Severance: A Hardlands Prelude

At midnight in Darwin, the cables go dark. By dawn, Australia will never be the same.

Lieutenant Kailana Reyes watches her screens in disbelief as Australia's digital lifeline to Singapore dies in real time. Across the continent, infrastructure fails in perfect sequence-not random breakdowns, but coordinated attacks designed to cripple a nation without firing a shot.

This is Day Zero. Twenty-four hours that will redefine what it means to be Australian.

Prime Minister Patricia Keating faces an ...