The final rivet shot home with a satisfying clunk. "Nearly finished" Kehlan said cheerfully, wiping the sweat away from her brow as she stepped back to take a look at her work. "We'll be ready to take it out for a test flight soon."
Khetara extinguished the flame on the welding tool she held in her hand and removing the visor she'd been wearing to protect her eyes, she stepped back to join Kehlan. "Hmm" she said thoughtfully, "the question is – which of us gets to test fly it?"
"Well, it isn't going to be me" Chrissie said laughing as she put down her own tools. "There's no way I'm going to fly that thing! I don't mind helping build it but I'm not suicidal!"
"I'll volunteer" Draka said, a note of anticipation in her voice, "So which of you is going to join me?"
The project had begun as a joking challenge, nearly six months ago. They'd been sitting in the Blooded Targ, drinking the inevitable chocolate blood-wine when a slightly inebriated marine engineer had started making disparaging remarks about the abilities of his female colleagues. Surprisingly, it had been Chrissie who was the first to take offence, the irate human woman rashly making the counterclaim that anything the guys could do, the girls could do better! Kehlan had been quick to back up her Terran friend and Draka and Khetara had somehow got dragged into it as well.
The four women stood side by side now, admiring their creation. It had taken them months to get this far, coordinating their duty shifts and working in between missions, but finally the replica biplane, a copy of the first planes ever flown on Earth, was almost ready to leave its home in the corner of shuttle bay six and be taken down to Frontera for its first flight. If all went well, they would win their bet. If not… Kehlan refused to consider that possibility. The plane would fly!
"I will!" Kehlan and Khetara both spoke at exactly the same moment. They glared at each other and Khetara bared her teeth.
Any argument between the two friends was rendered academic for now as Kehlan's combadge bleeped.
"Ops to Fleet Captain Kehlan"
"Kehlan here" she responded. "What do you want?"
"Captain there is a ship approaching the starbase." The young lieutenant on communications duty hesitated and when he finally continued, his voice sounded nervous. "The pilot requests docking privileges and is asking for you personally"
"Who is it?" Kehlan asked, impatient and a little annoyed. She'd been enjoying some rare off duty time with her friends and was not happy about being disturbed.
If the communications officer had been nervous before, he sounded positively frightened now. "Captain, it's an Arachnid ship – Tarantula class."
An Arachnid ship? Caught by surprise, Kehlan froze, suddenly understanding all too well just what was freaking out the lieutenant. What was an Arachnid doing here and what did it want with her. There would be only one on board the ship, Kehlan knew, although in her mind one was more than enough. The Tarantula class ships – for some reason the Arachnids had named their ship classes after the various types of Terran spiders – were single man fighters. Not that 'man' was a very appropriate term, Kehlan thought, unable to prevent herself from shuddering as she asked "when is it due to arrive?"
"In two minutes, Captain" the lieutenant responded.
Two minutes. In just two minutes, Kehlan was going to have to face her greatest fear. She'd always been terrified of spiders, ever since that day, shortly after she had arrived at the orphanage on Qo'noS. Three years old and only just beginning to learn the Klingon language, she had not understood what her tormentors had wanted of her. Not quick enough to do whatever it was they had wanted, they had punished her by locking her in a cupboard. She could still remember the darkness, the feeling of stifling claustrophobia and then the sensation of something moving across her skin…
"Kehlan?"
She looked up, to see her friends staring at her, expressions of concern on their faces.
"You all right?" It was Draka that asked the question but it was obvious to Kehlan that Draka was speaking on behalf of Khetara and Chrissie as well.
"Of course I'm all right" Kehlan snapped, angry both with herself for being afraid and with them for noticing her reaction. She was a Klingon warrior and she felt shamed by her fear. Turning away from them, she took a deep breath and tried to pull herself together. It was not as if it was the first time she had met the Arachnids after all, and she'd survived that encounter. She'd survive this one as well.
Realising that the communications officer was still waiting for a reply from her, Kehlan instructed him, "Send it in to dock at shuttle bay six." Not bothering to wait for the lieutenant's acknowledgement, she cut the connection.