The Archives Are Incomplete
Posted on Fri Dec 13th, 2024 @ 1:34am by Commodore Tyler Malbrooke & Lieutenant Commander Alyssa Maren & Lieutenant Narin Valen & Lieutenant Junior Grade Rachel Sinclair
Edited on on Tue Dec 17th, 2024 @ 10:10pm
2,927 words; about a 15 minute read
Mission:
Episode 16 - Silent Cries
Location: Astrometrics - Deck 8 - USS Pioneer
Timeline: MD004 0600 hrs
Waking up from her dream, Rachel quickly got up from her bed, ran over to her work desk and started writing out a few notes on what she could remember of her dream before they faded. 'the silence', 'ignore the warnings', along with a few other notes.
After almost 30 minutes, Rachel stood up straight and took a deep breath in. This task she had been given was not going to be an easy one. Finding a planet that the Pioneer had been to before, but everyone had apparently forgotten about. She didn't even have the faintest idea where to start.
"Come on Rachel, think, think. you're looking for a planet." Rachel said to herself, trying to come up with something. Suddenly an idea came to her, "wait, planet? Astrometrics!" and with that she tapped her combadge without thinking what time it was.
"Ensign.....I mean Lieutenant Sinclair to Commander Maren. Can I please meet you in the Astrometrics lab"
Alyssa had not been sleeping well, so was stretched out on her bed, mentally reviewing her recent dreams when her combadge chirped. "Of course. When do you want to meet?" she asked, curious as to why the security officer wanted to meet in the Astrometrics lab. Which reminded her that she needed to do some research herself.
"Umm....at your next convenience will be fine. there's something I’d like to check for and I need the Astrometrics computer for it" Rachel answered, not quite sure how to explain her need for help. She was pretty sure that 'i had a dream' wasn't going to be acceptable.
The science officer sat up straighter. There was something in the tone of her voice that made Alyssa curious. "I can meet you there in thirty minutes."
“Oh, umm, yea that would be fine. Thank you commander. Sinclair out” Rachel said before closing the commlink, getting dressed and quickly making her way to astrometrics.
Alyssa quickly changed back into her uniform, then grabbed a muffin to eat as she made her way to Astrometrics. Along with little sleep, she hadn't been eating much lately. She wasn't certain what the security officer wanted, but she had an idea that it might be the same thing that was bothering her and Narin.
She was first to arrive in the lab, taking some time to get the room ready for whatever Rachel might need.
Walking in, Rachel paused for a moment to take a look around the room. She'd never been in astrometrics before and was amazed by the layout with the large screen along one wall and a few consoles scattered around. Shaking off her distraction, Rachel stepped over to Alyssa, "thank you for coming commander. I'm sorry to disturb your evening"
Alyssa waved it off with a hand gesture. "I was going over a puzzle I'm trying to solve. A break will do me and my brain good. How can I help you?"
Taking a breath in, Rachel tried to lay it out in a simple manor, "I know this sounds crazy, but I think I had a vision, or something like that. Have you ever heard of the Silence?"
Alyssa's gaze sharpened. "Yes. So has Narin Valen. What were you told?" She wanted to find out if there was any new information that Rachel could add to what she and Narin already knew.
Rachel’s froze in surprise for a moment. She didn’t expect multiple people to know about them, maybe their ‘you are the pioneer’ wasn’t far off. “Oh, um not much, they said that their voice is killing them and that we were the only ones that could save them. They seemed to think for some reason that we would know what to do”
"I was told they call themselves The Silence. They're dying and they need us to help. From what I gather, the Pioneer had an encounter with them, but the only person who remembers anything is the former chief science officer, Lieutenant Commander Vaebn tr'Hwersuil. The problem is, he's somewhere in Romulan Territory right now. I've sent a message to him, but I haven't heard anything yet."
"Hmm, hopefully we hear back soon" Rachel said as she gave Alyssa's words some thought, "you said the Pioneer had encountered these Silence before right? then shouldn't there be a record of it somewhere? Even if it was hyper-Classified"
"Not that I'm aware of. The Silence said something about remembering. I get the idea that it's not a matter of being classified, but of not being there. Or being removed. It would make sense if they mention Vaebn specifically. But if you want, I'll show you how to look through the science database."
"yea, that'd be great. Thank you" Rachel said, stepping up beside Alyssa. To her, this was as good a place to start as any.
Alyssa went over to one of the small consoles on the upper ring and accessed the science database where the data from the sensors could be studied. "From here, you can search by keyword or stardate." She paused. "You know, it might be a good idea to invite Narin to join us. He had the dreams, too. Perhaps with three of us searching, we'll find something."
Rachel nodded, "sure, I have no objections. Hopefully between the three of us, we can make some kind of sense of this distress call"
Nodding, Alyssa tapped her combadge. "Maren to Narin. Can you join Lieutenant Sinclair and me in Astrometrics?"
"On my way." Narin replied.
Alyssa turned back to Rachel. "While we wait, we can start by searching for something simple." She began a simple search of the database to show Rachel how it was done. She'd already searched for gaps in the Pioneer's history, but hadn't done it through Astrometrics yet. While she ran the search, she turned to Rachel. "Do you want to see if you can find anything?" She stepped back so that Rachel could take a turn.
Rachel nodded, "um, yea sure. I guess that's as good a place to start as any" she said, stepping over to the next console over, "do you think you could pull up where the Pioneer has been to? we could use that to cross reference anything I find"
Alyssa nodded. "I've checked the main computer twice. Each time I got a different answer. Let's see what we can find with this search and go from there. I'm running a general query from here to include data from the passive scans and long-range sensors."
Narin entered the Astrometrics lab, catching the tail end of Alyssa’s sentence. “What if we ask the computer to generate a list of all the locations the Pioneer has visited, along with its starting points? Then, we could compare the expected travel times between points with the actual times it took. By overlaying that data with the duration of time spent at each location, we might be able to identify instances where the ship took longer than expected. That could narrow down our search significantly.”
Alyssa nodded. "We'll check that when we get the results from our first query."
Narin returned her nod. “Sounds like a plan."
"I should have come here first, but I'm glad we're here now. And I'm glad we've all had similar dreams."
The computer beeped that the search of the astrometrics data was complete. This time it found two clear occurrences where there was a gap in the ship's timeline. The first was clearly when the crew had been sent to parallel universes and the ship may have been hijacked. That was the gap Kat and Jayna were researching. The other was more recent. "Computer, run the analysis again." Alyssa turned to the other two. "Just to verify the data."
The second search took less time, but came up with the same result.
Narin had settled at a nearby console, meticulously reviewing the logs from the first instance flagged by the computer. As they waited for the second search to be complete. When the computer returned identical results, he decided to move on to the logs for the second instance. However, as he attempted to access them, he found that there were no logs. Frowning, he tried again. The result was the same.
“Commander,” he said, turning toward Alyssa. “The logs are missing.”
Alyssa nodded. "It makes sense with what we were told. Is there anything to indicate why it was removed? Anything to give us information to action?"
Working away at her station, Rachel quickly accessed the security files for the missing time and came up with nothing. no reason, no logs, just nothing. "this doesn't make sense. there's nothing, no files at all for that time frame. it's like for that time; the Pioneer simply didn't exist. Which I’m sure we can all agree is impossible." She said, bringing up the two destinations where the logs had indicated the Pioneer was before and after the 'time gape'. "so how long would it take the pioneer to traverse this distance?"
Alyssa ran it through the computer. Along with the time, a map indicating where the ship may have gone was displayed on the monitor. "Anywhere in this area, because there's no way to tell if the ship stopped somewhere or for how long," she said. "So, we again have nothing. Well, a bit more than nothing, but not what we need."
Narin stared at his console. It was impossible for the files to simply vanish. Ships systems were designed to log every action, no matter how small. Even if someone had deleted the files, there would still be breadcrumbs. Traces left behind in the system’s metadata. He initiated a scan, sifting through the ship’s hidden files and records.
“I might have something,” Narin said, his eyes fixed on the console. The screen displayed two names. The first, Vaebn tr’Hwersuil, didn’t come as a complete surprise. But the second name made him pause. Tyler Malbrooke.
Of course. Alyssa sighed. The commodore would have to be the one to authorize the deletion of the files. "But if we were told that Vaebn was the person to talk to, would the commodore even know what we're talking about? No one else on the ship seems to remember."
Narin considered the situation. “Even if he doesn’t recall the specific situation, he’ll remember Vaebn. If we approach him with what we’ve uncovered and lay out our case, I don’t think he’ll turn us away.”
"No, but will he believe us? Especially after what we just went through?" Alyssa asked. "We can ask for his help to reach Vaebn, but all we really have are dreams. In addition, I doubt he'll remember what happened or be able to find where the ship went." She sighed. "We can ask him to come here and show him that files were deleted by him and the commander, and we can ask for his help in making contact." But without Vaebn himself, she doubted they'd get anywhere.
“It’s true; dreams and missing files don’t make for solid evidence.” Narin admitted. “But presenting what we have is better than nothing.” He paused for a moment, considering their options. “I’ll defer to your judgment, Commander, but my recommendation is that we bring Commodore Malbrooke up to speed. Acting without his knowledge could complicate things further.”
Rachel nodded, “I agree, right now we’ve hit a brick wall, we need to bring in the Captain or at least advise him of our suspicions. And maybe a visit to sickbay afterwards?”
Alyssa nodded and tapped her combadge. "Maren to Commodore Malbrooke. If you are free, could you come to Astrometrics?"
Tyler Malbrooke had been enjoying some much needed time away from his ship. He and his wife strolled Empok Nor and reconnected with some old friends that they had not seen in some time. However, much like a parent, a Captain is never truly away from his ship or crew. So, it was a little bit of a surprise with Alyssa Maren's voice came out of his comm badge. In a quick motion he tapped the badge and replied that he would be there momentarily. This was followed by a kiss to his beautiful wife. "Duty calls. I leave you in the very capable hands of Dara Jax." The two ladies strolled away and Dara could be heard as she began telling a small embarrassing story. Tyler smiled and made his way to the Pioneer.
Minutes later Tyler strolled into Astrometrics and stopped in his tracks. "You know it can't be good when your Chief Science, Assistant Chief Science, Assistant Chief of Security are putting their heads together. What can I do you for?"
Alyssa chose to be the one to begin the explanation. "The three of us have been having dreams of a people that call themselves The Silence. Something is killing them and they need our help. From what we were told, the Pioneer helped them in the past, but the only person who remembers is Commander Vaebn tr'Hwersuil. We've been given permission to remember, but he appears to be the only one who knows where to find these people. We found where the information was removed from the ship's computer by the commander with your authorization, and we've sent a message to the commander, but we don't have anything more to go on at this time." It was short and probably not as clear as it could be, but it was hopefully a place to begin to explain.
"Wish I could help you. But, you tell me that you receive what amounts to a distress call from a race that knows us, but we do not know them. If I am honest here, if I didn't know you all I would suggest you meet with the counselor. But, the best I can tell you is to contact Vaebn. I will put a few calls through to my contacts on New Romulus. See if I can grease the wheel as they say." Tyler was extremely perplexed by this explanation, and whatever went on here. It was all he needed was another phantom race of beings trying to take over his ship.
"Thank you, commodore. Your help would be appreciated." Alyssa wasn't at all surprised by his comment about their mental health. Without any evidence to back it up, their claim of getting a call for help in a dream was far-fetched. But help reaching the commander made asking him to come here worthwhile. "We'll let you know when we get some concrete answers."
Rachel quickly stepped up, "Captain, could we set course for this sector of space?" she asked, motioning on the star charts behind them to the second gap in their logs. "I'm convinced there must be some planet or system somewhere between these two destinations that could provide answers. I believe if we get closer, our sensors should help fill this gap"
"That sector of space is deep within Cardassian territory. We could in theory head over there. However, we are going to need clearance from the Detapa Council. They are going to need a lot more than your hunch to go on. All of that said, you all work on more evidence. In the meantime, I will contact New Romulus and Cardassia Prime and see what I can do. That is perhaps the best I can do." Tyler knew that these officers before him were aware of the stakes that they were asking from him. That alone is why he would do it.
"Thank you, sir. We'll let you know if we find anything actionable." Alyssa knew they were asking a lot, and appreciated that the commodore took their request seriously. She also knew that the area of space would likely have a number of habitable planets. It was more important than ever that they hear from Vaebn.
Tyler nodded and turned to leave Astrometrics. He did not fully understand what his Science team was getting at. As far as he was concerned a distress signal was a distress signal and they should simply respond. But, it seems that they had been there before, there simply was not enough information to go on. That was the exact reason that he told them to keep digging. As for him, he would go enjoy some time with his wife.
When the Commodore was gone, Alyssa turned to the other two. "We can spend some of our time looking for all habitable planets that might be home to The Silence. There are no guarantees it will be in our database, but we can at least come up with a potential list in case we don't hear from Vaebn." She sincerely hoped they would hear from him as she doubted the commodore would check every planet in the area. Meantime, she'd ask Jayna to look for any planets that were off limits to Starfleet or Federation personnel.
A Joint Post By
Lieutenant Narin Valen
Assistant Chief Science Officer, USS Pioneer
Lieutenant Commander Alyssa Maren
Chief Science Officer, USS Pioneer
Commodore Tyler Malbrooke
Commanding Officer, USS Pioneer
Lieutenant Junior Grade Rachel Sinclair
Assistant Chief Security/Tactical Officer, USS Pioneer
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