The Howard's of Star Base 12

Lord Patrick William Howard

Lord Patrick William Howard is the eldest child of Lord William Howard and Lady Elizabeth Southwell and he was born in Norfolk, England in the Pagan Year of 2125.

Lord Patrick William Howard in the year of 2142 entered Oxford University and he studied Architect and he graduated in the year of 2146 and he married Lady Penelope Devereux, the sister of Lord Stephen Devereux in 2150.

The young couple had a happy marriage and they had decided to put off starting their family until they got settled into their new home.

The first two year of their marriage was relevantly peaceful until in April of 2153, Lord Patrick William Howard heard news of the impending War that had begun in 2126 but it didn't escalate until 2153.

Lord Patrick William Howard was given a vision to go door to door and ask some of the most distinguished families living in England.

With Lord Stephen Devereux. They went door to door and they asked some of the most prominent families to travel with them on April 30, 2153 to board the USS Excalibur.

Led by Lord Patrick William Howard and Lord Stephen Devereux, the family's journey to Heathrow International Airport in London, England.

Captain Archer was there to greet his passengers that were headed for Star Base 12 and he told them "It will take us five years to reach Star Base 12."

From London, England, The USS Excalibur sets off for Star Base 12, a United Federation of Planets colony.

One day later, this is what they heard

At precisely 0230.26 hours Eastern Standard Time, on 1 May 2153 (an event later known as the "May Day Horror of '53"), the Eastern Coalition launched a first strike comprised of intercontinental ballistic missiles, bomber attacks, and portable nuclear weapons, against major North American and European cities, combined with a simultaneous Interface viral assault against the New United Nations computer infrastructure.

Much to the surprise of the ECON political leadership, the New United Nations immediately retaliated with nuclear launches of their own, as well as bomber and satellite-based attacks against targets in the Middle East and Asia. Many Pacific nations sided with the Eastern Coalition against the United States when fighting finally broke out. Other political groupings, such as the Muslim Bloc, were likewise hit extremely hard during the nuclear exchanges, despite being non-aligned with either side during the war.

The detonation of nuclear weapons over cities (in the multiple-megaton range) such as Washington, D.C., London, Moscow, Berlin, New York City, Boston, Dallas, Mexico City, Rio de Janeiro, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Mecca, Riyadh, Samarkand, Karachi, Singapore, and New Delhi killed nearly half a billion people instantly. Smaller detonations occurred over Hong Kong, Beijing, and Ho Chi Minh City. Un-detonated or failed nuclear devices were discovered in or around targets such as Denver, Paris, Madrid, Rome, and Istanbul. Of the hundreds of ICBMs and bombers launched by the United States and allied forces, only one in five made it into the air, due to EMP weapons and viral attacks against the military computer networks — of these, only a fraction detonated properly.

Conventional military forces on both sides were quickly moved into offensive position against their respective foes — on 3 May 2153, the First, Eighth, and Sixteenth Fleets under New United Nations command carry front-line troops into the Bay of Bengal, and the ECON launches a massive invasion of the North American continent, sending troops and military aircraft southward through Canada. Targets in New England (including Massachusetts), Minnesota, the Rocky Mountains, and the Midwest are hit hard by ECON forces, the U.S. military's defenses along the Canadian border failing utterly. The United States Air Force and United States Army both fought back against the invaders, but lost many fighters and ground soldiers to the enemy.

Certain military units were abandoned in enemy territory during the war, including a New United Nations brigade under the command of Colonel Green in Kashmiristan in late May. Finally, the Eastern Coalition's governing palace was destroyed by American forces, killing ECON founder Lee Kuan.

The post-atomic horror that followed severely destabilized global civilization; terrorist organizations and rogue states often detonated small-scale "suitcase nukes," while toxins and biogenic weapons were released. Drug-addled soldiers were often sacrificed in conventional battles on the ground after much of the planetary computer systems failed; numerous small-scale conflicts created chaos throughout the globe as warlords fought over the scraps of civilization. As a result of the ICBM detonations, an enormous dust cloud enveloped the Earth, resulting in several nuclear winters.

Sovereign nations, including the United States, essentially ceased to exist following the war, the country falling into barbarism, carved up into fiefdoms controlled by competing warlords (including Colonel Green's despotic reign over the Pacific Northwest). Without federal resources to fall back upon, most local governments are unable to feed their own people; chaos and anarchy would reign for generations afterward, well into the 22nd century. The President of the United States, President Mendoza, survived the initial days of the war, but finds herself in command of very little afterwards.

The Siege of Las Vegas was a significant battle in the war, with American forces battling ECON troops for control of the city. The forces of the US troops would eventually prove victorious, defeating the ECON troops there.

In the initial nuclear exchange of World War III, Washington D.C. was completely destroyed, along with three surrounding U.S. states. Some major cities, such as Montreal, were actually spared from nuclear hits during the first rounds of ICBM exchanges.

During fighting in Paris during the war, the Eiffel Tower was destroyed. Additional combat took place in San Francisco, resulting in the destruction of the Coit Tower, among many other structures.

The U.S. state of Arkansas would be devastated by nuclear weapons at the start World War III, owing to the many military installations in the region. Even into the 23rd century, some portions of the state would remain uninhabitable.

In 2154, one year following the outbreak of hostilities, Colonel Green surprised the surviving United States government by turning up in Alaska at the head of a massive army composed of both New U.N. and ECON soldiers. President Mendoza ordered Green to stand down, but is refused; Green slaughters his way across the continent, culling the "weak" and "impure" and those afflicted with radiation sickness from humanity's gene pool, killing millions, until finally meeting his demise in Montana from an orbital strike launched by Flint the Immortal.

Humanity eventually turned over a new leaf when a few courageous people began to realize that they could make a difference. Early in the war, weather-control satellites developed by Flint the Immortal begin modifying Earth's ozone layer in an attempt to regenerate it, along with raising the planetary temperature enough to mitigate the effects of the harsh nuclear winter. This proved successful, ultimately reducing the number of potential casualties from the war.

Adrenaline regimens were discovered to be useful in treating radiation sickness after the war; this would later be supplanted by the even more effective Hyronalin therapies in later decades, after the end of the Atomic Age. The philosophy of Neo-Transcendentalism was founded by Liam Dieghan in response to the war's horrors, seeking to redress the pains of World War III by "returning [humanity] to a simpler life."

The war culminated circa 2153, when several of Earth's governments met in San Francisco to declare a cease-fire, effectively ending the war.

In the end, most of the world's major governments collapsed, and over 600 million people had died just from the immediate combat.

Captain Archer tells his passengers the news and over a period of several years that Planet Earth no longer existed.

Gone is all their history and heritage but Lord Patrick William Howard tells his friends "We can start a new life on Star Base 12."

None of the families heard about the death of their loved ones until 2159, when the International Red Cross shared a list of the casualties that died in the initial blast on May 1, 2153, but very few survived.