Most alien sightings occur around the world but no one believes them. For generations after generations they pondered and debated on the existence of extraterrestrial civilizations. On August 17, 2019 humanity woke up to the answer.

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The prelude

On August 13, 2019 in Southeast Asia, a young man in his 20s was kidnapped by three robbers aiming to obtain huge money as ransom. However he managed to break free and hurt his captors with a leftover handgun. As he prepares to execute them in livestream as an angry protest against the unrelated Article 13/17 of the Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market a bright light appeared out of nowhere. He went out and saw a UFO on the ground then he decides it's right time to implement his "ultimate endgame" before going into it.

Inside the UFO the young man (we'll call him "The Collaborator" onwards) initiated 'first contact' with the highly-advanced aliens including by drawing a Pythagoras' triangle. He then persuaded the aliens to do his "ultimate endgame" and postulated that if Russia is left unchecked then it will post a threat to not just Earth but beyond per the "Dark Forest" theory.

The aliens initially countered that from their observation there are many other nations which isn't any better than Russia at all but The Collaborator argued that Russia is the biggest country in the Earth along with some tropes about their "barbaric natures" and the fact that they have large number of nukes which almost ended the world during the Cold War (including the 1983 false alarm incident), together with the fact that different from most countries, they hold a top seat at the United Nations (UN) security council which allowed them to violate international rules. He made an analogy to the Qin Dynasty in ancient China and linked it to its subsequent hegemony up to today so it would made sense to "make an example" out of Russia before it's too late. The aliens accepted his offer.

The Collaborator then is transformed into a cyborg and connected into a hive mind a la Borg while retaining his individuality. He was then given two sets of Avatar-style exobodies which outlooks were customized to an impulsive movie character of his liking.

The wormhole

On August 17 an alien spaceship dropped out of warp over Puerto Rico and broadcast a signal which Arecibo picked up. Afterwards a wormhole appears near the moon and a large alien fleet arrives, some of which pictures were captured by orbiting NASA Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. Then after a short series of feint movement(s) which includes a small ship briefly landing at New York City and its crew making a short excursion before leaving, some of the alien ships descend down to Moscow for the main task of capturing Vladimir Putin alive, while high above the spaceships began hovering above Russia while space tugs carrying asteroids and a superweapon capable of firing powerful lasers appears from the wormhole, standing by.

The invasion

A lone Russian anti-air battery shot up a missile to the alien ship but the latter's defensive laser quickly took care of the missile. UN declared a global emergency and emergency channels across the world are activated. 3 alien ships then descend into earth and captured the now-empty Kremlin palace while an antimatter missile is fired against the Moon to prove their power. In Washington D.C. Donald Trump is evacuated to the nuclear proof bunker under the White House while the United Kingdom briefly initiated the "Transition to War" plan.

While an emergency UN security council was ongoing, The Collaborator and the alien contingent at the captured Kremlin palace broadcast a message expressing their intent to forcefully resolve the Ukrainian war and for Putin to present himself and "help along" in resolving it or face utter and complete destruction of Russia in the hands of aliens. He also threatened that "any actions that interfere or might interfere theirs may constitute non-compliance which would meant an act of war that would saw Russia utterly destroyed in the ensuing unwinnable war.

Pandemonium ensued as global stock exchanges indefinitely suspended tradings, people stock up foods and whatever. Russia decided not to yield despite the alien's threat, vowing to fight until death.

The Decimation

Volleys of nuclear missiles fly up in sky across Russia to hit the alien ships however minimal damage were caused. After that the space tugs drops asteroid chunks against Moscow, Vladivostok and many other cities decimating them while salted bombs, antimatter bombs, relativistic bombs and alien sun guns hit most of the rest of Russian Federation.

Several autonomous republics including Chechnya and Kalmykia declares unilateral independence to be spared from the decimation - however these are not always reciprocated kindly by the aliens as Grozny is lit up by antimatter bombs afterwards.

After the aliens finished burning most of Russia, they and The Collaborator left the Earth altogether. The minimum casualties count is estimated to be at least 2 million. The survivors and the rest of the world would see it along the lines of "Apocalypse" and "Judgement Day".

Aside from Russia, North Korea's capital of Pyongyang is destroyed when it tried to exploit the situation and start the second Korean War.

The world will never be the same again.

Aftermath

In America, the unrelated concurrent impeachment and removal of Donald Trump in autumn 2019 which only worsened divisions and riots over the impeachment of the 45th President lead to forty eight deaths across the US over a period of six days. Newly sworn in President Mike Pence declared a state of emergency and ordered troops to support local authorities in restoring order.

Worldwide riots have occurred after "The Decimation" that are mainly caused by resulting food shortage which in turn caused by the altered weather wrought on by the alien's decimation. Some countries across the world like Venezuela and Syria collapsed like a house of cards after the sudden evaporation of Russia's military and economic support.

Surviving Russian refugees migrated to places like Europe, South America and Asia, causing great strain to these regions.

The Rise of Gilead

Pence ran in the 2020 election but lost narrowly to Democrat candidate Bernie Sanders. Many strongly social conservatives were devastated by Mike Pence's loss. In response, a recently retired Republican Senator joins the Phineas Priesthood and reorganized it to a centralized organisation, before merging it with groups such as elements of Atomwaffen to create the "Sons of Jacob" as an instance of life imitates art.

As the falling birthrates worldwide caused by the Decimation drove desperate couples in search of answers, the Sons of Jacob targeted these couples and soon their numbers were swelling. It wasn't long before the organisation had chapters in thirty different states. By 2022 it wasn't uncommon for members of state legislatures or town mayor's to be SoJ members, though by then the group only had a single member as part of the United States House of Representatives.

However, the senior members of SoJ, "The Committee", had already decided that America would not be righted at the ballot box and that more extreme measures would be needed to bring America back to righteousness. Plans got underway for a hostile takeover of the nation. Realizing that even with increased public support they still could never muster the numbers of come to power through democracy, they decided to infiltrate local and state governments. Those men and women would simply pretend to be secular . Some went on to win local elections as state representatives or senators , judges and police chiefs, all whilst maintaining a strict semblance of secularist outlooks to get votes.

When the time came these people would be the ones to reshape the nation. Americas state and federal institutions were being slowly but surely infiltrated.

Fliers were handed out by SoJ members around Washington DC particularly targeting Capitol Police officers and Secret Service agents, inviting them to meetings. Most fliers ended up in the trash but a few Secret Service agents and police officers went along to some meetings to see what the fuss was about. Slowly but surely and ever so carefully these men were indoctrinated.

On 1 May 2024, the United States was thrown into turmoil. During a Joint Session of Congress being addressed by the Vice President a dozen men took their seats in the Gallery. They were carrying semi automatic weapons hidden inside musical instrument cases. They were cleared for entrance by SoJ supporting Capitol policemen. At the same time, a Secret Service agent left a briefcase under a table in the White House bunker and the USAF Chief of Staff, secretly loyal to the SoJ left a bomb in a meeting room in the Pentagon.

President Sanders was rushed to the bunker along with his senior advisers as news came in of the Capitol attack. The bomb detonated less than five minutes later killing the President, his National Security Adviser and the Secretary of Defense.

The attack had originally been planned to coincide with the State of the Union Address, making it easier to wipe out the government in one fell swoop. However that would still leave one official left: the Designated Survivor. When all three branches meet together one member of the Presidential Line of Succession is secured in a bunker outside DC just in case there is an attack. To prevent having to hunt for the Designated Survivor the SoJ staged their attack on a day when a Designated Survivor was not needed therefore making it significantly easier to hunt down and kill all members of the US cabinet. By the end of May 1, the Office of the Presidency was vacant. The sole surviving member of US Senate, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska was in Anchorage for a personal vacation on the day of the attacks. As a result she was the sole surviving member of the United States Senate, declaring herself the President pro tempore of the Senate, hence placing her in the Presidential Line of Succession by default. Some would say her claim to the Presidency was Constitutionally dubious, but with all over members of the government dead people were happy to accept this new "President" , who promised to maintain democracy and freedom, unlike the new totalitarian regime that had risen in DC calling itself the "Republic of Gilead".

Over the next hour, every Supreme Court Justice was assassinated as were multiple Cabinet Secretaries, essentially wiping out the Federal Government. The Pentagon blast killed the Deputy Secretary of Defense along with all of the Joint Chiefs other than the USAF Chief who had planted it. It was he who took the reigns and declared the country under martial law, citing an absence of civilian authority.

SoJ sleepers in local governments across the country publicly announced their support for the martial law announcement. However in areas where the SoJ had not infiltrated local government there was more resistance.

By the time it started to become clear to surviving senior civilian and military officials this was not a terrorist attack but a coup attempt the SoJ were already assassinating State Governors across the country. The FBI Director, himself lightly wounded after a failed assassination attempt, went on live television and declared that the FBI had been investigating the Sons of Jacob but that the attack had begun before the FBI could move against them. The broadcast was cut off shortly afterwards as masked militiamen stormed the studio.

The Air Force Chief of Staff held a press conference announcing a speedy return to civilian rule and introduced The Committee, who were to head the nation until new elections could be held "sometime in the future".

The Committee announced a "temporary" suspension of the Constitution and blamed "ungodliness" for the "terror attack" that wiped out the previous government.

At this point, things escalated as multiple states outright refused to follow the new government. Despite attempts at taking out state governors across the US, some would escape the attempts. The Governors of Alaska, Hawaii, California, Utah, Texas, Florida and multiple others declared they did not recognize the impostors in Washington and claimed they believed that it was the SoJ behind the attack and not ISIS. "Free America" formed their own federal government and moved the national capital to Anchorage, Alaska, far from SoJ forces. In military bases nationwide , officers secretly loyal to the SoJ would order personnel they suspected of being unwilling to join the new regime to line up on parade grounds for inspection. SoJ militia members wearing fake military uniforms would be granted entry to the bases and would take part of firing squad executions of the unsuspecting military personnel on the parade grounds. Other troops were given a choice. Take a bullet or swear allegiance to the new regime. Many refused and took a bullet rather than betray their country.

The first shots were fired three days later as states loyal to the Constitution closed their borders to states where the SoJ had seized state governments. With the military in disorganized chaos with its chain of command broken and fighting breaking out between traitors and American patriots, the initial fighting would be between state police and Sons of Jacob militiamen. Regular military units would join in the fight (on both sides) in the following weeks.

By this point the SoJ had succeeded in their primary objective: destroying the American government and taking Washington. However they had failed to seize total control of the country as quickly as anticipated. They gave up the pretense of wanting to restore America and announced their real aim: creating a new nation out of the ashes of the old. The Republic of Gilead was proclaimed on May 7 2024 and so began the Second American Civil War.

The Second Civil War would ravage the nation for four years. When the US Armed Forces launched a major offensive in the Midwest a year after the coup , it seemed as though they may break though and push onto the east coast. The Republic of Gilead, in desperation, detonated several smuggled captured tactical nuclear weapons behind the American lines including the US loyalists strongholds in Denver, Houston, St Louis, Los Angeles and San Diego. This left Free America reeling in shock. They had not expected Gilead to nuke American soil.

Gilead declared they had several dozen more nuclear weapons hidden across "Free America" and would detonate them if the US military did not withdraw from the Mainland.

The Anchorage Government reluctantly conceded a week later after another nuke detonated in Las Vegas as a warning, destroying the "sinful city". And so the United States withdraw from the Second Civil War and relocated to Alaska and Hawaii along with the still loyal territories of Puerto Rico, Guantanamo Bay, Diego Garcia and Guam. Not all American forces accepted the surrender order from Anchorage however. The Illinois National Guard and Chicago Police Department would fight tooth and nail for to control of Chicago in a brutal siege that carries on to this day. The city is still supplied secretly across Lake Michigan by the Canadian military.

Free America may have been forced from the Lower 48, but refuse to abandon their claim over the former United States and still supply the Mayday Resistance group with arms and intelligence who have clawed back territory from Gilead across the West Coast and in Texas.

As of the time of Offred giving birth, most of the Contiguous United States has been occupied by Gilead, though outside the North East and Bible Belt pro American militias and Mayday continue to create havoc for Gilead.