NX-Era Nations: United Europe

UNIFICATION AT LAST: THE UNITED EUROPEAN STATES

With the addition of France to the UEG in 2150, The continent of Europe was finally able to breath a sign of relief after nearly two millennia of internecine squabbling and strife over national identity, language, religion and various other perceived slights which would erupt into bitter trade disputes and savage wars. But as the Twentieth Century closed, Europe would have one last conflict to help form the modern continent into the super-state as it is known by the time of 2151.


THE CALM BEFORE THE STORM

With the fall of the Berlin Wall and the utter collapse of the Soviet Union, Europe seemed to be ready to shake off the chains of the Cold War and rebuild itself into a force that could stand alone once again on the world stage, Equal to it’s ally, The United States. Unfortunately, there were several factors to frustrate this aspiration with the fall of the Wall.

First and foremost, the majority of the former Eastern Block states were economic basket cases, and the expected prosperity from the ‘peace dividend’ did not materialize, particularly in Germany, were reintegration of the two halves of Germany put the economy into a near stall. Acrimony between the two halves of Europe continued at a low boil, as many Western European countries took a (from an Eastern Point of view) almost condescending tone towards them, giving many Eastern Europeans low paying jobs if they emigrated to Western Europe. The Western Europeans, for their part, were protective of their job markets and didn’t feel like they should subsidize the reconstruction of the Eastern European economies at their own expense.

Another point of contention was the formation of the European Union movement, which called for the integration of continental Europe into a large super-state analogous to The United States and the former Soviet Union. While the former Soviet Union took a dim view of this, it was unable to do anything about it. The U.S. for it’s part, welcomed the idea, if for nothing else than to standardize trade. The ability to bring back several divisions of troops from Europe after the EU combined it’s armed forces was also a benefit highlighted back in the U.S.

All of this was well and good and nothing to be ashamed of, but the plan of the E.U. ran into several snags along the way. Firstly, economic integration of the EU was a torturous process and trying to harmonize over a dozen countries was a difficult prospect at best. Another more immediate and annoying problem for the average European citizen was the creation of a decidedly standoffish and relatively unaccountable administrative class that would be needed to integrate the disparate countries into a unified whole. Many of the Eastern European countries balked at the idea of joining such an organization, considering they felt they had just left one, and several countries took to derisively calling the organization the E.U.S.S.R.

To make matters worse, the E.U. Constitution was perhaps one of the biggest documents of it’s kind ever designed. At 265 pages, many countries from the Eastern Block and many EU skeptic parties in the Western Block pointed to certain provisions buried in the long document that seemed to favor some countries over others . In many instances, this was gross hyperbole, but there were enough instances were it wasn’t that tensions ensued between Integrationist and nationalist factions. Representatives from the accused countries protested innocence on their part, while the accusers cried foul.

The whole thing was set to fall apart when a new political force arose that seemed to be able to mitigate many of the problems that had arisen. Unfortunately for Europe, it would be a slow ride into Hell before it awoke to what it had unleashed.

COLD TREACHERY: THE RISE OF THE SUPERMAN.

Vladimir Hapsburg was not the one that would fit the image of a dictator to the average European. Or anyone else for that matter. A result of the Eugenics Experiments of the late nineteen sixties and seventies, Vladimir applied his considerable intellect publicly towards accounting and the many skills need to run a government properly. He was bright, attractive, charismatic, personable, politically savvy, and smarter than most everyone else on the planet short of other Eugenically enhanced humans.

Vladimir had worked long and hard to make a sane and rational policy of integration for the proposed European Union (which fit into his general sense of order and propriety) for the European Trade Commission and the European Integration Project in Brussels. With his enhanced intellect, he could project economic forecasts far more accurately than most computers at the time and had wrote up several formulas which are still in use by the time of 2151. He had begun to grow increasingly frustrated by the continued factional infighting in the E.U. and perversion of his economic work for gain by ‘self-appointed’ technocrats who seemed more interested in lining their pockets than working towards proper and stable integration.

He contacted the rest of his fellow ‘genies’ that had distributed themselves through out the various European States, explaining that the various problem technocrats were not going to go quietly or without a fight. Several of his fellow Eugenics products had worked their way into local police and security forces and had developed contacts with various media sources and party organs, as well as criminal gangs. He proposed a blitz of media coverage of various scandalous behaviors that he could dig up with his access to the proto-E.U.’s files. The others would make sure that the information was not suppressed and quietly forgotten about, and any underworld contacts would keep an eye on the reporter who broke the various stories, occasionally letting one slip through to kill a reporter, if they could definitively trace back the assassin to a definitive organization or individual who hired them.

The resulting explosion of stories came from the tabloids initially, then bled into the mainstream, in spite of various attempts to have ‘off-the-book’ forces terminate the reporters who were highlighting various corruption scandals and inflaming the local populace against the various ruling parties. One particularly bloody incident involved a open firefight between French Police and various irregular forces assembled by Vladimir’s allies in near the ‘ERA’ college. Vladimir had arranged for several forms of criminally damning files to fall into the hands of various media organs (including several who wouldn’t normally publish such things except Vladimir’s allies had made sure they would. On pain of a 9mm migraine). More than one government fell and special elections needed to be called across much of the proposed EU as allegation after allegation erupted across the continent.

It was into this fear, uncertainty and doubt Vladimir stepped, leaving his job at the EU. Waxing eloquently on the virtues on the EU, but heaping scorn on the various individuals who had corrupted the ideal for their own personal wealth, He announced the Party of European Hegemony, who could bring about the a better European Union, but it would require popular support from the various countries peoples. His proposed plans for each country appeared in bookstores across the EU (a minor use of his previous EU technocratic power), detailing how each country would fit into the greater whole.

After two weeks of biding his time, allowing the pundits and economists time to assimilate the various economic plans. He knew that they wouldn’t be able to come up with anything that worked better at integrating the various economies and watched the snowball of popular opinion begin to roll in his favor as he dropped his next political bomb. He had noted the size and potential for abuse that the tortuous E.U. constitution provided the unscrupulous. So he and five other Eugenics products had spent two weeks tearing it apart and rebuilding it into something far more brief and to the point, leaving no room for what was often called ‘legislative ping-pong’.
It also removed thousands of redundant or frivolous laws from the EU regulating trade, agriculture, medicine, the military, and most other aspects of life. It made the various government posts far more responsive and user-friendly. And terminated thousands of redundant white collar jobs across Europe. Which made him a hero to many EU citizens, and an enemy of various governmental agencies.

Many countries balked at the new proposed Constitution, but Vladimir used his media contacts to make many convincing arguments to the various countries economists and local populations. He also used his underworld and security contacts to discredit random unions and government officials who were to integrated into the previous economic model to want to give it up. After the removal of many officials and an influx of new blood into government, the process of E.U. integration went at a much smoother pace.

Running on a platform of reform, he threw his figurative hat into the ring for the new Presidency proposed under the E.H., which unlike under the previous model, was quite similar to the Presidency of the United States and former Soviet Union, commanding supreme authority over the Union’s newly unified Armed Forces. He also went out of his way to improve relations with the United States, who were very surprised at the level of success he had achieved towards unification of the Continent, but were more than a bit suspicious about his long term plans for the Continent. Vladimir was adamant that the E.H. had no interest in expansion and wished to take it’s place in the world as a responsible world power. The U.S. appeared delighted by the idea and trade between the E.H. and the U.S expanded.

THE STEEL CURTAIN FALLS

But Vladimir knew things would not be so easy. The Russian Confederation had fallen under the spell of Andrei Sergetov, The President of the newly revived Soviet Union. Andrei had been even better at economics, but nowhere near as tolerant as Vladimir was dissent. While he had managed to rebuild the Neo-Soviet economy into something that was actually workable, he had trouble suppressing various nationalist uprisings within the Union.

In order to restore order and get the Union moving once again, Andrei had ruthlessly put down resistance within the union to his rule and had purchased modern computers and military equipment through proxies, had them reverse engineered by a modernized Soviet economy and had rebuilt the Soviet war machine into an effective fighting force more on tactical and technological par with the West. Something which the Americans and Europeans could not help but fail to notice.

Vladimir called to the Americans, knowing full well that his military industries were not sufficiently up to snuff to put out the amount of war material necessary to handle a revived Soviet Union. While the U.S. and E.H. attempted negotiation with Sergetov’s government, the U.S. and the E.H. worked at breakneck speed tooling up and standardizing parts between various E.H. states for the new EuroForce E-1 “Jager” Heavy Panzer (a descendant of the American M-1 Abrams and the German Leopard III carrying the perfected Rhinemetal R-1 Railgun ), the E-2 “Blitz” APC (armed with a 25 mm cannon, anti tank missiles, and the first working Personal Defense Laser System, designed to knock missiles from the air).

The stalling and negotiations finally broke down when the Soviet First Army, led by the 261st and 173rd Red Guards divisions blitzed into the Baltics, backed by the Soviet Air Force. There had been initial confusion as no one had seriously believed the Soviets would invade (with perhaps the exception of the Americans and military realists throughout the European theatre. The Soviets blitzkrieg-style attack had caught the locals completely by surprise and reports were sporadic due to sabotage, but the Baltics fell within less than a day.

Resistance in Poland was far more vicious as, recently re-deployed American armored divisions as well as former Soviet (now Polish) armor clashed with new Soviet T-90M main battle tanks . The aerial conflict over Poland and Germany was a constant tug of war between the E.H./U.S. Alliance and the Neo-Soviets, with the U.S. Forces taking the lions share of the punishment as the E.H. scrambled to deploy it’s new armor and Air Force, consisting of then new Euro-fighter and the European Version of the F-15 Eagle.

The month long constant push back and forth between the opposing sides devastated a majority of Poland and a good potion of the former Eastern Block as the Soviets unleashed nerve gas and limited bioware salvos into the theatre. Incensed, the Allies responded with massive carpet bombing campaigns behind Soviet lines in Russia with B-52 ‘Arclight’ strikes using Fuel Air Explosives against military and strategic targets such as factories and resource mining areas.

EUROPE STANDS ALONE: THE BEGINING OF THE END

NOAA satellites, ESA, and Soviet observation satellites recorded twin double-flash detonations (a form of detonation signature that would identify a nuclear explosion) in the cities of Ottawa, Canada and Mexico City, Mexico at precisely 1103HRS Zulu time. Confusion reigned between all three factions as to who could have detonated the weapons as the Soviets and the Americans had been scaling down their strategic arsenals and neither country had been involved in the conflict except in the most cursory fashion.

As both warheads had been in excess of twenty-five megatons, both capitals disappeared in a halo of fire and the Americans were forced to cut support short for the E.H. as forces had to be withdrawn to help stabilize the situation back home (much to the resentment of some members of the E.H.). The Americans for their part, were loath to leave an ally in the lurch and continued to offer naval and naval based air support t as it withdrew land forces. The E.H. could see what was coming and Vladimir threatened nuclear release against Russia if the conflict continued.

Morale on both sides of the conflict plunged as the threat of nuclear annihilation loomed large. To make matters worse, separatist movements began springing up all across the E.H. and Russia as various units rebelled against Sergetov’s rule. A particularly horrifying movement in Eastern Europe arose combining the worst traits of National Socialism and Totalitarianism (known as the National Bolshevik Movement) and turning against anyone who wasn’t ‘Pure European’, targeting people in the lower Caucasus, Muslims, Roman Catholics, and ‘foreigners’ (a catch-all phrase for anyone they didn’t like) for capture, brutalization and extermination. To make matters worse, it was one of Vladamir’s Eugenics compatriots.

Vladimir knew a threat to his work when he saw it and realized that the war between Europe and Russia was winding down as Sergetov lost control of his Empire, which wasn’t really that much of a consideration. Separatist lunatics bent on genocide, on the other hand, were a consideration. He’d always been worried about something like this arising, not being foolish enough to engage in self-deception on the issue. Having just ‘saved the E.H. single handedly’ (a charge he’d let stick, but knew the E.H. would pay dearly for later), he asked for special police powers to combat the obvious threat to the E.H.

With perhaps not a little trepidation, The population of the E.H. agreed. Initially, Vladimir’s attempts to curtail the separatists were successful, clamping down on various movements across the E.H. that were prone to public violent displays (The E.H. had lost it’s taste for anarchists and fellow travelers during the war). But as the police became more prevalent, more people began to rebel at what they saw as unjust authority. While in certain cases this was perfectly justified in Vladimir’s eyes (he saw no reason to disrupt peoples lives any more than necessary, and abuse of power certainly was disruptive), Europe was recovering from a War and needed strict social controls to make it’s recovery as fast and painless as possible. There was also a need to rebuild the military that had taken a beating during the war, in case any of Europe’s neighbors got any ideas about knocking the E.H. down a few pegs.

Resistance was from stiff from various sectors as ethnic tensions exploded throughout the E.H over various perceived slights between groups (lack of food distribution, ‘favoritism’, etc), so Vladimir was forced to use an iron hand to restore order. Which did nothing to ender him to many people as military and police used arguably jackbooted tactics to restore calm. Dissidents were either shot dead or rounded up and hauled off to prisons for arraignment and a long sullen silence fell over the E.H. as order was restored. The E.H. even managed several space shots while normality was restored

Then came the assassination attempt. Vladimir hadn’t really considered anything he had done to be particularly wrong, considering that the E.H. had been tearing itself apart. But a gunman belonging to remnants of the NBP got within ten feet of Vladimir, as he was touring Paris to help shore up support for the E.H. Vladimir’s last ounce of generosity died as he felt the bullet enter a lung. His first sign of superhuman ability showed as he leapt for the gunman and promptly broke his neck in a fit of rage.

He gave orders to his Internal Minister to have the remnants of all secessionist groups rounded up and put in holding cells before trial and execution as he was taken away to hospital, and implementation of “Code Winston” was to take place while he recovered. The Last Dictator had begun to awaken

BLOOD AND IRON, REIGN OF STEEL

Vladimir’s fellow Eugenics products, plus many who supported the idea of authoritarian rule of a European Empire, moved quickly as Russia fell into anarchy and the American continent was still busy pulling itself back together. Condemnation ran from many internal states within the E.H. and from the Americas. Various resistance groups appeared in many states and clashes across Europe as those who opposed the imposition of Vladimir’s police state rose to the fore.

But such pride initially proved deadly, for Vladimir had the European Police (Europol) into a secretive, vast, and ruthless internal police force. While not much had been made of it’s tactics during it’s initial debut taking down various terrorist groups, it proven exceptionally effective in it’s ability to track down dissidents and eliminate them. It’s reputation became so terrifying that it was nicknamed The Zampolitsai by many who had the misfortune or crossing it’s path. The Americans called it the “Gestapo”, to which many Europeans painfully agreed. From the Seine to the Rine, Europol became a dreaded word and the Continent began to finally see what they had unleashed.

France and Britain had proven to be the most recalcitrant nations to bring to heal. Britain proved to be a severe problem due to it’s relative geographic isolation and it’s alliance with the Americans (who had deployed the American’s new ground based anti-missile laser defense system, as well as having been “gifted” 100 F-15M Strike Eagles), not to mention it had collapsed the English “Chunnel” to prevent infiltration. France was problem due to it’s large geographic area, and in Vladimir’s opinion, large use of Nuclear technologies.

Not wanting to give France the opportunity to develop separate nuclear stockpiles (all E.H. Stockpiles were under strict lock and key), Vladimir’s forces seized all of the stockpiles and reactors to retain control….and blackmail France. It was at this point most of the rebuilt French section of the Euro Force rebelled against Vladimir as the rest of the EuroForce was freed up by various national and state police forces loyal to Vladimir to mass on France’s borders. Vladimir’s speech was legendary in it’s civility and unique in it’s cold assessment of France’s chances of success against the might of the E.H. Armed Forces. France vowed to resist what they saw as an unjust ruler.

Vladimir’s response would become the rallying cry for the resistance across Europe, and for condemnation the world over. Within 15 minutes of Frances declaration, enhanced Neutron bombs detonated in Paris, Cannes, Strasbourg, Brest, Toulouse, and Lourdes, destroying most of the nations internal communications network and killing millions. It highlighted the now obvious insanity of Vladimir’s rule and riots erupted E.H. wide.

British Eurofighters and F-15M’s, as well as American F-22N’s and F-14G’s battled with E.H. MIG-29’s (captured) and Eurofighters, as British and American bombers crippled E.H. Air Defenses and remnants of the French Army infiltrated across the E.H., working with local resistance forces to sabotage E.H. military production.

The fighting was savage, but eventually Vladimir’s forces began to be driven back. Vladimir used his proxies in the UN to drum up anti-North American sentiment and the North American Compact formed and began to coordinate it’s armed forces in the assistance of Great Britain and the Nu-France government, even going as far to pin blame for the N-Bombing of France on the NAC.

This ploy worked better than he had hoped as reflexive hatred for the U.S. and the Western hemisphere made various UN members condemn the NAC outright. But it’s didn’t last long as French and British intelligence forces smuggled out data showing it was Vladimir’s orders that destroyed France. Nations from as far away as Brazil, China, and Australia came to the assistance of Britain and France. But Vladimir had one last act of contempt for the world as the various forces closed in.

Using captured Typhoon-class Ballistic missile Submarines, He launched a vicious strike against China and the U.S. using full fledged nuclear warheads. The U.S. response before command and control was lost was to erase Brussels from the map with a savage counter strike, as well as Berlin. Various E.H. nations tried defecting from the E.H, but by then it was too late. World War Three had begun.

The fighting continued as the NAC (under Command from NORAD and The “Black House” back up civilian C&C center) and China (now allies with a Reconstituted Russia), commenced a savage return strike against the E.H. with Neutron weapons against major population centers in Germany, Belgium, and other perceived backers of the EH. Resources were strained as China broke down into warlord states and introduced the much feared “Red Elete” chemical and drug enhanced troopers into the field before it faded into civil war.

The NAC and British were overwhelmed with trying to occupy Europe and keep control of the North American continent, but were given assistance by surviving French forces, and Free Italian forces (who had defected from the E.H. as soon as Vladimir’s insanity became apparent. The NAC, after setting up provisional governments in each of the countries it liberated, promised food and medical supplies when it could send them. And gave explicit instructions to it’s occupying authorities to crush all resistance without mercy or quarter, sending a chill throughout Europe as they realized that American generosity had run out with them.

Except for the occasional outbreak of nationalistic or ethic tension, Europe lived in dreadful anticipation of the NAC’s return. The food and medical shipments were timely, if smaller than expected, but the NAC representatives were notoriously tight-lipped when asked about anything from their homeland. Eventually, information began to trickle in from British, French and Italian, sources, all of who held most of Europe in contempt. Apparently Vladimir’s forces had hit a part of the American Midwest with biological and bacteriological weapons. The NAC had been working to contain and cure the various plague outbreaks, and only minor flair-ups of various diseases still made themselves known.

But the North American Compact had reforged itself from the wreckage of The United States, Canada, and Mexico into a political and military compact that dwarfed the previous NATO and was run under a hawkish, unified government in the newly, recovered and rebuilt Chicago (Washington, D.C. had been annihilated by a nuclear first-strike). And it’s attitude towards the former E.H. was distinctly unfriendly, as many of the North Americans blamed Vladimir’s forces for the destruction of Ontario and Mexico City, as well as Los Angeles, Seattle, San Diego, Charleston, Miami, Washington, and other cities. It had been hard enough for the NAC to summon the willpower to forgive enough to send food and medical supplies (as a good portion of E.H. farmland had been targeted by the U.S./NAC and scorched into uselessness). Any further overtures at diplomatic relations were coldly rebuffed.

Relations between the former E.H states weren’t in much better shape as it became clear Britain wasn’t at all interested in joining the Continent in anything like an EU/EH compact unless it had a very large say in exactly how it would be run. France and Italy were also equally vehement in making sure that nothing like Vladimir’s reign would ever happen again. After much political debate the European. Occupational Authority decided to scrap most of the former EH/EU documentation and start over from scratch.

As they had seen the results of cronyism and systemic abuse that had run rampant in the previous political system, they disposed of the EU constitution and began templating the new United European constitution off of the old American Constitution. There were many objections to this from various sectors, coming from resurgent nationalists, xenophobes, and professional technocrats. The nationalists still regarded the NAC with ire since it was rebuilding faster than they were (and treated them like second-class scum), and the technocrats didn’t like the idea of a decentralized power structure (less jobs and ways to milk the system for them). Various protests were held, but the E.O.A. stood firm, not in any mood for political grandstanding, since Europe was still unstable on the whole.

In a media blitz, which was easy considering the E.O.A. controlled all radio and television media, the E.O.A. held “Explaining the Constitution” radio programs (often latter called “Europe’s Fireside chats” by NAC Historians) for all to hear, explaining detail what each section of the new proposed United Europe Constitution (designed by the E.O.A.) meant for the for the individual European. Protests broke out in several more authoritarian sections of Europe and more than one turned violent. But the E.O.A.’s argument gained ground as it implemented memetic control and re-education across the whole of the continent.

The results were mixed and there were many arguments about the new document. Some wanted protection for individual language groups and ethnic groups (France most noticeably), where as others derided it as a bad idea, as they saw it as protection and favoritism of one group over the other. Some preferred the idea of a command economy, others did not.

After much debate, the template of the U.S. Constitution was used, with a few extra amendments regarding the UE’s official language (English), standardization of military equipment, preservation of cultural monuments, and regulation of trade and diplomacy. When the first free elections were held, the Pro-UE parties won unsurprisingly

TO THE HEAVENS: UNITED EUROPE AND BEYOND

The next major problem was deciding where the UE capitol would be placed. After a short debate, most of Europe suggested Paris, France (as Britain didn’t want the job), mostly out of guilt for how France had suffered during the E.H. war, but there were some rumors that it was suggested to get them to shut up about French not being an official UE language. Elections for an UE President were held and a Dominque Skorzny of the Saar region was elected. She was not particularly well educated in international relations, but she had proven effective in coordinating the reconstruction of several cities that had been devastated by the war. She was also bright, personable, and fluent in several languages, which added to her appeal as part of the UE’s New Social-Democratic Party.

Her first act, after UE inauguration party was to work with UE intelligence and the newly formed Diplomatic Office to find out just how badly the rest of the world had turned out. The UE was completely surprised to find a newly republic-based democracy composed of most of the former Middle East once they got past the radioactive remnants of Turkey. Still needing fuel and realizing the previous government hadn’t made a good impression on the ME, Skorzny sent a negotiation team to speak with the government based out of Fallujah (Baghdad was still too radioactive and laced with bio-plague to be considered being used).

While suspicious of European intentions, The United Islamic Republic was at least willing to open trade for oil and cultural exchange, but stated they wouldn’t take very well to the UE trying to come in and flex it’s muscle as it had in the past. The UE diplomats were not particularly surprised at this statement, and promised not to do so. They did however remark on the newness of the buildings and the ongoing construction that they had seen throughout the UIR as they had flown in, which made the UIR diplomatic team beam with pride.

When asked about some of the technology they were using to construct the new waterways they had seen, the UIR remarked that they had received assistance from the NAC via airship transports that brought in cargo and educational materials from the NAC. The UE diplomats were non-plussed at the pronouncements of ‘airships’ (originally thinking perhaps some form of dirigible cargo transport was being used). They were disturbed to get reports from informants in Kuwait City of massive ships that were taking off from dry dock into the sky after off loading of supplies to local merchants and governmental forces.

President Skorzny was not pleased at hearing that such technology hadn’t been shared with the UE, now realizing the depths that the NAC (particularly the Americans) had been alienated by Vladimir’s behavior. But they had steadily sent supplies and support where they could, so she saw hope with that that some dialog could be achieved. Sending a diplomat to a NAC mission in Britain achieved mixed results as the diplomat (Jose Zapato from Sonora) explained that it was learned that the nuclear weapons used to destroy Mexico City and Ottawa were supplied to separatist groups in Mexico and Occupied Quebec by former E.H. officials. While the NAC was willing to listen, the UE would have to prove it’s good intentions towards the NAC.

Skorzny, being a realist and understanding that the NAC was giving her a graceful way to improve relations while making the new UE government look good in the eyes of the world, promptly ordered the rounding up of all war criminal still in the local prisons that could be identified as having linkages to the attacks on North America. There was a outcry in various sectors of Europe that if they criminals were turned over to the NAC, they would be tried and executed, and the debates grew heated in the UE Senate while the NAC looked on.

As a gesture of peace on behalf of the NAC, Great Britain revealed to the UE the secret of the NAC’s flying transports: Namely that they were derived from alien technology. And that the aliens were working with the NAC and other governments around the world to help stabilize the planets fragile ecosystem, rebuild the various continents into something stable and supportable for human life, and clean out the last of the “memetically-impaired” nations from the face of the planet.

The UE took this with a rather mixed set of feelings. The NAC, combined with the Russian Federation, The “Anglo Compact”, China, The United Islamic Republic, and the Pacifica Federation had formed a loose confederation of nations with several over organizations to regulate some international behavior, but otherwise left each national compact to it’s own devices. While each was willing to deal with the UE, they treated them like fire: With respect. And considerable distance.

Skorzny couldn’t help but notice the chill from across the Atlantic was where most of the antagonism was coming from, she again sent a mission to try to contact the NAC. They were rebuffed politely by the British, but they Ambassador said that the NAC had asked the aliens, whom the Ambassador had revealed as being referred to as Vulcans to mediate between the UE and the NAC. The Ambassador explained it as the NAC wanting a truly impartial observer. The underlying subtext was also evident: the NAC didn’t trust the UE just yet.

In spite of the difficulties, Skorzny worked with the UEDO and asked the UIR to host the diplomatic talks as they had found out that the Vulcans preferred hot, arid environments. The UIR was more than happy to host the talks in Kuwait City, as it allowed itself to show off the way it had reformed itself and the progress it had made from the previous centuries.

And in an explosion of pageantry and pomp, the UE representatives (including President Skorzny) were introduced to the Vulcan Ambassador. Skorzny’s reaction was almost Vulcan like, with a mere raising of her left brow. The Vulcan Ambassador’s English was masterful (she noticed the Oxford Accent instantly) and he was pleasant enough to listen to her concerns. She explained that the UE regretted the E.H.’s insane behavior and wanted to make it up to the nations of the NAC.

“You mean responsible.”, the Ambassador politely responded.

Skorzny blinked, then nodded, “Yes, we did fire the first strike.”

The Ambassador nodded in return, “Excellent. You have made an admission for which was one of the primary reasons the NAC refused to speak to you previously. They have admitted their mistakes in the matter openly. They will wish to speak with you. But they will not be inclined to think of United Europe kindly. They also think nothing like you. Their aspirations, hopes, dreams, and behaviors are nothing like yours. You must understand this if there is to be a dialogue.”

She hadn’t considered this concept and consulted her negotiators before replying, “Have they changed so much? We had no idea with so little information coming from the NAC.”

The Ambassador’s expression was of an instructor answering a student’s question, “While perhaps more martial at the moment due to the need for strict disease and food control, they have changed little and have continued on to a economic and political union of the northern continental land mass. They celebrate their diversity in there own way. They are a facet of Infinite Diversity In Infinite Combinations, much as your United Europe is, merely in a different fashion. As such, they see little reason to change themselves over minor concerns to them. Which brings us to your national compact.”

“Yes?”

“The former American states has taken up a considerable responsibility helping rebuilding Canada and Mexico into a coherent political union which is still on going. The NAC is working on a massive infrastructure project for all it’s citizenry, as well as assisting in the reconstruction of the state of China, The Russian Confederation, and the United Islamic Republic, as well as combat and peacekeeping oeprations worldwide. We consider this constructive and showing well of their intentions. However, they have expressed little interest in acting as a unified voice for Earth. And after examining Earth’s previous attempts, we can hardly blame them. The corruption of the previous institutions is well documented. However, they have expressed interest in planetary unity out of sheer pragmatic interest. Impartially speaking, your planet can not sustain itself anymore without outside intervention and unity to help stabilize it’s degraded environment.”

She considered this, “And they want Europe to become the Planet’s voice? I find that hardly likely.”

“More of they have little interest in the position., and many of the other blocks are too busy rebuilding to take upon the responsibility. However, the new United Nations Constitution has already been ratified by several of the nationalist blocks as it is. I would recommend reading it over carefully, as many of the nations who have ratified it are not inclined to change it, therefore it would be logical to understand it’s limitations.”

Skorzny made a face as she realized what was coming, “And if we don’t accept?”

“Then the world will wait until another national compact that is sufficiently interested and advanced enough to handle the responsibility. And you will be outside the community of nations.”

She groaned internally ash she picked up a paper copy of the new constitution, “The road to hell.” After reading it over for several minutes, she noted, “It’s very brief, and it seems to be rather restrictive on over-governmental powers.”

“We know. We helped design it that way. It was the only way to get several of the compacts to agree to it at all. But it has provisions for a world court, environmental regulation, and executive, representative and senatorial elections, as well as military actions.”

She thought it over for several minutes, checking the electoral system and seeing that it was very hard to engage in gerrymandering and procedural shennaigans (a favorite past time in many nations) using it, she nodded, “Better to reign in hell. We’ll do it.”

After few false starts and one ‘tense negotiation’, the NAC removed travel restrictions for UE citizenry at the negotiation table, with a small footnote that all people coming in would need to be immunized against several viral agents still loose on the continent. The UE accepted responsibility for firing the first strike that began the limited nuclear conflict and it’s war criminals were turned over to the NAC for prosecution.

There was some internal debate, including some decidedly bitter debates in the UE government about the relative lack of power of the Neo-U.N. Constitution, it was decided that France would be the primary location for the seat of the Neo-UN (to which most of the signatories approved without any issue). Also, after realizing that it held the prestige of being the seat of interplanetary relations, Europe wholeheartedly embraced the new Constitution and has worked very hard in working to keep the fragile peace of Earth, as well as expanding relations to other worlds as new races are met and new colonies were established. It’s exposure to the Vulcans has helped smooth it’s relations with surrounding countries and it can be rightly proud of it’s diplomatic accomplishments in helping bring unity to Earth.

STATES OF NOTE by 2151:

FRANCE: France has recovered from the neutron assault on it's major populations centers with assistance from the NAC and the rest of the UE. In spite of the loss of many cultural treasures, Paris has recovered and has become a jewel of the continent (particularly after introduction of Vulcan terraforming technologies). As the growing administrative United Europe and United Earth Government, Paris has renovated many of it's historic districts and several sections of Paris have been set aside for the Planetary Congress and Administrative staff.

GERMANY AND THE 'IRON BELT' STATES (FORMER EASTERN BLOCK): After WWIII, Germany has spent a good deal of effort rebuilding Berlin as much as reasonably possible, but also took the time to engage in 'distrubuted urban planning' and is now considered an exceptionally lovely city to live in (much to the annoyance of Paris) with ultramodern skyscrapers and ecologically friendly 'bio-smart' buildings.

The rest of the country has engaged in re-terraforming much of it's lost top-soil and irradiated areas but are still in the process of recovery (completed recovered by 2151). Germany has also embraced Vulcan fusion power and synthesizer technology and have applied them on a massive industrial scale, becoming the backbone of European terrestrial and space industry. The shipyards of Stuttgart & Bremerhaven have beenr efitted and act as staryards and spaceports for ESA and civilian startship contractors.

POLAND AND THE BALTIC STATES: While some paranoia lingered about becoming a sattilite state to 'Greater Germany', cooler heads reigned in the Northen section of the former Eastern Block and much of the resources used by Germany's industrial sector come out of these states. Reconstruction and clean up of polluted areas left behind by the Soviet and Neo-Soviet Empire would continue into the NX-Era and nearly into time of Christopher Pike.

Still adding stuff. Ideas on specific nations can be forwards to my PM

European Corporations of Note: Daimler-Yoyodyne. Creators of the famous DY series of colonization vessels.