((The intersection of the Rimward Tri-Border Area))

The Sheliac Commander then sent a single word communique to his fleet. “Commence.”

They were going to Rhontaka and would wipe out the crystalline bullies there and their wormhole producing research station. The Sheliac had seen the terminus point of the Tholian scientists experiments pop up repeatedly in a few systems inside their space and had traced it to Rhontaka.

((USS Culver City, bridge))

On the bridge of the Culver City, none of the ship’s (mostly) young senior officers were sitting at ease; after all, being mere light-minutes from the Federation/Tholian border and mere light-years away from the Sheliac, and with the recent attack on the Shuswap’s patrol group and the destruction of the Kozlov fresh in their minds, things could go wrong at any time.  Lieutenant Commander K’lev sat in his command chair, reading a report from Lieutenant Pelix in engineering on the status of Culver City’s warp drive after their sprint to the rendezvous point and their subsequent patrol – no issues, fortunately;  the engines had held up well, but one couldn’t be too careful with an older-model warp drive like the one installed aboard Culver City – when suddenly an alert sounded from Lieutenant Lotharys’s station.  “I’m picking up multiple warp signatures through the buoy network!  Five, ten…. Twenty…. Almost fifty ships… they look to be Sheliac!”  She paused, eyes going wide, then looked up.  “They’ve crossed the Tholian border, and are headed straight for the Rhontaka system.”  As she picked the Sheliac fleet up, Chief Bong saw a marked uptick in the comms traffic pick up between the ships of the Flotilla; they were all seeing it, too.

K’lev’s heart skipped a beat; fortunately, though, with the ship so close to the border she was already at red alert.  He quickly regained his composure, though, and began giving orders.  “Keep an eye on them, Ophelia, and on the Tholians too, to see how they react.  Chief, please coordinate with task group, and ask Farragut for orders.  Ari, let’s stay on our side of the border, unless Farragut says otherwise, but be ready to move if things get messy.”  It was, perhaps, unnecessary to notify the task group – after all, they all had access to the buoy network’s feeds, and Farragut and Salvation in particular had far better sensor suites than Culver City, but K’lev doubted that anyone would mind.

He then tapped a control on his armrest, opening an intercom channel.  “Bridge to engineering and sickbay.  Pelix, Hilava, things may be about to get crazy up here, so I hope you’re both ready.”

((Blythe, Bridge))

Wong had been on duty with the rest of Beta shift when this all went down.

“Holy shit…the history holos about the Sheliac weren’t kidding, they dont mess around…Trigarr, let me guess, the Sheliac are staying just on the Tholian side of the border and haven’t crossed into Federation space at all?” The XO said.

“Confirmed sir. Good guess” the yellowshirted ensign replied.

“Well, we might just have front row seats to one heck of a fight by the looks of things then.” Wong stood, knowing something more had to be said. Beta shift had some of the younger and more inexperienced members of the crew aboard, hence why the XO took the chair for that 8 hour period every day.

“This changes nothing people. Our orders are the same. We can help diplomatically if either side wants, but were here to defend Federation territory. Focus on your duties, we’ll standby for orders from the Flagship.” He then sat back down and sent messages giving the cliff notes about what had just occurred to the rest of the senior staff via their padds.

USS Salvation – Bridge

“Sheliak, incoming.” Commander Ibanez’s voice was somewhere between tense and incredulous.

Captain Ishreth Dal managed to look as irritatingly calm as ever as he gazed at the viewscreen where the Salvation held her position. “Clearly they take offense at the Tholian’s actions.”

“A diplomatic nightmare.” Commander Roix murmured. “Or at least it would be if we were the Tholians.”

And if they were on the other side of the border. The fight that seemed imminent, if not impending minutes prior had suddenly turned into a broad drama of disparate powers.

“The Farragut is maintaining communications with Starfleet command – and they’re not on a blackout. We are.” Captain Dal intoned evenly. “And as they are maintaining position. we do as well.”

The tiny, capable little scout was well hidden, tucked away the closest to the border. And they were getting the most up to date information, feeding it back covertly to the Farragut. But the Salvation had to rely on its compatriots to communicate with Starfleet and take its cues from the pack.

USS Farragut, Fusion Centre

Lieutenant Mahendra stood at her console in the Minerva Centre, her brow furrowed. “Multiple Sheliak vessels confirmed, commander, crossing from their frontier into the Rhontaka sector.”

Aloran leaned forward, resting his hands on the rail. The light from the consoles etched sharp lines across his face. “The Sheliak are nothing if not literal. I am sure they gave the Tholians fair warning through their treaty language. Now they intend to enforce it.”

“Enforce it?” Ayres’ tone was dry. “You mean obliterate it.” The captain had spent the last few hours with them in the fusion centre, concerned as he was with the implications just the other side of the border.

The map on the central viewscreen updated in real time, a swirl of blue and amber icons marking the expanding conflict at Rhontaka.

Aloran spoke quietly, eyes on the viewscreen. “To the Sheliak, the Tholian experiment is an abomination, matter fractured into chaos. To the Tholians, it is progress. To us, it is a very inconvenient mess.”

The fusion centre’s comm panel chirped, a message from the Farragut’s bridge officer. “Captain, messages from the Culver City and the Blythe, including updated senor packets. They’re asking for confirmation on their orders.”

“Captain,” Aloran leaned in, “I recommend that our orders remain the same. While this activity is unsettling, I see no material difference that would alter our orders from Starfleet Command.”

“So we watch some more,” Ayres sounded tired. “This is a very expensive holosuite experience, Aloran. I’m uncomfortable watching people set a large fire burning very close to our own house.”

Aloran raised an eyebrow. Ayres rolled his eyes and turned back to the viewscreen, “Bridge, transmit confirmation that orders remain the same. We stay decidedly on our side of the border.”

“Acknowledged, captain.”

Mahendra’s console chimed again, “Captain, Sheliak element breaking off. A dozen vessels heading in-system, straight toward the Tholians sir.”

The hologram flared with angry points of light. For several long minutes, the only illumination in the fusion centre was that simulacrum of battle.

Aloran turned toward the centre’s communications officer. “Signal Starfleet Command that a battle has commenced at Rhontaka and both sides remaining within their borders. Please recommend we reinforce the existing diplomatic outreach to prevent escalation.”

Ayres leaned closer to Aloran again. “That fire’s heating up, eh?”

((Culver City, Bridge))

Chief Bong’s console chimed, drawing his gaze.  “Message from the Farragut, sir; they confirm we’re to hold our current posture,” he said.

K’lev nodded.  “Send them our acknowledgement,” he said to Bong, then turned his gaze to a petty officer sitting at the engineering station.  “What’s the status on our engines and shield generators?  Any issues I need to know about?”  He could have easily checked the data himself, but K’lev wanted to keep everyone – himself included – focused.

The petty officer consulted her display, then shook her head.  “No issues, Captain,” she replied.  “We’ve got full speed available, and the shield generators are holding steady.”

“Excellent,” he replied.  “Now let’s see if diplomacy can calm this mess down, or if it’s about to spiral out of control.”

EPILOGUE

The Tholians in the nebula near their border 5 light years away had seen the Sheliak coming, but still, only 4 of their 7 picket ships there survived to withdraw to their main element in the Rhontaka system.

2 hours later the Sheliak had already begun to set themselves up on the rimward edge of the system, still hugging the Federation/Tholian border, though always remaining just on the Tholian side. After a further 10 minutes the Farragut fusion centre was noticing the sizeable element of about a dozen Sheliak ships move into the inner system.

They were in fact heading for the Tholian base and fleet at Rhontaka I. It was a short sharp battle, but the swift arrival of 2 large Tholian cruisers had turned the tide, and they were able to drive the Sheliak back, though not before losing several ships themselves.

Over the next few days small groups of Sheliak ships would probe in towards the base, and each time the Tholians would sally forth and repel them. The Sheliak started building temporart defenses near a dwarf planet that was currently orbiting the very outer edge of systems asteroid belt. They prepared several orbital defense platforms, and appeared as though they planned to stay until their job was done.

In response, the Federation Council narrowly voted against condemning the Sheliak invasion, choosing to refer to it as a border dispute,  a fact that apparently escaped being noticed by any newscasters. For his part, Aloran remained calm and focused and sent daily messages to both belligerents offering to mediate this border skirmish in various ways as he watched the 2 combatants grind eachother down. Since the event with the Sacremento Starfleet maintained its patrols along the border, but instituted a standing order to not go with 0.6AUs of the line. O.6AUs just so happened to be the range of most Tholian torpedos.

The little ad hoc formation of ships continued to hold their thin grey line for the next week, until one day, when one of the crews, of one of the ships of the provisional flotilla came up with a distinctly low tech solution to their sensor problems.

To be continued