Stardates Explained - 19990201.1213

You don't understand the startdates?

Take, for example, 19990201.1213

Let me stick some spaces in some helpful places:

1999 02 01 . 12 13

That better?

19990201 means 1st February 1999, and 1213 is in 24-hour clock format, IE 12:13PM

Stardates in the Star Trek universe work in an entirely different way. Wikipedia has a good explanation on how Stardates work.