Raiding the Food Bank, Pt.1

Posted on Tue May 6th, 2025 @ 6:20pm by Lieutenant Commander Caradan Eunidas & Ensign Aenardha Sh'vastarth & Commander Mindo & Lieutenant Commander James Smith & Lieutenant Daniel Keith & Lieutenant Krysia Kaleri-Smith & Lieutenant Bayre Negasi M.D. & Lieutenant Commander Greep & Lieutenant Zo & Lieutenant JG Olivia Keith & Lieutenant JG Aeryn Jameson & Ensign Ian Milkovich & Petty Officer 3rd Class Raven Mattel

Mission: Outside the Box
Location: MSS Qaraq: Conference Room
Timeline: Current

ON:

Two days of their journey had gone by without incident, and the ship had started to feel like a strange sort of home. Mindo called a meeting in the Qaraq's conference room. It was not a large room but could easily house them all for this meeting. For the most part, Caradan was to lead it, since she was more familiar with the details of the first part of their plan.

After Mindo, Caradan and Olivia were the first to the conference Room.

Olivia took a seat padd in hand with what details she had so far from the scans, more were rolling in as time went by.

Caradan did not bother sitting. She remained standing and paced slightly. Mindo noticed and could feel her anxiety. The first part of their mission had been laid in her hands, given her connections to their initial destination. Mindo was confident in Cara's ability to give the briefing, knowing it wouldn't take too long.

Raven entered wearing her workout gear. She had been training with Lieutenant Keith, trying to improve her self-defense skills. She gave a nod to the Command team as she took her seat.

A few minutes later, Daniel entered the room. Like Raven he was still in his workout clothes from his training session with Raven. Smiling at Olivia, he took a seat next to her.

Olivia smiled as Daniel sat down beside her, she was glad they were together again.

Warp Nine, including Zo, filed in, followed by Greep.

“Are we close to entering the Neutral Zone?” Raven spoke, trying to hide the nerves in her voice

"Not yet," Mindo said. "We have a stop to make first. Cara has the information and will conduct the briefing." Mindo stepped aside and gave Caradan the floor.

Caradan looked around and saw everyone was present and decided it best to continue. Some rather enjoyed small talk before getting down to business. Caradan saw no point in it. "We are about 2 hours from a remote region of Federation space. There are no trades routes out here, no pockets of population, not even black marketers operate out here. There is literally nothing of interest out here. Save for one." That was the Computer's queue to bring up the display on the viewscreen behind her. Upon it was the image of a Federation Starship saucer section. It looked like it belonged to the old and retired Ambassador Class of starship.

"This," Caradan stepped to the side so all could get a view, "is an F.E.R.D., also known as Ferd. It stands for Federation Emergency Rations Depot. It is umanned and also unsecured. In the event of catastrophe, anyone with the knowledge of its location, and there are about two dozen of these things spread about Federation space, can go to one of these and stock up. This Ferd is loaded with already prepared meal rations, replicator protein to keep replicators going, clothing, bedding, tools, medicine, medical devices, stored energy, fuel, plasma, you name it this Ferd has it. It is unsecured because the Federation believes if anyone is in need, then they should be able to board and get what they need. Taken that anyone can find a Ferd. I happen to know this one is here. These Ferds may look like saucer sections of a ship, but they have been gutted completely. There is no bridge, no quarters, no engineering, no warp core, none of that. It is essentially one massive cargo bay Though it still has all the rooms, corridors, turbolifts, Jefferies tubes, etc. Our objective is to board and get whatever we can carry, to include anything we may be able to sell or barter with once we leave Federation space. Scans will not show either the presence or location of weapons, though they are there. Phasers, rifles, plasma grenades, torpedoes. They are also stored behind a hidden door with an impossible to crack access code. Everything aboard this particular Ferd is at least 10 years old but everything should still work as though new. We are also going to get what weapons we can carry. These, of course, are not to be sold or bartered with...unless if we sabotage them first. Questions?"

Krysia was surprised not to have heard of this before. “I take it only certain members of Starfleet are privy to this information? Considering it’s for everyone who needs it I , for one, have never heard of it before.”

Caradan was nodding away her understanding. "Yes. Only Captains and higher ranks are made privy to this information." Caradan realized there had suddenly entered the proverbial elephant in the room. "I was made aware of this some time back. Again, should there be a catastrophe, Earth being attacked for instance, or quarantined for whatever reason, and these supplies are needed...here it is. If others were to stumble upon a Ferd, then it is all free for the taking. Minus the weapons of course. Starfleet will, of course, be alerted that this Ferd is being boarded and will send a ship to resupply it. That can take anywhere from a week to a month. So, we have time."

Daniel too was thinking. He didn't like going anywhere unarmed especially into the Neutral Zone. He would make sure they loaded up on phasers, rifles, plasma grenades. "Caradan, you said there are torpedoes also there for the taking but locked behind a hidden door with an impossible to crack access code. I'm here to tell you, there's no such thing. It may be that it is impossible to crack in the time we have, in which case I'm guessing you have the code?"

Caradan thought briefly. "Well there are no known reports of said code being cracked. So, you're right, it may not be impossible, it just has not happened yet...according to any reports. And I do have the code. A...contact of mine saw fit to supply me with it. Once we are done with provisions, we will need you, LT Keith and LT Soloman to decide what we need from the armory. Build a team, to include myself and Mindo if you deem necessary, to help move these items. The hull plating of the Ferd in and around the armory is specially designed to disrupt transport, so we will need to physically move these items out of the armory before we can transport. But provisions come first. Medical will comb through medical provision and take what is needed. Other departments will perform likewise."

Krysia nodded as she listened to Caradan. “I can give Aeryn a hand with the medical supplies, it shouldn't take long to organise what we might need between us.”

"Would you report you cracked the code and alert everyone Caradan?" Daniel replied. Then nodded "Soloman and I can do it. Oh, I'll 'borrow' Olivia for this as well. If I need you and Mindo, I'll let you know."

"I would like to handle food supplies and rationing." Raven spoke up, "I have some experience in a kitchen, I could try to make them a little less... basic-tasting, and more like food?"

"Sounds like a good idea to me," Mindo said with a shrug.

Ian's voice came over the speakers, he'd been listening from helm, "Will Starfleet know we've accessed FERD? Won't they come looking for us?"

"Starfleet will know the Ferd had been accessed," Caradan spoke to the ceiling. "They will definitely know that the weapons cache had been accessed as well." With the access code she had been supplied with, she knew no one in Starfleet would investigate further; they would drop the matter immediately. Caradan, however, said, "And we will be long gone before anyone comes looking. There is nothing to be concerned about."

The Ensign looked ahead out the ship’s main window, thinking. “I would like to plan some potential escape routes just in case. The USS Marigold has been performing active training exercises in this sector recently. I can prepare a list of options, just in case?”

"Prepare your list Ensign," said Caradan. "It is good to have options." Though she knew the Marigold was already alerted to their presence and would not come looking, "and keep your eyes on sensors. Let us know if anything comes our way."

Raven leaned forwards, “So the Ferd will look like a derelict saucer section but internally, everything is still working? That means artificial gravity and life support?”

"It may be a bit cold at first," Caradan spoke to the group before her, "and dim. The Ferd runs on minimal power for most of the time. Life Support is generally offline but runs enough to keep everything from freezing beyond use. Life Support, lights, heat, gravity, all that automatically turns on when someone arrives and docks. Anything else?"

"Uhh, Caradan?" Ian's shaky voice came over the comms channel from helm again. "We've got company."

Krysia looked towards Ian. “That doesn’t sound good.”

Caradan looked about at the crew before her as Ian's statement sank in. Clearly, the secret location of the Ferd was not as secret as she had hoped. "Things can never just be easy can they?" Then she spoke to the ceiling with, "On my way." To the assembled crew, "standby. We definitely have a frago on our hands." She started for the door with, "Mindo, you may need to see this."

OFF