Wenches, Part 4 of 4

Posted on 09 Jun 2017 @ 4:31pm by Lieutenant Amaranai Franklin & Ensign Miraj Derani
Edited on on 09 Jun 2017 @ 5:49pm

3,281 words; about a 16 minute read

Mission: Episode 15 - Emanation
Location: USS Atlirith - Holodeck
Timeline: MD -10, 1400

Previously on Wenches

Amaranai grabbed Miraj's hand and pulled her away from the guards. She ran around the corner and stopped to take a breath.

"We need another way out of the compound."

"I know!" Miraj knew eactly where to go. "This way!" She ran off, entering the long gallery at the front of the first floor, Amaranai keeping pace, and guards not far behind. Cutting through a drawing room, they doubled back, Miraj slamming doors behind to slow pursuit. Soon she got where she wanted to go. The window over the main door.

She threw up the sash window. "Jump!"

And now the conclusion

[ON]

Amaranai followed quickly behind Miraj and when they reached the window, Amaranai looked at the pink-haired girl and then out the window. She wasn't exactly sure what was going to happen but she hoped that it wasn't going to be that far down. She wasn't really dressed for jumping - barely dressed at all, for that matter.

Hearing the guards burst through the door down the hall made the decision even easier. She climbed through the window and then onto the small roof that was below.

"Once we're down," Amaranai started. "Which way do we need to go?"

Miraj looked over the edge of the Portico, and smiled. A carriage and horses, who knew who for, was waiting below. The driver hanging onto his nervous horses who could smell the fire. "Straight down!" And she leapt trusting the holodeck not to let her break a leg.

She landed on the roof of the coach with a thump, and slid onto the drivers bench. "Are you coming?"

Amaranai wasn't sure if Miraj had not heard her or simply chose to ignore her because the girl dressed as a cabin boy decided to jump onto the roof and then down. The security officer looked over the edge to see that she had landed on a carriage and called up to her. Without another thought, Amaranai jumped and landed on the carriage as well.

There was yelling above them as the governor stared out the window at the two young women on the carriage.

"Stop them! Twenty gold pieces to the soldier that brings them to me alive!"

"Twenty?" Miraj gasped. "I'm insulted!" She grabbed the reins from the hitch hook on the footboard and gave them a shake, snapping them lightly onto the horses. "Yarrgh!" The horses started to move, straining to overcome the coach's inertia.

The coachman came alongside Amaranai, grabbing at the harness with one hand and her left ankle with the other. "Come here, you bitch!"

Amaranai struggled initially as she was grabbed by her foot. She kicked out a few times in order to distract the coachman but his grip remained. It wasn't until she turned around that Amaranai could get a better look at her captor and kick him square in the jaw. That released his grip on her, though he was still reaching for the reins. Amaranai threw her elbow at the man and doubled him over. She then pushed him off the carriage entirely.

With a deep set of breaths, Amaranai sat down next to Miraj.

"I hope you found what we were looking for," she said. "Because I don't want to have to do that again."

Miraj looked guilty. "Sorry. I've never played as Carmen. I didn't know the safeties needed tweaking." The carriage got underway and she hauled on the reins to turn it out of the Governors drive way, and out onto the street. The burning stable had everyone who wasn't a soldier's attention, but the mansion guards were beginning to get their act together. "I'll make it up to you."

"It's not the safeties that I was worried about," Amaranai said. "It's the potential rape that I was bothered with."

Amaranai looked at her friend.

"You can buy me a drink when this is over," she smiled.

They came out at a brisk trot onto the cobbled street. The Governors house was at the top if the hill, overlooking the harbour that was the source of Jamaica's wealth. The road ran down to the docks in a straight line. It was a very steep hill. Maybe 10%.

"As I said, straight down." Miraj gave her Amaranai a devil may care look.

Amaranai held on tight to the carriage as Miraj pushed the horses further down the road. It was now that Amaranai noticed that more and more citizens rushing to the burning stables. However, Amaranai turned as she heard shouting and saw more soldiers running after them.

"We should ditch the carriage and try to lose the soldiers."

"Oh ye of little faith!" Miraj shouted, and slapped the reins again. The carriage took off over the lip of the hill, careening down at dangerous speed. A few hardy travellers out in the dark were forced to leap aside as the contraption went past. "They're on foot. We're not." She turned back to see soldiers lining up in the street outside the governors mansion. Two neat rows, one standing, one kneeling. Muskets were being put to shoulders. No need to worry Amaranai. Safeties would cut in. "Sure I can buy you a drink. Do you drink vodka? One of the regular watchmen in the brig is partial. I could set you up?"

Despite the craziness of the moment, Amaranai was calmed by Miraj's calming presence. She had to remind herself that Miraj had played through the holonovel several times with different outcomes each time, so she had to know what would happen.

"Are you trying to set me up on a blind date?" Amaranai asked. "While we're running away from soldiers?"

Amaranai couldn't help but chuckle at the thought and inwardly suddenly felt bad that she had not told Miraj that she and Lirha were now a couple.

"I'll take the vodka," Amaranai started. "But not the date. Not yet." She paused. "Let's get back to Earth and we'll see."

"Now's better. No strings. You know you're going to get off." Miraj realised what she had just said. "No pun intended. Perfect opp-" The first volley of musket fire rained down on them, hit the rear of the carriage sending black splintered wood flying in a dozen directions at once. At the same time the carriage hit a bump in the road, the back end jolting up, rear wheels spinning.

Amaranai looked at Miraj at her comment. Sex was fun, male or female but Amaranai was with Lirha and she couldn't cheat on the woman who she had so recently fallen in love with.

"We'll . . ."

She didn't get a chance to finish the statement as she heard gunfire and the sound of wood being splintered.

"Ugh! I really hope you know what you're doing."

"Sure. I helped my brother hook up all the time. I'm a pretty good wingman, if I say so myself." Miraj bounced in the seat as the carriage rolled over the cobbles.

Amaranai stared at the girl with an incredulous look.

"I meant driving the carriage," she said. "But I guess it's good to know you have a track record with setting people up as well."

Out of a side street came four soldiers on horseback. One leveled his arm, pistol primed and ready. "Duck!" shouted Miraj, trying to get flat against the roof without much success.

Amaranai saw the soldiers burst onto the street in an attempt to block their path. When she heard Miraj, Amaranai didn't hesitate and leaned down as much as possible. The sound of a gunpowder weapon igniting and a bullet flying past their heads was a little too much. Phasers were one thing, but flying bullets were not something that Amaranai wanted to deal with.

She leaned up and as they passed the soldiers, she reached out with her leg and kicked the closest soldier. It didn't unseat him but the horse faltered and he fell back. Another rider came in close, rising up in his stirrups. reaching out for the rear of the carriage.

The last of the four shot at the tactical officer, covering his fellows climb to the top of the carriage, where he wobbled slightly, before gaining his footing, and drawing his sabre.

Amaranai had ducked again in case of other shots, and she was glad she had because another one ricocheted off the carriage. Amaranai heard a thump and turned around to see a soldier had made his way onto the roof of the carriage and was coming after the two of them with a sword drawn.

Standing up, Amaranai wobbled slightly with the carriage across the cobblestone. She regained her balance and faced the soldier. This was not going to be an easy fight - he was armed and she wasn't and she was not wearing any pants so her skin was very exposed and vulnerable.

He lunged, sabre stabbing out, aiming to disembowel her, the point flailing slightly with the frantic movement of the carriage.

Amaranai dodged to the left as the sabre rushed toward her. She was lucky of the bumps in the road or else she could have been impaled. She took advantage of the soldier being closer from his lunge and struck him in the ribs. It was enough to cause the soldier to step back, but not enough to knock him off the carriage or even to knock him out completely.

Miraj glanced over her shoulder, trying to watch the fight. There had to be something she could do. It was a straight line to the dock. She tucked the reins back on their hook, turned, and crawled onto the roof, pulling the long driving whip from its shoe. "Amaranai, catch!" She threw the yard long length of willow with its long leather tail. towards her.

Amaranai turned when Miraj yelled to her. She watched as something came toward her and she instinctly caught it. The soldier swiped again and though the brunette had been able to move out of the way, the blade still caught her leg on the secondary swing. Luckily, it was more of a gash than anything.

With the whip in hand, Amarnai now felt a little better equipped to fight the soldier. She was still at a disadvantage but at least she had a weapon. She could see the soldier was leering at her and it reminded Amaranai that she was wearing mostly under clothes and had been for the entire chase. She would have to do something about that. For now, she swung the whip toward her assailant but he moved quickly. She swung again and this time instead of aiming toward him, she aimed at where he might move - there being very little wiggle room - and managed to twist his legs in the whip, forcing him down. Amaranai rushed to the soldier and kicked him off the carriage. She turned back to the front and sat down next to Miraj.

"Whew," she said with a puff of air. "That was not easy."

But more and more horsemen were coming out of the side streets. Miraj hauled on the reins, pulling the carriage to the left to avoid the soldiers and stop them surrounding them. The carriage fishtailed in a series of bumps over the badly patched road. It jarred them to the bone, but at least it made them harder to hit. The soldiers weren't cautious with their single shot pistols. Bullets hit the carriage, pinging of its roof, its wheels, its sides.

"Nearly there!" Miraj shouted over the rattle of the carriage and the shouts of alarm. But even as she pointed down to the docks, soldiers were moving at the bottom of the steep hill to block their path, dragging carts and wagons across the street.

As Amaranai started to worry about the oncoming soldiers and their weapons, she had a sudden thought. They were in the holodeck! She trusted Miraj to get them to safety but she was really tempted to just have the computer remove the obstacle from their path.

"I don't think the horses are going to want to crash that blockade!" Amaranai shouted over the din of the ride and the bullets. "We might want to jump into the water and hope that doesn't kill us."

"They won't." Miraj told her calmly. "We're going to turn. She pulled the reins tight, making ready. "Its all in the timing. Budge all the way to the right, we're going to need the counter weight." She pointed out where the street divided at the bottom the hill, and ran along the harbour front. It was a tight corner, a timber framed building, a shady inn where desperate sailors stopped for their first sip of grog on shore, was right on the edge of the street. Turn too soon and they would be smashed against the building. Turn too late they'd be crushed against the barricade. Turn too hard, and they'd tip over and go sliding into the harbour.

"Okay," she said. "I still trust you."

Amaranai held onto the carriage as Miraj increased speed for the eventual turn. Amaranai wasn't sure what was going to happen, she had to hope that Miraj had tried this trick at least once or twice or else this could go very wrong.

The carriage hurtled onwards. Soldiers raced behind. On the barricade the soldiers were beginning to look worried, levelling their muskets, ready to fire. Miraj narrowed her eyes. She knew the point. It was...

"Now!"

Miraj hauled on the reins, leaning into the turn to keep the carriage on course.

Amaranai pushed all her weight to the opposite side as the carriage took the hard turn. She watched and waited and cursed as she suddenly realized the turn was too soon.

Except Miraj had reckoned without her condition, the brain damage that and eradicated her inability to judge spatial relationships. She'd called it too soon! The horses were turning, and screaming as they shied away from being driven into the inn wall. But the carriage was turning, and kept turning, the horses dragged into a spin, crushed in the traces as the carriage's rear end came all the way about and smashed into the barricade.

Amaranai held onto the carriage as hard as she could as it hit the makeshift barricade but her fingers slipped and she was sent flying. She hit the ground hard, knocking the wind out of her for a moment. Gathering herself quickly, she stood, not thinking about any injury she might have and rushed to the carriage to see if Miraj was okay.

The safeties meant she hadn't died, but she had landed hard, and as Miraj rolled to get on her feet, the carriage tipped all the way over, pinning her under the foot board, her ankle trapped between the seat and the floor. "Amaranai! Help!"

As Amaranai approached, she saw the Miraj was pinned under the carriage. She heard the soldiers on the other side of the barricade scrambling to orient themselves to the new situation. Amaranai lifted as hard as she could to allow Miraj to free her leg but the carriage was heavy. It took her a few moments and the increase of soldiers yelling, to get Amaranai to rethink. She found a broken piece of the carriage and used it as a lever to lift the carriage enough to allow Miraj the chance to get out.

Helping her to her feet, Amaranai supported Miraj as they started to rush in the direction they had meant to go in the first place.

There was the sound of multiple hammers on multiple firearms being drawn back, sharp clicks that sounded like bullet shots in the evening air.

"Surrender!" Snapped the familiar voice of the Governor.

Damn. They weren't fast enough. Of course, missing the turn didn't help. Amaranai stood up as tall as possible and began to raise one hand as she held onto Miraj.

Miraj raised her hands, but didn't turn around straight away, instead she leaned into ther companion. "See the boat just over there. All we need to do is get to it. Did I ever tell you what Roger keeps in his trousers?"

Amaranai looked off to where Miraj was talking and saw the boat. The comment about Roger's pants was a little odd.

"No," she said in a whisper. "What does Roger carry in his pants?"

"Turn around!" The governor snapped.

Miraj shuffled behind Amarani and gave her a nudge to turn round to cover the motion she made into her breeches.

The governor moved forward. "So a whore and a..." he stared at Miraj, trying to decide what she was, "catamite." He held out his hand to Miraj. "Hand them over."

Miraj held out her hand. But it didn't have the code discs. She held a tiny flintlock, no longer than her hand. And she shot the governor in the face.

Amaranai was unsure of what her companion was doing until she saw the girl's hand with a small item in it. Having studied weapons from history, she knew it was a weapon, but didn't remember what it could do. The relatively loud bang caught Amaranai by surprise and more so the governor, whose face was hit with the bullet. Not wanting to wait to see if he lived, Amaranai took advantage of the distraction and pulled Miraj toward the boat in the harbor.

They hit the water with a splash, and with that splash the moment of shock and surprise from the assembled forces of Her Majesty's government and they took aim, shooting wildly in the dark at dark figures in dark waters.

Miraj resurfaced, laughing, and struck out for the boat ahead. Bullets pinged the water around them, and she trod water for a moment, turning back to check Amaranai was still okay.

The water was cold and Amaranai realized almost immediately that her period outfit was not designed for swimming. She could keep afloat but it was harder to move. Without thinking, though, she kept close to Miraj. It was hard to see her but her laughing helped Amaranai keep her in sight. She followed the pink-haired girl through the water, unsure of just where they needed to go.

And then strong hands grabbed her under the arms and hauled her from the water and into the bottom of a small dinghy. A blanket was thrown round her. Miraj nudged her in the ribs. "Taunt the redcoats! Its tradition!"

In turn Miraj stood up and made an obscene gesture towards the shore, all but invisible in the night. "Missed us! Tonight will be the night you almost caught Bloodbeard's cabin boy!" It was hardly pithy, but she didn't care. This had been awesome.

Amaranai was scared for a moment when she was grabbed but when the blanket was tossed onto her, she realized that they had just been saved. The comment to taunt the redcoats caught her off guard but when Miraj yelled a comment, Amaranai turned toward them as well and shouted.

"You boys missed your chance with a real woman, boys!"

Miraj grinned, "Yeah! This time it was the governor who got spanked!"

Amaranai smiled at the comment. She was glad that they were safe, even if the holodeck safeties were on, it was still scary to be shot at.

Miraj held out a hand for a high five. "So glad you came. This was awesome!"

Amaranai, still soaked through her under clothes and her bottom stinging, accepted the high five.

"That was pretty fun," she said. "Thanks for the invite."

[OFF]

Ensign Miraj Derani

Lt. jg. Amaranai Franklin
Assitant Chief Security / Tactical

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