The Silver Eagle Fallout and Creation of the Gifted
By D. Hillinck
World War III, The Consolidation War, began not in the previous battlefields of Europe, but in the silence of space. In 2046, the United States President, Beatrice Ford, gave the green light to a mission. The Silver Eagle Operative. If anyone were to have asked President Ford about the project before it was signed into action, her response would have been a confused start and a dismissal accompanied by a concise, “Never heard of it”. This was not a lie. Unlike most politicians, Ford would have been telling the truth. The Silver Eagle Operative was so secretive, that until President Ford was informed of its existence the only people who knew was the research and engineering team assigned to the mission.
The project had originally been founded under the strenuous tensions of the Cold War under President John F. Kennedy’s office in 1962. Before man ever set foot on the moon, Kennedy had organized a group to achieve a far more difficult objective; colonizing Mars. He saw the limitless potential of an entire new planet for the USA. With the resources of Mars and nearby high quality minable asteroids, Kennedy foresaw an American supremacy of space. If they controlled space, then there would be no need to fear the Soviets. After all, if they ever took offensive action, the US would be able to retaliate effortlessly and crush the threat.
The President understood the gap in technology needed and even better understood the need for secrecy. Using private contractors and the excuse of the space race to bolster NASA funding even further, Kennedy was able to construct an incredibly sophisticated and enormous underground research facility complete with tons of metals, ores, and every other rare resource that scientists and engineers could potentially use. With an estimated square footage over twenty square miles, the facility contained every modern tool and plenty of equipment, all hidden away underneath the Appalachian Mountains. With a base of operations complete, the President began poaching the best and brightest in rocket science, chemical engineering, material science, and dozens of other specialties.
Unfortunately for the President, the USSR noticed the unusual disappearances of NASA scientists and was watching Werner Von Braun, a world renown rocket scientist, before he could be brought into the program. To save the secrecy of Silver Eagle Operative, President John F. Kennedy desperately unleashed a shocking news report to the world, America was going to the moon. It worked. The USSR scrambled to adjust to the new objective in the Space Race, while Kennedy used the support the public gave the Moon mission to cautiously finalize and sweep Silver Eagle under the carpet.
As the years progressed, the team maintained strict isolation working on the project leaving the site only to recruit more members.
And so the years passed.
The USSR imploded, yet the project continued under the unanimous vote of all the staff.
Scientific revelations were discovered. Engineering designs drafted, created, and improved. Finally, after 84 years the colonization fleet was ready. But the world was not.
Once President Ford signed the operation into effect, seventeen rockets flew out from the Appalachian Mountains scaring hikers and wildlife. Seconds after the launch, President Ford announced humanities greatest journey yet was underway. That humanity could soon call Mars home. Seconds after the announcement various world leaders threatened, congratulated, pleaded, and praised the White House.
But twenty seconds into the launch, a lone missile rose from the mid-Atlantic targeting the lowest rocket. As the missile gained on the heavier slower rocket, militaries around the world began to hear alarms as the higher echelons feared the worst.
What happened next has been theorized to have occurred in many ways with two prevalent theories.
First was that the missile struck and destroyed the rocket, crashing the debris down onto the eastern Mainland of the United States. The Russians (or potentially the Chinese) claimed the attack and attempted to justify is a communication error with the HAMDS (High Altitude Missile Defense System) due to the short time interval between being briefed on the rocket launches and the actual launch.
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The second theory was that the rocket destroyed the incoming missile before it could detonate. With this revelation the world saw the monstrosity the US was attempting by putting warships into space and therefore breaking the Newman Treaty of 2034, which banned weaponized satellites and ships in orbit and above Earth.
The actual events that occurred have been lost to time as all records were lost in the war that followed. While a fog of mystery hid the perpetrator, the world split into two sides in a conflict of nations. World War III began with the U.S.A allied alongside the U.K., Germany, India, Canada, France, Japan, and Australia. But Russia, China, Brazil, Italy, United Korea, and the newly formed Arabian Empire, opposed the predominant space faring nations. As both sides prepared for war, the rest of the world tried to broker peace before it was too late.
They were too slow.
Without warning, nuclear explosives began to burn the face of Earth. New York, London, Hong Kong, Berlin, Tokyo, New Delhi, and Jerusalem all crumbled away before the Silver Eagle fleet managed to pass the moon. With the death toll already in the hundreds of millions and climbing, the enraged nations only agreed to ban nuclear weapons when the neutral countries intervened in a desperate attempt to save Earth before humanity destroyed itself. The war that followed lasted over 10 years. After two years of fighting the opposing sides each individually grouped together to form their own superpowers, the Pacifica Alliance and the Eastern Bloc. From there the fighting intensified and grew bloodier. Soon every continent, even Antarctica, saw bloodshed. The Middle East was hit the worst, as the two superpowers often met to fight over the oil reserves. Soon the everlasting bombings turned the oil deposits aflame, doomed to burn until the war itself burned out.
While the Earthbound armies mercilessly butchered each other, a thriving society flourished on Mars. Disgusted by the barbaric war between the two factions, the Martian society had long separated from the Pacifica Alliance and pleaded with both sides for peace. Acting as an intermediate, they were able to get the lead generals to see the futility of the war and broker peace between the two militaries despite the refusal of each nations’ politicians to admit defeat. With the support of the public, both militaries managed to remove their obstinate leaders and unite together for the ultimate peace.
Rising from the ashes of humanities worst decade, The Phoenix Empire became a symbol of freedom and revivalism to the remaining humans numbering a scarce 3 billion. And on February 19, 2056 with the signing of The Declaration of Unity and Constitution of Humanity, Earth became one democratic nation alongside Mars.
But peace was short-lived.
Soon unexplainable events began occurring. A teenager managed to survive a shuttle crash which completely pulverized all the other passengers onboard without a scratch. A youth gang in New Tokyo managed to rob 14 banks without once being caught on camera. The only clue they were ever there were the notes they left taunting the police.
Finally, after numerous sightings and stories of almost supernatural gifts amongst the younger members of society, scientist from Olympia, the lone city of Mars, discovered genome mutations amongst the gifted specimens. All the afflicted showed changes to their base DNA from radiation absorbed after the initial nuclear stage of The Consolidation War.
The changes were miniscule, yet the affects could never be truly charted. Scientist tried mapping the genome structures, but despite finding out that the alterations were located in seemingly useless parts of the “junk DNA”. This is the DNA that humanity originally deemed to have no effect on the human body and its growth.
We were wrong.
Composing 98.8 percent of our DNA, junk DNA quickly became the subject of research around the world as new “Gifted” appeared. As the years passed and scientists were unable to duplicate the changes, the Gifted rose to the top of society. Their unique abilities and skills allowed them an untouchable advantage in whatever they pursued. Even the weakest of the Gifted were soon viewed far more favorable than an ungifted human.
Lately there has been an increase in the number of religious cults appearing throughout the Empire with roots primarily in the old religions of the Romans, Greeks, and Egyptians. They claim that the gifted are the reincarnations of the old gods and worship them fully. The most prominent cult sees the gifted as a sign of a future rebirth of humanity to a higher state. While they are not violent they have been caught disturbing the peace to end rallies against the Gifted.
With their numbers rising, I fear a new wave of change will envelope our society and not for the benefit of humanity.
Davied Hillinck
Historian/ Professor at Olympus University
Copyright 2074 Olympus Times