A live coordination drill—routine on paper, notorious in reality—was suddenly assigned to her oversight. Nobody explained why. They didn’t need to. The base had a history with that exercise. It was known, quietly, as a career trap. Communications failed, timing broke down, support units misaligned just enough to make the lead officer look incompetent.
A perfect setup.
Imani reviewed the structure once, then again, and by the third pass she saw it clearly—not chaos, but sabotage disguised as disorganization.
She didn’t confront it.
She rewrote it.