Howe
Background
Cecil Howe is a lieutenant commander with NORAD on the Nemesis Mission in space. His wife is Alice and his sister is Susie. Howe has a newborn son and lives in Redwood, Oregon.
During the events of Def-Con 4 (1985) played by Tim Choate
On day 407 of the Nemesis Mission, a 15 month NORAD mission flying a nuclear armed satellite capable of sending nuclear missiles to attack places on Earth, Howe is watching an electronic recording his wife Alice sent him. Alice admits she has decided to cope with Howe being away by thinking he is dead. Eventually Susie joins Alice and says hi to Howe. Shortly after, the recording becomes fuzzy. Jordan goes to test the health of Walker, who happens to be watching porn on one of his screens, while a news report comes on one of the screens. WWN Newscaster says a U.S. tomahawk cruise missile with a nuclear warhead landed in Soviet territory, to which the U.S. Navy blames on Libyan or North African Defense Alliance hijackers who stole it from a vessel carrying 11 tomahawk cruise missiles. On day 409 of the mission, Other Newscaster talks about a possible nuclear incident involving numerous Soviet cities and NATO forces being mobilized along with cruise missiles being dispersed to their launch sites. All of a sudden the news relay goes dead and a bunch of alarms go off in the satellite. A message comes onscreen ordering the crew to War 2 status. Walker has Howe check for missile heat signatures to which the screen shows numerous heat signatures. The crew of the Nemesis mission debate if they should deploy the missiles, with Howe expressing caution and Jordan pushing for the launch of the missiles. Howe starts flipping through different relay stations, but station after station continues to go dead. He starts to lose it mentally and Walker accepts his family is probably dead, though Howe’s family, who is in a remote area, might have a chance. Jordan’s family, from Detroit is also probably dead. A ballistic missile starts heading towards the Nemesis satellite and Walker launches the missiles against the missile and targets on Earth.
On day 451 of the mission, the crew read data on the survival estimates for the human population projected to 42 days. The entire planet has an estimate of 8.4%, North America has an estimate of 2.7%, Europe has an estimate of 0.8%, South America has an estimate of 24.9%, Australia has an estimate of 4.1%, Asia has an estimate of 10.1%, Africa has an estimate of 11.2%, and Antarctica has an estimate of 72.1%. Howe continues to try and get message relays from Alice who has a transmitter. On day 456 of the mission, Howe gets another message relay from Alice. Alice assumes Howe is dead at this point and says Susie and some others were blinded from the nuclear blast. Due to the radiation, germs have mutated and have caused deaths, including the death of Howe’s son who was shot and incinerated by others. Alice ends the message by saying she believes she has the sickness also and has been quarantined, but plans on trying to escape from quarantine. Howe tells Walker and Jordan he wants to land the satellite in order to try and help Alice and Susie. Walker tells Howe, Alice is probably dead, which angers Howe. He and Jordan take a vote and they agree to return the satellite to Earth, but Walker, who reminds them he is the commander of the mission, tells them they are staying in space. Later, an alarm goes off indicating priority one and external override which causes the satellite to begin landing, against the commands of Howe. Howe sets the nuclear missiles to go off in 60 hours and then the missiles launch, however missile 11 malfunctions and doesn’t leave the hatch.
The satellite lands on Earth, knocking out Jordan when her seat breaks loose. Howe and Walker decide to go and get help for Jordan. Howe hears a sound and knocks on the side of the satellite in response, before digging through the sand. He is grabbed by someone, but when Walker helps Howe out, he in turn is grabbed and pulled out of the satellite, leaving only a severed hand behind. Howe shuts the satellite hatch door and leaves Jordan a recorded message explaining to her the situation, that he is leaving to find help, and not to let anyone else into the satellite. As he is walking along a road, he comes across a group of Terminals carving up the remains of Walker. Howe throws a piece of the ship at the Terminals and then runs away as they give chase. As he is running away, Howe sets off a trap. He is found by Vinny and tells him that he has food. Vinny frees Howe from the trap and takes him to his home. He ties Howe to a chair and questions Howe and Howe tries to make a deal with Vinny and tells him he has a four month supply of food within the satellite. After negotiating, Howe agrees to give Vinny one half of the food from the satellite in exchange for a weapon. A Terminal sets off a booby trap and Vinny goes off to investigate after tying Howe’s other arm to the chair. After Vinny leaves, J.J., comes out of the basement and starts to eat some of the food in the house. Howe asks J.J. to untie him and makes a deal with her, if she unties him, they’ll split Howe’s food and sail away together in a sail boat that J.J. knows is nearby. J.J. unties Howe and they both grab weapons and ammo, but Vinny returns and orders them to drop the weapons.
Vinny kisses J.J. then orders her back into the basement and Howe outside so he can shoot Howe and not get blood everywhere in the house. Howe pleads for his life and tells Vinny about Jordan back in the satellite to which Vinny asks about the color of Jordan’s areolas. Howe and Vinny come to a deal, Howe, gets a quarter of the food and a knife while Vinny gets the rest of the food and Jordan. Howe and J.J. are placed into the bucket of Vinny’s armor plated front end loader. Two Terminals attack Howe and J.J., but are eventually killed including one being run over. They arrive at the beach and J.J. is sent by Vinny to look for the satellite. Lacey along with other Troopers walks up and they take Howe prisoner, after already capturing J.J. Vinny tries to escape, but is eventually captured when he is tricked out of the loader by Lacey who throws a dummy grenade into the cab of the vehicle. Howe, J.J. and Vinny are tied up and marched to Gideon Hayes’ camp while also passing a group of people being forced to drag the Nemesis satellite into Gideon’s camp by Vicious Trooper. Howe is brought before Gideon, who asks Howe if the fallout from the nuclear bombs could have reached Patagonia. Gideon talks to Howe some more before dismissing him when Lacey reports to Gideon that the Delta S16 had been found.
Howe is placed in the prison pit next to Jordan and they talk, before J.J. introduces them to Mrs. Boyd and tells him the background of Gideon. The day after the war, Gideon, with his father and mother were evacuated by helicopter along with J.J., Boomer and Lacey and with satellite equipment. During the flight to take them to a secure submarine off of Newfoundland, the helicopter crashed; killing Gideon’s father, mother and breaking Boomer’s back. She says it was Boomer who made the Nemesis satellite come back to Earth. Gideon orders a trial to be held in the morning to determine the guilt or innocence of Howe, Jordan, J.J. and Vinny. The four of them are brought into a hangar and both Howe and Jordan are accused of crimes against humanity and both are found guilty. J.J. is accused of treason and she is also found guilty. Vinny is accused of numerous yet nameless crimes and he too is found guilty. All of the accused are sentenced to be hung from their necks until they are dead. First Hangman and Second Hangman show nooses to the screaming crowd. The four sentenced are brought before the gallows and nooses are tied around their necks by First and Second Hangman. Gideon offers J.J. a pardon on the condition that she has to pull the hangman’s lever, to which she refuses. Gideon then makes the same offer to the others and Howe steps forward. He is told to pull the lever once the drum beat ends or he will be shot. Right before Howe is forced to pull the lever, Boomer shoots Gideon in the leg. Boomer is shot dead, but Howe is able to escape. Howe returns to Vinny’s house and takes weapons and ammo. Howe finds a sail boat and orders Boat Guard and another guard to jump overboard, but kills them after one of them hands a weapon to the other guard.
Howe drives up in Vinny’s loader and shoots and kills Vicious Trooper and the other Troopers. Howe grabs their weapons and drives further into the camp. Vinny hands out weapons to the locals, which leads to a revolt. Howe and Vinny continue through the camp killing Troopers along the way. Howe asks Mrs. Boyd where Jordan and J.J. are. He convinces Mrs. Boyd to leave with him, but during her escape she is shot and killed by a Trooper. Howe goes to Gideon’s office and finds Jordan dead and everyone else gone. Howe and Vinny arrive at the beach in the loader and see Gideon’s sailboat floating away. Howe and Vinny swim out to the boat and Howe calls to J.J. J.J. throws a rope out to Howe and he starts to climb the rope onto the boat. Gideon comes up from below decks and J.J. keeps him occupied by kissing him, before he spots Howe and tells Lacey to get him, but J.J. pushes Lacey off of the boat. Gideon grabs J.J. and orders Howe to jump off the boat or he will slash J.J.’s throat. Howe jumps back into the ocean, and then J.J. and Gideon struggle, before she knocks Gideon off the boat. Howe, J.J. and Vinny sail on to the safe zone location.
