((Culver City, Bridge))

Around a day after the Blythe was ordered to Starbase 420, another starship appeared on her long-range sensors.  Transponder codes identified it as NCC-75573, USS Culver City.  Culver City appeared to be on a semi-converging course for Starbase 420, which became an intercept course for the Blythe as she altered heading to meet her sister ship.

Responding to word from Ensign Ophelia Lotharys, Lieutenant Varyn K’lev, the very junior commanding officer of the Culver City, emerged from his ready room onto the bridge, taking the conn.  “We’re coming up on the Blythe,” said Ensign Lotharys as she resumed her post at the sciences station.

K’lev nodded, taking a moment to punch up the engine status readouts on his chair’s armrest display; Culver City’s engines were running warmer than he’d like with the prolonged sprint at warp 8, but so far it seemed that Ensign Pelix and his engineering team had things under control down below.  That said, K’lev would have preferred to slow down if possible to spare the engines a little, at least to warp 7, but he didn’t want to be late either.

Satisfied that his nacelles were not about to melt underneath him, K’lev looked to Chief Robert Bong at ops.  “Chief, let’s make sure we request some additional plasma coolant at Starbase 420, just in case, and coordinate a preventative inspection of the injectors and intermix chamber when we can spare a moment; I don’t think we’re in imminent danger, but I don’t want to see the engines break down because we ran them too hard too long without proper maintenance.”

“Yes, sir,” Bong replied, making a note on his console as he kept monitoring all the ships power and systems allocations.

“Thanks, Chief.  And let’s hail the Blythe.”  K’lev instinctively stood, smoothing down his uniform tunic with a gentle tug as Bong sent the hail.  “Culver City to Blythe,” he said once Bong indicated the hail had been answered and the link established.

“Culver City, this is the Blythe. It appears somethings going on at the border and we’ll be heading that direction together. Would you care to form up on our wing? My helmsman says if we maintain a speed of warp 7.5 we will arrive ahead of the time specified in our orders. How does that sound to you Captain?” The newly promoted Captain Tyler said from his command chair on the Blythe. He had noticed that K’lev was a Lt, but had also remembered Wongs insistence that the commanding officer of a ship was a captain/skipper regardless of rank.

K’lev nodded.  “Warp 7.5 sounds excellent, Captain.  Do you know anything about what we’re sailing into?  We took on repair supplies from the freighter Bounty before leaving our last assignment, but they didn’t have much of anything to tell us.”  As he spoke, K’lev resumed his seat, tapping out quick instructions to Ensign Phillips at the helm, to form up on Blythe’s starboard side and reduce speed to warp 7.5 after rendezvous.

“Well my XO has been following the Intel stream from the front all day, and it doesnt seem like anyone really knows what occurred. It’s not an all out invasion or war yet or I’m sure we’d both be at red alert right now…but apparently 1 Starfleet vessel was destroyed and another was severely damaged. The porous nature of the border area we are heading to makes getting definitive info nearly impossible. Did the orders you recieved state you were being temporarily attached to Sector Commander aswell?” Tyler stood and clasped his hands behind his back.

K’lev shook his head.  “All I was told was to head for Starbase 420 and link up with you and with the Farragut, and that Command would be trying to send more help.  But a severely damaged vessel would explain the supplies we were given.”

Bong grimaced at ops slightly. The orders did state that they were being attached just as the Blythe’s oddly blueshirted Captain had asked.

The news of the Farragut was a welcome suprise to Tyler and the rest of the Blythes bridge crew. It was a Nebula class ship with a solid history and a storied name. “Indeed, but I would surmise that qualitative reinforcements are probably a few weeks away atleast, it appears as though Starfleet is spread fairly thin in this region for the time being.”

Tyler was no strategic mastermind, but even he knew that Cali class ships weren’t sent to a simmering border region if there was other more suitable ships available.

K’lev hoped that the sudden jolt of anxiety he felt at the prospect of reinforcements being weeks away didn’t show, though most of his bridge crew – other than the unflappable Chief Bong – seemed to share those nerves to some degree or another.  “Guess it’s up to us, then?”

“It may be… Well then, we will be in touch again soon, it’s a pleasure to sail with you Captain K’lev.” Tyler said, having looked up the CC’s Co’s name. Tyler could barely hide his own anxiety and was eager to get off the comm and get back to  researching the Tholians, the Shelliak and their long history of border skirmishes.

“Likewise, Captain Tyler, Culver City out” K’lev said before the channel closed.

Over the next few minutes, Culver City formed up starboard echelon with Blythe.  Once the rendezvous was complete, K’lev stood.  “I’ll be in the ready room, if you need me,” he said.  “Ophelia, ship’s yours.”  With that, he returned to the ready room and his reading; there were a number of reports to sift through, and realistically it was all starting to run together in his mind a little bit.

(USS Solvang, Bridge)

The USS Solvang was en route to the Bajoran wormhole to beging their mission in the Gamma Quadrant. Captain Thaassen Mekor sat on the bridge pensively, sage green skin almost gleaming in the light. The crew was generally in a good mood after having had shore leave, and they weren’t expecting any trouble from this simple and routine trip.

“Captain?” Lt Commander Yene, who was currently manning comms started. “Getting a message from Starbase 420, the Starbase we’re passing by.”

“On screen.” Captain Mekor waved his hand, and the Kelpien CO of the Starbase 420 appeared on the viewscreen.

“Captain Mekor! You’re back?” Captain Sonal exclaimed.

“Shore leave,” Mekor explained. “But now we’re off to the Gamma Quadrant again. Did you really hail my ship just to catch up, Captain?” His eyes twinkled with amusement. He’d known the other captain from a previous posting.

“No, no, but it is good you showed up. A Starfleet vessel was destroyed, near the Tholian border, another damaged. Conflict seems like it might start up again, so we’re sending all available personnel. I’ve got one more for you too, an intelligence officer. Sending you his biometrics for transporter purposes. Get your ship in beaming range, and I’ll hail you again. 420 out.”

Mekor’s eyebrows raised enough that his first officer, Lieutenant Kimura could have sworn if they went any higher, they’d be touching his hairline. She would have laughed under different circumstances. Instead though, she was concerned. She didn’t expect to see too much combat at this posting, though she did want to command in combat situations, and had taken this position because it was the only one she could find to accept her as an XO. The Solvang was primarily populated by science and culture nerds who already had the types of positions they wanted.

“Okay. Lieutenant Elen, get the Solvang into position.”

“Aye.” Lieutenant Elen was internally freaking out a little, but being given a task helped him a little.

Then SB 420 hailed the Solvang again.

“Ensign Crircrir, 1 to beam aboard,” Mekor said, pressing a button near his chair to reach the transporter room.

“Aye, beaming now!” came the playful voice of Ensign Cricrir. She was a dolphin, so it wasn’t her real voice, really, as the universal translator translated her clicks and barks into speech. A lot of the Solvang was fitted with pools in the floors to allow her and the few other cetaceans aboard to get around, as well as underwater versions of several stations that were made operable with flippers and beaks.

“Lieutenant Elen, set a course for the border. Warp 5, but slow down if the sensors pick up any signs of ongoing conflict. Lieutenant Kimura, you have the conn.” Captain Mekor nodded to Kimura and then got up to head to the transporter room to welcome their newcomer.

The officer was beamed on board. Lieutenant Jairo Abaroa. Half human and half Vulcan and excited to be on a ship and to be directly involved in some action. It had been a while.

Before departed, the Solvang got one more message from Captain Sonal. They were told that 2 other Cali class vessels would be joined them in a few hours, and that they were going to patrol the border together.