Dust and Echoes: The Rise and Fall of the First Galactic Empire

N.E.C Year -4 (2041 A.D.)

*The following is a partial transcript from the 25th anniversary special of the news network "World News Now!", originally aired on August 27th, 2041*

Thank you for joining us for a very special edition of our program. As you may know, this week we are celebrating our 25th year in publication! This is a huge milestone for us, and we want to take you back through some of the things that we covered over the last quarter of a century. The world has changed dramatically since we started and it is incredible to see just how much things have changed since then. Let's take a look at some of the more significant developments that we have had over the years.

One of our first breakthroughs as a news source came from our coverage of the fall of the Kim dynasty in 2025. After a controversial 14-year reign as the supreme leader of North Korea, Kim Jong Un was ousted from power by members of the military in a bloody coup that left an estimated 18,000 dead over just six weeks.

After a brutal but short-lived period of civil war between leaders of the DPRK military and those loyal to the Kim family, North Korea's sole protector in the world, China, stepped in to regain control over the situation. Within a year the country, formerly known as "The Hermit Kingdom" was open to the world. Chinese occupation would remain for another five years, and some say even today that the entire thing was a Chinese backed plot to stop the Kim family from going off the rails and going to war with the West. This would be the first of many steps by the Chinese government to secure more countries in the region that would be sympathetic to their cause of keeping the area around the South China Sea away from outside influences.

Just over three years later, a scandal rocked the western world where, for the first time, a third-party candidate won the American presidential elections. Jackson Westinghouse, a well-known conservative firebrand from Texas, ran as the candidate from the "America First" party and secured an astounding 53 percent of the popular vote as well as over 86 percent of the electoral college, winning the election in a landslide.

The party ran on a deeply religious and conservative platform that had strong anti-communist and extreme fundamentalist leanings. The party was mostly made up of other members of the house and senate who felt betrayed by the Republican party's move towards more moderate positions. The party gained extreme popularity during the fall of the Kim regime for vehemently opposing the then-current president's backing of China and his refusal to order ground troops to be sent in to handle the situation.

They took their disenfranchisement to the masses and sold themselves as the party that would "Take America back to its roots." Protests by left-leaning groups were widespread but eventually died down as a new wave of conservatism swept the country. Westinghouse would be elected again in 2032 but would die from a stroke only a year later at the age of 73. The party remains a potent force in American politics today, and has recently come under fire for their alleged election rigging in the 2040 presidential elections, which we will cover a little bit later.

The next thing that saw our numbers jump considerably was the announcement of the formation of the NEC in early 2032. We were the first to break the news from the official announcement made in Zurich, where leaders of 26 nations around Northern Europe officially banded together to form a single, united, flag. The Northern European Consulate made waves around the world and started a year of uncertainty and doubt in all global markets, especially the New York Stock Exchange, which saw its most significant drop in points since the crash of 1929.

After the dust had settled though, the NEC came out ahead, and they currently have both the highest GDP in the world and has been consistently rated as the highest country by standard of living, safety, and general happiness for the last ten years running.

The initial announcement also brought widespread controversy across both the United States and the United Kingdom, where conservative party leaders called it "The New Red Menace" and made sweeping connections between the NEC's method of government, coined "Parliamentary Socialism" by N.C.E representative Jorgen Helsken, and the history of bloodshed spilled in the name of communism over the last century. Massive boycotts began, but went mostly unnoticed by the NEC, who have repeatedly said that they are both open and willing to any talks with the English and American governments.

Later that same year, an armed revolt in the U.E.A brought about the end of the Sultanate and one of the first truly secular and democratic nations to be in the region in potentially all of history. This would start eight years of a new Arab Spring that would see an additional 12 countries get their independence from extremist religious groups that existed throughout the region. While things have been tense lately and a new rise of Islamic based terrorism has spread in isolated areas across the Middle East and the Mediterranean, it is safe to say that the peace has been maintained, at least for now.

Three of the most significant stories that this network has ever seen have come out of just the last two years alone.

First, there was the first official NEC World Conference in the spring of 2039, where they announced that over the following three years, another 23 nations would officially be folded into the NEC, making it the largest nation by mass and population in the history of the world. Among the smaller, eastern-bloc countries that joined, the most considerable upset was the announcement that France, Germany and The Russian Federation would be consolidated into the NEC as well.

Reactionary groups from around the world were quick to condemn the announcements, with the American president referring to it as "A hostile act of global Socialism, destined to destroy the moral fabric of modern society as we know it." There was also widespread criticism from both China and especially the United Kingdom who were saying that the unification of so many nations created a super-state that would attempt to control most of the world's resources.

Then, later that winter, a democratic student uprising in China lead to crackdowns and riots across the country. In the first three months alone there were over 1,300 official deaths reported by the PRC, but non-partisan estimates have put the death toll across the country at well over 100,000. Much of the aftermath and even the current situation is currently unknown as the government issued a full media and internet blackout in January of 2040. Most foreigners were rounded up and had their visas revoked since then, so it is hard to know just exactly what is happening over there. We at "World News Now!" hope for a quick end to the hostilities in the country and a return to at least some form of free press and expression soon.

Finally, there were the events surrounding the United States Presidential Election of 2040. The America First Party was expected to be soundly defeated by the house minority leader, Rachel Ramsey, after her rise to political power in the early 30's. The election itself, however, was a massive upset with the America First party claiming almost every single electoral college vote, despite only receiving 29 percent of the popular vote.

Claims of election fraud ran rampant as early as the morning after the election and many government bodies across the world have called for a formal investigation because of the disproportionate amount of votes between the population and the electoral college. Once president J. Henry Richardson took office the following January, he attempted to set the record straight, claiming that his victory was not only what the people wanted and needed, but was an act of god itself.

This was met with riots by left-leaning groups across the country. Cities were blazing battlegrounds where protesters violently clashed with both local police and the national guard all through the spring. As the summer set in, things only got worse. The riots intensified when an anonymous source broke the story that the United States had been actively planning, along with the United Kingdom and India, to sabotage the advancement of the NEC via various black-ops and internationally illegal means, including planned false-flag attacks. This would lead to a declaration of Martial Law being put into effect in late August. President Richardson denied everything, calling it "A shallow and frankly embarrassing attempt by socialist agitators to destroy our great nation."

Things cooled off for the better part of a year, but just three weeks ago, a student protest in Dallas turned violent when an unknown man began shooting towards the police from the crowd. Panic ensued, and the national guard began firing on protesters, with counter-protesters who are sympathetic to the conservative movement also firing at the groups of protesters who attempted to flee the scene. At the end of the day, over 200 were pronounced dead with another 500 injured.

When the dust settled, and the death tolls were reported, more riots broke out with many left-wing militant groups calling for an overthrow of the government. The NEC also announced its great regret for the situation and disappointment in the new president in how he is handling the situation. They also announced that they would begin imposing harsh sanctions on the United States and any nation that stands with them, creating even more outcry within the United States and the United Kingdom as well.

As this was only recent news, we will work tirelessly to provide up to the minute coverage on the situation as it unfolds. As it stands now, the Richardson has announced that he will host an emergency session of Congress over the next week to try and, as he put it, "Settle this score once and for all." We will strive to cover every detail of the live event that is set to begin on Monday.

The world falling into chaos was not the only thing that happened over the last 25 years though, of course. There were also plenty of inspirational and surprising moments that we have been lucky enough to cover. Starting in 2026 with the announcement that faster-than-light travel will be accomplished within the next thirty years and humanity will finally make the great leap forward into space. In other, non-related events, the prime minister of France at the time stated that...