abstract
| - In 2026, the Optimum Movement was responsible for the detonation of several nuclear devices in twenty-five US cities killing a total of 30 million people, fragmenting the country and igniting World War III. Believing a foreign power to be responsible, what remained of the United States government retaliated killing a further 7 million and leading to the formation of the Eastern Coalition. The Optimum used the threat of the ECON to reform the US under it's own banner in 2033, suspending the Constitution and only permitting 15 of the 52 states under their control to send representatives to Congress. By the late 2040s, the Optimum Movement had further spread to several key nations including Great Britain, United Ireland, Spain, Germany and Italy, withdrawing all of them from the New United Nations, effectively disbanding the organisation. In most of these countries the transition was fairly bloodless, the exception being in Britain where they used drug-controlled soldiers to overthrow the British monarchy and establish the Optimal Republic of Great Britain. The Optimum Movement's decline began on May 1st 2053 when the Optimum allied countries launched a massive nuclear strike against the ECON. The ECON were able to launch a retaliatory strike that crippled the Optimum's ability to make war, resulting a the San Francisco Cease-fire three months later. However the movement survived for another two decades, until the disappearance of the British Dictator Colonel Adrik Thorsen in 2078 led to their overthrow in Great Britain, their last major stronghold. (Star Trek novel: Federation, Star Trek: The Adventures of Argus: "Nuclear Time")
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