And The Vision That Was Planted In My Brain, Still Remains
Posted on Wed Dec 4th, 2019 @ 10:17pm by Commodore Tyler Malbrooke & Lieutenant Commander Larim Myles & Lieutenant Elen Diari & Lieutenant Commander Hermia O'Rourke & Lieutenant Junior Grade Mignon Mejia
Edited on on Thu Dec 5th, 2019 @ 2:48am
2,702 words; about a 14 minute read
Mission:
Episode 8 - The Silence
Location: Unknown Station In Orbit of Wren IX
Timeline: MD004 1245 hrs
He led the group into what could be considered a fighter bay of some kind. The remains of sub-light orbital ships were strewn about the bay. "Those with tricorders, scan. We don't want...whatever happened to happen again."
The Starfleet crew continued to explore this installation and scanned away. According to their instruments there was a power source and they were heading right to it. However, the absence of familiar sounds was gnawing at their brains.
They seek, and they will find. It is inevitable... Indeed inevitable... Then consensus is reached. They shall be eliminated as the ones who came before them were. We have consensus... Elimination at the end of their journey. For now the one who cannot hear is the key we continue to experiment on her. We are The Silence and silence is golden, but our eyes see. The Silence spoke among themselves, and four out of the five member away team heard their voices, heard them loud and clear. However, they would only remember it as memory. As for the fifth member of the team Ingrid Hollister was about to learn why seeing is believing.
The Silence had come to a temporary en passe. This group was more curious than their predecessors. That would be relatively easy to deal with, but what made matters worse was The Silence was curious about them as well. The fact that the Betazoid mind could hear them and retain some knowledge of them baffled The Silence and they needed to know more about these visitors. As they followed and waited in the shadows, their long fingers pointing and their hooded eyes darting about.
Mignon heard the whispers in her head again, which triggered memories of earlier. Again she wondered if this place was haunted. No. She didn't believe in ghosts. But there was no denying that something was here with them. She pulled out her tricorder and scanned, looking for life signs. She remembered an old comedy routine her parents used to play for her. She began to hum her special music to scare away monsters, just to make herself feel better.
The readings were odd. There were pockets of cold air all over the area. Wasn't that another sign of ghosts? Mignon's whispered hums increased in tempo. She probably needed better music. Or to read fewer ghost stories.
Though Ingrid had been eager to take her place near the front, she was now less excited. Walking just behind Commander Myles, the silver haired woman felt her uneasiness settle slightly. She couldn't remember what had gotten her so upset, nor could she remember the collapsing episode as anything other than a terrible but distant nightmare; for a woman who had terrible nightmares almost every night, this was nothing knew. The only difference was she was almost certain this particular nightmare was...somehow real. For a second, she entertained the idea of it being a premonition only to dismiss the thought seconds later.
"Let's hurry up and get the hell out of here." she said. "What are you seeing, Commander? Any signs of which way we should turn?"
"I agree wholeheartedly. " Larim chuckled. He looked down at his reading. "Reading is a little skewed." He said pointing to the northeast. "But its stronger there by that shuttle." Just then a chill hit him. So much that his teeth began to chatter. "Is anyone else cold?"
"There's something not right here" El mused "This place in uninhabited but the environmental and power systems are still playing, should have a few failures. I mean Finland Station was a new starbase, had things going wrong all the time, and I had a crew of fifty working there. Even if some stuff's automated, things are running too well, Are you sure we're alone ?"
She rubbed her chin, thinking, then shouted behind them "Hello. Anyone there ? We're Starfleet, not going to hurt you."
Starfleet, you are Starfleet. That is supposed to make us afraid. Starfleet was here with them. Tried to erase us. You are them you will suffer as they did. But first..." The Silence spoke in unison and focused their speech this time. Their objective was to strike fear in the one who dare to threaten them. WE ARE THE SILENCE AND YOU SHALL BE SILENCED...
El froze. Her mind was for the first time in months clear as she felt a fear larger than anything she had ever known, all she wanted to do was curl up in a corner and cry and it was taking all of her resolve not to. She tried to talk, but couldn't, her lip just trembling.
No, Mignon did not think they were alone. She could definitely feel something, could hear something. She focused her tricorder on the largest cold patch, and listened, telepathically.
Hermia felt the cold spots, her empathic abilities weren't as refined as her companions, but she could still feel another presence somewhere on the station. She couldn't track it down, it was like an itch in her brain. She swept the area behind the team, but saw nothing.
"You, too?" Mignon asked Hermia.
"Yes, there is a presence here with us, and I feel they mean us harm." Hermia replied.
"I feel them, too," Mignon admitted. "But I don't know if they want to hurt us or scare us. i think I've read one too many ghost stories. This is getting creepy."
"Well I have to admit I am frightened. " Larim said.
Mignon was, too. Whatever was going on was making her jumpy. At the same time, she was curious. There had to be something causing this phenomenon. She watched the pockets of cold and hot temperatures move around, looking for a pattern.
Ingrid looked about with an expression of sheer displeasure a d paranoia. She couldn't hear anything at all, but she knew her companions weren't going crazy. Then, out of the corner of her eye, she detected the movement of some black figure and she turned to see what it was. The three cloaked creatures, terrifying to behold, stood staring at her in the distance. She let out a loud yelp and felt her legs locking. She fell on her bottom and began to scoot back frantically.
The triad allowed their unified voice to project to all. For they knew that they all could hear, well all except the one. This is our station, part of our home. You are Starfleet, like them, like the Dominion. You do not scare us. Leave or you will suffer their fate. We are The Silence and silence will fall.
"We are nothing like the Dominion," Mignon said, looking at where the voices came from. "We mean you no harm. We didn't know anyone lived here."
"The Dominion?!" Larim said. That brought back painful memories. "As was said, we're nothing like them. I...lost my home to them." He said, a tear streaming down his face.
Elen finally spoke, softer and quieter than usual "We'll leave you be, just don't hurt us."
The triad of Silence all turned to Elen in unison. Their heads tilted to the right and their eyes narrowed to slits. You... You and the one who cannot hear are afraid. Fear is how SILENCE WILL FALL... With their cryptic message it seemed that the triad disappeared almost into thin air.
Mignon went over to Elen and smiled reassuringly. "I think they're more concerned about us being afraid of them than we are."
There were plenty of reasons for the science officer to be afraid, but she was more curious than anything. She wanted to know more about these people before leaving. She pulled out her tricorder to find out where they went. "I'm getting elevated energy readings from engineering."
Mignon turned to Miles. "I suggest we check them out, sir."
"Are you CRAZY?!" Came Ingrid's voice from the place she was sitting on the floor. "Or are you just stupid? It's clear we aren't welcome here; we should get the hell out. Let's get back to the shuttle and put this horrible nightmare behind us while we still can!"
She was breathing heavily and her chest was heaving as she saw a flash of black robes in her periphery. She turned, but whatever it was disappeared as suddenly as it had shown up. She looked at Commander Myles, a sense of desperation and urgency in her expression.
"Sir, let's go." She said, articulating each word slowly and carefully.
Larim could desperation coming from her voice. And under normal circumstances he will be more than happy to agree. But that was before he was a chief of security. " Okay. We took them out quickly then make for the shuttle." He said. As he said this he felt a cold shiver run up and down his spine.
Take them out quickly Mignon thought. They didn't even know who they were. "Sir, with all due respect, we should find out what's going on before deciding what action is best." Yes, whatever was here was giving her hte heebie jeebies, too, but she wasn't going to react out of fear. Not yet, anyway.
He rubbed his temples. "What did I just say?" Myles asked, clearly confused. "I meant look it over quickly, then leave. I've got a bad feeling about this place."
Mignon was concerned by how everyone was being affected by this place. Yes, she was scared, like the others, but she seemed to be dealing with it better than they were. Was it her experience as an archaeologist? Possibly. She'd been trained to deal with the unexpected, and with potentially scary situations. She sent peaceful, encouraging feeling, not sure if they'd pick up on them or not.
Three members of a race known only as The Silence emerged from the shadows. They saw the crew of officers there, and saw their confusion. In that moment The Silence knew that they had these Starflleet officers where they needed them. Yet they did not leave the station that was not theirs. It was time to make them understand. The trio stepped to the group and spoke to them telepathically. We are the Silence and you are trespassing. You have come too close to the secret, for that you must pay. Like they did...Did you not heed the warnings? Did they not warn you?
"What warnings?" Mignon asked telepathically. "If there were warnings, we didn't recognize them." She didn't think she'd ever seen this species before. Her curiosity overrode her fear. "Who was supposed to warn us?
Those that came before. They should have warned you not to come. We left the hulks of their ships in orbit as a warning to anyone who would dare to trespass. A fleet of entact, and preserved vessels with nothing but the dead to crew them. That should have been warning enough, and yet here you are. The Silence spoke in unison and through telepathy. In truth they were a bit floored that someone actually spoke to them. One could tell that they were not used interacting with others.
"The ships just made us curious," Mignon replied. "We are explorers. We look for answers. We wanted to know about this place, about these ships, and why they were abandoned."
Exactly. Our mission is primarily one of peace. We mean you no harm. Larim said
"You mean no harm and yet you trespass. You mean no harm and yet you are here armed. Enough of the talk now is the time for you to forget. So long as you offer no resistance this will not cause harm you any of you." The Silence spoke aloud despite a lack of mouth, and they spoke in unison. It was a gutteral and deep voice. They began to encircle the group, it looked as if The Silence was preparing for something.
"That won't stop others from coming," Mignon said. "Just like it didn't stop us. If you don't want more trespassers, you'll need our help."
" Exactly." Larim said. " it seems that all you want to be is left alone. And if you want to make us forget that's totally fine. However I may have an alternative. Let us contact our ship and speak to our commander. It's possible he can use his authority so no other people will bother you."
"NO! No others will know that we exist. We wish nothing but Silence, and Silence is what will remain. All you need to do is leave. When you are no longer here you will forget our existence, and it will be well." One of The Silence had been speaking aloud the other two turned to look at Ingrid who seemed to be cowering in fear. "What is wrong with that one?" The Silence asked indicating Ingrid.
"The lieutenant is right. Others will come if we don't leave some sort of beacon," Mignon said. "It will warn others to stay away.Otherwise, you run the risk of others coming along." She glanced at Ingrid, not sure what was going on with the other officer.
Ingrid had remained completely oblivious to the telepathic conversation that was being had. All that she had noticed was people with faces turned with active concern. She read consternation on their features and suspected something was occurring which was beyond her understand. Then, suddenly, things changed. With a wisp of what felt like wind, the three haunting figures appeared around the group. Feeling cornered, Ingrid panicked again and let out another scream, then she turned and ran.
She proceeded at a rapid pace down the corridor and then turned to run down the next. She wasn't worried that no one was following her, but she was only concerned with escaping what seemed to her to be imminent demise. Turning another corner, she began to realize she was travelling in unexplored spaces and began to worry about the other dangers she might stumble upon as she blazed through the station.
She turned again and saw a bright light. Ingrid made an attempt to come to a sudden stop, but she had too much momentum built up. Instead, she smacked into a strange object and fell backward onto the ground. Feeling the pain in her stomach from the impact, Ingrid groaned and opened her eyes. A strange device pulsated from the center of a round room.
"What the..." she said, her voice tired.
When Ingrid took off at a run the Silence did not know what to fully make of her, or her intentions. However, being the species that they were they were acutely aware of their surroundings and what people did to interact with them. In a moment they knew where she was headed. "How could she know. She must be stopped or all is lost." The three spoke in unison and just a quickly vanished into the shadows to catch Ingrid Hollister.
"We have to find Hollister," Mignon said, heading off after Ingrid.
"Agreed." Larim said. "But all stay close. Move out!"
"Aye, sir." Hermia said. "I'll cover our six."
A Joint Post By:
Lieutenant Commander Larim Myles
Chief Security/Tactical Officer, USS Pioneer
Lieutenant Hermia O'Rourke
Assistant Chief Medical Officer, USS Pioneer
Lieutenant Ingrid Hollister
Chief Flight Control Officer, USS Pioneer
Lieutenant Junior Grade Elen Diari
Chief Engineering Officer, USS Pioneer
Ensign Mignon Mejia
Alien Archaeologist/Anthropologist, USS Pioneer
The Silence
Silence Will Fall
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