Marcus was not happy at all, their situation was already dire enough, and yet, while he tried to look 'underneath the underneath' and mentally steeled himself for almost any event, from an alien invasion to an all-out surprise nuclear strike, he was not prepared for this pure, unadulterated lunacy.
He entered the meeting hall, with a calm fury threatening to bubble up and smash its way out as a tsunami of unfiltered rage, yet he kept his emotions in check. 'I am the fucking President of the United States, not a child! Keep it together, Marcus!' he screamed inside his mind.
Everyone in the room stood at attention after seeing their Commander in Chief, the U.S. President, enter the room.
"At ease!" said Marcus with an exasperated edge in his speech, not a moment later, he ordered, "Report!"
High-ranking military and government officials filled the dark room, only illuminated by the dim glow of the massive screens surrounding the situation room.
The Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Homeland Defense, shoulder to shoulder, began.
"Mr. President... We have lost all contact with our Orbital Satellite Network, leaving us completely blind and deaf, the reason why I'm the one telling you this is that, as protocol and Nuclear Military Doctrine indicate, should we fail to establish lines of communication with our remaining Nuclear Silo Facilities before 42 hours pass... they will initiate an automatic, all-out nuclear strike in predetermined coordinates.", explained the Secretary of Homeland Defense, Jonathan Wright, keeping a professional front outside, while almost shitting himself on the inside as the implications of such an event sunk-in.
Marcus lost all color on his face immediately but didn't show any outward signs of nervousness, the man stood unmoving and eerily quiet for seconds that felt like hours, and finally, he started barking orders just like he used to do during the World War, slipping back into his Supreme Commander persona.
"I want all of our AWACS and Recon aircraft on the air right now! We brought them back to the mainland a few days ago now is the time to use them! Get those wings in contact with the remaining active launch sites ASAP! Tell them that I, the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, order them to immediately stand down, and to NOT carry out a launch no matter what! Have them spread the order through whatever means necessary, is that clear?!"
"Sir, yes sir! Cristal!", said everyone in the room, the U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff immediately began to carry out his task and organized the operation.
"And what about our nuclear submarines?", asked Marcus, a headache already beginning to nag at his composure.
One of the officials cleared his throat and spoke up.
"As you know, Mr. President, we ended up losing some of them in the massive fleet battles of the Pacific, the 'nuke duels' we had with the Chinese on that front finished with entire Strike Groups destroyed, and a couple of our subs being able to retreat amid the chaos. After the war ended, we recalled all of them to the mainland as part of the Treaty of Stockholm, which prohibits the deployment of nuclear submarines on international waters for at least 20 years. They are all docked and unarmed.", said the Chief of Naval Operations, Walter Thompson, a calm and collected visage accompanying his rough, sharp expression.
Marcus gave him a firm nod, pleased with the answer, "Walter, have at least a squadron of ships from each of our remaining CSGs (Carrier Strike Groups) patrol the waters around the mainland as far out their supply situation allows for, order them to report anything and everything out of place they see immediately. Normally we would deploy aircraft for this purpose, but our Air Force is going to be busy with the... nuclear facility situation. We need these remaining Aircraft Carriers at home, so they are off-limits! Do you understand?" He finished, sipping on a bit of water to hydrate his dry throat.
"Sir, yes sir!" Answered the Chief of Naval Operations, who also, began to carry out his assigned task in the far corner of the room, using one of the computers to try and get in contact with the Navy.
"Anything else of importance that I need to be aware of?", asked Marcus, a full-blown migraine now present around his skull, not a pleasant feeling at all.
"Mr. President, some of the convoys we sent to the west coast have arrived at the AO, they reported something very strange... it seems like the area has no fallout, no contamination or radiation signals, nothing! It's as if something sucked it all out of the area with no trace left behind... however, the destruction is... the worst our country has ever seen since its founding.", said one of the officials, looking down in regret.
A minute of silence was given in respect for their fallen countrymen and women, however, they had no option but to keep going, to honor those who were no longer with them, and those who were still fighting for their lives, they would overcome this challenge with the full might of the United States.
"...Any theories on what might've caused this... peculiarity?" asked Marcus, with an unreadable expression on his face.
"I might have the answer for that."
The doors opened with explosive intensity, as a white-robed man, recognized by everyone as the highest-ranking scientist of the R&D Department of the U.S. Armed Forces, "Dr. Micheal Hartz, you never fail to pull up when most needed, what've you got for us?", asked one of the many officials in the room.
"Yours truly indeed, as I was saying, I have a theory about this, and it may have to do with the... 'Anomaly' we have been keeping tabs on.", began the scientist, while rubbing his chin thoughtfully, a moment later, he continued, "That thing was like none other we have ever seen before, the readings we got from our sensors should be complete mathematical impossibilities... yet after looking at the data, double and triple-checking it even, we think that it has somehow absorbed all the radioactive material, including its residual energy, right off the land.", he finished with a hardened expression.
Silence filled the room, then a small commotion began to take shape, most of it being speculation while a small part of the discussion was centered around the fact that this was an unexpected, but welcome gift for a nation that had one of its coasts almost glassed into a nuclear wasteland, however, it didn't last long since the President raised his hand, the quiet order received, everyone immediately stopped.
"This is indeed an interesting development, a welcome one for sure, but I heavily doubt that the 'Anomaly' simply did its thing and had no consequences after the fact, what else have you got on it?"
"So far, the only thing we know from the brief satellite data obtained before the loss of our connection to them in the lab, is that the 'Anomaly' ended up expanding a considerable deal, the readings indicated high amounts of chaotically... stable energy, spreading very far away, we don't know the full extent of it from the Ground Zero, but I can guarantee that it covered the entirety of the mainland and then some.", Micheal finished, with a look of cautious curiosity making itself known.
The room was once more motionless, while the information was being processed by its occupants.
"What about the '8-Hour Black Out' we had yesterday? Does it have anything to do with the 'Anomaly'?", asked the Secretary of Defense.
"That's a fair question, one that I do not have the answer for just yet though. However, I would put my money into saying that it has some correlation.", answered the scientist, not a moment later, the President interrupted.
"While all this talk about the 'Anomaly' is thought-provoking, let's not get carried away from our main priorities right now, we will find out more about what happened soon enough. For now, let's focus on the task at hand.", Marcus exclaimed, taking the reins of the conversation once more.
"Mr. President!", screamed one of the officials working hard at a military computer, a single of many that littered the room. "I... I don't know how to say this, but all signs point towards... the fact that we didn't lose communication with the satellites, they are just not there anymore."
"What did you say?! That's impossible! Not even China's anti-satellite capabilities could've shot down thousands of them in a single night!", screamed Marcus, now losing his cool momentarily, before taking a deep breath and calming himself down.
"What makes you say that?", he asked warily.
"Satellites have very distinct beacons that are always visible even when jammed or otherwise destroyed unless they were completely vaporized, there is no possible way that every single one of them is not giving off a ping... this is the only feasible theory, and it would normally be the craziest one. But somehow, someway, they are just... not there anymore." explained the same man as before.
Nobody dared to speak further, as the President just let a tired sigh out, "I will go to the office just in front of this room to calm down and think clearly. Call me if there are any pressing news or reports that I need to know about. All of you, work on getting to the bottom of what the actual fuck is going on."
He didn't elaborate further after that and immediately left.
The White House
6 Hours After 'The Meeting'
The President was seated on a random desk inside the office in front of the meeting room, trying to come up with the best way to act in this situation, he had on his hands a war-torn country, with an economy on the brink of the worst depression in history, a ravaged military that has lost a severe amount of its combat capabilities, and now this? He felt truly helpless now, he, the one who gained the fame and renown of the Supreme Commander, was now absolutely lost.
A soft knock echoed inside the room, and moments later, a figure was visible. It was none other than the Vice President of the United States of America, Kevin Williams.
"How are you holding up, brother? I know everything seems fucked up now, but we have a country to run, don't we?", said the man jokingly.
Marcus had the shadow of a smile graze his face, "Is just... I don't know what to do... man, I can't think of a single administration that had to deal with this much bullshit all at once — not even during World War I and II — the mainland never got to truly feel the consequences of battle on its soil since the Civil War.", the man clenched his fists in frustration, "And now this situation has thrown a massive wrench at our plans! Diverting our limited resources like this is affecting our schedu-".
"Don't give me that shit.", interrupted Kevin, "We can't break down just because of this, a strong leadership is needed in this country now more than ever! So instead of whining, pull yourself together and come with me, I was told that they finally got some intel on what just happened, sober up!", finished the 39-year-old Vice-President, with a determined expression on his face.
Marcus looked deep in thought for a second, then a moment later he just nodded while having a neutral expression, and followed Kevin out of the office and into the situation room. All eyes fell on them as they entered, confident and refreshed.
Everyone stood at attention briefly, before the President dismissed the formalities and went straight to business.
"So, what's the current situation?", he asked plainly.
"Mr. President, we have been able to conduct extensive recon operations from our naval assets, using drones and helicopters to speed up the process, one of our drones was able to record something... interesting.", said the Chief of Naval Operations, immediately after pressing a button, enabling a live feed on the big screen in the room, albeit at a mediocre quality — they didn't have the satellites for good, long-range signals — still, the navy's systems were enough for this task.
The President was in awe at the video he was watching with his own two eyes.
An opulent, beautifully designed late-medieval ages city was exposed for the world to see, reptilian creatures pulling carts around, men dressed like crude pilots riding on mythical-looking avians, people that had animalistic features like feline-looking ears or tails... it was like...!
"This looks like something out of these novels I used to read before the Third War...", muttered Markus, his jaw on the floor from the sheer shock and disbelief.
And speaking of nuclear war, suddenly, the Air Force Chief of Staff entered the room, panting and sweating bullets, then he straightened up immediately, stood at attention, and reported, "Mr. President! I apologize for my rudeness, but I have extremely important news to give! We have been able to restore communications to the nuclear launch sites using the aircraft we scrambled as 'anchors', they have received the order to stand down and have done so, the situation has been solved!", he stated in a single breath, almost seeming like the man was about to pass out on the spot.
Everyone inside the room let a collective sigh of relief out of their systems, that's one more thing they didn't need to worry about, however, now there was another pressing matter that demanded their attention, even the Air Force Chief was speechless when his eyes locked with the massive meeting room's screen.
"Are we sure that this is not an elaborate trick from one of those Chinese hackers and their Electronic Warfare?", asked the Vice-President, not believing what was shown on the monitor.
"I am positive, we have not detected any tampering with our systems, this is not a trick or an elaborate prank, this is the real deal... We may not be on Mother Earth anymore.", proclaimed Walter, "As Chief of Naval Operations, I guarantee the veracity of this video with my career on the line.", he finished.
Everyone let the declaration truly settle in on their brains, they wanted to retort, to deny such preposterous claims, however, they couldn't find an argument to refute his claim, it all lined up, the disappearance of the satellites, the loss of communications with foreign nations, the 'Black-Out', the fact that there was no radioactive material left in American soil just after the Third World War was over, even dangerous isotopes that would've taken years to decay... Something, perhaps the universe itself, had twisted the strings of fate, space, and time with ease, and the results were breathtaking.
"...Dr. Hartz, do you think that such a thing is possible?", asked Marcus, trying to put the final nail in the coffin, before he started to strategize and carry out his next course of action — he needed the professional opinion of the most brilliant mind this nation had to offer — they would make history, here and now.
"I think... that he is correct.", declared the scientist with conviction, as the video on the screen showed a massive castle, built with the finest architecture of this kind the men inside the room had seen. "The data we have collected should all be mathematically and physically impossible, but the facts are clear, it appears that something much beyond our understanding has occurred, that's my professional take, but if y'all want to know my personal opinion, I'd say that we shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth."
"Why do you say that?", asked the Secretary of Homeland Defense, curious to hear the man's insight on this situation.
"Think about it, Earth, our homeworld, was almost completely destroyed by the time the war ended, the air was contaminated, radiation reigned unopposed in the waters of the seas and much of the drinkable sources we had were littered with fallout, our lands were rendered uninhabitable at least for a decade, and most nations just completely collapsed. There was no future in a place like that, we would've survived, but at what price?", explained the scientist with pragmatism, "We have a potentially untapped world filled with lands and natural resources, that we could, — no, must — find and attain, all of you are aware of this fact, this is our ace-in-the-hole to recovery and prosperity.", finished Michael, with conviction that left the people around him impressed, his logic was sound and realistic.
As he explained this, the video feed showed the perspective from other drones in different areas, one of them showed a pristine, green, vast landscape, with mountains in the far background, clear rivers running steadfastly through the crevices of the earth, trees that spoke of highly nutritious, highly potent grounds for agriculture, strange animals none of them recognized, some of them with some semblance of primitive intelligence.
A group of goblins appeared in the video feed, and the President himself was starting to feel a little bit giddy, what nobody knew was the fact that he was a bit of a closet fantasy nerd, of course, he never thought that his extensive knowledge would be useful, but if there was a moment for it to shine, this was the time.
"Those are goblins, they are supposed to be pretty dumb, but they seem to be at least primate-level in terms of intelligence here.", said the President with a smirk on his face.
Everyone looked at him in surprise, and one of the officials asked him the unspoken question of what was lingering on each of their minds.
"Mr. President, with all due respect, how do you know this?"
"Simple, this world seems to take some aspects observed in fantasy and fiction stories, I used to be... a fan of those. So I do have some knowledge about this, although it seems like not everything is one-to-one, at least we can use those as a reference for some of the things we've seen.", Markus explained, while on the screen the goblins seemed to be hunting some kind of deer-like animal, and failing miserably at it.
Everyone just observed the events in silence, still processing the facts and everything they had learned so far, after a minute, their leader decided that this was enough evidence to inform them of his next decision.
"I believe we need to focus on three main objectives as a country for at least one or two years.", he began, raising his voice so that everyone paid attention, he raised one finger, "We need to open diplomatic talks with the nation we saw on the first video feed, and gather information about this world, its culture, other countries that we should be aware of, and negotiate trade or resource exploitation agreements. Heck, even better if we can broker a deal and get both of those things.", he paused, looking around to see if anybody was opposed, when nobody said anything, he continued.
He raised another of his fingers, "Second, we need to explore the lands we have just found that seem to have no claim or civilization settled in there, once we can map out the region significantly, we should send an expedition and claim it all for ourselves.", declared Markus, shocking them at the implications, they were about to protest, but a cold look was enough to make them hold back and let him finish.
"This country has an insatiable hunger for resources, which we don't have access to anymore, we don't possess the trade supply lines we relied on. And I think that we've learned our lesson from the Third World War. Having to depend on foreign powers for economic stability and production capabilities is a fool's errand, one we must not repeat at all costs. America will be self-sufficient, no matter what. Trade is a bonus — one we will of course exploit as much as possible — but it is not the end-all-be-all.", Markus argued, trying to get his point across.
"Let us focus on selling as many quality products as possible, and buying at a high level only while we are still recovering, we will slowly phase in our domestic market to meet the needs of the people and go from there.", he finished, now sounding more convincing for everyone else. Although they had their qualms about colonization, they couldn't deny the benefits. The Secretary of Commerce had to admit it was the better way to do things.
"Of course, will only do such a thing if the land is one hundred percent unclaimed and no people are living in there, we don't want a repeat of the British Empire. Is that correct?", said Vice-President Kevin, quickly dispelling the doubts they had.
"Yup, we don't need another Africa in this world.", assured the President.
"Sir, if I may speak, I would suggest that we also focus on getting a new satellite network back online, our IMINT, SIGINT, and ELINT capabilities are all crippled without them.", said the NASA Administrator, who has so far been listening and waiting for his moment to intervene.
"Indeed, talk to the head of SpaceEkz, and organize this operation, I want the line back online by the end of the month, those reusable ships are going to be our trump card in this situation. I will get you both proper funding ASAP, carry out the task and we will iron out the details in time.", answered Markus, pleased with the suggestion.
The NASA Administrator nodded in affirmation, leaving the room to immediately contact Gilan Mask, the CEO of SpaceEks.
Markus looked back at everyone else and raised one last finger, "The third and final focus will be on reconstruction and recovery, let's face it, America is a shadow of its former self. Our military suffered the worst blow in our history, the cities are covered with extensive damage, and our economy is on the brink of a depression never seen before.", he started, a concerned tone making its way through his voice, everybody looked down in defeat.
"However!", he exclaimed, with a confident edge to his voice.
"We have to begin carrying out steps one and two before we can properly execute this final operation. I call this plan 'Operation Phoenix Eagle'. Just like the Phoenix rises from the ashes, we will spare no efforts and resources into rising once again as the world's strongest superpower.", he proclaimed with passion as his strategy was laid out, this was the man who led America through the Third World War, and almost achieved a decisive conventional victory before their enemies opened the nuclear box. The defeatism of the room vanished and was replaced with pride and hope for the future.
"Gentlemen, we have much work to do, but we will prevail and WE WILL WIN! God bless the United States of America!"
The men all stood up and proclaimed to the heavens!
"God bless the United States of America!"
Being in a New World doesn't change that one bit.