Page 231 of Commander’s Mate

He considered.

“So?”

“So we use what the enemy wrote without automatically opening every survivor file.”

He looked irritated.

Good.

I was learning to recognize productive irritation.

“Aggregate it,” I said.

“Explain.”

“Tell command that route seventeen correlates with technical labor. Do not send them everyone’s medical history, family links, or private statements.”

“That reduces verification.”

“Then ask for permission when you need individual verification.”

Scarlet nodded.

“Need-to-know.”

Tivid looked at her.

“Military concept.”

“Civilian rights concept too.”

He looked back at me.

“You two are becoming inconvenient.”

“Thank you.”

We built a restricted intelligence layer.

Trafficker metadata could be analyzed broadly.

Survivor-provided information required purpose-based access.

The distinction felt obvious once we wrote it.

Apparently most useful rules did.

The route analysis changed Breskaa.

Not the mission.

The assumptions.

Sector Six went from “high-output mining labor” to “probable skilled-worker concentration.”

That meant maintenance hubs.

Emergency controls.