Strategizing

D-Day. The day that changed the world.

D-Day was the code name for the operation to end German occupation in France. The goal was to drive Germany back and then attack on two fronts. This day was the beginning of the end of World War II in Europe.

It employed two fundamental elements: surprise and deception. The Allies used inflatable tanks and dummy landing craft to trick the Axis Powers to think that they were attacking Pas de Calais. Fake radio transmission, double agents, and other measures were used to trick intelligence.

However, the real target was Normandy. On June 6, 1944 the Allies used a vast majority of their resources to attack it. Needless to say, Germany was caught by surprise.

One of the main reasons that this worked was because the United States produced the most weapons at the time. They had the firepower to attack with overwhelming force.

And Spain in this world was no different.

Breaking through the defenses of England would be difficult and costly. So they opted for a similar strategy to the Allies.

Michael instantly understood the gravity of the situation if it proved to be right. "Are you sure?"

"What's D-Day?" The generals asked.

"D-Day is when they plan on attacking us from a different point," I explained. "There's no way they could mobilize that many resources and leave it in plain view. They also wouldn't be giving us this much time to build our defense."

"But the radio transmissi-"

"Truth is singular, however words are plural. They can say whatever they want in those transmissions and they know we would believe what we heard," I told them.

Everyone in the room processed what I was telling them. The implications, if true, would be massive. They would already be defeated if we didn't make a decision now.

"Where are they planning on attacking?" Michael asked.

I snapped my fingers and pointed to him. "You're beginning to ask the right questions. Pull up a map of France and England."

The previous images on the screen disappeared as the maps appeared with city names. I kept pacing around the room, walking in circles as I tried to collect all my thoughts.

"They would choose a place that has air cover." I walked over to the screens and quickly tapped to see if it had touch capability. It did as a highlight appeared where I tapped. I pressed the undo button as I looked at the map again.

"So that eliminates all of Belgium and everything really west of France." I highlighted the areas in a transparent red.

"It would also have to be near air bases," Michael and I spoke up at the same time. We both looked at each other and shared a smile. Satellite images of all known air bases popped up.

"We can draw borders further east," One of the generals commented. I snapped my fingers and expanded my highlighted region a few centimeters.

"Hmm," I hummed as I tried to think about more filters I can add. None came up to my mind to start, so I switched focused on where they planned to attack and not from.

"They're going to attack anything far less defended than London." I said.

"So anything east would be a no-go." Michael said. I nodded, not taking my face away from the screen, before drawing another border.

"Anything west of Exeter is also not feasible. There's no way for them to transport all of that weaponry that far." Michael said as he walked over to the screen and highlighted the area red as well.

"Oh my god, I am an idiot like you." I said. In the heat of the moment, I forgot to consider that they would have to transport all their materials.

"They have to be able to transport all their troops fast," I switched the highlighter to green as I shaded in an area. The screen zoomed in closer to the green area as city names became visible.

"So, the most likely attack is from Cherbourg-en-Cotentin, France to Poole, United Kingdom," My voice was imbued with realization and ecstasy. The problem made my blood flow and adrenaline increase. A puzzle I wish I could solve for a second time.

"Or anywhere close," Michael mused.

"You need to begin to discreetly build defense there as soon as possible," I urged.

"Wait wait wait!" One of the generals exclaimed. "Even if we do move our defenses there, we have no guarantee that they are going to attack from there."

"Remember what happened last time you believed them?" I asked incredulously as I turned to face them. "Where's your balls?"

"You told us seeing is believing!"

I closed my eyes and nodded. "I did say that, but I lied. Oops. When you look, you're not actually seeing. Your brain is filtering what it believes to be unimportant. It's interpreting, and that is the basis of illusions. In order for you to actually see, you need to think."

"Let's say they attack Poole," A female general said. "We still don't have enough man or firepower to stop them."

"Before I get to that point, we need to figure out when they plan on attacking," I dismissed her concern. If I didn't have enough time to execute my plan, then nothing else would matter. I would have to be planning my escape.

"If they told us five months, then we would have less than five months."

"So half that and round down," Michael said. "2 months. We need to be prepared in two months."

"Diverting sufficient resources to Poole will take far longer than two months and be far harder." The general informed.

I rubbed my head. Just thinking about the logistics involved would cause anyone in the field a migraine and leave them with PTSD. So admittedly, when an extreme idea popped into my head that didn't involve coordinating several military operations.

"Why don't we pull a U.S. and just nuke their ass twice? One for each cheek."

"No!" Michael responded harshly and immediately. "I will not open Pandora's box!"

"You want to drop an atomic bomb on them?" The generals asked.

"It would end the war immediately!" I defended. "And plus, we'll know how many people will die. Like minimum 120,000 and maximum 220,000."

"You're insane!" Everyone else in the room yelled out.

"Bro chill, it was just a suggestion!" I raised my hand up. They were being so hostile for no reason! Actually, maybe making atomic bombs is a bad idea. Introducing it would've kicked off a new arms race that wouldn't be so pretty.

"Just to be clear, that's off the table right?"

"Yes!" All of them replied.

"Yeesh, I got it." I said in a passive voice. "So we're back to our original problem."

"Resources or time?" Michael asked.

"Both," I answered with a heavy sigh and furrowed my eyebrows, deep in thought.

An idea came to mind as I clicked my tongue. "We can begin diverting resources to Poole, but focus on explosives. As many as you can."

"Explosive?" Michael asked. "You want to set a trap for them?"

"Part of the reason. Explosives will take care of a great deal of them, but there will still be too much," I began. "No, I want to use them to create trenches."

Michael thought about my idea before laughing. "If we make trenches too soon, they'll know that we know and abort the operation. You want to make it a few days before and use explosives to finish it off and increase the covered area."

"That's the idea," I said in a fake cheerful voice. "We'll lose, but we need to lose slowly in order to have a chance at victory."

"What about offense?" A general asked. "We can't win if we don't go offense."

Michael turned to me. "I assume it's a part of your grand plan."

"Leave that to me," I drawled out, still deep in thought. "While we're on that subject, I need all intercepted communications."

"I'll just grant you level 7 clearance," Michael said as he began typing on the keyboard. My computer screen went black before finally rebooting. Opening the file explorer, I saw that there were more files that I could access.

I opened a few files and looked at it. They were encrypted. I tilted my head. "What encryption standard do they use?"

"They use PGP," Michael answered.

"Oh, I can crack that." I responded casually.

"You can crack PGP encryption?"

"My jet has too much power, so I have to use it on something. I have a quantum computer built-in for an AI autopilot."

"Of course you do," He answered with a sigh. Suddenly, his face lit up and his eyes narrowed on me, as if he had just processed my words. "Just how much did you gain from your deal?"

"A lot more than you think," I replied enigmatically. "But it should take a day to decrypt all this."

"The data will be a gold mine!" A general said with a joyful voice.

"It will," I mumbled quietly before I stood up. "Well, if that'll be all, I think it was pretty productive."

I faced everyone, seeing if there were any objections. They all looked at me incredulously. "What? I'm hungry?"

Michael shook his head with amusement as he spoke. "We've accomplished a lot today. It might be a good idea to take a break and start working on our defense."

Everyone nodded and began to rose up. I left the clean-up to them as I headed towards the door. Looking at it, I realized I didn't have an ID card to get out. I turned around.

"Yo Michael, I need you to ope-" I began before I heard the unmistakable sound of the door opening. I heard the metal move and the mechanical whirling get louder and louder.

I turned to see a young girl. If I had to guess, she was around mine and Michael's age. She had long black hair and brown eyes. She wasn't tall yet wasn't short. About 5" 4'. She wore casual clothes, a red T-shirt and some ripped jeans.

"Michael, we have a problem," She said before the door fully revealed me. When it did, we were left facing each other, both of us scrutinizing the other.

"Who are you?" We both asked.