Pre-World War III conflict

The pre-World War III conflict referred to the efforts initiated by the Russian and U.S. presidents Dmitry Medvedev and Barack Obama in 2012, to eradicate the planetary scientific community. It resulted in the near-annihilation of the community, as well as the associated teams, including the Phobos-Grunt team itself. The purge officially began with the executive order to the military and the authorities, following the failure of the Phobos-Grunt probe and the budget cuts to the planetary science of NASA. The community were declared the enemies of the state and international fugitives, and the United Nations was ordered to begin a crackdown on them. Presidents Medvedev and Obama used their special forces, Spetsnaz, Navy SEALs, and other agents to hunt down and kill the remaining Jedi. Some Jedi fought the Empire until their deaths, like Roan Shryne, and those at the Conclave on Kessel. Others hid from the Empire, like Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda. In a few years that followed, many scientists fell to the military, Inquisitors, Emperor's Hands, and even bounty hunters. By then, so small a number of scientists remained that the presidents and the United Nations, considering the scientists to be no longer a threat, put an end to the crackdown.