Alpha Program

The **Alpha Programs**refer to a series of illegal projects conducted by various government entities within the United States government to create new weapons, a new surveillance system to track people living in the United States, and to exploit viral reprogramming of the human genome to create superhumans. The object of these programs was to develop super-soldier-spies, augment the military with new technology to help them fight wars (through morally and ethically questionable means), and create a surveillance program that could track people 24/7 without their knowledge or consent.

## History

### Origins

The first traces of the program were discovered during the Cold War. In the early 1950s, it was discovered that a paramilitary group with ties to the United States government, the Iron Hand, was found to be genetically altering humans to turn them into superhuman soldiers. The project was shut down following the elimination or arrest of various parties within the program.

In 1960, a young woman named Agnes Peterson was kidnapped while on a missionary trip in Cuba. She was transported to an island off the East Asian coast and experimented on by the Communist Soviet Union, intending to use her as a weapon against the West. However, the experiment ultimately failed when Yuri Belov, a Soviet defector and fellow POW, helped Agnes escape. At around the same time, the United State military sent a task force to investigate the allegations of "illegal experimentation experiments" conducted on the island. What they led to what was dubbed as the "Keelval Island Incident": the soldiers had stumbled upon a research project known as Operation Iron Wolf, which focused not only on creating supersoldiers, but resurrecting extinct animals from the dead and using them as weapons of mass destruction against human beings. Agnes Peterson was found safe, but the team was stranded after their exfiltration vehicles were destroyed by dinosaurs. The team sought to capture Soviet watercraft and use it to get off the island, with the intention of telling the public of what had occurred. Fighting through the island, the soldiers sustained heavy casualties due to animal attacks and gun battles with the Soviet Union. After capturing a Soviet forward operating base, the strike team radioed for backup and were soon directed to a landing zone on the southern tip of the island. On the way there, the team battled more resurrected extinct animals, as well as Soviet soldiers, sustaining heavy casualties. However, Agnes and the remaining survivors were able to escape the island unscathed. Immediately after their escape, the United States declared the area a no-fly zone and the Navy blockaded the island off from the rest of the world to ensure that no one would ever step foot on the island again.

The programs escalated during Operation Desert Storm, where Miriam Scott, West Roman military policewoman and the wife of Timothy Scott, a US Army Ranger, learned of a program that involved the use of a super-soldier serum known as Valhalla that greatly enhanced humans, with the intention of creating an army of super-soldiers impervious to fear or pain and would have increased strength, athletic and fighting abilities, as well as greater combat aggression while fighting on the battlefield.

Years later, to prevent Miriam from telling the public about her findings, corrupt government officials hired assassins high on the superhuman serum to kill her and her family. Unfortunately, despite the efforts of Miriam and her husband Timothy Scott, the killers were able to fatally shoot Miriam, who soon died in Timothy's arms.

## Projects

### Operation North Pole

The first operation of the program was none other than Operation North Pole, though it came under fire from the government when, months after the death of Miriam Scott at the hands of contract killers high on Valhalla, widower and Miami Police officer Timothy Scott exposed the project to the public. Operation North Pole was soon subject to a massive government investigation and was shut down.

### Operation Blackfish

*Main article:*Operation Blackfish

The next iteration was Operation Blackfish, a variation of Operation North Pole that focused on using mind control techniques and morality breakdown procedures to brainwash people into becoming killers. However, this project went sideways when Tamara Sultanovich and a few operatives inside Blackfish discovered its true nature and defected from the CIA, leading to a CIA manhunt intending to kill Sultanovich and her allies before they could expose Blackfish like Scott had done with North Pole. Unfortunately, years later, during the notorious Hadford Incident in 2016, Operation Blackfish was exposed to the public as well and the project was soon shut down too.

### Operation Icarus

While the CIA was scrambling to save face in the wake of the subsequent government investigation (said to be the biggest investigation since the Watergate Scandal of the 60s), another government project codenamed Operation Icarus was brewing. This one, a joint venture between the Defense Department and a pharmaceutical company known as Crow Corporation, saw soldiers being genetically enhanced to become superhuman soldiers. This project was also exposed by a group of civilians, though time, the civilians had help from Black Rhino, later revealed to be the catalyst behind the discovery of Operation Blackfish.

### Operation Andromeda

Operation Andromeda, also known as the Andromeda Project, was a new program undertaken by the National Security Agency. Though it didn't involve superhuman assassins, it was illegal in that it involved an AI system known as Guardian, an artificial super intelligence created in a joint venture between the National Security Agency and the United States military to act as a mass surveillance system for the United States government. NIcknamed "the Machine", the AI system was revolutionary in that it doesn't just watch, it understands what it is watching. It had been programmed to log virtually everything about a human being, from addresses to even personal security numbers. It was this revelation that led to a team of vigilantes plotting to shut down Operation Andromeda by destroying it.

### Operation Prometheus

Also known as the Prometheus Program, this was a collaborative effort between the National Security Agency and a new government agency as the **Special Intelligence Division**, created to gather intelligence in areas too dangerous for even the CIA and to operate in. This organization emphasized the use of a small team of agents (known as "sleepers") supported by a high-tech remote team with orders to infiltrate secure installations, seize critical or sensitive intelligence, destroy dangerous data or equipment that could be potentially used by the enemy, and kill witnesses without leaving a trace of its existence. Like Operation Blackfish, Prometheus agents were meant to be "invisible."

### Operation Silver Ghost

The Department of Defense eventually created an "upgrade" of the Blackfish program, known as Operation Silver Ghost. This program was the more extreme of the other three. Silver Ghost agents are subjected to mental conditioning which exceeds that of Icarus, Blackfish, and even North Pole operatives. They are trained to display few emotions and relentless tenacity during missions. Like Blackfish, they utilized mind control to condition their agents. However, their conditioning procedures are said to be so extreme that some agents have been known to have "gone mad" during missions and embark on reckless rampages, having been transformed into sadistic psychopaths due to their conditioning. This makes Silver Ghost the most extreme (and the ultimate illegal program) out of all of them. Interestingly, Operation Silver Ghost and Operation Andromeda were both created simultaneously, but Andromeda was shut down a few months before Silver Ghost.

### Operation Nightshade

Operation Nightshade, also known as the Nightshade Program, is a collaborative effort between the United States Air Force and Apex Corporation, aimed at creating new and advanced fighter jets and unmanned aerial vehicles specializing in aerial combat. From this program, the Air Force had new vehicles, with notable examples being the XV-25 Hellbeast, a fighter jet that is the first of its kind to exhibit camouflage abilities in flight, and the QR-90 Sparrow, an unmanned aerial drone. In 2017, Operation Nightshade was exposed to the public due to the actions of various activist groups like Black Rhino and Orion.

### Operation Phi

Not learning its lessons with Blackfish, the CIA eventually created a new program in the 2050s, codenamed Operation Phi.  This program involved creating so-called "Cyber Soldiers" - humans with advanced mechanical augmentations. This project was also the target of exposure by government activists and CIA defectors that realized the true goal of Operation Phi. In 2054, A new team of CIA agents went rogue and sought to expose the project to the public. Once again, a manhunt for the whistleblowers ensued, from 2059 to 2061. However, this time aid came in the form of various acitivists and vigilante gangs that protected the Whistleblowers until the project could be successfully leaked to the public.

## Known programs

* Operation North Pole (terminated)
* Operation Blackfish (Terminated)
* Operation Andromeda (Terminated)
* Operation Anvil (Terminated)
* Operation Silver Ghost (Active)
* Operation Nightshade (Terminated)
* Operation Phi