The Aristocrats of Star Base 12

Lord Patrick William Howard

It was early Sunday morning in 2153 that Lord Patrick William Howard woke from a vision that he had about the onset of World War III that began in 2126.

Lord Patrick William Howard was 10 year old in 2133 when his father, Lord Edward Howard read it in the newspaper in Norfolk, England as many other aristocrats had read about it.

Lord Patrick William Howard was 20 years old in 2153 and he married Lady Margaret Penelope Devereux in 2151 and they were planning to start their family when they heard the news.

Lord Patrick William Howard had graduated with a Master Degree in Architect and his father had given some land to build his home as a wedding gift.

The vision alarmed him to the calamity to come and like a thief in the night when no one expected it. It would happen but Lord Patrick William Howard and 18 Aristocratic families would board the USS Excalibur from a brand new world provided to them by The United Federation of Planets.

While they were on The USS Excalibur this is what Captain Archer would tell them on May 1, 2153 as they had left on April 30, 2153 and this is what The United Federation of Planets relay to him.

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 (The Immortality Blues). 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 breaks 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, Paris, 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, 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.