“Commander Nitus to the bridge.”

Nitus once sound asleep, woken by the sudden loud voice in her quarters calling her name. The Half-Romulan startled awake as she shot up from the bed at the sound of T’Soni’s voice; she had half expected the Half-Vulcan to sleep be asleep herself. She reached over to the bedside table and tapped her combadge.

“Nitus to bridge. Report?”

Nitus looked over to the clock: 16:30 hours. She hadn’t meant to sleep for nearly two hours, but she knew if she didn’t at least get a little bit of sleep the Trill in sickbay would have made her so at least she beat him to it this time.

“A Klingon battle cruiser has arrived on the other side of the border,” T’Soni said. As Nitus heard her words she jumped up quckly shedding the soft robe and pulled on her duty uniform. Going so fast she was moving as a blur.

“On my way,” she said as the transmission cut off. Nitus jogged down the corridor as she finished zipping up her jacket stepping into the waiting turbolift.

“Bridge.”

She straightened her collar and tied up her hair into a ponytail as it would take too long to put it in a bun. Just as she finished the doors opened. Before they could open fully she was out onto the bridge. “Status report?”

“They arrived a minute before I contacted you,” T’Soni said, standing from the chair and walking towards Nitus.

“Have they tried contacting us?”

“No, ma’am. They have remained largely silent. I assume whoever is in command of the Negh’Var-class ship is checking in with the others,” Arva said, interjecting into the conversation.

“Any progress on the investigation?”

“No, ma’am,” Nirk’oc responded from one of the side consoles. “Its as if the equipment either doesn’t exist or wasn’t taken.”

Nitus looked puzzled at the Klingon officer. That couldn’t be true. It didn’t make sense.

“Commander, there’s incoming…” Arva said, alarmed. “It’s the Lincoln.”

Next to the Paramount a dazzling Gagarin-class ship emerged from warp. The light from the stars in the distance caused the new hull to shine brightly. Nitus had always been amazed at the look of the new ships the only thing she could not get over was the flooring.

“Hail them,” Nitus said looking to Tiala. She tapped at the console before nodding to Nitus that the connection was made.

“Captain Cayde, welcome to the party!”

“Good thing I brought my dancing shoes,” Captain Cayde chuckled as he sized up his part-Romulan colleague across the link. With a Negh’Var looming just beyond the invisible border between Klingon and Federation space, the precariousness of the situation was not lost on him. He was a veteran of the Archanis Sector, even before it took on new life following the crisis with the Hunters of D’Ghor, but Commander Nitus was unknown to him. How would she behave when things got tense? Because, with the Klingons posturing like this, they almost certainly would. “Sitrep?”

“We’ve discovered stolen Federation tech aboard that old K’Tinga ship. Upon investigation nothing has come up. We weren’t able to get a full look at the serial number but the amount we did get isn’t coming back to anything,” Nitus paused as she spoke making sure she hadn’t missed anything. “The Negh’Var hasn’t been here long. Only two to six minutes before you arrived did they.”

Stolen Federation tech? Unfortunately, thought Captain Cayde, such a tale had become all too common in the fractious and long-neglected borderlands. “What do we know of the crew aboard the Viridian’s Grace?” The repurposed K’Tinga, now flagged as an Orion civilian ship, was unknown to him. “Any explanation as to what they were doing before they became marooned here? Or who caused the battle damage to their ship?” He doubted it was a coincidence that a Klingon warship had just suddenly materialized on the other side of the border.

“No, sir.” Nitus responded. She thought back realizing she never told Arva to investigate how the ship got here. They merely rendered aid and investigated the stolen tech.

“If I may,” the Bajoran tactical officer interjected.

“Please do,” Captain Cayde offered as he eyed the young man at the tactical station on the other side of the link. “In the absence of hard facts, conjectures are better than nothing.” Having spent much of his time on the frontier, Cassidy Cayde was a man who’d learned to trust his instincts, and those he served with. Sure, they would, at times, lead you astray, but at least they gave you possibilities to explore.

“We’ve managed to identify that the markings were caused by a mix of disruptor and plasma weaponry. All marks are recent,” Arva said, explaining what he and his team had found between arriving and before the discovery of the stolen tech. “We’ve tried to get access to their sensor logs, but they refused and we had no legal basis to press the issue.”

The borderlands veteran knew better than to ask the source of the disruptor fire. Even if the signature came back as Klingon or Romulan, it’d be inconclusive given how much of their equipment had proliferated into the hands of others in recent years. Even the Viridian’s Grace herself was proof of that.  “So let me get this straight,” Captain Cayde offered instead. “Our Orion friends call for help, but when you show up, while they willingly accept it, they won’t say a thing about what they were doing, who did this to them, or why?”

“Exactly,” Nitus said. She thought back on the conversation she had with Arva before she had gone to her quarters. “Actually now that I think about it. Lieutenant Zolath overheard the ship’s captain and first mate talking about some ‘boss’ figure. Maybe they are the ones who are telling them to keep silent?”

“And what sort of facade are you using to keep them here?” Captain Cayde asked. He knew Captain Drake had ordered them to find a reason to hold the Viridian’s Grace here, but the gears were now turning in his head as to how they might engender further information from its crew.

A sly smile graced Nitus’ usually neutral features. “Didn’t you hear one of the crew members has some kind of particle or something in their blood that doesn’t seem right? Also I believe there’s something wrong with the EPS distribution on the ship. If one thing goes wrong the whole system could go down,” Nitus stated to him and in a fake serious tone trying to cover her smile. Behind her the bridge crew snickered as they knew the context to this “situation”.

“I hear such problems can be quite pesky,” Captain Cayde chuckled back. He wasn’t particularly inclined to set the Orion ship loose without some answers, and this was as good a setup as any. “You know, power distribution issues can do a number on the computer core, and I wouldn’t want them to punch in a new set of coordinates, just to blow themselves up because it miscalculated the intermix ratio. You ought to send someone down there to make sure all is a-okay. And while they’re at it, if they happen to stumble across anything else…” The rest didn’t need to be said.

“Of course, Captain. I’ll task my Chief Engineer on it right away,” Nitus responded, mirroring Cayde’s features.

“You might also invite some of their crew over for a meet-and-greet,” Captain Cayde added. “Our mission, while we’re out here, is in part to revitalize the locals’ perspectives of the Federation, and how better than by showing them a bit of hospitality after what they’ve been through? Good food and stiff drinks have a way of loosening the tongue.”

“Sounds like a good plan. Will you be joining us?” She inquired. Nitus knew her own crew was more than capable of handling the Orions but she wondered if she might have back up just in case.

“No, I’m afraid not,” Captain Cayde shook his head. “Best let those of you who’ve started to build rapport with the Orions to continue to do so.” Besides, he was aware that, if the wrong people were among that civilian crew, he might prove to be a liability. While the USS Lincoln was new to the Archanis Sector, he most certainly was not.

“That’s a shame,” Nitus uttered, disappointed by the elder commander’s decline. She knew that having another captain present might disrupt the peace and could make them less willing to do anything. It was possible they might see it as a threat and become tight lipped.

“While you and your crew are doing their thing,” Captain Cayde offered. “We’ll keep an eye on our new friends across the border. I’ve also got a call I need to make.” A Negh’Var and three Vor’chas weren’t the sort of thing a minor rabble rouser could raise. They might need someone else before all was said and done.

“Thank you, Captain. I will contact you when we have something. Paramount out,” Nitus stated as she turned and looked back at her crew. She wondered if the mission they had undertaken would turn into a major success or a failure. The only way to know would be to proceed… with caution.