Disturbed The Sound Of Silence Part II

Posted on Tue May 13th, 2025 @ 6:58pm by Commodore Tyler Malbrooke & Lieutenant Commander Brianne Redstone & Lieutenant Commander Alyssa Maren & Lieutenant Commander Rowena McGowen & Lieutenant Ja'sol H'ros & Lieutenant Kolok & Lieutenant Junior Grade Rachel Sinclair & Lieutenant Commander Hermia O'Rourke & Lieutenant Vura & Lieutenant Colonel Cornelius Tremble & Captain Edmund Merrick & Sergeant Major Lachlan Barr & Petty Officer 1st Class Marisol Puerta
Edited on on Tue May 13th, 2025 @ 8:12pm

4,403 words; about a 22 minute read

Mission: Episode 16 - Silent Cries
Location: Conference Room - Deck 1 - USS Pioneer
Timeline: MD009 1030 hrs

Last Time On Disturbed The Sound of Silence Part I
Standing, Neil straightened his uniform, as he replied. "Aye aye sir. Actually, with your permission: There'll be two that won't be affected by the Silence. Rommie will be recording and safeguarding information from my contact as we go along. "She's confined to the Morgue for the duration unless specifically requested by you or me. Walking toward the lift, Neil paused near Merrick and said, "Ed, get two-three person fire teams stood-up in standard repel boarders kit as a QRF. Send them only if security, me or the Commodore orders them in."

Tyler had made his wishes about Rommie known a hundred times over. However, if there ever was a time for an AI this was it. "Inform Rommie that any and all data she records is to be classified and not mentioned unless requested. With those provisos permission granted."

Edmund nodded, "Aye Colonel." rising from where he sat, ready to follow after Neil and the others to set up those who will be back up.
And Now The Continuation...

Alyssa walked into the transporter room with her entourage in tow. She recognized the necessity, but none of her interactions with The Silence indicated they were hostile. Just afraid and xenophobic. But she recognized that the added security was for the captain to feel comfortable offering up his chief of science officer as a sacrificial lamb. She kept her excitement at this second contact firmly in check.

Neil scowled to himself as he took up a position a couple of paces inside the hatch, his eyes roaming the transporter room. "Alyssa," he said quietly. "I'm guessing they'll be able to read our thoughts and will do so as a matter of course. Please tell them as diplomatically as possible that we don't consider it polite. After that, we'll play it by ear."

"I don't believe they'll read everyone automatically. That would take a lot of focus. But I should get a better idea when I'm in contact with them. If they are, I'll ask."

Rachel stood just behind Ja’sol as they awaited the silence. She couldn’t explain why, but she has an uneasy feeling about everything. Was it because of the silence? Was it the coffee? The lack of sleep? She couldn’t tell. Doing her best to clear away the unease she felt, Rachel forced herself to focus on the here and now. She had a job to do.

Ja'sol Could sense Rachels uneasiness, and not just her. Just about everyone in the room was as well. It was like a tidal wave of swirling emotions around him. He reached back and placed his hand on Rachel's forearm briefly. " Keep your eyes open and remember your training and you'll be just fine. " He said to her quietly.

"Colonel, the Silence are ready for transport. Awaiting your orders." CPO Puerta reported from the Transporter console.

Neil shifted automatically to a parade rest stance and said, "Right." He paused. Let the moment hang as he refrained from reminding the tech to do their job. They were doing their job and a reminder from him would only make him feel more in control of the situation.

So, he had to fake it a little. "Energize," Neil said simply.

"Aye, sir." Marisol said, her fingers moving across the controls with practiced ease.

Moments later the Silence delegation materialized on the transporter pad.

One lone being stood at the center of the pad. Its presence was ominous and it cocked its head as it looked directly into the eyes of first Puerta, then Sinclair, then Ja'sol, then Tremble and then finally Maren. When it looked upon a person its gaze seemed to indicate it looked deep within the person, to the very heart or soul of an individual. The Silence cocked its head to the side as it looked from person to person.

For a moment, Alyssa closed her eyes and took a deep breath while she waited for the wave of dizziness to pass. It wasn't the way he...she...they? looked. She'd grown familiar enough with their appearance in her dreams. It was the raw fear they wore like a cloak and seemed to pulse around them. She forced her eyes open and inclined her head in a brief greeting. For the benefit of the others with her, she spoke both aloud and telepathically. "Greetings. I am Alyssa of the Pioneer. Welcome to our ship." She indicated Neil with her hand. "This is Neil Tremble." Then she indicated the others as she introduced them. "This is Ja'sol H'ros and this is Rachel Sinclair. Others, including our captain, await you."

The Silence stared without blinking at Maren. In that instant she could feel the presence in her mind. "You are the one... The volunteer. We are the Silence. Alyssa of the Pioneer. In our last encounter with the Pioneer, we learned that you do not like the presence in your thoughts. So, we ask... Will you speak for us?"

Alyssa had never felt like one part of a whole as she did now. She could sense, feel...hear the collective. Was this what it was like to be a Borg? Being aware of everyone at once? "I am the volunteer. I will speak for you." Her mind was still trying to adjust to this new reality, this new oneness. As it did so, she became aware of pain, fear, and a...decrease. It took her a moment to compartmentalize the feeling. She had to compartmentalize because the thoughts and emotions were almost overwhelming.

Neil let Alyssa's introduction hang for a few beats. Then he stepped forward and said, "Welcome to the Pioneer. When you're ready, we'll take you to our Captain." As the alien had beamed aboard, Neil had widened his eye and activated his contacts recording function, with the signal link to Rommie indicated by a low lit green nimbus around the outer edge of his eye.

Glancing away as a crewman walked past the open hatch, Neil returned his attention back to waiting for the Silence's ambassador to arrive.

And started. A bulbous headed alien in a...suit? Was already standing there. Neil did a double take and had to bite his lip as his sleep deprived brain caught up. Right. The Silence erased themselves if you didn't pay straight attention. Gritting his teeth, he saw his recorder was running and that he'd lost thirty seconds or so. "Welcome to the Pioneer. When you're ready, we'll take you to our Captain."

Alyssa had forgotten the fact that no one remembered The Silence--except her, Narin, and Rachel. "I'll lead the way to the conference room. If you will follow me?" She directed that to both The Silence and the others in the transporter room so they would follow behind and not forget.

Standing to one side of the doorway out of the transporter room, Rachel waited for everyone else to leave before following them. Rachel felt a sense of unease whenever she looked at the silence, their hollow facial features, their aura for a lack of a better word just rubbed her the wrong way. Swallowing her feelings of fear, Rachel stood up straight to appear presentable.

Ja'sol followed directly behind the silence ambassador and thought to himself what kind of people were the Silence. He joined Starfleet because he was curious about meeting new species and learning about their cultures under ideal situations. But the situation right now wasn't ideal. He also wondered about those that were attacking the Silence." Pardon me for asking Ambassador, But the species that is attacking your people. They're not currently in the area are they? I'd like to make sure that you and your people are safe here aboard the Pioneer. "

The being known as the Silence followed Alyssa out of the transporter room. But, not before one last glance at Puerta, the transporter chief. The look was as if to wonder why she was not going with the group.

The Silence walked with an ethereal presence. The crew that saw the group in the corridor made sure to give the group a wide berth. As they approached the turbolift they spoke to Alyssa. "They fear us. We do not understand..." There was going to be more when Ja'sol interrupted without knowing and asked his question. The Silence responded through Alyssa. "Those that seek to create the noise and destroy The Silence are on the planet. They do not have any ships but can appear. We will explain all in the presence of the Malbrooke." Both Alyssa and The Silence stepped into the turbolift moving as if they were one being.

"They fear you because they do not understand how you communicate." But Alyssa found that she was less affected by their presence than she was the awareness of those who were dying.

To Ja'sol, Alyssa said, "They will explain everything once we get to the captain." Her own thoughts were shifting, adjusting to the new awareness as she led them to the conference room. She still felt the weight of the collective, but it was not as overpowering as it had been. She wasn't sure if this was a good thing or not.

"No ships," Neil thought out loud. "Well. That's something. Ja'sol, downgrade tactical, redirecting the lateral sensor array to monitor the planet. We can't discount an unfriendly vessel will wander into the area, but for right now we'll want as good an idea of the surface conditions as we can get."

As soon as Tremble, Ja'sol, and Alyssa left the Bridge for the Transporter Room. Tyler summoned Lieutenant Valen to the Bridge and headed to the Conference Room. He had no idea what he was in store for but felt the idea of preparing was a good one.

Vura anxiously awaited the arrival of the Silence. The fact that they beamed over was one point in her column and zero in Tremble's by her reckoning. Now, if they just showed themselves to be altruistic, she would have another feather in her cap. A juvenile part of her wanted to put her thumbs in her ears, fingers outright, and wave them at Neil with her tongue stuck out to say, "Told you so. Maybe listen to the Chief Counselor for a change," but she was too professional to do so - at least for now.

Kolok toggled the access panel and, when the door slid open, he stepped into the conference room. He looked around, nodding at those already present, and found himself a seat . He buried his nose in a PADD as he waited for the meeting to begin.

The image of The Silence had been unsettling. Lachlan was used to see species of all kinds in his many years in space, but something about them gave him pause. An uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach. He didn't trust them, and they'd have to work pretty hard to even gain a sliver of hope he would. What they'd put the crew through was not acceptable, even if it was a cry for help. He had pulled Tyler to the side to speak quietly. "Sir, I don't need to be a telepath, an empath or whatever, to see emotions are running high on this one. If any of the staff in here gets to 'animated' I suggest they step out and regain their composure." he paused for a moment looking at the gathering officers now entering the room. "As for The Silence, something isn't sitting right with me. No matter how much they are begging for help. 'If you only hear one side of the story, you have no understanding at all.'."

Arriving in the briefing room, Edmund took a seat his demeanor cool and collected. As much as he didn't like the fact of the Silence coming on board, Edmund was going to be keeping a tight grip on his emotions, and placing them inside a box locked up tight. Ed had taken to heart Neil's strong advice to keep things in check. He did agree that it was needed. Now the wait was on, for the arrival of the Silence representative. He did pull out his PADD to send off a message for the marines he assigned as what was expected by Neil. So far the status was uneventful.

"Very prudent advice Chief." Tyler said in response to the officers that had begun to gather. He took note that thus far his Klingon officer seemed to be the only one who was calm and cool as it were. It was rather interesting as Klingons usually wore their thoughts and emotions on their sleeve. He realized that the pause was a tad too long and added as an afterthought. "So ordered."

Rowena walked in with a mug of coffee in one hand and padd in her other hand. She had started drinking coffee since her ordeal. Despite she wasn't fond of the taste, she did continue to drink it anyways. She took a seat in the room and just nodded to everyone.

Hermia entered the Conference Room she wore a cortical scanner on her left temple and an auto-injector on her right temple. The scanner monitored her psilosynine levels, while the injector contained an inhibitor, that it would administer if her psilosynine level rose to high. I feel like a bloody Borg. She said to herself. She nodded to those present, before taking her assigned seat.

Brianne was last in, holding back on the bridge as long as possible. She'd never heard of this Silence people before, and so was wary of it all. Couldn't she just stay on the bridge, or even better engineering ? She thought. Having all the senior staff in one place, with an unknown alien, that spelt disaster, Had before, will again. Keeping one eye on the door, to make a quick exit, she sat at the end of the table, scanning the room, trying to think of an excuse to leave.

Tyler looked at Hermia quizzically as she stepped into the Conference Room. "Doctor. Do I even want to ask?" Then a second later he added. "Yes, yes I do. Are you alright? What is all that?" He motioned to the devices that were hooked to her head.

"I'm feeling better, Skipper." Hermia said. "As for my new accoutrement, it’s to monitor and control the levels of the neurotransmitter that controls my psionic powers. I'm endeavoring to prevent am outburst like the one I experienced at the last meeting, sir."

Tyler did not like the idea of his Chief Doctor being psychologically compromised on what would most likely be the eve of a large battle for the ship. However, it seemed that it could not be helped. "Ah, your empathic abilities. Yes, I would imagine with the Silence around it is wreaking havoc. If it becomes too much of a burden just say the word. Spencer can take up your duties temporarily."

Vura told Tyler, "I've got my eyes on her. Hermia and I have an understanding. I'll take good care of her."

Alyssa led the group into the Conference Room followed by The Silence, then Ja'sol and Tremble. Sinclair had taken the Security console on the Bridge as she came through. As the group stepped into the room Tyler stood and came to a semblance of attention. There was both recognition and a lack of recognition in his face. The Silence for their part stood silently and cocked its head as it scanned the room. "You are a collective like us. You are the Pioneer. Alyssa heard in her head.

Ja'sol stepped into the conference room and made his way to the replicator. There he stood in the back with a freshly replicated pitcher of boiling water and a coffee press with enough ingredients to make two large mugs of Raktajino, just enough to get him through this briefing, He pulled out his PaDD and waited for the briefing to start and see what would be expected of this ship and crew.

Edmund tilted his head slightly when the Silence entered the conference room. it made him uncomfortable, he didn't know why but it did. Right now, he could only just stare, feeling the goosebumps raise upon his arms. Just something nagged at him as if there were a memory that he couldn't recall.

Vura looked at the Silence as they entered. To her, they appeared to be something out of a B rated horror film. If they were not real, she would have doubted it. That said, they just looked wrong. Regardless, she knew that appearances were deceiving and while might be suspicious of these Silence based on their appearance, she welcomed the opportunity to open discourse with them. Hopefully, Neil would not mess that up with his warmongering attitude.

"We are not a collective in the same way you are. We do not share thoughts as you do." Alyssa explained to their guest. She did her best to share conceptually the idea of communicating without shared thought, but she knew that would be alien to the Silence. "But as individuals, we are the Pioneer."

Neil purposely kept his focus on their visitor once he'd went through the niceties, if those even mattered. Alyssa had purposely not included ranks into her welcome. Like they were some civilian cargo ship. He wasn't sure it mattered overly, if the Silence were in their heads. Maybe, like their Counselor, Alyssa was taking a Good Ship Lollypop view to cruising around the galaxy, while he and his bled to keep them safe. Steeling his mind against random thoughts, Neil amused himself by repeating the lyrics to the song which had been his sister's favorite, ad nauseam when she was seven. Idly, he wondered if the Silence directly picked that up, if it would confuse things.

The Silence and Alyssa were one at the moment, whether the Science Officer wanted it or not. This was how the Silence operated. For them it allowed the entirety of the Silence to learn more of how life on the Pioneer worked and what was expected. For Alyssa it meant that she could hear the thoughts and inner monologue of the Silence consciousness. Hierarchical structure. Yes this was true as before. Although there are new faces. New ones of the Pioneer. The Malbrooke is here and that is all that matters. The one that is called Tremble attempts to block us with music. We must shut out all thoughts that are not of the Maren. Slowly and surely the surface thoughts of those in the briefing room disappeared from this group consciousness. As if someone simply flipped a switch. Alyssa was fascinated by the way The Silence quantified and categorized The Pioneer and its crew. They were quick to accommodate the needs of the senior staff as well.

Alyssa's mouth opened and it was her speaking. However, the sound of her voice was in stereo as if two voices emanated from within her and spoke. "We are The Silence. We thank The Pioneer for responding to our distress call. We have learned that for you time is paramount, so we will not waste any of yours. There are beings on our planet. Beings that come from another space, another layer of the universe. They are consuming my people. We do not like outsiders and as such have no weapons to speak of. These things are overwhelming us and we are dying in droves. Your assistance in overcoming these things is requested. Any information that you would require can be provided to you." The Silence allowed the room to fall silent again to see if there was anyone who had questions.

Vura exclaimed, "That is terrible! When you say that they are consuming you, do you mean eating you? And what do you know of this species that is doing this to you? Have they told you why they're doing it?"

The Silence turned to face Vura with its head cocked. The body language was such that it conveyed the idea that it did not understand the emotions behind what Vura had said. Nonetheless Alyssa spoke again in the eerie double voice. "Yes Lieutenant that is precisely what we are saying. They are feeding on our life's force, the energy that makes us what we are. We do not know anything of this species. Save that a portal opened within our city and they emerged in what can only be called a feeding frenzy. We have reached out for communication with no response. We do not have experience with a lot of beings however, in our last encounter with the Pioneer we learned of beings who do not want communication. We believe these beings to be such as those."

Alyssa herself nodded in agreement to what The Silence said through her.

Vura looked over at Cornelius with a self-satisfied grin, as if to say, See, I told you so. She then frowned, not completely certain why she was smirking in that way at Neil.

Hermia listened to what was being said. "Are these aliens corporeal?" She asked.

"Themselves, no Doctor they do not. They are not corporeal. However, they have the capability to control the corporeal. They are some creatures, insect like in nature that are minions of these beings. The beings themselves have no solid shape." The Silence responded as they looked around at all those who were gathered. They attempted to learn what the emotional state of everyone was. However, emotions were lost on beings such as The Silence.

But they were not lost on Alyssa. Connected as she was to the Collective Silence, she was aware of the emotions of those in the room, augmented by the telepathic link. She wouldn't violate the privacy of the crew, but she could give a general overview of their reactions. It was colored by her own desire to help them.

To the Silence, she asked, "Can you show me what these creatures look like?" Just in case she recognized them. She wasn't so sure she wanted to feel the non-corporeal entities, not after recently facing one herself.

Neil had found his seat and waited. They needed the details and until they had them, time was the enemy. While most of the crew were as intent on the Silence as he, Neil caught counselor Vura staring at him out of the corner of his eye. Flicking a glance her way, he then focused back on Alyssa and the Silence, wondering why the counselor looked like a cat that had caught the canary. That beat the usual rabid look.

There was a moment where the collective consciousness that was the Silence processed the request that Alyssa made. However, an image of a few insectoid looking creatures was projected into her mind. The first resembled a spider but much larger, the next a rather overgrown and armored ant, and the last looked more like a beetle than anything else. The Silence then spoke again. "We have provided images of these creatures to the one you call Alyssa. But, know that they are but vessels for the incorporeal lifeform. They merely herd us as sheep to the slaughter."

"Thank you," Alyssa said. It helped her to have a visual in her head. And, with creatures like that, it would be helpful to know what they'd be up against in advance. She'd talk to someone later about getting a drawing or holoimage of the creatures to share with Tremble.

Tyler sat in his usual seat with his back to the windows. He would not admit it but the sound of Maren's voice at the moment was quite disconcerting. He took a mental note to put her in for a commendation for her volunteering to be a mouthpiece, it can't be easy on her. As for the information being provided, it seemed like there was a large amount missing. He had a few questions and comments of his own. However, it was his crew that he wanted to hear from at the moment.
To Be Concluded...

A Joint Post By

Commodore Tyler Malbrooke
Commanding Officer, USS Pioneer