Wild Wild West (Part VI of VI)

Posted on 04 Mar 2018 @ 3:36pm by Ensign Miraj Derani & Lieutenant Amaranai Franklin

2,714 words; about a 14 minute read

Mission: Episode 15 - Emanation
Location: USS Hathaway Holodeck
Timeline: MD 98 0300

Previously on Wild Wild West

Amarani paused to take in her surroundings. She could see Iron Hand but not Miraj. She hoped the pink-haired girl was alright. Instead of looking further, though, she pushed the barrel of her pistol into the back of the Sheriff.

"Tell them," she said.

"It's true," he said with a grimace. "Surrender and we don't die."

"But there's only one of you!" Shouted another voice from the back of the crowd, which parted to reveal one of the deputies, one hand wrapped around Miraj's braids, the other holding his own pistol to her head. "And I don't mind shooting my hostage."

And now the conclusion...
__________

a few moments earlier...

"Amaranai?!" Miraj shouted, running from one building corner to another, trying to find her friend. Bullets were flying both ways as the defenders tried to keep the townsfolk away from the opportunity the fleeing captives represented. A sudden barking caught her ear, and she turned to look inside the livery stables. In a stack of cages, several large mastiff dogs were howling and growling.

But not with fear, but eagerness for the kill.

Two of the Deputies were trying to open the cages, fumbling a large ring of keys, meaning to use the dogs to hunt down the escapees, Miraj swore, and looked around. Iron Hands was sniping at some pimps who were better at hitting defenceless women than men with some experience of shooting.

It was up to her. And she wanted to get there before they got those door opened. The dogs probably weighed as much as she did. She leapt on the nearest deputy, grabbing on his back and stabbing at the man's neck. He threw her off with little effort, and she landed on her own back with a grunt, but she slashed up wildly, and from luck more than judgement managed to slice through his thigh. He collapsed, femoral artery gushing, before he could draw his gun. She dived for it, grabbed it and snapped off a shot at the second who staggered back.

"Princess!" There was a masculine shout, full of frustration and pain. Miraj whirled to see Iron Hands dissapear behind his cover, the rifle he had falling to the side, "Iron Hands!" she shouted back, now caught between turning to help her "fellow indian" or making sure the dogs were secure.

She was clubbed from behind before she could decide. She went sprawling back to her knees, her pistol bouncing away. It was the other deputy, only grazed by her crappy shooting. They both went for the fallen pistol, and she got her hands on it only a second before his own hands closed around it. They struggled, His larger size and weght giving him the edge, and he soon had her pinned. He backhanded her with enough force to make her ears ring and she let go for the pistol,

The deputy she had shot grabbed a braid and hauled her back, his pistol digging into her side, "little bitch. He was bleeding from the bullet wound in his shoulder, but it couldn't have been as bad as it looked. "Lets see how much fight those Indians have now I've got you under control. Move!"

He pushed her forward towards the square, and as the crowd parted Miraj saw Amaranai with a a pistol to the Sheriff. She gave the woman a little wave. "Sorry!" she mouthed.

Amaranai watched and listened as the deputy marched forward holding Miraj. She would have smiled at Miraj for her apology, but she felt it probably wouldn't have been professional. The security officer tilted her head as she looked at the deputy and then started to push the Sheriff forward toward where Miraj was being held.

"Hold there, Marshall," the deputy said as he pushed the pistol into Miraj's side. "I don't want you anywhere near where you can hurt me."

The crowd had quieted to allow the tense situation to take place. Iron Hand was nowhere to be seen but Amaranai had to hope that he was doing his best to resolve the situation.

"I think you'll do what I say since you don't want to lose any of these dirty injuns."

Amaranai didn't say anything and let the man talk.

"You're so goody goody that you'll let us walk just so no one else gets hurt. So, you're going to let the Sheriff go and you'll let him walk toward me and then we're going to leave, peacefully."

Amaranai didn't want to comply but knew that she would be able to take him down if he tried to shoot Miraj. Amaranai let go of the Sheriff and pushed him forward.

The deputy watched as the Sheriff slowly moved toward him. He looked to the Marshall and then to Miraj.

"Of course, we don't want you to follow us, either . . ." he trailed off as he pulled the hammer back on his pistol.

Before he had a chance to pull the trigger, he was hit from behind. Iron Hand had tackled the deputy, causing the gun to go off but luckily the bullet didn't hit anyone. Miraj was tossed to the side and the Sheriff began to take off running. Amaranai, needing the Sheriff alive, began to fire at his legs in hopes of immobilizing him. Other deputies fired at Amaranai once again and the chaos erupted into panic as the gathered crowd rushed out of the way.

Amaranai was surrounded by enemies, and with the crowd scattering her cover was going and bullets were getting as close to her as hers were to the Sheriff.

Down on the ground, no-one saw the pink-haired pilot as a threat, but even so, she wasn't really paying attention. Miraj was focused on Ironhands. He had collapsed next to her. His tunic was stained with blood. He'd taken a bullet in the side, and his face was grey. "No!" she growled. "No dying today!"

Iron Hand felt the pain of the bullet, unsure of how he had been shot, but knew he must have stepped in front of the bullet to protect his princess. He heard her words and shook his head.

"No tears, princess," he said, coughing. "You are safe and our tribe is safe."

The Indian man coughed some more before closing his eyes, his head going limp.

The Sheriff stumbled, a bullet clipping his calf and he stumbled for a moment, tried to right himself, and only crashed down onto his knees. He staggered up again, but he had lost what lead he had.

Amaranai saw that her bullet had finally caught the Sheriff and despite the other bullets screaming past her, she made a run for the Sheriff. The man who had been holding Miraj was splayed on the ground, a knife protruding from his back and Iron Hands nearby. Was he dead? Was he unconscious? Amaranai would have to wait to find out. She approached the Sheriff as he was attempting to crawl away. Instead of saying anything initially, she shot his other leg. The Sheriff screamed in agony.

"You have lost, Sheriff," she said. "This whole town has lost. These native people are free and you and those of your friends that are still alive, are not."

The Sheriff was paying more attention to his legs and not to Amaranai, but that didn't matter. Amaranai left the gun pointed at the man and looked around the alleyway. The number of shots had lessened now and it seemed as if the good guys had gained the upper hand. When the gunfire stopped, Amaranai turned to the Indians, who had managed to either kill or disarm the deputies that were still in the alley.

"There's not going to be a lot of time," Amaranai said to everyone. "We need to leave."

Amaranai looked around for Miraj and finally found her over Iron Hands' body.

"Everyone that wants to live had better leave."

Some of the Indians ran away and others moved closer to Amaranai and Miraj. Amaranai looked down at Iron Hands and then knelt down next to Amaranai.

"You have to leave, him, princess," she said to Miraj, using her title instead of her name. "He died doing what he was told to do."

"But I wasn't supposed to get him killed." She was trying to keep a stiff upper lip. He was just a holodeck character after all. "What do we do now?"

"I took some time earlier to contact the Marshall of this territory, a man I trust. He should be here by dawn. Until then, I'm just going to babysit the dead and the dying and hope one of them lives long enough to confess."

Miraj looked form Ironhands corpse to the Sheriff, eyes narrowed, and calculating. "We could speed that along... the confessing bit, I mean."

Amaranai looked at Miraj. She wondered what the pink-haired girl was considering. There were already enough witnesses and if pressed, Amaranai was certain she could get at least some of the townspeople to talk about what they had been participating in. But Amaranai needed another Marshall to hear the confessions and see the evidence or else they wouldn't be able to keep the Sheriff from doing it again.

"What did you have in mind?"

"Red hot poker? Brand him? drown him a little bit?" Miraj suggested. Losing IronHands had annoyed her thoroughly.

Amaranai smiled.

"The problem is that you and I know that he's guilty. The people of the town know he's guilty." She paused. "Hell, they know they are all guilty. But right now, in this time period, it's my word against his. Unless another Marshall can be given the same evidence and see what's going on, nothing's going to happen."

She looked around at the devastation wrought upon the town - the loss of the still burning saloon, loss of life, and ultimately, the loss of their leadership. This was not the original plan when she invited Miraj into this holo adventure.

"But I guess that doesn't mean we can't have a little fun with the guy." She looked down at the Sheriff. "We should probably stop his bleeding first, though, so he doesn't die before the other Marshall arrives."

She started to rip her own shirt to create bandages for the Sheriff to keep him alive for the next few hours, if not long enough for him to hang for his crimes.

"I suppose it would be a crappy way to get a game over." Miraj grumbled, and began to use the ripped fabric to bind the bullet wound shut. "Be just our luck if he bled out from a flesh wound." SHe looked at the Sheriff. "now tell me if this hurts." she pushed her thumb into the entrance hole.

The Sheriff screamed in agony as he felt the pressure applied to his wound.

"Get away from me injun!" he yelled. "You'll kill me!"

Amaranai knelt down next to Miraj and tapped the Sheriff's face with her pistol.

"Not unless you give her a reason," she said calmly. "Like calling her an injun or resisting while she's trying to save your life."

The Sheriff quieted down but still winced as Miraj wrapped his wounds.

"See?" Amaranai said. "Much better."

"Maybe we should cauterize the wound?" Miraj asked brightly. I'm sure they've got a poker round here somewhere." She made a great show of looking about. "It would keep him alive long enough to confess."

The Sheriff looked to Amaranai and then back to the Indian woman next to him with panic and fear.

"I'll talk without that, I swear!"

"You might want to find one just in case," Amaranai said to Miraj and smiled.

***

Several hours later, dawn began to approach and with it, hope that the US Marshall for this territory would arrive soon. Amaranai, who had been watching over her prisoners, was getting tired. She didn't usually spend this long in one holodeck adventure and it was taking its toll. She moved toward Miraj and looked down at the Sheriff. He was breathing, though a little less steady now, but he would make it for the Marshall and would most likely die before he could be prosecuted. But that didn't matter to Amaranai now. She had survived and so had Miraj. She looked at her friend.

"Still doing okay?"

"Tired." Miraj tried to stifle a yawn. "We must have been up all night? how do you manage it?"

Amaranai chuckled at Miraj.

"I've had difficulty sleeping for several years," she said. "Sometimes I don't even realize that I'm exhausted until I fall over."

She looked at the carnage around her and the still breathing Sheriff.

"I think the adrenaline has driven me through the night but I think once the Marshall comes and we've completed the mission, I might need to sleep for the rest of the day."

"Its alright for you." Miraj poked the Sheriff "But when I ride off into the sunrise, I've still got a shift supervising a bunch of people who can barely tell their pitch from their yaw from their bums." She looked around. "WHere is your Marshall, anyway?"

As Miraj said that, there was the sound of horses on dirt. A few moments later, a man in his early fifties rode into the alleyway and stopped in front of Amaranai.

"I'm here for Marshall Franklin," he said in a gravelly voice.

"Here, Marshall West," Amaranai said as she raised a hand.

"My first question, Marshall, is what in the name of sam hell are you doing in my territory? And don't tell me this is a vacation."

Amaranai smiled and looked up at the Marshall.

"My native companion, here," she pointed to Miraj. "Is actually the princess, by birth, of one of the nearby tribes. They requested my assistance in freeing several of their men and women from slavery."

The Marshall looked around at the bodies in the alleyway. He also noticed the smoldering building next to him.

"So what happened?"

Amaranai proceeded to tell the Marshall about their plan to infiltrate the saloon and find a way to free the prisoners. After several minutes, the Marshall nodded and looked to Miraj.

"And what's your story, princess?" he said.

Miraj shrugged, "She's my friend. She wanted me to come here, and do this," she gestured to the sobbing townspeaople, whimpering Sheriff and burning buildings. "So I came here, and did this."

The Marshall regarded the Indian woman and then hopped down off the horse. He walked up to Amaranai and looked down at the Sheriff.

"So this is the guy?" he said.

"Yes," Amaranai said. "He was kidnapping natives and selling them into slavery to the whole town. I don't expect you to deal with the whole town, but this guy needs to be taken care of."

"Alright," the Marshall said and motioned to one of his own deputies.

When the deputy dismounted and moved closer to the Marshall, the Marshall spoke up.

"Let's take him over to the jail and talk to him."

The deputy picked up the Sheriff and carried him to the jail. The Marshall turned back to Amaranai.

"I'll deal with this town, now, Marshall Franklin," the Marshall said and turned away toward the jail. "And thank you," he added.

Amaranai turned to Miraj.

"Well, princess," she started. "I guess we completed the adventure." She paused. "Did you have fun?"

Miraj yawned, nodding. "Though shouldn't we be riding of into the sunset?" She squinted at the horizon. "Sun rise?"

Amaranai looked at the rising sun and shook her head.

"Ok," she said.

Amaranai grabbed the reins of two of the horses and pulled them toward her. She handed one set to Miraj and smiled.

"Let's ride off into the sun rise."

Amaranai mounted the horse and looked at her friend.

"Not bad for a pirate," she said.

MIraj struggled up onto the beast. She'd had to do it a couple of times in the Bloodbeard holonovels, but she was bad at it. She fianlly got seated and pointed the right way. "Ye haw, Marshal!" she cackled.

They put heels to horse, and together they rode into the perfect sunrise.


OFF:


Lieutenant jg Amaranai Franklin

Ensign Miraj Derani

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