“Captain Cayde, the Klingons are moving towards the border. I’m confused as to why we are even having this conversation,” Nitus stated to him as she sat in her Ready Room. Although she trusted her crew and was confident that they knew where to draw the line she was hesitant to speak to Cayde in front of them. She wanted to speak with the Captain in private.

“Moving towards the border, yes,” Captain Cayde reminded his colleague. “But they have not violated our territory.” As he stared at his colleague through the main viewer, it was not lost on him that Commander Nitus had sequestered herself in her Ready Room, but he wasn’t about to step off his bridge as they raced towards the Klingons at alert status. Nor did he see any reason to. He ran an open ship, and he didn’t fear any of his staff hearing him say what he knew they’d be thinking.

“Captain the Klingons were moving closer to the border and their fire range is far greater than my own what if…”

“If they wanted to blow you out of the sky,” Captain Cayde interjected, cutting her off mid-sentence. “They would have already done so in a reenactment of the Kobayashi Maru.” It was a reference to the famous no-win scenario that every captain went through, a simulation where their fictional Starfleet vessel responded to the distress call of a civilian freighter, only to find itself impossibly outgunned as enemy ships decloak all around it. If the Klingons had actually wanted to move against the Paramount, they could have employed exactly those tactics long before the Lincoln even arrived.

Aboard the Paramount, a chime came from the door, but Nutus ignored it, intent on finishing her conversation with the Lincoln’s commanding officer. “Captain, the very thought of the Klingons moving closer to the border with relations this tense is paramount to war.”

“War?” Captain Cayde shook his head. “No, Commander. War isn’t a few ships creeping closer to a line drawn on some map. War is what we faced against the Lost Fleet, or with its forebearers thirty years prior. This is saber rattling at best, unless we help them make it more.” And even if someone’s finger slipped on the trigger, it was unlikely, he knew, to go down as anything more than a border skirmish that the diplomats would apologize for before everyone went back to doing what they were doing before. Such things had happened before, and such things would happen again – but ideally, not today.

Another chime came at Nitus’ door, this time was immediately followed by two more. “Excuse me, Captain. Enter,” Nitus said as her agitation got the better of her. She was annoyed, not only at Captain Cadye for not seeing her point of view, but also at this person who had the audacity to intrude on her conversation.

The door to the ready room opened and T’Soni walked in.

“Number One, I explicitly said for no one to interrupt me and Captain Cayde’s conversation. To let us speak privately,” Nitus said as she eyed her first officer.

“Commander,” T’Soni started. “Commanders Davidson and Hill have returned from the Viridian’s Grace. They’ve found something.”

Eyeing the half-Vulcan she stood from her seat. “Wait one second, Captain,” she said as she walked around her desk and crossed the threshold onto the bridge, making her way to the center as Hill and Davidson stood near the tactical console.

Nitus looked over to the communications console. “Ms. Lovar, transfer Captain Cayde here.”

The viewscreen switched to show the bridge of the Lincoln with Cayde still standing in the center.

“Go ahead, you two,” Nitus instructed.

Hill stepped forward with Davidson, turning her attention to the console behind her. “After searching the Grace’s computer, we have found verified intelligence that House K’varrak of the Klingon Empire was involved in the acquisition of stolen Federation technology, along with two other groups,” Hill said as he handed Nitus a PADD. On it was all the known information relating to House K’varrak.

“It says here that House K’varrak is a vassal of one of the border houses. How are they able to even afford a purchase like that?” Nitus asked. The only way a vassal would be able to get the money to afford a purchase like that would be from House K’tok, its ruling house, or from the Chancellor.

“That’s currently unknown,” Hill responded.

Captain Cayde, listening on from the Lincoln‘s bridge, stole a glance at Lieutenant Commander Hardcastle as if hoping his security chief might have some insight. He just shrugged though. Even for all the experience he had working the Klingon borderlands before enlisting in Starfleet, Russ Hardcastle had experienced as many run-ins with this insignificant vassal house as his boss – namely zero – so the pair just returned their attention back to the screen to continue listening.

“The first of the other parties is one we have dealt with in the past. A pirate group known as the Crimson Fleet. Founded by a group of Romulans following the destruction of their homeworld. Originally it was believed to have been led by Commander Nitus’ half-brother former Romulan Imperial Navy Admiral Eldus,” Hill said as he handed Nitus a new PADD, this one containing updated information on Crimson.

“How does Eldus fit into the command structure?” Nitus asked them interested to see how her brother was involved.

“Now we have collected information that Eldus is only one of seven members of the ruling council. The other members of which are unknown,” Hill said as he turned towards Davdison.

Davidson turned around and handed Nitus yet another PADD, this one containing information on the second group involved. “The second group is one we didn’t recognize, but after a little digging, I found this. They go by the name Iron Syndicate,” Davidson reported as she looked to Captain Cayde to see if he recognized the name before turning her eyes back to Nitus. As she said the name of the second group Lieutenant Zolath straightened. To many including Nitus, the security chief’s service record as always seemed a little off. Zolath looked to Nitus then to Davidson as he focused on her ignoring what he was doing prior.

“From the information I could gather that wasn’t classified, the group is a crime syndicate operating across the border regions from the Deneb Sector to the Romulan border and has made friends and enemies throughout the region. As far as we can tell, they have been active since the Dominion War and, while not as influential as the Orion Syndicate, they are still a key player in the black market.”

“How did all three of these groups get talking?” Nitus asked. She wasn’t surprised that Crimson was involved, nor was she surprised that Eldus wasn’t the one in charge. However she was most intrigued by this Iron Syndicate and how come she had never heard of this group before.

“From what I gathered from the logs, Crimson contacted the Syndicate about acquiring Federation technology. Once the Syndicate acquired the tech by an unknown means, they sold it to Crimson. Crimson then reached out to the Klingons, but this is the part where it gets a little fuzzy. We don’t know what Crimson got in exchange for the tech. All we know is that House K’varrak dispatched the Viridian’s Grace to pick up the tech, but before the Grace could leave, an Orion ship attacked them. Then fled before we arrived,” Davidson finished as she looked at Hill to make sure she had said everything. With his confirmation she turned to Cayde and Nitus.

Captain Cayde had now heard enough. “So what you’re saying is that somewhere aboard that marooned freighter, there’s likely a bunch of stolen Starfleet technology,” he said, playing it back. Along these borderlands, smuggling had been a persistent thorn in their side, and the Lincoln‘s crew had seen firsthand the consequences of what could happen when such technology got into the wrong hands. “Who owns the Viridian’s Grace?”

“According to its backbox, it is owned by a Stellar Industries, which is flagged by Starfleet Intelligence for possibly being a shell company for the Klingons. That is allowed to operate in Federation space,” Hill said as he walked over to his console next to Lieutenant D’Antonio at the conn.

“Of course it is,” sighed Captain Cayde. Until now, he’d hoped that the Klingons on the other side of the border were just onlookers trying to poke the bear, but that connection, if accurate, meant that Negh’var over on the other side was likely a party to this, somehow. “Do we have any intelligence on the crew of the Grace?”

“The Grace is owned by Stellar, but its crew are free. The only member of the crew that had a contract of service with Stellar was the former captain of the ship who is now dead,” Hill answered. “Captain Cayde, I am sending you all of our findings.”

“Thank you,” Captain Cayde nodded, but before he turned his attention to the report they’d sent over, there was something else top of mind. He stepped off the command island and came up behind Lieutenant Saadi at the conn. As he glanced over her shoulder, he noted the distance they’d covered in the intervening period. Much more, and they might soon be the ones violating the border. “I recommend that, until we have time to review all of this more thoroughly, we belay any additional forward advance and take up a defensive pattern.”

“Agreed,” Nitus said as she looked to her helmsman. “Might I recommend launching two of the fighters from the Lincoln’s fighter complement?”

“Two?” Captain Cayde chuckled. “Why suddenly so reserved after we’ve already laid down the gauntlet?” A handful of fighters wasn’t going to make it any worse than they already had with their advance. He tapped his combadge. “Cayde to Blaine. Launch all fighters. Take up defensive formation around the Lincoln, the Paramount and the Viridian’s Grace.”

“All fighters, defensive positions, aye,” came the near-instant response from Lieutenant J.G. Malcolm Blaine. He and his wing were already standing by in their cockpits just waiting for the call. And then, just a few seconds later, his starfighter tore out of the Lincoln’s front-facing shuttlebay, followed by eleven just like it. The nimble little Valkyries buzzed like bees, swarming around the two Federation ships and the marooned freighter.

“Now that we’ve thoroughly rattled our saber, might I suggest we try to call the captain of the Negh’Var again?” Captain Cayde asked as he turned back to the screen. “Would you like to do the honors, Commander?” It was her mission, after all, but more than that, her crew was also currently more read up on the parties involved.

“Thank you, Captain,” Nitus said to him as she walked to her chair and took a seat as she looked over to the comms officer. “Ms. Lovar, open a channel on all frequencies,” she said as she turned her attention to the viewscreen. “This is Commander Nitus of the Federation starship Paramount. Please respond and identify yourself.”