Dr. Kavya Malhotra, First‑Person POV

I arrive at the forward operating base before sunrise, the sky bruised violet above the icy plateau. The wind's off‑axis howl bites through my layers, turning breath into fire in my lungs. Captain Khanna's new assignment has brought him here—an advanced trauma support unit tucked halfway up the glacier road—yet I doubt he'd asked for the cold. He didn't ask for any of this.