<USS Avalon> The Calling of the Spider (Part One)

 
The Calling of the Spider
by Fleet Captain Keith  Ketchum, Captain Skyler, Lt. K'etrall, Ensign Mary 
O'Donnell, Ming Vilya and  Mir'ast'hera (and whomever joins in)
 
"Captain, our guest would like to meet you. Could you meet us in  engineering 
please. Skyler out." 
 
He sighed and then replied, "Very well, I will be down shortly."
 
Standing and looking around, "I will be back up shortly, stay en route to  
the first planet, inform me when we arrive."  
 
"Aye Sir," the crew on the bridge advised.
 
Entering the lift, "Main Engineering."
 
The lift ride seemed to take longer than normal as he rode to the control  
center of the ship.  
 
Finally the lift opened, and he stepped out, tripping on the deck, because  
the lift hadn't stopped correctly, and was about four inches below the deck  
itself.
 
As he stood back up, brushing himself off, he made a mental note that he  
would have to let someone in Engineering know about that.  And since he was  
headed that way.  Walking into the Engine room, he saw it, the spider was  
huge.  
Walking over to the assembled crew, "Mr. Garrity, the lift did not  stop 
properly when I came down, would you have someone look into that."  He  didn't 
wait 
for an answer, as he turned to the spider.  "Greetings, I am  Fleet Captain 
Keith Ketchum, commanding officer of the Avalon.  It is our  pleasure to assist 
you and your ship to get back home."
 
The new biped intrigued Mir'ast'hera, he didn't seem any different to the  
others. Wonder how he became Captain? She looked at him  curiously, "And I am 
Mir'ast'hera of the R'ish'tk Science Nest. Your Ensign  Garrity has been most 
informative. I believe her mate is looking after my  vessel?"

Mac snickered, wondering if the potential problem with that  would occur to 
anyone but him and Vilya. Josh didn't just "look after" anything.  It'd eat at 
him too much to leave it in what he'd consider "substandard"  condition. Hell, 
he thought, that bug'll be lucky if she recognizes it at all by  the time 
he's done 'looking after' it.  

 
Looking at the Captain Skyler just sorta smirked. She knew how he hated  
First Contacts and this was a doozy. "Well, Captain since you are now here, I  
believe I will leave you to tend to our guest. Enjoy yourself." Having said 
that  
Skyler turned and made her way back to the bridge where she could think in  
private.
 
The arachnid looked at the departing woman and bobbed her eye-stalks.  "Thank 
you."
 
From her position beside Annabelle, Mary allowed herself a slight shudder.  
The size of the thing still slightly freaked her, and here she was again in an  
agitated state, holding a phaser rifle with the Captain present. She gave her 
 commander a sidelong look and took a deep breath.
 
Skyler turned and looked at Mir'ast'hera. For some reason she felt a kind  of 
friendship with her. "If you need anything don't hesitate to call. I am sure  
you are in good hands."

 
"He is your Captain, so I would hope so!" She clicked her mandibles  and 
forelegs together and the translator let out a simulated laugh.


Skyler looked at Mir'ast'hera and chuckled, "As I said if you need anything  
just let me know. Have fun." With that Skyler made her way out of  engineering.
 
Keith nodded, "We have narrowed down the possible planets that you came  from 
to three in this region, and are currently en route to one of them to check  
it out."  

"Fun?" Mary muttered, "A spider the size of a bloody bus  in main engineering 
and she says have fun?"
 
K'etrall came out from behind the warp core where she had been checking the  
coils only to find a crowd of people and one very, very large spider. She  
immediately pulled out her d'tkang and was going to plunge it into the spider  
until she noticed that it appeared to be talking to everyone. The Klingon  
decided she would go back to her hidey hole and let them deal with the  spider.
 
Alright so he had a comm badge but Ming hated using the things.  He  
preferred talking to his wife in person.  He was actually looking for Josh,  
too, so 
visiting Engineering would kill two birds with one stone, so to  speak.  He 
didn't see her immediately when he walked in but that was  nothing unusual.  He 
nodded to a few of the people he passed as he headed  further in, vaguely wonder
ing why they all seemed so...stunned.  Not like  I've never been here before, 
he thought.  And they've seen me dressed like  this so...stunned.
 
Ta ma de!  It was the biggest spider he'd ever seen.  Without a  word, he 
turned sharply on his foot and walked straight back out.
 
Turning to the Captain, Mir'ast'hera lowered her thorax to look at him more  
closely. "Three worlds like mine? We dreamed of one day settling other worlds. 
 To know there are two similar to our own nearby is wonderful news!"
 
K'etrall had been lurking in the background and was listening in both with  
her ears and her senses. "Good God, three more worlds similar to hers. Three  
worlds with giant spiders. I wonder if they are all the same or if they come in 
 different shapes and sizes." Not one to show fear, K'etrall felt her body  
tremble just slightly. She returned back to what she was doing, running boring  
diagnostics.
 
"I'm sure that we can get you back to some other surroundings in the ship,  
and get to the first planet to check it out.  Ms. O'Donnell, when you get a  
moment and she is ready to move on, will you take care of it?  Good," not  
waiting for an answer, "I will be on the bridge if anyone needs me," to no one  
in 
particular, as he nodded to the spider and headed to the door.
 
Hearing that Mary bit back venomous comment and her eyes narrowed at the  
Captain's retreating back. Shoulda zapped him when I had the chance, now I'm  
baby sitting the bloody thing!

Other related posts: