Silent Giants in the Sky
February 15, 2010 – 4:45 AMEchelon Holdings Private Viewing Chamber – Kolkata
The viewing chamber was silent, save for the low hum of the projector illuminating the dark room. The massive screen displayed a live feed from Sriharikota, where GSLV Mk III stood tall against the dim pre-dawn sky, its payload bay concealing two of the most advanced telecommunications satellites in human history.
Aritra leaned back in his chair, his eyes locked onto the launch feed. The rest of Kolkata slept, unaware that the entire foundation of the global telecom industry was about to shift — and nobody would see it coming.
Beside him, a small table held two objects — the only two 5G-enabled devices on Earth. Slim, black, featureless — both had been bought from the system store less than 24 hours earlier.
Even the engineers at Titan Telecommunications had no idea these devices existed. To them, 5G was a distant concept, something that would emerge in maybe 2025, if the stars aligned. Yet here, in this room, it was reality.
5:28 AM – T-2 MinutesSriharikota Launch Control
"Range safety?""Green.""Flight systems?""All green.""Final payload check?""Nominal."
Aritra's fingers curled slightly. This was not just a launch. This was the birth of a global telecom infrastructure that no government, no regulator, no cartel could touch.
The countdown began.5…4…3…2…1…
The earth trembled.GSLV Mk III tore into the sky, twin pillars of fire lighting up the coastline.
7:15 AM – Geostationary Injection Completed
Far above the atmosphere, the payload fairing opened. Two sleek, polished satellites drifted free, panels deploying smoothly, sensors humming to life.
These were not relay satellites, not mere communication boosters. They were self-sustaining, quantum-encrypted, AI-optimized communication hubs, capable of handling trillions of connections directly — bypassing towers, cables, and land-based infrastructure entirely.
To ISRO, they were listed as 'commercial communication satellites.' Nothing more.
February 16, 2010 – The Leaks Begin
Titan Telecommunications Internal Server – 11:14 AM
A low-level software engineer named Abhishek Roy had spent the past three weeks curious about an encrypted folder deep within Titan's network. The folder was marked Project Umbra — a name no one had heard before. Titan's internal documentation mentioned nothing about it.
Curiosity became obsession.
Using backdoor access codes meant for system maintenance, he cracked the folder open.
Inside were documents detailing:
Orbital coordinates for two satellites.
Projected latency: 0.3 milliseconds.
Peak download speed: 4.5 Gbps to a single device.
Direct-to-device connection — no towers required.
Abhishek's first reaction was laughter.
No towers? That's impossible.
He assumed it was a conceptual exercise, maybe some future-looking brainstorming project. But the documents were stamped with "Active Implementation – Satellite Launch Confirmed."
His fingers shook.
Abhishek wasn't brave enough to leak it himself. Instead, he forwarded the files anonymously to an old college friend working at Telecore Group — the Bhardwaj family's flagship telecom giant.
The leak spread like wildfire through back channels.
February 17, 2010 – Emergency Meeting – Telecore Group Headquarters, Delhi
The Bhardwaj family's top executives gathered in a glass-walled conference room high above Connaught Place. Manish Bhardwaj, the patriarch, stood at the head of the table, the leaked documents projected behind him.
The numbers were absurd.
"4.5 Gbps directly to a phone? Without towers?" one executive sneered.
"This is science fiction," another said, leaning back with a smirk. "Some junior engineer probably drank too much bhang on Holi and made this up."
Manish didn't smile.
"We verified it," he said quietly. "Two satellites launched yesterday morning. The payload mass matches."
Silence.
"Even if the satellites are real," one executive insisted, "there's no way they can connect directly to phones. You need ground stations for handoffs. Spectrum allocation. Tower integration. This is basic telecom physics."
Manish didn't argue. They couldn't believe it — so they wouldn't.
But a seed of doubt had been planted.
February 17, 2010 – 9:00 PM – Prime Time Political Debate – National Election Network (NEN)
The leaked documents had found their way to the media, but only to select anchors who had deep ties with the old telecom lobby.
On NEN's flagship panel show, political analysts and telecom experts laughed openly at the "5G from the sky" fantasy.
Rajiv Khanna, the anchor, held up a printed page showing the alleged download speeds.
"Ladies and gentlemen," Rajiv grinned, "this document claims 5G speeds of 4.5 Gbps with no towers. No cables. Directly from space."
The panel erupted in laughter.
"This is what happens when tech boys think they can run a telecom empire," one analyst said.
"Exactly," chimed in another. "It's like claiming you can power a whole city with two potatoes and some copper wire."
The camera cut to a spokesperson from Telecore Group.
"This is why we need stronger regulations," the spokesperson said, barely hiding his amusement. "So that fantasy projects like these don't waste serious investors' time."
The mockery went on for nearly 20 minutes.
Aritra watched every second.
His face didn't change, but his fingers drummed softly on the edge of his coffee table.
February 18, 2010 – Echelon Holdings – Private Strategy Room
The strategy room was empty except for Aritra, Ishita, and Rajat. The massive holographic display showed the two satellites' real-time data feed.
Connected devices: 2Latency: 0.3 millisecondsCoverage area: 18% of Earth's surface
Aritra placed the two prototype phones on the table.
"We're invisible to them," he said softly. "They think this is fake."
Rajat grinned. "Let them laugh."
Ishita frowned slightly. "The leaks… should we tighten internal access?"
Aritra shook his head. "Let them leak. Right now, they're doing our job for us — discrediting what they don't understand."
The room fell silent, save for the quiet hum of the live data feed.
Across the table, the future of global telecommunications — dismissed as a joke on national television — had already begun to unfold in silence.
February 19, 2010 – Opposition Telecom Tycoons' Private Call
On a secure conference line, the heads of India's biggest telecom empires held a closed-door call.
"We need to push for an investigation," Manish Bhardwaj said."On what grounds?" someone asked."Unlicensed technology. National security risk. Spectrum violations. Make something up."
They didn't need truth. They just needed doubt.
"If they actually have satellites," one voice said cautiously, "and if they work…"
"They don't," someone interrupted. "Space 5G is a fantasy."
The line went quiet.
Because even they weren't sure anymore.