The News Spreads

Posted on 13 Jul 2025 @ 8:52pm by Senior Chief Petty Officer Winston Washington IV

1,865 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: The Festival of Unity
Location: Shopping District, Starbase 375

ON:

"Hey Chief," came the voice of greeting from the crowd. Winston looked in the general direction of the voice, but did not necessarily see who it belonged to. A moment later, another one. Winston waved in that direction, likewise unsure who it came from.

Although Winston was in civilian clothes, a great many people aboard this massive station knew the Senior Chief. He was the Non-Commissioned Officer in Charge of Operations, just under the commanding officer, Commander Sito Graktar. The Commander had been serving here since the day the station went operational almost nine years ago; the Chief for about a year longer, while it was still be constructed. While Winston wasn't exactly ignoring the greetings and those that wished him well, he was actively downplaying his responses to them. He was out with his family. Enough said.

Winston's family had settled here, grown up here, and in the case of his son, who bore his name, had moved on. It had been an extremely happy and stable assignment for Winston, his wife Georgia, his son and his two daughters, Lucy and Maria.

Today, they were all out as a family, sans his son. Georgia had her arm wrapped in the crook of Winston's, both of them walking slowly through the shopping district. She smiled at him, the love she had for him never abating a single bit in their marriage of 25 years next month. Their daughters trailed behind by about a dozen meters, trying hard to pretend they were not out with their lame parents.

It wasn't because the girls didn't like shopping; quite the opposite, in fact. Both of them loved coming here every other weekend of the month, but their mother and father made it a point to do something one weekend a month together, whether it be visit the botanical gardens on the station, go away to Calisto for a few days, catch a holoflick, or even participate in interactive live-action murder mysteries (which Winston thought was far superior to any holosuite or holodeck simulation). It just so happened that this weekend, they were in the shopping district. And because they were with their parents, they were reigned in somewhat, both of them chatting with several of their respective friends on their commvids.

"Honey, would you look at that," Georgia stated, pointing off to a storefront to their right, and ahead of them a bit. She made an ick sound, then laughed lightly at her joke.

It took a moment for Winston to see what his wife was pointing at, then saw it, a grimace forming on his face as well. "Dear lord," he exclaimed, but only loudly enough to reinforce his wife's similar disdain for the object. "What will they think of next?"

"Right?!" His wife agreed.

"I don't know. I kinda like it," a voice from behind them called up. It was Lucy, their 17-year old. Her voice, and the voice of Maria, were like soft chimes playing in the wind; beautiful, ethereal, magical. So too was his wife's voice. He could pick them out of a cacophony of voices without so much as an ounce of trouble. So too could his wife. Both of them stopped and turned to look at her, both unsurprised that it appeared she had never taken her eyes off her commvid with her friends.

"You like that thing," Georgia asked. "Have you even looked at it?" Winston thought that was a fair question.

"Uggh, Mom!" Lucy exclaimed, her eyes coming off her commvid and rolling in her head, her eyes never once meeting her mothers. "I can do more than one thing at a time," she stated. Though her voice was lined with deep sarcasm and borderline disrespect, both the youngling and her parents smiled, then laughed. It was their love language in their family unit. Sarcasm. Making fun of each other, making fun of themselves. Toeing up to the line and pushing its boundaries.

The girls caught up to their parents, all four of them looking to that hideous object in the window. "Do you really think someone would buy such a thing," Maria aged 14, asked.

Lucy, her older sister, shook her head. "No way! I know I would not be caught dead with that thing," she teased.

"I have to agree with her," Winston stated to anyone listening to him. "I mean, you'd have to have a pretty low opinion of yourse...." The word was cut off, mid-speech, as the proprietor of the store reached into the display window and pulled it down. Behind him, a Gallamite smiled broadly as the item was handed to her.

All four blanched. "Huh, will wonders never cease," Georgia stated.

"Ugh! You can see her brain," Maria stated, a bit too loud, completely oblivious of her voice carrying, of anyone outside of her family being around to hear it. Several people turned to her, a few of them with sour looks on their faces, displeased at the seemingly racist remark from such a lovely young lady, and even moreso a product of the Senior Chief.

Both Winston and Georgia hissed at their daughter. "Maria!"

"Maria," Winston continued, coming down to her eye level, his voice soft, but tempered with a tone that was unmistakable from a lesson being taught. "It is considered impolite and uncivilized to point out things which people cannot change about themselves. That lady is a Gallamite. All Gallamite have transparent skulls. Sure, it is a bit weird for us humans, but to the Gallamite, it is the same as coming in different measurements for humans.

"Oh," she quipped, her hand coming to her mouth. "I didn't mean to be offensive, Daddy."

He put his hand on her shoulder. "I am sure of it, kiddo. Mistakes happen. So long as we didn't mean to truly offend, learn from it, and strive to do better, it is forgivable."

"But what is not forgivable," her mother chimed in, "Is buying that hideous thing," her thumb over her shoulder in the general direction of the shop. All three of them looked to her in surprise, then all four burst into laughter.

As the laughter between the four died down, a group of people bustled by them, close enough that Winston picked up a snippet of their conversation. "....complete devastation," one said. Another said "...likely a ton of casualties." These words caught his attention, and he turned to watch where they were headed, curious about what they were talking about. As he craned his neck, he took note of several other groups on an intercept course with the first group, like they were all headed towards the same place. He also noted that the station was still at normal operations, so it wasn't something going on with the Starbase or any of it's assets, including the ships docked here.

Georgia picked up on the concern of her husband. His body language had changed dramatically. "What is it, honey," she asked, looking in the same direction he was, though she could not see over any of the heads.

Without taking his eyes off where people were headed, he leaned his head over sideways so his wife could better hear him. "I'm not sure. Something is going on over there," he indicated with a jerk of his chin. "Want to find out?" Without waiting for her response, not because of his disregard for what his wife's feelings and concerns were, but because of the gut feeling he was developing, he called out to his daughters. "Lucy, Maria, stay close to your mother and I. Come on."

The four made their way in the same direction as the growing crowd was. It didn't take long to find they were all headed towards one of the news monitors around the shopping center. Just before the four of them were close enough to hear the report on the monitor, he heard a collective gasp. This got the hairs on the back of Winston's neck to stand up. Most of the people here had been off-world long enough to have their fair share of danger in their lives, many of whom had served and lived on starships. To have them all gasp like this, civilian and Starfleet alike, was enough to set the Senior Chief on edge.

Winston, Georgia, Lucy and Maria watched the two news anchors on the monitor. "....is besieged with winds in excess of 270 kilometers per hour. The waves pounding the shoreline in the affected area are topping four meters in height, and rainfall totals now exceed 25 centimeters. We have already received reports of massive damage and multiple casualties, and the storm has only just begun to hit the affected areas."

"That's right, Craig," the woman anchor stated. "Our Meteorologists here at FNN are stating the storm will continue lashing the area for the next fourteen hours. And let us not forget the area in the most direct path is Elysia, site of the Unity Festival scheduled to begin in just four days. One can only imagine the devastation and destruction this storm will cause. No word yet if the festival will be canceled."

Craig, the male anchor, continued. "Thank you Mylissa. We have asked our affiliate scientists and engineers on Starbase 375 why the Calisto Planetary Weather Network has not dissipated the storm before it grew into this monster that the people on Calisto are now facing. Both of our sources, on the condition of anonymity, have stated the weather network was woefully outdated, but was slated for a major upgrade beginning on Tuesday..."

Georgia pulled in close to her husband. "All those people down there, all those lives and all that property. My heart goes out to them. Lucy and Maria also got in close, their bodies touching their mothers and fathers. Winston wrapped his arms around them, in his small way protecting them from harm that was happening on the planet below.

Craig on the monitor continued. "We are being told there are an estimated 900 Elysians native to the area, and another thousand, give or take, Starfleet personnel and Federation civilians in the area on leave. We will keep you updated as the situation develops."

"Dad, will you have to go into that," Lucy asked, referring to the major storm happening far below them. Maria looked from her older sister to her dad, her brown doe eyes full of the very same question. He looked from his wife to both of them and smiled. "No, I won't. Don't worry. I may have to go once the storm passes to help with recovery and rebuilding, but until then, and if I am sent there, I will be safe and sound here with you three." He smiled, knowing what he was telling them was the truth. He even doubted he would have to go then.

"We will, thank you Craig," Mylissa stated in her chipper voice, smiling at the camera. "In other news, the Pioneers and the Settlers faced off on Terra Nova earlier today, the Pioneers eeking out a slim victory, three to two, with the winning run scored at the bottom of the ninth..."



OFF

Senior Chief Petty Officer Winston Washington IV
Operations
Starbase 375

 

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