September 23, 2025
Fragment 3: Sasha - SITREP

Sasha Holmes steadied her breath in large, mostly empty office room. Luis Cavarro, the White House Chief of Staff, stood opposite her at the desk hastily filled with paper maps and figurines. It was silent when the two of them weren't speaking, aside from a steady hum of drone wings outside. The world was still waking up, light beginning to dance on the horizon. On the other side of the door from them was the situation room, where the President and Joint Chiefs were deliberating.

"Run this through with me one more time before you take it to the President." Luis managed to sound supportive, though he was more critical of what Sasha had to say than his tone conveyed.

"Well, we know that classified comms are still intact. HF radio -"

Luis held up a hand, indicating to her that she'd just used an acronym the President wouldn't understand. Sasha had a hard time remembering that just because she was speaking to the head of the executive branch, they didn't know absolutely everything. She rephrased and continued.

"High Frequency radio networks are still functional, like the one we use at FEMA, as are most secured voice channels run by the military. I know this because I was operating our regular SHARES nationwide radio check-in when the internet failed."

Luis moved his hand in a circle, motioning for her to get on with it.

"We know that all public internet backbones are offline, as are all of the devices, wired or wireless, that were in communication with any of these networks. As you've probably noticed -"

"Don't assume what this audience has noticed."

"I feel like we could save some time by just doing this in the next room over." Sasha complained.

As if on cue, the door to the situation room opened and both Luis and Sasha's eyes widened in panic. A tall, handsome man in his early 50's stood in the frame. The President smiled at them. "Hey guys, thanks for being here. We're trying to get ahead of this thing, so why don't you just come in and join us?" He invited them into the room, where six or seven other high-ranking military and government officials were all wrapping their heads around the gravity of the situation. Sasha's brain couldn't keep up with her eyes, it was so surreal. She thought she recognized the Vice President, and a general she had seen on the news? The other people in suits were a blur.

There was an aide in the corner with headphones on, seated in front of a large portable radio, furiously scribbling notes into a pad. The President saw Sasha taking the whole scene in, and how she showed a particular interest in the operator.

"You're a radio operator Sasha, am I right?"

She nearly blushed. "Yes sir."

"Well, I heard from my staff that you helped coordinate the radio response so that the HF airwaves didn't become a total rat's nest." The President flexed his knowledge of the situation.

Sasha threw a side eye at Luis. "Yes, sir."

"Please, call me Jamie. We had this set dusted off from storage and put out as soon we got the news. We've been trying to keep tabs on all transmissions in the diplomatic channels, but we're having to change operators every thirty minutes or so."

"Security measure?" Luis asked.

"Carpal tunnel," Jamie responded. "Turns out that for all their many strengths, the main weakness of a Gen-Z staff is handwriting."

Sasha chuckled. Jamie flashed a smile, but became serious again in a blink. "Now why don't you tell us everything you learned this morning? Some news made it here, but I'm afraid without the internet, we're operating at a pretty low bitrate."

"Well, like I was telling your chief of staff, we know that all internet connected devices worldwide were disconnected and subsequently bricked at 2:59 AM, eastern. As you know, the package deliveries were simultaneous to this as best we can tell. Many institutions are still receiving trains of drones delivering thousands of packages of documents, the Pentagon being one of them."

"What about our adversaries?" Jamie asked.

"We know that they experienced the exact same blackouts as us. Even China's networks are all offline. Every large world power maintains several air-gapped networks that are not physically or even wirelessly connected to the rest of the world's internet infrastructure. These are also offline."

"Every single one?"

"Every one that we've asked about."

Jamie studied her, searching. "What do you think this is?"

Sasha had prepared herself for this question.

"I have no idea sir. I can tell you what it isn't. It's not an EMP - other electrical systems are unaffected, and the simultaneous global nature seems impossible to coordinate precisely."

"What about a hack?"

"It's possible, but the fact that every network is offline means that either the hacker hit themselves as well, or that it wasn't a nation-state that took this action."

A blonde woman in a sharp suit entered the conversation. She wore a badge bearing the initials "CIA" on her lapel. And a title - "Director." Sasha gulped. The woman spoke.

"What makes you think every nation-state's network is actually offline? You're a radio operator, not an analyst."

Sasha responded, "When this happened, the radio response was exactly the same as previous mega-disasters like the last Japanese earthquake. Everyone communicates in a coordinated frenzy, maximal information is shared. It's unfiltered, no agenda other than trying to surface the most intel that could lead to the best decisions. The other radio operators I spoke to all had that in their voice."

The Director's eyes narrowed. "Reasonable assessment, but I assume this means you shared news of the United States' networks also being offline."

Before the President had time to intercede in the brewing argument, another military man rushed in to the room. Four stars on his shoulder.

"Mr. President. I've gotten word about the nuclear arsenal."

"And?" The President asked.

The General grimaced.