Atom War

The Atom War was an event in Orion history when the Orions made a bid for freedom with nuclear weapons.

Over four millennia, the Orions had gradually become the trusted slaves of the races frequenting the Rigel system. However, they had been using the resources and education provided by their masters to learn more about technology and interstellar politics. The Orion bureaucrats learned that nuclear weapons were widely considered an effective deterrent, and it was their hope that nuclear weaponry could bring an end to the proxy warfare that had been waged on Botchok. At the 21st Rigel Conference in 12,327 BCE, they gained permission to develop nuclear technology.

On reference stardate -142/37 (12,237 BCE), upon completion of their nuclear arsenal, the Orions delivered an ultimatum to their masters, ordering them to withdraw from the Rigel system or be destroyed. The master races responded to the ultimatum after a brief set of secret conferences, where they decided to detonate all of their stockpiles of nuclear weapons on Botchok. It was reasoned that they could do without the planet for a generation, as there were plenty of Orion slaves offworld. The Treaty of Kammzdast was modified to restrict travel to Botchok, and it also placed stronger restrictions on Orion access to technological knowledge.

The effect of the brief exchange on Botchok itself was devastating; eighty percent of the population was killed during the Atom War or the Long Winter that followed it, and the planet's ecology would not recover for five thousand years.