It "already" happened in Civil War (the establishment of the New Empire headed by Astra). The confusion stems from how the games were renamed. The original games apparently ignore Star Wolves 2; the english versions count that one that's why our Civil War is Star Wolves 3.

Peek into the music files and you'll see them with their original Star Wolves 2 Civil War tag, even though the game intro screen tells us this is Star Wolves 3.