SURPRISE! I've been writing like hell for the last few days, so you can have two chapters in one day. Enjoy!
Chekov and Delta were almost finished reconfiguring the group's phasers to hopefully be affective against the spider, Kirk wasn't too big on the idea of just charging blindly out of their safe room to go find that monster, since the outpost had been plunged into darkness. He knew the best thing to do would be to somehow get the lights back on, at least then they would be able to see what they were supposed to be firing at. "Scotty, is there a way for you to get the lights back on?" Kirk queried, Scotty had to think for a second. "Aye, there's a junction box over near the cargo bay doors. From there you should be able to restore power to the lights, but god knows how long they will stay on for." Kirk gave him a soothing smile, but he could tell Scotty was reluctant to leave the safety of their room, even if it helped to rid the outpost of that monster. What gave that away was the fact he had said 'you' instead of 'I'. Kirk watched as his Chief seemed to curl up a little more.
"His Arachnophobia seems a lot worse than he's letting on." Kirk told himself, he hated seeing anyone afraid, especially one of his close friends. "Would you come with us to do it Scotty?" Kirk asked softly, but by the look on the Scotsman's face he already knew the answer. "There's no way I'm going back out there with that thing!" He cried, fear very pronounced in his tone of voice. "Keenser can do that job as well, you don't need the two of us." Kirk wanted to try and talk him into it, but he didn't want to force him. It was crystal clear that Scotty really didn't want to be face to face with that tarantula again, his fear was holding him back. "Alright, you can stay here with Bones. While the rest of us head back out there to try and get the lights back on." McCoy looked up at Kirk, with a twinkle of concern in his eyes. "Is it wise for all of you to go Jim?" Kirk smiled at him, as he took back his phaser from Chekov, "The more fire power we have, the better." McCoy didn't argue, instead he just nodded. Lexie told Delta to stay with Scotty, since she didn't want him to get hurt or to get scared. The others then soon left the room, phasers at the ready, set to kill.
It was extremely hard to see where they were going, even with the light that shone from their flashlights. "Ouch! Captain that was my foot!" Muttered Chekov quietly, since he didn't want to draw too much attention their way. "Sorry Pavel, I can't see anything. This is when I wish I had Lexie's vision." Kirk stated as he banged his foot quietly on a metal crate, thankfully it didn't make too much noise, but that didn't stop Kirk's heart from beating faster, Lexie chuckled quietly. Her vision in the dark was much better than most, but even she was finding it hard to see. "It comes in handy most of the time Captain, but it ain't making much of a difference." Even Keenser was struggling to see, but since he knew the layout of the outpost he didn't really need to be able to see to know where he was going. Lexie had picked up on that very quickly and suggested that they all stayed close to the Engineer, to prevent them from getting separated.
They soon walked (more like stumbled) into the cargo bay and followed Keenser over to the junction. Lexie shone her light over his shoulder so he could see what he was doing, while Kirk and Chekov kept watch. Keenser grunted several times while he fiddled around with the wires, Lexie was hoping that this wouldn't take too long since she felt a little exposed stood in the huge open room, even with her friend's watching her back. She tried to help out with the circuitry as much as she could, without getting in the way. Keenser suddenly yanked his hand away from the wiring, Lexie glanced over to him quickly. "You alright?" She asked, the Engineer nodded. "Shock." He replied before setting back to work, clearly electric shocks weren't enough to stop him. Keenser wanted the lights on just as much as the rest of them, since he wanted to be able to see the spider before it could attack them.
Chekov was trying not to be scared, but it was not an easy thing to do. He had been in many dangerous situations during his time on the Enterprise, from battling Romulan's with the technology to create black holes, to stopping the ship from falling to Earth, but somehow this felt much scarier. Chekov didn't know if it was because he was somewhere unfamiliar or because there was something hunting them, or a combination of the two, which is what he went with. "I'm not qualified to do this, I'm only a Navigator." He thought to himself, just a little he was missing sitting at his station, next to Sulu. But he knew that Kirk needed him here and so did the others, so he pushed his fear to one side allowing him to focus on his current task. Chekov had wandered a little away from the others, but he could still see them which was a relief for him. The lights from their flashlights was a great way of knowing where everyone was, but it also made them very easy to see. Kirk had stayed quite close to Lexie and Keenser since he didn't want to leave them alone just in case something happened.
He felt responsible for their safety as their Captain. Suddenly Kirk heard a cry coming from the direction Chekov had headed off to, he felt his heart sink. "Pavel!" Lexie had also been alerted to the noise, along with Keenser who had stopped working. "Get those lights on Ensign! Lexie don't leave his side, I'm going to find Chekov." Lexie didn't have time to protest since Kirk had already taken off, so she turned her attention back to Keenser and tried to help him get the lights working. "I don't want to rush you Keenser, but lights would be nice." She stated, Keenser simply grunted in reply as he rushed to get the lights on. Just then Lexie heard Kirk cry out, she span round but couldn't see anything. "Captain?!" She yelled, but the only sound that came back was a hiss. The room was then illuminated and still Lexie couldn't see anything, she grabbed Keenser by the arm. "We've got to get back to McCoy and Scotty. Now!"
The two Engineers were just about to run back when something dripped down from above and landed in front of them. Lexie didn't want to look up, but knew she had to. Slowly tilting her head up to see what was there, but when she saw it, Lexie wished she hadn't bothered. It was the tarantula, hanging upside down on the ceiling, its acidic venom dripping off its fangs. "RUN!" Lexie cried, Keenser didn't need to be told twice. He took off running, while Lexie fired at the spider hoping the alterations that Chekov and Delta had made would help, but still her phaser didn't do a thing. "Just great!" She thought as she took off after Keenser, who hadn't made it very far since he only had little legs. From behind, Lexie heard the tarantula jump down and begin to run after them. She then made the mistake of looking back, only to see the spider lunging at her. Lexie's face was awash with fear as she watched it get closer, it was just about to connect when Keenser fired off his own phaser, much to Lexie's surprise. She had never even seen him with a phaser, let alone fire one.
The spider backed off long enough for the two of them to take off running once more, Lexie knew they had a better chance of getting back to their safe room if they hid until the tarantula had left, at least that way they could focus on getting back and not have to worry too much about it. Clearly Keenser knew this too, since he gestured over to a door, Lexie just nodded and headed over to it. She flung it open and slammed it shut once Keenser was safely inside. "Thanks Keenser." Lexie panted, the Engineer simply nodded in response, he was too out of breath to talk. They waited for several minutes, praying that the spider would leave. Lexie wandered back over to the door, but instead of opening it she just pressed her ear against it and listened. Everything was silent, Lexie didn't know if that was good or bad. All she knew was that they couldn't stay here, they had to get back to the others and tell them that Chekov and Kirk had vanished. She slowly placed her hand gently on the door handle and glanced over at Keenser. "I think it's gone, but even if it ain't we've still got to go." Keenser didn't exactly argue with her, so the two of them quietly slipped out of the door. Thankfully, the lights were still on which made them feel a little less on edge. But how long would that last was unclear.
The two of them walked cautiously back towards their safe room, hoping that they wouldn't see the arachnid again. But something was following them, Lexie just knew it. She had a six sense for that sort of thing, it was one she depended on throughout much of her childhood and it came in handy while on away missions on strange new worlds. Suddenly, something wrapped around her ankle and began to drag her backwards. Turning round she saw it was the spider, using its web as a rope to pull her towards its waiting fangs. Lexie managed to grab hold of her phaser and blasted through the web, she was stumbling to her feet when the tarantula lunged at her with its fangs out, clearly it wasn't very impressed that she had escaped it's web. However, Keenser jumped in front of her, the tarantula's fangs scratched against his skin opening it up. "Keenser!" Lexie cried out in horror, she pointed her phaser and fired. Knowing full well it wouldn't be very effective, but maybe it would force it to retreat to hopefully give them enough time to get away.
Lexie pulled Keenser to his feet, but she could instantly tell something was wrong, very wrong. Keenser's skin had almost instantly turned pale and he was starting to radiate heat, he was also very unsteady on his feet and was basically just leaning on Lexie just to stand up. She quickly looked back to find that the spider had vanished, where it had gone was a mystery but Lexie couldn't care, she had a bigger problem. She gently placed Keenser onto the floor, although she was trained in first aid Lexie doubted that there was a lot that she could do to help him. No doubt that the spider's venom had gotten into Keenser's blood stream, so all Lexie could do was to make him as comfortable as possible and find a way to get him back to McCoy, since she knew he would know what to do.