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Chicago Metropolitan Area (state)

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The Chicago Metropolitan Area, often simply called Chicago or CMA, is the only other 'metrostate' - other than the HMA - in the Unitary American State. The state comprises twelve counties, namely Walworth, Racine, Kenosha, McHenry, Boon, Waukegan, Kane, DuPage, Cook, Kendall, DeKalb, and Gary.

Its most prominent structures are the Willis Sears Tower, Chicago O'Hare Airport, and Chicago Unified Station. It is the home of the Chicago deep dish pizza.

History

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19th century

In the 1840s, Chicago saw a massive increase in slave population as it underwent it's own industrial revolution. Despite being in the slave-free state of Illinois, they let slaves work within the county borders of Cook and deliberately kept it under wraps as much as they could in order to maintain their slave labour. This was sustainably kept up until 1861, when the American Civil War started. Chicagoan slave-bearing companies, slave owners, and other ordinary citizens were initially cross about what they should do. They had three options; join the slave-free North, join the slave-bearing South, or seperate from the USA entirely and become an independent state, much like California and Deseret had done.

They opted with the decision to join the South, and on June 20th 1861, rose up in Chicago, declaring themselves as an independent state, called the State of Chicago. As soon as word got to the CSA that Chicagoans were rebelling on their side, they strategized to formulate a plan and how to get Confederate armies up to Chicago. The final plan that would be accepted would be called the Race Up The Mississippi River. Confederate armies would follow the Mississippi north, on the west side, until they reached the town of Davenport. At Davenport, they would turn east to Chicago.

On August 2nd, 1861, the Race Up The Mississippi River would commence. By the end of the month, on August 28th, they arrived. Chicagoan companies and upper-class white folk welcomed the Confederate armies, though there was some resistance from the slaves and lower-class whites in the area. It would remain owned by Confederates until their victory in the American Civil War. After the war had ended, on April 9th, 1862, the State of Chicago was officially declared in their respective counties, gaining statehood. Even after the Federal Coup of 1866, Chicago remained its own state as the prospect of revoking its statehood was still controversial.

Late 20th century

Chicago, more specifically the Willis Sears Tower, was one of the targets of Operation Sundown. On July 4th, 1997, hijackers managed to gain control of Northwest Airlines Flight 34, a Boeing 747-400 en route from Memphis to Tokyo via San Francisco. The plane turned to a heading of 055; directly towards Chicago, above the small Kansas town of Winfield. It was estimated that the plane would take roughly 45 to 50 minutes to reach Chicago, as the hijackers had set the plane to full thrust for the duration of the whole flight. The FAA reacted swiftly, shutting down the whole airspace in the direction of Flight 34's path. That day, all aircraft in Missouri, Kansas, Illinois and Iowa were to either land or exit the airspace, and if not done, would be immediately be met with fighter jets.

At this point, two McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle aircraft had come up to the 747, one on either side. 12 minutes after the turn to Chicago, President Davie Leasley was informed of the developing situation, and immediately ordered the shutdown of all UAS airspace, and that any aircraft still in the air after 15 minutes was to be met with fighter jets. At that time, the largest single deployment of aircraft by the UAS Air Force occured, with over 200 military fighters taking off within the span of 30 minutes to ensure no aircraft that still remained airborne would pose a threat. At 40 minutes after the turn, Northwest Flight 34 had passed Peoria, Illinois, and was getting dangerously close to Chicago.

By this time, two other hijacked aircraft were spotted, however they were not headed for Chicago. A third F-15 went in behind Flight 34, and the pilot was told to be ready to fire an air-to-air missle. At 2:43 PM, the 747 was only five minutes away from Chicago, and had started to descend rapidly from 39.000 feet of altitude while at full throttle. By 2:46, Flight 34 was flying at a speed of 530 knots over Chicago Midway Intl. Airport, at 4.000 feet, headed straight for the Willis Sears Tower.

At 2:48;24 PM, Northwest Flight 34 flew over the I90, less than a mile from the Willis Sears Tower. The pilot of the F-15 trailing behind the plane was ordered to fire an air-to-air missle at the 747, which the pilot did. The missle struck the aircraft between its third engine and the fuselage, which weakened the right wing's structure to the extent that it tore off the 747 a mere second after being struck. Northwest Flight 34 then crashed into water between the Van Buren Street Bridge and the Congress Parkway Dwight Eisenhower Bridge, but not before its wing clipped the Old Chicago Post Office Building, damaging the three most uppermost floors of the building.

Early 21st century (2000-2005)

In 2002, a plan was proposed to create the Chicago Unified Station by merging the Ogilvie Transportation Center and Chicago Union Station via an underground mall. The plan was accepted in October, and construction began in April of 2003. Construction was slow and careful, as the underground structure would require the total redesign of the foundations of various constructions above the mall. It would continue until May of 2004, when construction was halted due to updates to national construction regulations. As it turns out, the whole area was now technically illegal according to the new construction regulations, and the project has been on a near-stagnant halt ever since.