Wild Wild West (Part V of V)

Posted on 26 Feb 2018 @ 3:11pm by Ensign Miraj Derani & Lieutenant Amaranai Franklin

2,843 words; about a 14 minute read

Mission: Episode 15 - Emanation
Location: USS Hathaway Holodeck
Timeline: MD 98 02:30

Previously on Wild Wild West

She took a candle and inspected the door, mostly so they couldn't see her suddenly frightened and doubting face. She was delighted to discover half barrel hinges - easy enough to knock the pin out and lift out. She just had to figure out what to do about the chains.

And now the continuation...


Amaranai joined the Sheriff in the saloon - the very place she needed to be. The Sheriff strolled to the bar and nodded to the bartender who immediately placed two glasses on the counter and poured whiskey into them.

"To you, Marshall," the Sheriff said. "Thank you for the gift."

Amaranai, for her part, nodded in graciousness and smiled.

"And to you, Sheriff," she added. "For taking them off of my hands."

She downed the drink quickly and looked around.

"Nice saloon you have here," she said. "Tell me, how good is the business?"

"It's very good," the Sheriff offered. "Would you like to partake?"

He lifted a hand and several women ventured closer to the bar.

"Thank you, but no," Amaranai said. "I'll have to be heading home if I want to get there before dark."

"Don't you want to stay for the auction?" the Sheriff said. "It will be later tonight."

This caught Amaranai's interest and she looked to the Sheriff.

"Auction?" she said. "You're going to sell the Indians?"

"Of course," he said. "You didn't think we just give them away?"

"I guess I just didn't know," Amaranai offered and then paused to consider her own makeshift plan. "I guess I could make an effort to stay."

"Good," the Sheriff said. "You'll be my guest."

Amaranai wanted to say something but was cut off when another drink was handed to her. Instead of saying anything, though, Amaranai simply paid attention to the rest of the saloon in an attempt to plan a quick escape.

"Maybe I will take one of the girls," Amaranai said. "To pass the time."

The Sheriff nodded and called the girls back again.

Amaranai looked at the different girls and picked one that looked innocent and unwilling to be there. For it would be an innocent that Amaranai would have a better chance of convincing her to help the Indians.

"Her," Amaranai said. "I'll take her for a while."

The girl, still unsure of what was going on, stood, waiting for a new master.

"I'll see you later," she said to the Sheriff, who simply nodded and turned back to the bar.

Amaranai followed the girl upstairs and into a room. Once inside, Amaranai quickly took in her surroundings and then turned to the girl. A small smile crossed her face and then turned serious just as quickly.

"I'm going to leave now," Amaranai said as she reached into her pocket.

She took out several bills and handed them to the young girl.

"You need to stay in here for two hours and don't say anything about me to anyone. When the two hours are up, leave this place." She nodded to the money. "That will take care of you for a while. Find a better life for yourself."

Amaranai moved to the door and opened it a crack to check the hallway. She looked back to the girl.

"Thank you."

------

Miraj had found what she was looking for. The storm celar had been built from a bunch of railway sleepers that had been rejected or removed for what ever reason. The railway spike was half hidden by its placement, at the back of the cellar, hidden by shadows. If she hadn't been determined to hunt through every nook and cranny by touch as well as sight, she wouldn't have found it. It had gone in wonky, and she could get a length of the rope amaranai had used to bind her hands around it, she heaved, but it wouldn't budge. Ironhands came over, and took the rope, seeting his feet and hauled. The spike dragged out an inch. Miraj grabbed it and began to work it up and down, trying to widen the hole and pull it out further. Iron hands moved her out the way again, and this time pulled the 9 inch line of metal completely free.

"Ha ha!" she cackled in glee. "Lets' put that baby to work!" She took it from him, and pushed it through the link on the cuff for the nearest indian, and started to push on it, slowly levering the chain ends apart. Finally it popped open. Miraj grinned at the young man she had freed, and gave him the cuff back. "See if you can do the same with this." She looked over the storm cellar. One down, twenty more to go.

Iron Hand took the cuff and moved to the far side of the cellar to begin working on the cuffs of the others. It took a few minutes to work the cuff on the prisoner but eventually it popped off the woman's ankle. He knew that it would take time, but it would be necessary if they were to free the slaves. The friend of the princess suggested that she would be able to save them all and stop the fiend from continuing this practice. Iron Hand only had to hope that she was correct. For now, he would assist the princess.

--------

In the saloon, upstairs, Amaranai moved slowly and quietly in an effort to not just escape, but to find the Sheriff's secret office in the saloon - the place where he did all his dirty work from. Amaranai kenw it was there - someplace - but without asking him, she would just have to look around. She heard a voice in the hallway and ducked behind a curtain in hopes of not being seen. As she listened, she heard the Sheriff talking to a woman. A door opened and closed and Amaranai knew that this was her chance to at least escape the upper floors.

Casually, Amaranai moved out from the curtain and down the stairs to the main room. She snuck past the matron and other women and stopped in another hallway. She wasn't going to have a lot of time and she needed to finish her end of the plan before Miraj and the rest of the Indians were free. Amaranai noticed another hallway and moved toward it. She checked behind her to see if anyone was watching and luckily, no one was.

She found a locked door and she immediately knew that it was where she needed to be. Amaranai found herself wishing she could change the rules and simply tell the computer to open the door, but she had to play the game. It took her some time, but she was finally able to get through the lock and into the office.

Quickly, Amaranai began to root through the desk and look for anything that he could use against the Sheriff and his cronies for their practice of slavery and basically selling the Indians to people in the town. There wasn't any hard evidence, so Amaranai decided she would just leave. However, before she left, she saw the liquor cabinet and took out a bottle of rum. She opened it and down a strong gulp and proceeded to stuff fabric into the mouth of the bottle. She lit it with a candle and then walked out of the room. She had to make a distraction somehow.

[Storm Cellar]

It cascaded. Miraj freed one, he would free another. together they would free more. It took ten minutes, but soon they were all free. Now they just had to get out of the damn cellar. they could use the manacles to bang the hinge pins out, and there was certainly enough of them to lift the doors.

But what would they be charging into. She pressed herself awkwardly against the doors. She could here people, but the sounds were muffled. In the distance? Or just not right on top of the doors? They were so thick they could be blocking it.

She looked to Iron Hand "What do you think? Just go for it?"

"We must wait, princess," Iron Hand spoke. "We will conserve our strength and wait until the door is opened." He looked to the cellar door. "When it opens, we all must rush the men. They won't want to harm us for fear they will not be paid."


[Saloon]

Amaranai returned to the bar and called the bartender over and placed some bills on the counter.

"I suggest you leave," she said. "Here's something for your trouble."

The bartender knew this code well considering his workplace and slid his hand across the counter and took the money without a word and stepped away. No one seemed to notice, which would help with the chaos as the rest of the crowd ran about. If the fire spread quick enough.

People were gathering now; railway owners wanting cheap disposable labour, madams and their business partners looking for new flesh, unscrupulous mine consortiums and plantation masters wanting strong arms and backs, they had money to spend and they wanted to spend it.

The sheriff knocked on the bar for attention. "Ladies and gentlemen," if you'd like to follow me, i'll let you get a quick look at this seasons offer, before we start the bidding."

The crowd quieted for the Sheriff and followed him to the outside of the saloon. There were four guards with rifles standing near the entrance. When they saw the Sheriff approaching, one of them began to unlatch the door.

Iron Hand, waiting for this movement, motioned to the others to prepare. It was up to him and his warrior friend to make the initial attack and catch everyone off guard. This would cause the panic that would allow the rest of the Indians to get free.

The door started to open and Iron Hand pushed on it with all his strength, knocking the guard to his feet. His companion was out the door just as quickly and knocking another guard to the ground. They had two rifles in their hands and had fired at the other guards within a matter of seconds.

The gunshots and the guards hitting the ground were enough to panic the crowd into dispersing. But the fun wasn't over yet. Just above the crowd, a window from the saloon exploded with flames as the curtain had finally burned to the liquor and engulfed the office. Shouts for the fire brigade and shouts from the Sheriff to go after the Indians were heard but nothing could be done with the number of people congested in the alleyway.

Miraj grabbed Iron Hand. "We have to get the sheriff. They'll just hunt us down if we don't cut the head off the snake." She looked around, but instead of seeing the Sheriff, she saw more of his deputies running forward, long barrelled pistol held out in front of them.

They opened fire, and Miraj dived behind the back of the livery stable, wishing for something more effective than a small knife.

------

The sheriff had sworn loudly when the inidans had charged, then gathered his wits. "Shoot them!" he screamed. "Rudy, get the dogs! Ten dollars to anyone who takes down an injun alive. five if they're dead!" He quickly began to organise other townsmen, Sending them to cut off the retreating prisoners

The two warriors who had joined Miraj had weapons and were beginning to fire back to cover the escape of the rest of the Indians from the cellar. Iron Hand heard the statement from his princess and began looking around. Seeing him, he fired a shot that grazed past the vile human and into the building, sending wooden scraps toward him. The Sheriff, seeing the shot was meant for him, yelled to the others.

"Take them all down. Price is going up! Fifty dollars if they are alive. Twenty five if they are dead." He looked toward Iron Hand. "And one hundred for him!" he said as he pointed. "Dead."

The deputies that were in the alleyway turned to look at their boss and try to hear him over the sound of the gunfire and were more than surprised by his statement. They turned their attention back to the task at hand and started to fire again.

The Sheriff turned and ran back into the saloon to check on the fire brigade. However, instead of finding people with buckets, he found Amaranai, pistol out and aimed at him.

"What are you doing?" he asked her.

"Something I should have done a long time ago," she said.

"You can't do anything to me," he countered. "I'm the Sheriff and the Mayor of this town. No one will believe you."

"I don't care," she said. "I'm a US Marshall and my authority outweighs yours."

The Sheriff, unsure of his options, started to plead.

"I'll pay you!" he shouted.

The sound of the fire grew stronger and doors and walls were beginning to crack.

"Everything I have!" he said.

"It's not worth it," Amaranai said quietly. "You've hurt too many people. You and this whole town should burn for what you're doing here."

The Sheriff's demeanour slumped, and his hand dropped to hover over the butt of his colt.

----

"Get down!" Miraj shouted to Iron hands as she heard the bounty offered on his head. There were townsfolk, and deputies and buyers and everyone seemed to have a gun. She swore. This was at least a hundred years past her frame of reference and firearms were so much better. A pox on whatever man invented rifling.

People were running everywhere. Animals in the livery were screaming, Men and women were dashing around with no sense of purpose, trying unsuccessfully to put out the rapidly spreading fire.

She had to get to Amaranai, back her up. "Amaranai!?" She shouted trying to see where the scuirty officer could be in the chaos, ducking past Iron hands and running into the smoke. "Where are you?"

----

Though Amaranai expected the Sheriff to pull his weapon, he was much faster than the security officer realized. The pistol leapt into his hand and he fired just a hair quicker than Amaranai. His aim was good, but not good enough. The bullet struck her in the leg, causing her to drop. Her own shot, for what it was worth, struck the Sheriff in the arm. Some security officer she was. She really hoped that her next commanding officer wouldn't look back at a recording of this and end up putting her in charge of guarding empty cargo crates.

Amaranai pushed herself up, glad for the holodeck safeties that would only leave her with a bruise instead of an actual bullet wound. Limping, she moved toward where the Sheriff had fallen. The sound of wood cracking further and the flames getting closer approached the brunette's ears. She looked down and saw the Sheriff clasping his arm trying to stem the flow of blood. He looked up, scared of what she would do and continued to beg.

"Please!" he said through clenched teeth. "I need help. Get me out of here. All my money. Everything. Just let me live."

Amaranai stared at the man. Her original plan had been to rob the saloon of all the money and this, essentially, would achieve that plan. But the computer had thrown in the princess variable with Miraj and her goals changed.

"I don't need your money," she said.

She lifted her pistol to his head and cocked it, ready to fire. The Sheriff covered his face, ready to accept his fate. The sound of a gun firing was loud over the din of the coming flames. The Sheriff was able to open his eyes. And then he looked up at Amaranai.

"But I do need you alive to stop this madness and take responsibility for your actions."

Amaranai pulled the Sheriff up, and despite her own injury, led him out of the burning saloon to the alley to stop his men from their actions. Once outside, Amaranai fired a shot into the air to get the attention of everyone.

"I am Marshall Franklin," she said. "Your Sheriff has surrendered to me. It would be wise to lower your weapons and come peacefully."

She 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."

To Be Continued...

Ensign Miraj Derani

Lieutenant jg Amaranai Franklin

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