“That’s either the solution or a virus from 2014,” Mariana said.

Mariana tapped the cool metal casing. “You’re holding on,” she whispered.

Using a serial cable—the kind of physical connection that no fancy web interface could block—she uploaded the firmware via XMODEM. The transfer took forty-seven minutes. The amber light held its breath.

Mariana exhaled. “Cisco SG200-50,” she said, patting the chassis. “You’re not end-of-life yet.”

“It’s not broken,” said Kai, the comms tech. He was leaning against the damp bulkhead, scrolling through a three-year-old forum post on his phone. “It’s obsolete. Cisco end-of-life’d the SG200 series last spring. No more security updates. No more signed certificates.”