Leaving for an extended away mission

Posted on Wed Oct 23rd, 2024 @ 3:13am by Civillian Sara Winters & Lieutenant Commander Nash Winters & Civilian Brunel Winters

2,072 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Gone, Without Ever Knowing the Way
Location: USS Astrea, Winters' Quarters
Timeline: MD -2

Winters entered his family quarters and immediately sought out his wife, Sara. She was in the kitchen fixing a snack for the kids. “Hi, sweetheart.” He kissed her and took her hand.

“Listen, I have something to tell you. When our little leave is over, I have to go away for a few days. Freecloud . There's a group of people who are trying to build a weapon. A terrible, biological weapon. Cyn, Doctor Siv, and myself are posing as traders to get information on who is trying to acquire the components, perhaps even take the actual pieces to keep them out of the wrong hands. I don’t know long I’ll be gone, but I’ll be in good company. I’ll be back as soon as I can. Now I have to tell the kids…..that’s gonna be the worst part. We just got Brunel back safe and healthy and now I have to leave him.”

"Do you at least have a ballpark?" Sara asked pointedly. "Days, weeks? Months. How involved is this mission?"

“I can’t be sure, but at least a few days. Maybe a week. Depends on how fast we can track down any leads or make contact with the people that Intelligence know about. Cyn is really good at her job and she will keep us on point. Come with me so I can tell the kids.”

Sara sighed and tried to not let Nash see her roll her eyes as she followed them to where the kids were waiting. "We were going to go to the beach this afternoon," she reminded him.

Nash lowered his eyes away from Sara. “I know, babe. And I’m sorry. This just came up and Remy just called us in an hour ago. I’ll make it up to you. I promise. You’re disappointed, I get it. Don’t be mad.”

"I'm not. It is what it is," she responded. "Alex, Brunel, come spend time with your father, he's going away for a few days," Sara called out.

"What where?" Came Alexandra's voice. She was still trying to decide what to wear.

Brunel came out of his room, walking slowly, as he had changed from using the hoverchair, to a pair of cane crutches. He had a questioning look on his face.

Nash had one arm wrapped around Alexandra and the other around Brunel. “Freecloud. I’m have to go to Freecloud for a bit. I can’t get into the details but let me just say our job is to find some information on some bad people. Who will to hurt Starfleet and the Federation. Not sure how long this assignment is, but I don’t think it will be long.” He waited a beat to see how the children would react.

“Alex, take care of your mom and Brunel. He needs you more now than ever. Don’t forget you have Remy and Eirly here to look after you, too. Brunel, my brave little man. Take care of each other. You have friends and family on Astrea for support. You’re the reason why I do what I do. For all the sons and daughters in the Federation.”

Brunel exchanged a look with his sister, then signed the question they both were thinking. "Is the mission dangerous?"

“I don’t think so. There’s always risk going into an unknown situation. But the Captain would never put us in danger on purpose. I don’t want you or your sister to worry. I’ve got a good group of people going with me and we’re going to look out for each other. Why don’t you… draw me a picture I can take with me? I’ll keep it with me all the time, so I can keep YOU with me.”

Brunel thought about it for a moment and, while he had no reason to doubt his father's word, he still felt apprehensive. However, he decided to keep it to himself for now. Looking back up at Nash, he simply nodded quietly.

"These things happen in Starfleet," Sara commented somewhat dryly. "It's bad timing," She shot Nash a look meant just for Nash.

Turning back to Brunel, "But, it's just part of the job sometimes." Sara placed a comforting arm around Brunel's shoulders. "Without Starfleet we wouldn't have found you though." Sara gave Brunel a kiss on the forehead. "I'm sure Dad will be just fine, and the three of us will still get down to see the planet."

Brunel looked from his father, then up to his mother. He still wasn't quite sure, however, he trusted them both toknow what was best. "Okay, Mama," he signed, then embraced her as best he could, with the crutches still hooked to the underside of his forearms.

"I don't suppose I could go?" Alexandra asked. "I would stay on the shuttle and wouldn't be any trouble." She looked at her father hopefully. As she got older she kept pushing, hoping that maybe someday something might connect to a project at school. She knew the children of officers had been allowed to go on away missions before.

Sara narrowed her eyes at Nash in a look that said, Don't you dare.

Nash felt Sara’s eyes burn into him like a phaser on overload. “Sara, dear, can we have a word in the kitchen? We’ll be right back, kids.”

Nash scratched his head and tossed an open-ended question in the air. “What are you doing? I know the timing for this thing sucks, but….really? This is an undercover intelligence mission. The four of us will be using assumed identities down there. There’s no way Alexandra can be mixed up in any of it. Besides, there is no shuttle, by the way. It’s some kind of freighter. Back me up on this, Sara. I don’t get to pick and choose my assignments because I have a family. I’m a senior officer on this ship. I go where I’m sent.”

"I'm not doing anything. It's fine. We understand," Sara said simply. "Alexandra will not be going on this, or any trips with you unless we've discussed it first, as long as that's clear. Don't make a bigger deal out of it than it needs to be. You'll make the kids anxious over nothing."

“I’m just….worried about the kids,” Nash started to say as Sara turned to go back to the kids’ room. “Sara, baby, please wait. I’m sorry if it seems like I blew my top. Remy trusted me enough to read me in on this. And I trust her and the folks around me to keep us safe.”

"They'll be fine as long as you make it home safe and don't rattle their nerves before you leave," Sara assured him. "Of course the Captain trusts you. Now go spend time with the kids. I'll help you pack so you can focus on Brunel."

“Thank you, Sara. Leave a little room in whatever bag you use. I need to pick up some things from my office. Love you.”

"I love you too, sweetie. Don't say anything to get them too alarmed. I'll be the one dealing with it."

==========

Though they couldn't hear what their parents were discussing, Brunel turned to his sister and hugged her. It was clear that he was feeling concerned with this new development.

"Whoa," Alexandra commented, surprised by Brunel's mood change. "It'll be okay," she added giving him a sisterly squeeze. "It's just an away mission. Starfleet officers go on them all the time," she said casually.

Looking into her face, Brunel could see that Alex wasn't worried. He took some comfort in that knowledge. "I guess, I still have much to learn about my new life here."

Alex shrugged. "You'll figure it out. Starfleet has so many rules anyway. The only time we might really need to be worried is if the ship separates and dad is on the Stardrive section. That means they are doing something dangerous and they are taking the families somewhere safe."

Sara and Nash walked in on Alexendra's explanation to Brunel. Her childlike understanding of when it was time to worry was oversimplified and not entirely accurate. Starfleet jobs always held risk. The engineering department itself was one of the more dangerous areas of a starship. But at 13, neither child was old enough to actually need to understand the full dangers of space travel - though Brunel had lived a much harder life than Alex and knew first hand of the dangers that were out there.

However, the day that their father was leaving for a few days was not the day to correct Alexandra's understanding. Especially if her words gave Brunel comfort.

"Yes, Dad will be just fine. He's actually just going out ahead of Astrea to do some things before we get there. We'll be picking his team up when he's finished. So there's no reason to worry. And he wants us to still try to have fun on shore leave even though he can't be with us. Let's spend some time with him before he as to leave, and we'll take some pictures so we can tell him stories when we're back together," Sara suggested.

“Yes, I will be fine. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to talk to you while I’m gone. I may be able to send encrypted messages from the freighter. Our team will be pretty much comms silent. Come here, both of you,” Nash said, with his arms wide. He had an arm around Alexandra and another around Brunel. “I don’t want you to be sad and we’ve already told you to not worry. I’m just….going away for work. Only this time…{whispers} it’s a secret mission.”

Brunel moved over to his father's right side, and looked up at him as he put his arrm around his young shoulders. When Nash finished speaking, Brunel signed a response. "You will be helping people? Like when you help my people?"

“You could say that. We will be trying to find some information about people who are trying to do some really bad things. Could end up hurting a lot of people from all different worlds. So, yes, if we do what we’re supposed to do, we will be helping people.” Nash turned his eyes to Alexandra. “Alex, you look like you want to say something. Talk to me, sweetheart.”

Brunel cast his gaze to his sister, as he awaited her reply.

Alexandra had been watching the exchange between her dad and Brunel. "Not really. How long are you going to be gone?" Alex asked. "It's too bad you can't even go to the beach like we were supposed to."

“I know that it stinks, love. I was really looking forward to being with you all. I feel like I missed so much with Brunel’s illness and everything. But duty calls. I have to do something like this. I’ll be gone a few days, maybe a week.”

"I know, but we had so much fun surfing on the holodeck and we were going to get to do it for real." She got up and walked over to give him a hug. "It just makes me sad."

“I’m sorry, my sweet girl. Look—-I promise to make it up to you. Both of you. Think of anything you want to do—anything. Mind you, we’ll have to use the Holodeck. But Brunel, you think of something, too. I’ll take you, just you and I. On a different day, I’ll take Alex. However, should an opportunity present itself, we could plan something for all of us. What do you think?”

"You said anything," Alexandra pointed out perking up. "That means anything. Whatever I pick." It wasn't a question and the wheels were already turning as a sly grin started forming on her face.

Brunel seemed thoughtful, then nodded to his father. "I would like to learn more about your homeworld, Father. As it will now be my homeworld going forward."



OFF

Sara & Alex Winters
USS Astrea
(NPCs of Remy)

Commander Nash Winters
Chief Engineer
USS Astrea

Brunel Winters
Civilian family member
USS Astrea
(NPC - Spello)

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