, Antwerp, Hamburg. If even one remains clean, they'll have an evacuation route."
Tanya studied the logistics through her respirator, its leather creaking under brass fittings. The Allies had sharp minds watching their waterfronts. But sharp minds looked for obvious threats - not the quiet corruption of trusted systems.
"Their inspection records," she ordered, voice mechanical through the valve.
Captured documents painted a picture of Allied confidence. Chemical detection teams at every dock. Water quality assessments before each resupply. Armed patrols watching for saboteurs. They'd learned from past German attempts at port infiltration.
But they guarded against known threats while the Weber Protocol’s modified compounds slipped through their nets.
"They're adapting faster than predicted," her chemical officer reported. "British vessels implementing complete supply isolation. Americans testing every water source twice."
Tanya's fingers traced harbor approaches along the map. "Let them search. They're hunting sharks while plankton drifts through their filters."
Radio transmissions betrayed mounting chaos. Some ships already showed signs of contamination, their crews discovering too late how vulnerable sealed environments could be. But others remained untouched, their commanders executing containment protocols with ruthless competence.
This wouldn't be her masterwork like the land Protocol. The Allies would save ships, protect supply lines, develop countermeasures. But she didn't need to poison every vessel.
She just needed enough contamination to make them doubt every port. Every resupply. Every sip of water.
"French destroyer squadron reporting suspicious residue in forward tanks," her aide cited fresh intercepts. "Two British cruisers showing contamination signs. American transport fleet still clean."
"Adjust dispersal patterns," she ordered. "Focus on their emergency fallback positions. Let them think they've contained the threat, then show them nowhere is truly safe."
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The game evolved with each hour. Allied commanders proved dangerously competent, shifting supply lines and implementing quarantine measures. But they couldn't guard every approach. Couldn't test for compounds specifically designed to interact with their own purification systems.
Near dawn, reports confirmed her strategy's impact. Not the overwhelming horror of the land Protocol, but a creeping dread that turned trusted harbors into potential deathtraps. That made every resupply a gamble with dissolving flesh.
Some ships would escape.
Some supply lines would hold.
But she'd denied them safe harbor when they needed it most.
In her farmhouse cellar, Tanya reviewed casualty estimates. The numbers weren't staggering like the land Protocol's toll. But mathematics wasn't the point anymore.
She'd shown them that no zone was truly secure. That safety was an illusion their own systems could shatter. That even their most protected supplies could become weapons with the right chemical nudge.
They'd brought gas to her front.
Now she'd turned their own infrastructure against them.
Not with overwhelming force, but with carefully placed doubt that could sink fleets more surely than any torpedo.
The war would continue at sea.
But she'd changed the rules of engagement.
And in harbors across Europe, Allied commanders learned that some threats couldn't be stopped by guns or guards.
Sometimes the deadliest weapons were the ones you invited into your own ships.
Trusting in systems that had already been turned against you.
One drop at a time.
[ALLIED NAVAL COMMAND - 0600 HOURS]
Harrison stood at his command desk, watching rescue ships burn on the horizon. Tomorrow he would begin his own dark work. But today, he had to acknowledge an uncomfortable truth:
She'd beaten them at their own game.
Turned their strength into weakness.
Behind German lines, Tanya laid down on her bed staring at the ceiling. The naval gambit wasn't perfect. Wasn't complete.
But it had served its purpose.
And in ports across Europe, Allied commanders learned that some victories came not from overwhelming force, but from making the enemy doubt everything they once trusted.
Even the water that kept them alive.
Even the systems meant to protect them.
Even the harbors they'd thought were safe.
The war's next phase was beginning.
And she'd shown them all that nowhere was truly secure anymore.
Not even the seas they'd thought they ruled.