Marcus Washington

Early Life

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Marcus Washington was born in Midland, Michigan to David and Nicole Washington on Halloween night of 2370. The youngest of four children he was very close to his older brother Michael. The two played football everyday after school in the backyard. In the summer the two were usually found swimming or fishing in one of the many local lakes and ponds.

Marcus’ parents were both medical doctors and they urged all four of their children to follow in their footsteps.  His father was an orthopedic surgeon and for a time Marcus considered that career path, but ultimately it was meeting Captain Federico Hernandez that changed his destiny at ten. Captain Hernandez was a local hero who commanded the USS Choctaw during the Dominion War and started his career in Starfleet as an engineer.

Consumed with engineering Marcus read everything he could get his hands on.  By the time he was fifteen he had read the Captain Montgomery Scott’s engineering manual to the point that he could practically recite it from memory.  Using this acquired knowledge he rebuilt an old type-7 shuttle which he donated to a local museum.  The shuttle had once served aboard one of the Constitution-class ships and the museum gives guests rides every saturday.

When Marcus was sixteen tragedy struck.  While out ice fishing with his brother, Michael fell through the ice.  Marcus was able to pull him out of the freezing water. The boys were ill prepared for the crisis without emergency locators and basic survival gear.  Ten miles from civilization they started back, but Michael quickly succumbed to hypothermia and fell into unconsciousness.  Michael drew his lasts breaths in Marcus’ arms as he desperately tried to warm his older brother at the expense of his own body heat. Marcus somehow made it out of the woods to find help and was treated for frostbite, but it was too late for Michael.

On the football field he was a phenom.  He started varsity all four years at linebacker and tight end.  He helped lead his team to a State Championship his junior and senior years. He broke school records in sacks, interceptions, and touchdowns.  His exploits garnered the attention of several schools around the world, but ultimately his interest in being a Starfleet engineer won out and he chose the attend Starfleet Academy despite not having a football team.

Starfleet Academy (2388-2392)

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In August of 2388 Marcus Washington enrolled as a freshman cadet to Starfleet Academy.  San Francisco was culture shock for an eighteen-year-old Marcus who had grown up in the backwoods of Michigan.  He struggled with the rigid structure of the Academy. Academically he fared little better.  In high school everything came easy for him. Being the star football player he was often granted leniency that other students never got, and found sitting down to study subjects that did not interest him tedious and difficult to focus on.

As a gifted athlete Marcus walked onto the Academy’s wrestling and parrises squares teams.  Marcus wasn’t a very good wrestler and went a career 10-19.  In parrises squares however, he excelled.  The Academy team just missed the playoffs his freshman year, and for his sophomore and junior years they lost in the championship to Minsk and Seoul respectively.  Finally after an undefeated season the Academy team came out on top of Minsk in the championship.  Marcus was named the game’s most valuable player and was offered spots on several professional teams, which he declined.

A poor student, Marcus got a tutor his sophomore to maintain academic eligibility.  He was more than intelligent enough to succeed, but he lacked the study skills and was a hands on learner  which made lectures less effective for him.  His tutor, a fellow classmate, Olivia Sandoval was two years ahead of him in the engineering program, and the two became close.  For a time they had an on and off again relationship, but when she graduated and left the Academy the relationship ended.  The two are still friends and they occasionally communicate via sub-space.

On May 23, 2392, Marcus received his degree from Starfleet Academy. He double majored in physics and structural engineering, graduating in the middle of his class. He wanted to find a posting on one of the prestigious ships like the Odyssey or Enterprise, but those slots filled up first so he settled for gamma shift engineering officer aboard the USS Brandywine, an aging Centaur-class starship.

USS Brandywine (2392-2399)

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Marcus joined the USS Brandywine NCC-42044 at Starbase 375. The beginning of his career he worked away as one of the night shift engineers.  His hard work and doing the worst jobs from waste extraction to scrubbing plasma conduits without complaint did not go unnoticed. It wasn’t long before he was leading the entire engineering team on the night shift. In 2393 he was offered a position on alpha shift, but Marcus opted to remain with his crew and continue to grow and learn as a leader.  Marcus learned a lot on the Brandywine and he developed a close mentorship with the ship’s Bajoran chief engineer Lieutenant Commander Okrin Prel. It is a relationship he maintains to this day.

In 2394 the Brandywine responded to a terrorist attack on Starbase 11. An improvised antimatter bomb badly damaged the station and hundreds were injured or dead.   The explosion damaged the fusion core, and was going critical. Marcus volunteered to beam into the station’s reactor core and he and three others risked their lives to stop an uncontained fusion explosion. By manually severing the deuterium injectors from the reaction chamber the three engineers saved thousands that could not have been evacuated in time.  As reward for his heroism he was promoted to lieutenant (JG) and became the ship’s assistant chief engineer.

Six months after the attack at Starbase 11 the Brandywine and a small task Force of Federation ships were sent to defend R’vera IV.  Starfleet Intelligence had uncovered plans to attack the colony, which was just inside the Federation border. R’vera IV would become one of the few pitched battles between the Federation and Klingon separatist forces that did little to change the outcome of the conflict.  The bloody conflict was costly for both sides.  Of the six Federation ships three were destroyed and forcing a withdrawal giving the Klingons control on the planet.  The Klingons lost five of their eight ships. A loss that they could not easily overcome. During the battle Chief Engineer Okrin was incapacitated,  and Marcus was forced to take over to lead damage control teams.  His efforts were successful and the Brandywine escaped back to Starbase 11 trailing plasma from its warp nacelles.

Conflict with rogue Cardassian elements ignites conflict along the Federation/Cardassian border in 2395 culminating in the return of the True Way in the former demilitarized zone.  With the emerging threat of the True Way in the region Starfleet began limited military operations to counter the terrorist organization, and the Brandywine was one of several ships dispatched to the region in an effort to restore stability.  At Setlik III Marcus was planetside when a large organized force of True Way fighters attacked the settlement.

The colony was not prepared for the attack and the attackers had captured over half of the Colony’s capital city before adequate Starfleet personnel could be moved into position and stop the advance.  Marcus was no fighter, but he showed courage and let his small team of engineers to hold off over two dozen attackers until reinforcements could arrive.  He escaped the battle without any physical injuries, but the psychological damage of combat is still present to this day.

USS Crazy Horse (2399-present)

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In 2399 the Excelsior-class USS Crazy Horse came out of Earth Station McKinley following a two year refit and modernization to extend its life to 2410 and possibly beyond.  Seeing an opportunity to move forward in his career he applied for a transfer to be the ship’s chief engineer, and with the recommendation from Commander Prel, Captain Aoife McKenzie approved the transfer.  The transition from the Brandywine to the Crazy Horse was relatively simple. Both ships were designed in the same era and shared a common lineage. One big difference was the modernization improvements done to the Crazy Horse to extend its life. Marcus arrived just prior to the relaunch and he oversaw the final installation of refit components including a new Class 8 warp core.

Shortly after the relaunch Marcus took the command test. It took two tries to pass it, but he passed with a perfect score the second time.  With command certification under his belt he started taking command of a few shifts a week to build up his experience.  He had no intention of leaving engineering just yet, but if he wanted to reach his goal of making captain someday he would have to leave the engine room and get on the bridge. He has found himself to be a capable commander and his crews enjoy when he is in command.

In September 2399 an accident with an artifact found on a planet transported the Captain and First Officer off of the Crazy Horse leaving Lt. Commander Erin Hayden in command of the ship as acting captain, the CMO as the XO, and Marcus  an unlikely second officer. Marcus lead the engineering and operation teams in trying to figure out how to activate the artifact again to no avail.  Captain McKenzie and Commander Halstead were just missing in action.

Century Storm

In February of 2400 the Crazy Horse was pressed into action by the Fourth Fleet to help with relief operations  from the damage being caused by the massive ion storm dubbed the “Century Storm“. Ordered to evacuate Galina Prime the ship had to make two trips to get everyone off the planet. Marcus worked 20 hour shifts only napping in engineering during this time.  With the ship beyond capacity the life-support systems required constant monitoring.

With most of the senior staff off the ship Marcus became the de facto first officer working with Lt. Commander T’Lar who was in command. It became his duty as the storm beared down on the ship to beam up the last of the colonists to the ship.  Unfortunately he wasn’t able to get everyone and the away team and a couple hundred colonists were left stranded on the planet hidden away in underground shelters.  The storm wasn’t too kind to the ship either, and once inside the storm he had his hands full holding the ship together.  However, the ship, old as it may be was built well and it weathered it with only minor damage and no injury to crew or passengers. After the storm the planet’s atmosphere was too toxic for inhabitation and the survivors were taken to Starbase 86.

Following the events at Galina Prime the Crazy Horse provided support to the damaged ships and stranded survivors for the next two weeks. Marcus was busy repairing other ships and weather control systems when he could and helping to evacuate those places that he couldn’t fix.  It was a long grueling period for him, but at the same token he enjoyed the challenges that the storm had provided.  There were no medals or ribbons given to him or the rest of the crew, but saving all those lives had been reward enough for Marcus and he was pretty sure the same was true for the rest of the crew.

Sundered Wings

The Crazy Horse’s contribution to the events on Psi Volurum was minimal at best. The ship made many uneventful supply runs to the colony.  While it wasn’t a glamorous assignment Marcus knew that it was an important assignment.  The colonists on the planet were surviving on thin supplies and they were definitely not going to get it from the Romulan government who opposed their independence movement

Family

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Family 

Father: David Eric Washington

Mother: Nicole Shelby Washington née Willis

Siblings:

• Jeremiah Dean Washington
• Cynthia Diane Villaseñor née Washington
• Michael Edward Washington †

Other Family:

• Henry Washington (grandfather)
• Emily Washington née Wilson (grandmother)
• Edward Willis † (grandfather)
• Danielle Willis née Conner † (grandmother)
• Eric Michael Villaseñor  (nephew)
• Florence Washington (neice)
• Jorge Villaseñor (brother-in-law)
• Perry Washington (brother-in-law)

Biographical Data

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Born:  

• October 31, 2370
• Midland, Michigan, USA, Earth

Languages:

• English
• French
• Klingon (not fluent)

Degrees:

• Bachelor’s of Science: Physics
• Bachelor’s of Science: Structural Engineering

Service/branch:

• Starfleet, United Federation of Planets

Service:

• 2388-present

Battles/Wars:

• Klingon Border Conflicts
• Cardassian Border Conflicts
• 2nd Setlik III Invasion
• Battle of R’vera IV

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