Bridging The Silence
Posted on Wed Jun 25th, 2025 @ 1:13pm by Staff Sergeant Shayla Kunadt & Lieutenant Narin Valen & Lieutenant Junior Grade Rachel Sinclair & 1st Lieutenant Jeksyne Vale & Ensign T'Ket
Edited on on Wed Jun 25th, 2025 @ 11:11pm
2,289 words; about a 11 minute read
Mission:
Episode 16 - Silent Cries
Location: Bridge - Deck 1 - USS Pioneer
Timeline: MD009 1030 hrs
Narin shifted in the captain’s chair for what had to be the twentieth time. It was comfortable, plenty of padding, good support, but something about being in that seat just didn’t sit right with him. Maybe it wasn’t the chair. Maybe it was everything else.
He didn’t think he was unfit for the job. He wasn’t scared of being thrown into something he couldn’t handle. The senior staff was just in the conference room, after all. But The Silence... that was different. That stillness had a way of getting under his skin, pulling his mind back to those dreams, nightmares, visions, whatever they were.
He glanced around the bridge and kept his expression steady. No need to let anyone else see what was going on in his head.
The silence on the bridge wasn’t helping either. It pressed in around him, wrapping everything in a kind of stillness that made his skin itch. He wished something—anything—would break the quiet. A sensor blip. A comm signal. A malfunction.
His eyes drifted to the helm, where Staff Sergeant Shayla Kunadt sat steady at her post, her fingers resting lightly on the controls.
“How’s it looking up there?” Narin asked, breaking the silence.
He wasn’t really expecting anything urgent in her response. Honestly, he wasn’t even sure what he was expecting. Maybe just a voice. A reply. Something real to ground him for a minute.
Jo looked at her displays at the engineering station. To her, the warp core looked fine. Same thing for structural integrity. She nodded to the occupant of the command chair and gave the "ok" sign. "Ship is doing fine, engineering wise Lieutenant." she said.
Shayla was slightly unfamiliar with the lingo as it were. However, she supposed that the Lieutenant requested a report from all stations. She swiveled in her chair at the helm to face the command chair. "Sir, the ship is at station keeping in standard orbit. All engines are online and at your command should you need. There is a slight gravitational disturbance from a large comet passing through the system. We will have to adjust our orbit in about three hours to compensate." Shayla was a Marine and relied on her training to keep a level head. But, after what she had been through on the Pioneer and just the general feel of the ship with The Silence around, it put her on edge. Something seemed off.
T'Ket was finding the silence acceptable. He found with most other species they had to fill silence with useless words, filler that had no meaning. He monitored his station with his usual efficiency ensuring nothing was out of place, out of the correct order.
The same uneasiness he sensed in her, he had it too. And like her, he hoped it didn’t show. He gave a quiet nod in acknowledgment of her report. He had almost forgotten about the comet with everything else weighing on his mind. Maybe seeing it would help settle not just him, but the others on the bridge too.
“If the comet’s in visual range, can we get it up on the screen?”
Shayla fed the coordinates to T'Ket's console. "There you go Ensign. That is the course and speed of the comet."
"Thank you, staff sergeant." T'Ket responded as his fingers danced across the console. "Bringing up a visual of the comet, magnifying due to the range." he added as the viewscreen changed its focus.
Standing at tactical, Rachel looked out at the image of the comet on the viewscreen. She was on her third Raktajino of the day and her hands were starting to get jittery, “ball of ice and rock, no immediate threat, though I'm sure a few quantum torpedos will do the trick.”
Since the ship was at station keeping there was little for Shayla to do. She turned in her chair to face the rest of the bridge crew. "There is no need to blow it up. It is just going to pass through the sector, a minor correction to our orbit and we will be fine. Besides it is rather pretty." The Marine had little opportunity to look at spacial bodies in her line of work, and this one was rather beautiful.
The ship’s sensors overlaid subtle data points: comets nucleus was roughly six kilometers wide, composed of frozen methane, ammonia, and water ice laced with bits of rock and metal. The tail stretched thousands of kilometers behind it, shimmering faintly in the starlight.
Narin looked toward Shayla with a smile. “It’s more than just a ball of ice and rock. It’s beautiful.”
Turning back to her station, Rachel saw something a little strange on her board. An energy build up that had grown to a level that triggered alerts from her tactical sensors appeared to be coming from the planet below them. She thought it was a little strange, the source wasn't coming from a piece of technology or a specific building on the surface, but from the planet itself. "Umm, I think I'm picking up an energy build up." she reported, looking up at Narin with a confused look on her face.
Narin's smile faded the moment Rachel spoke. He turned his head toward her, the calm he’d found in watching the comet quickly giving way to focus.
“From the surface?” he asked, already pushing himself up from the command chair. He stepped toward her station, eyes scanning the readings as they updated in real time. “Is it technological? Natural? Or something in between?”
"I'm not sure, I'm trying to narrow it down, but this isn't really my field." Rachel answered as she returned her attention to her station, "I think I'm picking up chronitons and tachyons coming from the surface below."
"It's affecting our engines." Jo said. "Seems to be the effect of chroniton radiation." She added.
"Scanners do indicate large amounts of chroniton and tachyon radiation." T'Ket spoke clearly and concisely as his left eyebrow rose. "However, I am detecting trace amounts of omega radiation. As this is localised to one area and intense in its generation of such radiation it is my conclusion that this is a portal of some description, not unlike the readings we have from the creatures that overtook the captain and second officer. Initiating more intense scans now to pinpoint exact location."
Narin’s jaw tightened slightly as the pieces began falling into place, and not in any way he liked. Chronitons, tachyons and now omega radiation. That last one made his stomach knot. He looked from T'Ket to the others. His gaze drifted toward the viewscreen, the image of the comet now feeling worlds away. The calm was gone. "Keep those scans going, T’Ket. I want coordinates the moment you have them."
Shayla turned from the helm toward the command chairs of the Bridge. "Sir. I have the new orbital trajectory laid in. On your command. We have about ten minutes before we will have no choice but to alter course." She turned back to the helm and kept an eye on the comet as it passed through the system.
Narin gave a small node. "Understood. Hold course for now. Let's give it another five minutes, just in case anything else decides to wake up down there." He glanced toward T'Ket’s station, then back at the comet’s slow passage across the stars. “Then we’ll shift orbit.”
Shayla's eyes widened briefly as she saw the readings on her console. "Sir, we have a large energy spike on the planet. So large in fact that the navigational array is issuing a proximity alarm. I have already adjusted orbit to keep us clear. Sending the coordinates to Ensign T'Ket now."
As T'Ket received the data from Shayla he placed it alongside his own readings, troubling reading. "I have ran a spectral analysis of the portal on the planet. From this distance sensors indicate the signature matches that of the dimension where the Malificus being came from. However, this portal seems to be underground near a small power supply of unknown origin, we are too far away for the ship to be able to get a clear reading on it. The radiation is interfering with our ability to get a clear scan of the surrounding area. The ship would need to get closer for more accurate readings."
Narin listened carefully as Shayla and T’Ket relayed the data, his expression tightening with each new detail. A portal matching the Malificus signature and radiation strong enough to block their scans? That wasn’t something he could ignore. But it also wasn’t something he had the authority to act on alone.
He sat back in the command chair considering their options. This wasn’t his ship. He was holding the chair, not claiming it. And a situation like this one with real consequences needed command-level input.
“Bridge to Commodore Malbrooke.”
“Sir, we’ve detected a significant energy spike on the planet’s surface. Navigation flagged it immediately we’ve already adjusted orbit to maintain safe distance.” His tone remained calm but clear. "Readings suggest the energy signature matches the dimensional portal we encountered with the Malificus. This one appears to be underground, and it's near a power source of unknown origin. Radiation is interfering with scans we’d need to get closer for a clear read.”
Tyler sat in the meeting with the Silence as the Lieutenant gave his report. He could not very well return to the Bridge this briefing had to be completed. Through Alyssa he asked the Silence if they could make the appropriate scans, which was granted. "Lieutenant Valen you have permission to take the ship as close as needed to get the scans. We need to know what we are dealing with. Malbrooke out."
“Acknowledged, sir.” He replied.
The channel closed, and for a moment Narin just sat there, gaze fixed on the stars beyond the viewscreen. Even with everything happening below, there was something grounding about them. He didn’t linger long. Looking to the helm.
“Sergeant Kunadt, take us in—slow and steady. Let’s not disturb anything unless we mean to. Ensign T’Ket, prepare the sensor suite for deep scans as soon as we’re in range. Prioritize the energy source and any surrounding structures underground.”
Adjusting in the command chair, Narin found it more comfortable now....like it fit him a little better with direction in hand. He looked to the viewscreen once again, eyes steady. “Let’s see what’s waiting for us down there.”
"Aye sir beginning descent on trajectory zero-two-three-niner. Entering the atmosphere in three, two, one, mark." Shayla called out as she tapped in commands to the helm. The ship shimmied briefly as it entered the planets atmosphere. The inertial dampeners quickly compensated and smoothed out the ride. "We will be directly over the site in thirty seconds. I have matched our course with some dense clouds. Would offer concealment from the naked eye at the very least." She turned to the command chair to let Narin know her plan. Despite her confidence she suddenly felt very uneasy having the ship this close to the planet's surface.
"Shields are holding with minimal strain" Rachel reported, keeping an eye on her boards.
Narin met her gaze and gave a small nod of approval. Matching the course with the dense cloud cover was a smart move. Until they knew what was waiting on the surface, it was best to keep a low profile. His eyes shifted back to the viewscreen, watching as the ship slipped into the cover of the swirling clouds. The way the light scattered through them offered a brief, quiet kind of beauty. He didn’t let it distract him for long glancing over his shoulder toward Ensign T’Ket. “Begin scans the moment we’re in position. I don’t want us hanging around longer than we have to.”
"Yes sir." T'Ket answered as he initiated a deep scan of the area. "Incoming data is clearer and the move closer has been helpful." he continued as his eyes never left the console in front of him. "I have pinpointed the power source. It is of a construct I do not recognise." he paused. "Interesting." he said calmly as the ship rumbled in position.
"I am levelling our descent and engaging hover mode. We have reached the coordinates. We are now directly over the power source. No bogeys in sight." Shayla reported from the helm. She did not turn around to the command pit as she had her hands and eyes full at the moment.
T'Ket analysed the data. The power emanating from this construct contained a high amount of chronitons and dechyons. This could indicate a bridge through dimensions, or universes. After informing Narin in the command chair. T'Ket relayed this information to the Commodore and Colonel.
A Joint Post By
Lieutenant Junior Grade Rachel Sinclair
Assistant Chief Security/Tactical Officer, USS Pioneer
Lieutenant Narin Valen
Assistant Chief Science Officer, USS Pioneer
First Lieutenant Jeksyne Vale
Company Executive Officer, The Cure
USS Pioneer
Ensign T'Ket
Operations Officer, USS Pioneer
Staff Sergeant Shayla Kunadt
EVAC Specialist HQ, The Cure
USS Pioneer
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