Reflections And Deflections
Posted on Sat Jan 17th, 2026 @ 7:53pm by Commodore Tyler Malbrooke & Lieutenant Vura
Edited on on Mon Jan 19th, 2026 @ 5:16pm
2,430 words; about a 12 minute read
Mission:
Episode 17 - Going Home
Location: Ready Room - Deck 1 - USS Pioneer
Timeline: MD008 1100 hrs
The Counselor was pleased with her resolution with the Silence. She achieved something that few others would have dared to have believed. Between her, Maren, and the Pioneer, they were able to befriend the Silence and win their trust. More impressive was that the Silence were going to use her or Maren as the points of contact. Certainly, it would be a long, slow process to get them to open up to more of the Federation but this first step was a huge one.
Despite this success, Vura was uncomfortable. While the Pioneer was initially very welcoming, it had become less than that to her over time. Certainly, the XO hated her, and she had little respect for him. The man was a control freak and liked to exert his power for the sake of doing so. Call her into his office and then tell her that he would not bother to check if she was in an appointment if it was not urgent.... The Counselor audibly huffed just remembering that encounter. Then, his girlfriend, Jayna, refused to develop a relationship with Vura separate from Jayna's relationship with Tremble. Jayna just wanted Vura to see that Tremble was not a horrible person, which of course, Vura could not see.
In counseling, Zhara, who had initially been friendly with Vura wanted to pry into Vura's personal affairs rather than stick to a briefing on the crew. Who asked her to do that? It was not as if Vura broached the subject and it was not appropriate at that moment. Now, she felt like Zhara was talking behind her back, though she had no proof of that. Who knew? Maybe she talked to Tremble, which would explain a lot.
When she got to Pioneer, she developed four really good friends: Paisley, Elen, Edmund, and Hermia. Paisley and Elen left her. Edmund, who she had become really tight with, picked a fight with her and then got sanctimonious with her in his "goodbye letter." She growled with a shrieking, "Oooh!" as she thought about it. She was going to kill that man. Rowena could have him.
Then there was Hermia. Vura liked Hermia well enough, but Vura suspected that Hermia might have feelings more than friendship towards her and that was not good for either one of them. Hermia knew that she should not kiss Vura but did it twice and then Hermia introduced Vura to Hermia's mother. Hermia was an emotional mess and Vura wanted to help her but at this point, she was uncertain how.
So, what was left for her on Pioneer? Vura was uncertain. Perhaps it was time to find another position and start all over. Of course, she still had her duties. One of them was to counsel the Commodore after his experience, and she was going to see to that until she made a decision.
Putting on a bright smile, she headed over to the Captain's office and rang his chime.
Tyler had given Sofia leave to start her shore leave early and so he was in his Ready Room dealing with the mountain of paperwork after the last mission. He was glad to do it especially after he thought that Harrington was going to take his command. The chime ringing was a welcome change to the hum drum pace. "Come on in..."
When the doors opened Vura was a surprise, he just did not expect her to be there. He thought she would be off celebrating her immense victory with The Silence. "Counselor, come in have a seat and help yourself." Tyler motioned to the table with some coffee and fixings. "What can I do for you?"
Vura walked in, sat down, and daintily crossed her legs. There was something alluring about the way she crossed them, but it was subtle, much more so than Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct. "Well, I came to check in on you. There is the matter of your mandatory counseling and of course, there are going to be questions about your disobeying orders and assisting the Silence...."
"Ah, yes. Almost forgot about that between the meetings with the brass, and arranging shore leaves. I also forgot to congratulate you. Getting The Silence out and about is certainly a feather in your cap." Tyler smiled and raised his coffee cup in toast to Vura. "Well, then I am all yours for at least the next hour. So, fire away."
"It was your idea to put me in the position where I would be able to be a liaison for the Silence, along with Commander Maren. So the credit rightfully should go to you. I just opened the door."
The Counselor smiled pleasantly at the Captain. "I have to wonder, though, Tyler, what is going to become of you and for that matter, the crew, for disobeying orders and going to help the Silence. While I suspect that Starfleet may have an 'all's well that ends well' philosophy as to us, what do you think that they will think of you, especially in light of your recent trauma?"
Tyler smirked more out of knowledge than anything else. This was something he had given a lot of thought to. "Truth is that mission was in a very gray area to begin with. I was never under orders not to go. In fact the Pioneer had no orders when we left. So, there was no disobeying orders. The infraction that was committed was that I essentially stole the ship, and reappropriated Starfleet resources. I never told them where I was going, or why, and they couldn't find me because of the nature of the Silence. All that said, too right you are. All of you will not be held accountable, as it is only on me. Because we avoided an extinction event, which would have led to a problem for us down the road, and because there was a successful first contact. I suspect there will be reprimand placed into my file and I will most likely remain a Commodore for the rest of my career." Tyler paused to sip his coffee. "As to the trauma, this mission actually helped heal those wounds. It felt good to do some good after all that. If that makes any sense."
"It does," Vura confirmed. "Though, there always is the concern that you may use new, exciting, and dangerous missions as a way of coping, which is not a healthy response either. Of course, I will monitor that," she said with a heavy sigh.
"That is if I decide to stay," she finally allowed the words to drop from her mouth like a heavy weight. "I am thinking that it might be time for me to move on." Vura then rationalized, "And it might be best for the Silence to not have all of their contacts in one place, right?"
Tyler sipped his coffee. He thought something like this may have been coming. The rift between Neil and Vura gave him that thought. However, if he could help it he would not let her be transferred. He set the mug down and leaned forward onto his desk. "Why do you think it is time to move on? It seems to me that your work here is just getting started. If you are considering transferring simply because of a disagreement with the XO. I am going to have to tell you that is a horrible reason."
"It is more than a disagreement, Tyler. Even so, that is not my only reason." She paused, leaning forward and uncrossed her legs. She then brought her hands onto her lap and a strawberry scent wafted from her. "Though, I am curious what you have heard and how you came about the information."
"Vura, this is my ship I know everything, and a lot more than I would like the crew to know that I know if you get my meaning. Suffice to say that I truly think that when it comes to Neil I know more than you think. For example he respects your work and the value that you have to missions and to the crew." Tyler was a keen observer of people, you had to be in order to become a Captain. As such he knew that Vura struggled with friendships, or more accurately her friends left the Pioneer for other assignments. "Everyone aboard this ship needs you and they respect you and your work. For what it is worth you have a friend sitting right here."
Vura smiled sweetly. "I know you are a friend, Tyler." However, when she got to the Colonel she visibly shifted to the side. "Your XO, however, well, I do not believe what you are saying about him. His actions speak quite to the contrary."
It was Tyler's turn to smile. "Vura, have you had many dealings with Marines? I mean the old Marine mentality, not the current one. Neil is of that old guard. The kind that plays all cards close to their vest and their emotions even closer." Tyler plucked up a PADD from his desk. "Listen I am not supposed to show you this, at least not yet. But here is Neil's last crew review of you. He recommended you for promotion. Your job, as you are no doubt aware, is help people through their emotions and what is going on in their head. His job is to make sure what is in a person's head does not get in the way of the mission. The two of you can be in conflict. Now, don't get me wrong he has things to work on and is working on them. But, as I said none of this is reason to leave the ship."
Vura looked at the PADD and her face looked perplexed as she read the recommendation. "I can accept someone playing cards close to their vest, Tyler. What I cannot accept is Tremble telling me that I will come running when called, even for a frivolous reason and when I'm potentially with a patient. I'm not a dog and as you said, my job is to help people. Old guard or not, it is not an excuse for his behavior. There should be a greater level of respect that he has not demonstrated."
She visibly bit her upper lip. "I do not like speaking like this but it has bothered me. I care a lot about the crew."
"And your care shows..." Tyler jumped on the small amount of silence that followed her statement. "...I will say that Neil has been working on the way he orders and speaks to people. Marines are used to dropping everything and come when requested. Those of us on the fleet side of things will come when ordered in an emergency, otherwise as you said we would come as soon as we could. That is something that he and I are working on. Your caring about the crew, is the precise reason that you should stay." His smile broadened. "Besides do you know how hard it is going to be for me to break in a new Counselor. You have barely scratched the surface of what goes on in this head."
"Oh," Vura replied with a delighted and mischievous tone. "You do know how to attract a Deltan, don't you? Promise me more experiences and new ones at that...." She made a playful and mirthful scoff, and a twinkle sparkled in her eyes. "Besides, you have a long way to go if you think you're going to break me in, Tyler. I'm not a horse to be ridden." Vura then snickered. "Besides, I think your wife would object to that, don't you? I mean, I wouldn't want to ruin you for her...."
Delightedly, Vura giggled. She knew that Tyler was not a fan of "Deltan shenanigans and flirtations, but she could not help but take this opportunity that he presented on a proverbial silver platter.
"Right then I will hear no more of this leaving business. You like everyone else aboard the Pioneer are part of the ship, part of the crew." Tyler knew better than most that fitting into a crew can be a hard achievement. This was why he worked doubly hard to make sure that his crew meshed into a family.
"Did I say I was leaving?" Vura asked coyly and yet with a knowing smile. "I do remember something about moving on from the mission." She gave Tyler a playful wink. "Besides, there's so much more to tap into that brain of yours, as you said, and I do believe that I have to chat with your wife at some point too. I think she has been kept from me for much too long."
"Well then allow me to tell you in person before the invitations are sent out. The entire Senior Staff is invited to the Malbrooke Ranch in Oklahoma for dinner, and drinks. Kat will be there and I am sure she would love to talk with you until the proverbial cows come home." Tyler smiled. He knew that Vura wanted some dirt on him from his wife. Tyler hid nothing from Kat and was not afraid of anything she may say to the Counselor.
"I will look forward to that invitation." I wonder why he wants to defer my meeting with his wife until then. Does he think I will pry too much? Either way, somehow the Commodore had skilfully maneuvered her into talking about her issues rather than him talking about his. What a frustrating and delectable man. She was going to enjoy him a lot more in their next session. "However, I do not know what cows coming home has to do with talking."
"It's a saying from Earth. It means you can talk until you are contended." Every so often Tyler forgot that others did not know all of the colloquialisms of Earth. "Make sure you wear comfortable clothes, especially if you intend to ride a horse." Tyler mentioned the clothes as he knew that Vura always dressed for the occasion. "Lieutenant it is a pleasure as always. Same time next week?" He added with a broad smile.
"If not before," Vura answered. "After all, it doesn't have to be a session to see each other...."
A Joint Post By
Commodore Tyler Malbrooke
Commanding Officer, USS Pioneer
Lieutenant Vura
Chief Counselor, USS Pioneer
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