Sobs In The Darkness Part I

Posted on Sat Feb 1st, 2025 @ 3:22pm by Commodore Tyler Malbrooke & Lieutenant Commander Brianne Redstone & Lieutenant Commander Alyssa Maren & Lieutenant Commander Rowena McGowen & Lieutenant Ja'sol H'ros & Lieutenant Kolok & Lieutenant Narin Valen & Lieutenant Junior Grade Rachel Sinclair & Ensign Josie Boone & Lieutenant Commander Hermia O'Rourke & Lieutenant Vura & Lieutenant Junior Grade Jordan Spencer & Petty Officer 2nd Class Otes Ze & Lieutenant Colonel Cornelius Tremble & Captain Edmund Merrick & 1st Lieutenant Jeksyne Vale & Sergeant Major Lachlan Barr & Sergeant Audie Fitch & Petty Officer 1st Class Marisol Puerta & Petty Officer 2nd Class Sofia Cipriani & Staff Warrant Officer Rommie
Edited on on Sat Feb 1st, 2025 @ 3:42pm

3,775 words; about a 19 minute read

Mission: Episode 16 - Silent Cries
Location: Main Mess Hall - Deck 2 - USS Pioneer
Timeline: MD004 1100 hrs

"Shore leave is rescinded. All personnel report to stations on the double. Senior and Junior staff report to the Mess Hall for a briefing. Malbrooke out." Tyler stood in the Mess Hall alone at the moment. He had gone over the data from Alyssa, Narin, Kolok and others. They even managed to contact Vaebn on New Romulus and the answer was definitive. There was a species that knew of the crew of the Pioneer but there was no record of this species or their meeting. To make matters worse Tyler and those on the ship had no memory of this meeting. But Vaebn said this would be so. This species was in trouble and something had to be done. He sat at a table at the far end of the room and sipped a rachtijino. Strong times called for strong coffees.

Alyssa's first thought was, "At last." She and the others had worked for days to get to this point and they were finally going to do something. She hoped the nightmares would ease once they were on their way. But, if she were honest with herself, that wasn't likely to happen until they got to the planet and stopped whatever was killing The Silence. She'd been growing increasingly more anxious as time passed knowing that time was critical. The only thing she regretted was leaving Jek'Lar now that they were back together.

The chief science officer walked into the lounge and noticed the captain at the far end. She got a glass of apricot juice and walked over to him. "Hello, commodore. May I say I'm glad we're leaving?"

"You may..." Tyler smirked at his Chief Science. "I just wish I knew what we were leaving for. This just so damned puzzling. But we are Starfleet and as such we need to answer the call. Once everyone is here we will bring everyone up to speed and get a plan together"

"Good. The nightmares are getting...intense. Whatever's happening, it's getting worse." She sighed. "I know we're doing the best we can, but it's hard to adequately convey the urgency--or the fear--I've been feeling." There was an element to the dreams that couldn't be conveyed without a common point of reference, even by a telepath.

Having settled into her quarters and checked out the Marine areas, Audie was wandering around the ship when the call came in to report to the Mess Hall, so she shifted directions, smiling to herself that she knew where that was. It would take a couple more days, she figured, but soon she'd be able to find any spot in the ship even in the dark.

But that would have to wait, and she slipped into the mess hall, looking around for other Marines that were gathering so she could sit with them.

Vura glided into the mess hall, drawing some attention from people around her. She had not left the ship a great deal during shore leave and she had no sense of any urgency, so why was Tyler cancelling shore leave. She breezed up towards where he was and asked with some concern, "Captain, is everything alright?" When she asked that, her tone conveyed that she was not concerned for the mission but the Commodore himself.

One did not get to be Captain without learning how to read people some of the time, and Tyler Malbrooke was no different. He could tell that Vura's question was both about the impending mission and about his own state of mind. "As to what is in store for all of us that question is debatable. There is a lot to discuss and some of it will distress the crew so be ready to handle any of that. As to the particulars it is best not to repeat myself so you will get filled in with the rest of the crew." Tyler smiled and he leaned in to speak the rest into Vura's ear. "As to my own state of mind. It feels good to get out there and do something again. As the saying goes time will heal all wounds."

The Deltan nodded almost imperceptibly, so the crew would not take notice of any concerns. Was the Captain creating a scenario just to make himself feel better or was there something genuinely wrong. If so, why do this? Why call a mass meeting? Why not just recall shoreleave and go? Why not contact those involved. There were so many questions and no answers yet, which concerned her. However, the fact that the Captain acknowledged her concerns in a whisper did give her more hope for the situation. For now, she would wait and listen.

Alyssa took this as her cue to sit down and nodded to the commodore and counselor before finding a seat.

Jo was about to enter a holodeck when she heard the announcement. She breathed a sigh of relief. Honestly it was an announcement that was so well timed, Jo had no plans to go on leave anyway. "Well. I'd better get down there. Ensigns don't last too long if they keep Commodores waiting."

Hermia was on the station enjoying a well earned massage. The masseuse's fingers were melting away her aches and pains. Then her comm. badge sounded.

The masseuse brought it over to her, and the Chief Medical Officer discovered shore leave had been cancelled.

"Sorry, Mela, I have to go." She said grabbing her uniform and dressing.

"Okay, Doc. we can finish next time you're on the Station." Mina said wiping her hands on a tell. "Save travels."

"Thanks." She said. Then tapping her comm. badge, she said. "Pioneer transport, This is Commander O'Rourke, I need a site to site transport to the Mess Hall, please."

"Understood, Commander, energizing now." Came the voice of Petty Officer Puerta.

Hermia was enveloped by a transporter beam, and remateralized in the centre of the Mess Hall. "What's this all about, Sir?" She asked remembering Mela's touch.

Brianne stood there in engineering, watching her codes and preferences track across the master display, things turned from yellow to blue tones in a cascade as she became the new chief. Once the display was completely blue, she turned,picked up her bag and headed for the mess hall. unpacking can wait.

Ja'sol walked in briskly With his Raktajino in hand and listening to the security chatter on his com badge. " Copy, H'ros out. " He sat down at the table. " Captain, the ship is secure and ready for departure when your ready. Security teams are set at condition two with all stations manned and roving patrols of the interior of the ship has begun Sir. "

Rommie intercepted the incoming Comm’s, recognizing the source, priority and routed it atomically between one micro beat and another. Neil put the block of wood he’d been slowly carving aside as first Rommie’s voice, then Tyler’s buzzed in his ear.

He ignored it momentarily as his mind began shifting gears from pleasure to work. The block of wood had only the start of pencil lines on it, marking off all the parts of the shilla that weren’t the King Eider duck he’d decided was in there. The small wood carving table he’d built folded easily and he packed away his small tool kit.

Standing, he dusted his hands without thinking about it, shifting his mind to business. He wondered what was going on. “Rommie,” he said as he stepped through the door to his quarters, “Has a mission packet arrived from fleet?”

“No sir,” the AI’s voice responded immediately. “The Pioneer is still listed on this port visit for at least another week. The station’s computer hasn’t been updated for an early departure and we’re waiting on a few stores with no mention of a speed up anywhere in the timeline.”

Frowning, Neil wondered further why Tyler was calling for a face to face with the whole crew rather than filtering a mission pack through normal channels. He knew his friend and CO had been cleared through medical after dealing with Maleficent, but…

“Rommie,” he said, “Auto-record whatever this is through my contact, store it in my personal files, full security protocols until I change my mind.”

The AI acknowledged the order as Neil walked through the doors to the mess hall, then filtered his way toward where Tyler was standing.

Seeing is first officer arrive Tyler nodded in his direction. "Colonel a word in private please." He then motioned to the door that led to the Captain's personal dining room.

Making eye contact and nodding in acknowledgment, Neil followed Tyler as requested, unconsciously matching his stride, saving his questions.

Once they were inside Tyler relaxed and become less formal. "Neil I am sorry for doing this short notice. But, there does not seem to be time to bring you fully up to speed alone. The short story is there is evidence that we encountered a race of beings known as The Silence. Due to their xenophobia we were made to forget they exist and all evidence of them deleted from our logs. Now, that race has reached out to us for help. They are being exterminated. Maren, Valen, Sinclair and Kolok have the full evidence. They have been in contact with Vaebn who seems to be the only one who remembers this mission. It is my intention to break Starfleet orders and take the ship to the Silence's homeworld to see what is happening and put a stop to it. I wanted to give you a heads up so this is not a blindside in front of everyone."

Neil felt one eyebrow rise, then both and his mind processed. "I've heard about the bad dreams the crew were having. Hell I had one myself." His mind caught up after a few beats and he said, "So, a xenophobic alien species were able to do mind wipes of our entire crew after what I can only believe is a routine mission of some type. That suggests a fairly advanced species that made their bed, Captain. What assurances do we have that this isn't some sort of trap or, even if we take it on their word that they're being attacked, they won't attempt to screw around in our people's minds again?" Crossing his arms and giving his friend a steady look, Neil said, "Sir...Tyler. I'd not be doing my job if I didn't say I have concerns. We JUST got done dealing with Rowena's drahk and now there just happens to be another race that's stirred our people's brains around. And the Science types and you think we need to just traipse on out and see if we can help a species that was perfectly happy, apparently, to give us a brain shampoo and send us off? If they're that xenophobic, I'm surprised they just didn't make Pioneer disappear."

Tyler smiled and clapped Neil on the shoulder. "I do not know if this is a trap and that is why we are chatting. We are Starfleet and with everything going on we need to believe that this race needs help. I believe it as it seems that I gave the order to clear the logs. But, I am also not crazy. I want you and the Cure to have a plan. If this is a trap I want the old double cross ready to go. I think this group is reaching out as we are the only people that still have a chance to remember them. We are going to go out there and tell this crew it is a rescue mission, one that goes against Starfleet orders. Then you and your people are going to plan away." Tyler looked at his friend and with body language told him this was something that had to be done.

Neil shut his eyes for a moment, then blinked and said, "Aye aye, sir. No double cross. I'll just glass the planet." Then he blew out his breath and said, "Dealing with telepaths are tricky. The Pioneer will be ready"

Narin entered the Mess Hall and quickly spotted Alyssa seated. Noticing the empty chair beside her, he made his way over and slid into the seat. He glanced at her with a small smile. “Finally, huh?” he said.

"Yes." Alyssa didn't hide the hint of relief she felt at the summons. "I admit, I'm eager to get there." Not just to stop the nightmares, but to help them.

Narin nodded, sharing her sense of relief. “I feel the same,” he said, shifting slightly in his seat as he settled in.

Walking into the mess hall, Rachel made a b-line for the nearest replicator and ordered a tall mug of the strongest coffee her sleep deprived mind could come up with. Ever since she’d had the first nightmare, she hadn’t had more then an hours sleep before being jerked awake by what she saw. So now she was running on caffeine and a prayer. Turing around, Rachel stumbled her way to a chair and flopped into it after placing the tall mug onto the table.

Edmund was at his desk on the Pioneer, working out ideas of tactical mission scenarios for the marines. He hadn't done much in this aspect since they had gone to that planet to rescue those who had been captured. The call from Tyler came as a welcome interruption, placing his pencil down upon his art pad and headed towards the messhall. Entering he found a seat to where he could observe those there, and also have a good view of Tyler.

Jeksyne slips into the mess hall, sitting next to his CO with a nod and turns his attention to the Commodore.

He noted the expressions of curiosity evident upon their faces. Edmund wasn't questioning the reason why Tyler called for Shore leave to be rescinded, it has happened before, and was certain that it would happen again.

Rowena finally managed to clean up her quarters. As she was looking at the room she heard the commodore speak over the comm. For a moment she was a bit worried and didn't know what to think of it. She looked at the room she just tidied. Finally she sighed. She really needed to get everything out of her mind. She couldn't do her work properly if she was going paranoid. She walked out of her quarters and made her way to the mess hall.

As she walked in, she noticed a lot of people had already arrived. She avoided eye contact and, got a drink from the replicator and sat down a little to the side. She wasn't sure how everyone was thinking about her. Even if the crew didn't hold her accountable, she still feel a bit guilty. She really did need some more time.

Noticing Rowena having walked in, Vura left Tyler's side and headed on over to her. As Vura headed towards Rowena, she was certain some heads might be following her as she practically floated to the XO. It was time that the crew saw that there was no reason to be afraid and for Rowena to learn that she had nothing to be ashamed about. "So good to see you again, Commander," Vura told Rowena, nodding towards her.

Edmund had taken notice of Rowena's arrival and also seeing Vura's movement towards Rowena. For some reason he felt his hackles rise, he forced himself to relax. Vura was just doing her job, still though it will be a little bit before he spoke to Vura.

Rowena noticed Vura coming over to her. She gave a small smile. "Thank you, Counselor." She replied friendly.

Jo walked into the mess hall, ready for anything. She waved to those who were already there before taking a seat.

Kolok had not left the Pioneer due to being so recently assigned. He had been in the gym, working on his forms. He swiftly changed into his uniform, checked his appearance and then made his way to the mess hall. He entered the room without pausing, using his height advantage to locate a spot as close to the Captain as he could. "Captain," he said with a nod as he sat.

Ja'sol watched as Rachel came into the mess hall and watched her grab a coffee from the replicator and went over to the replicator and ordered a two hundred fifty milliliter glass carafe of boiling hot water and set it next to her along with a black foil packet with Klingon writing on it.

Ensign Boone just sat quietly with a cup of coffee. Brianne went and sat beside her "Ah. Hello, a familiar face" pointing to Josie's picture on her Padd. "Hopefully this is you. I'm Brianne, your new boss, will explain later."

More people arrived into the briefing, and Edmund was rather glad that this was being set up in the mess hall, there was a lot more than what he knew of. Some he was familiar with, the others he did not.

Looking at the foil packet her department head had just placed in front of her, Rachel looked over at him with a confused look. Her Klingon was a little weak so reading the packet wasn't something she could do, even if she wasn't running on caffeine, "Sir, what's this?"

Ja'sol grinned at her. " It's Black Death Raktajino. The most potent stuff you can get, I only have a limited supply of the stuff and it will work better then a stim patch. The taste alone will wake you up Rachel, as it did for me."

Lachlan had entered the mess hall shortly after Neil. He'd been silent, all the questions being asked were being done by those around him he saw no need to raise anything else. The Silence seemed to be from a mission before his time on the Pioneer so at least he felt assured his mind hadn't been tampered with. However, The Silence certainly had balls to come and ask for help after what they did to the crew, and ship, previously. Although Lachlan had thought that maybe Tyler agreed to it... after all with memories wiped who was to know?

Tyler walked out of his private mess with Neil. Before he could take stock of anything and think about where he would go with this gathering, Sofia jogged into the Mess Hall. She handed Tyler a PADD with an apologetic look on her face. "Sorry Commodore but this could not wait." She said and then left just as quick as she arrived. Tyler looked at the PADD and then looked up as he noticed the newcomer Lieutenant Commander Brianne Redstone for the first time. He huffed out his cheeks as this was the absolute wrong time to learn of Elen's transfer. But so much for it.

Tyler passed the PADD off to Niel so the XO could learn of the change in engineering. He took a look around and saw his crew before him. His extended family, they had seen life and death together. Now, it was time for them do it once again. He knew he had asked so much of them. This time he would not ask, he would simply tell them the plan and allow them to make their own decisions. "Everyone, I want to thank you all for coming on such short notice. We have much to discuss. So, get yourself something and sit back and relax we may be here for the long haul."
To Be Continued...

A Joint Post By

Commodore Tyler Malbrooke
Commanding Officer, USS Pioneer