Loud as a Whisper

TNG Season 2 Episode 5
Air Date: January 9th, 1989

Plot

Two warring factions on the planet Solais V are finally willing to make peace after generations of war. They ask the Federation to send a famous negotiator named Riva, a person who is genetically born deaf but has the ability to communicate with telepathically with three others. These others ask as his voice, or as he calls it, his chorus.

Riva immediately is attracted to Counselor Troi and they spend a lot of time together during the trip to Solais V. Once they arrive, one of the Solaians that attends the peace talks really is against peace and kills Riva's chorus. It is Troi who is able to teach him that his ability to negotiate lies in him and not his chorus. He realizes the way to create common ground between the two warring tribes is to teach them sign language. While it will take months, it will give them something other then fighting to focus on.

Quotes

"They have been killing each other for a long time. Now they want to talk peace. So, something about the situation has recently changed. What's the new piece to the puzzle?" - Riva
"Data?" - Picard
"Unknown, sir." - Data
"Perhaps they have run out of people to kill." - Riker

"Captain, I have reviewed and stored five distinct signing languages. Here is an example of the first. This is blue. This is the blue ocean. This is the blue ocean at sunset. This is two people walking along the beach by the blue ocean at sunset. This is two happy people in love walking along the beach by the blue ocean at sunset. This is two pe" - Data
"Enough." - Picard