In the 2270s, Marathon was one of over a half-dozen Starfleet vessels, under the command of Commodore Jono Danilov, that intervened in a Romulan conflict that Captain James T. Kirk's USS Enterprise had become involved in, the Battle of Augo. Marathon, along with Hemalat, al-Burak, Speedwell, Lake Ponchartrain, Lake Onondoga, Kilimanjaro, San Diego and Dauntless all departed shortly after the engagement, with the only loss being Danilov's Ortisei. (TOS novel: The Empty Chair)