Rhontaka

A former staging area for Starfleet around a binary star system of the same name near the convergence of the Federation, Tholian and Sheliak borders. It is made up of 1 K-type star and a dense pulsar with a highly elliptical orbit. The main star maintain and relatively stable planetary system that contain 2 terrestrial and 2 gas giants. There are no known flora or fauna within the system.

The Rhontaka Incident

The Rhontaka Incident was a roughly 2 week long series of events in October 2402, that ended up centering on the Rhontaka System, which straddled the Tholian/Federation border. It would later be confirmed that the Tholians had been using the rare and synergistic gravitational properties of the unusual binary system to assist them in creating an artificial wormhole.

The system was the site of a series of skirmishes between the Tholians and the Sheliak who wanted to destroy the Tholian research station there. The station was destroyed as it crossed the Treaty border into Federation space. Weeks later the diplomats from both parties would affirm the location of the border in that system in a goodwill meeting.

In response Starfleet formed a small ad hoc provisional unit after the Tholians had attacked an escort group that was patrolling the border nearby, where they destroyed the USS Kozlov and crippled the USS Shuswap. The incident was given minimal news coverage, though it should be noted that Elizabeth McNaughton aka ‘’Lizzy McNizzy”, a Holocaster and former FNN correspondent was detained, without charge, for nearly a month when she conducted an unauthorized, and deceptively arranged interview with one of the Captains of the provisional border flotilla. Though the research station was destroyed, and the lead scientist, and Tholian fleet commander were both killed during the final engagement, the Tholian Assembly admitted no guilt in relation to the incident. Starfleet classified any information related to the Tholian activity in that system while the border standoff occurred, the information has not been declassified since the end of the incident.

The flotilla at one point or another included the vessels:

USS Farragut, provisional flagship, USS Salvation,USS Blythe, USS Culver City, USS Sacremento, USS Solvang, USS Cutlass(attached, later reassigned), USS Steadfast(attached, later reassigned).

Runabouts: USS Spallumcheen (destroyed) and USS Irrawaddy

Provisional Border Flotilla 33, as it was referred to in official records, was disbanded just hours after the station was destroyed, and its ships returned to their regular duties.