The Palomino-class light cruisers were designed to function as escort and personnel transport ships during a time of great expansion throughout the Federation. While more rugged types of ships expanded the Federation frontier, the Palomino-class moved scores of beings and escorted thousnads of ships within that boundary for well over fifty years. With a crew of less than one hundred and light armor and weapon load, the fifty-five vessels constructed in this class proved themselves remarkably spaceworthy for well beyond their intended design life. Althought the last Palomino-class ships were decommissioned almost a century ago, many of these vessels remain in commercial service.

The U.S.S. Ortzi (NCC-1132) was commissioned in 2209 and served Starfleet in one form or another for nearly a century. After being removed from military service, the Ortzi was put to use as a low-priority courier ship between Federation facilities in the Manurat region on the Alpha-Beta Quadrant border. The ship served in this capacity for forty years before finally being decommissioned and sold to private interests. At last report, the Ortzi was serving as a freighter along the Romulan Neutral Zone.