Wild Wild West (Part III of IV)

Posted on 24 Feb 2018 @ 3:25pm by Ensign Miraj Derani & Lieutenant Amaranai Franklin

2,454 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Episode 15 - Emanation
Location: USS Hathaway Holodeck
Timeline: MD 97 22:00

Previously on Wild Wild West

Amranai had jumped into the engine, pistols ready for a fight, but found no one. She didn't see the engineers, which was odd, because she would have expected them to be held hostage. She heard the gunshots from outside and toward the back of the train and knew that Miraj was taking fire. She moved toward the doorway and was shoved out the door and onto the ground. A man pulled his own pistol and pointed it at her head and then turned toward Miraj.

"Put the rifle down, Injun or your friend gets it!"

And now the continuation...

Miraj spun around. It eas just one man. Nut it would be game over if he shot Amaranai. "Stinking son of a barnacle!" She spat, but she put the rifle down at her feet. "Don't hurt her."

"You Injuns are so weak," the man said.

The man stood up and pulled Amaranai up with him. He dragged her toward the engine and looked at Miraj.

"Alright, Injun," he said. "Down on the ground. Face down."

He continued to drag Amaranai and tossed her on the ground next to the Indian woman. Another man joined them from the back of the train and he saw what was going on and moved his gun toward the two women on the ground.

"What's going on?" he said to the first man.

"These two were the ones causing the trouble," he said. Pointing to Amaranai, he sneered. "That one's a Marshall."

The second man moved closer to Amaranai and knelt down next to her. He slapped her across the face and pulled at the badge on her chest.

"Some Marshall you are," he said. "You got yourself caught."

He looked at Miraj.

"And what's your story, Injun," he said.

Miraj looked at him, uncertain what to say. "I just do what she says." she said, eyes wide. "No story." She wondered what would happen next. "Is this supposed to happen?" she whispered to Amaranai.

The man shook his head. Several more men began to return to the front of the train. Two of them were wounded and as Amaranai noticed, she smiled inwardly. She heard Miraj's question and looked over to her.

"There's a lot of variables in this program," she whispered. "I always keep the encounters random so it's always a surprise."

"I'm not sure I like your idea of surprise," Miraj muttered.

The man that seemed in charge looked down at the two prisoners and shook his head.

"Here's the deal, Marshall," he said. "You've seen us and we can't have you alive to hunt us down." He paused. "But then again," he continued. "We can't just kill you out here."

That statement was odd to Amaranai because they had no trouble killing the person they were robbing or the engineers - if they had actually done that.

"So for now," the man continued. "You're coming with us. And we'll decide the best way for you and your Injun friend to die."

Miraj shot Amaranai a stricken look as they were hauled to their feet. "Why can't you?" She wanted to delay them taking the two women wherever it was, maybe try and break free right now. So she said the first thing that came into her head. She cringed even as she said it.

The man in charge heard the Indian woman talk and turned around and slapped her across her face.

"You people don't talk to me that way," he said. Turning to Amaranai, he whispered, "Would you like me to teach her some manners?"

"Not necessary," the Marshall said. "She knows her place but can get stubborn when being carried away to her death. Something about the Indian myth of wanting to live longer."

The man grinned and chuckled and then offered a hearty laugh at Amaranai's comment and she, in turn, offered a smile, which was received with a slap across her own face.

"Take them," he said to the others.

Several men came out of nowhere and began to bind the two women together by their hands and then pulling them behind a horse. As they began to walk, Amaranai moved closer to Miraj and whispered.

"Don't worry," she said. "The safeties are on. If they actually kill us, the holodeck will simply end. We'll have some pain for a day or two, but nothing we can't handle.

"This is definitely revenge for the caning isn't it?" Miraj was trying to work her sore cheek. "Are the safeties set any lower than 'no death'? I'm not exactly as tough as you."

Inwardly, Amaranai wished that she could admit that Miraj getting the brunt end of the violence was because of the caning, but in reality, it was simply because she looked like an Indian and the people of the American West didn't like Indians very much.

"The safeties won't let you get more than a sprained ankle," Amaranai admitted. "Unless, of course, they decide to shoot you in the head."

"Quit your jabberin'" one of the men yelled as he kicked Amaranai in the back.

She stumbled slightly but kept her balance wondering exactly where they were going.

Miraj wasn't as fit as the security officer and once they'd been trudging for an hour her feet were starting to ache and the heat of the scrubland had left her parched. "We've passed plenty of palces to shoot us away from the towns." she whispered to Amaranai. "Do you know what's going on?"

Amaranai thought for a moment when Miraj asked her question. She looked around and considered the map of the area that was inside her head. Of course, she could cheat and simply end the program, but despite the circumstance, Amaranai was having fun because it was something to do instead of constantly thinking about Lirha.

"If I recognize the area, I think they are taking us back to their camp. It should be in a box canyon a couple more miles south at the edge of this mountain range."

The brunette motioned toward the mountains that they were walking beside.

The man pulling the two women stopped suddenly and fell to the ground, an arrow sticking out of his chest.

"Down!" she shouted.

Bullets fired and more arrows began to fly. Two more men fell to the ground with arrows in them and suddenly two Indian bodies had been felled. Amaranai's instinct was the run, but she realized they were still bound to the dead man a few feet away.

"We'll have to get ourselves free from his grasp," she said, pointing to the dead man.

Miraj looked. He'd fastened the ropes round his own wrist, but only with a bowline on a bight, it was simple enough to loosen and she slipped the knots off his limp wrist. She threw Amaranai her loose end and picked up hers. "Lets get out of here, I can undo these easy later."

Amaranai was impressed by Miraj's skills, but remembered quickly that she had a lot of experience with knots and was quick to remove their binding. Without a word, Amaranai took off running in the opposite direction of the battle that was occurring. The two didn't get very far when an Indian man held up his rifle and pointed it at the two women.

"Don't move," he said.

He pulled the trigger to fire, but instead of shooting at them, he killed a man that was behind them.

"Come with me," he said and led them into the shadows.

Miraj glanced at the man who'd been coming up behind them. the Indian had shot him right between the eyes, with barely a seconds aim. "Yes, sir!" she said promptly, not wanting to get on this man's bad side, then stopped to check with Amaranai, see if that was what they were supposed to do.

Amaranai nodded silently in response to the look that the girl gave her. The Indian ran quickly and the two women did their best to keep up. After a few moments and the sound of gunfire now a safe distance away, they could see that the Indian had stopped at a group of horses.

"Quickly," he said as he mounted the horse. "We don't have much time."

Amaranai turned to Miraj and helped her onto the horse before mounting her own and following the Indian.

"Where are we going?" Amaranai asked the Indian.

"Someplace safe for now," he said. "But we don't have a lot of time."

"What do we need time for?" Miraj's horse kept going of course. everytime she tried to make a course correction the horse went too far the other way. "Bother, blast and bellyache. I'm good with helms, not harness!"

The Indian looked back to the girl and shook his head as if to simply ignore her question.

Amaranai moved her horse toward Miraj and helped her steady her course.

"I haven't been through this part of the adventure before," she said. "I suppose, technically, it's always running when I'm here, but I just don't know what's going on."

They rode for almost an hour when they approached a river. The Indian leading them started across the water and around a small hill that sat on the other side. Both women followed and once on the other side of the hill, Amaranai saw the beginnings of a small encampment. She noticed the Indian dismount, so she did as well. There were two Indians standing nearby, rifles at the ready. The man who had led them there whispered quietly to them and they lowered their weapons.

Amarnai moved toward the Indians and bowed slightly.

"I am honored to be here in your presence," she said.

"Shut up, white woman," one of the guards said. "We want to talk to her."

He pointed at Miraj.

Miraj pointed at herself in question, eyes a little wild. "Me? What have I done? I didn't touch it. You can't prove anything."

The man who led them approached Miraj.

"Princess," he said to her. "You have been missing far too long. When we finally heard of your presence nearby, we knew we must strike quickly."

"Princess?" Miraj looked very pleased, shed never been one for playing princesses as a girl. Her heroes had been the likes of Anne Bonney and Mary Read. Queens of the sea, but never princesses. "Me? Cool!" She turned to Amaranai and gave her a thumbs up. But she wanted to check. "Are you sure?"

The Indian had stared at Miraj, confused by her words.

"Yes, princess," he said. "You are the daughter of our chief. You were taken as a young girl and we have searched ever since."

He paused.

"We thought we had seen you years ago but we were mistaken. Now that you are here, you can take your rightful place in the tribe and lead us to our destiny."

Amaranai had been silent during the revelation. Since she had never played the Indian characters, she never knew about any of these scenarios. It was interesting, however, that they would choose Miraj. Amaranai wondered if it was just because Miraj had decided to be an Indian woman for the scenario and the computer recognized that. She wasn't sure, but what she was sure about was the fact that the two women needed to get to the next town soon in order to complete their mission.

"Excuse me," she said softly. "As a United States Marshall, I have no jurisdiction over your territory or over your claim on the princess here," she pointed to Miraj. "However, she is a key part of a plan to capture and arrest men that are using your people as slaves."

She paused to gauge reaction.

"If I can continue on my mission with her," she continued. "When we are finished, I will return her to you."

The Indian looked to his princess.

"We have searched for you for so long. We need a leader. What do you want to do?"

Miraj looked back and forth between them. The bad guys were using the indians as slaves? "Well I think helping her will help you," Miraj decided. "If it stops them from hurting your people. Uh, I guess I mean my people, any further."

The Indian shook his head.

"It is not for me to decide, Princess," he said and turned to walk away. "We must speak with the elder."

Amaranai began to follow but the Indians with the rifles pointed to her and stopped her in her tracks.

"Maybe they want you to follow first?" she said to Miraj.

MIraj shrugged, and went first. After a few moments, they were at a small tent and Miraj was let inside. Amaranai, being an outsider, was left outside.

The inside of the tent was sparse, save for a small fire and an older man with his eyes closed.

"Elder," the man said. "She has returned."

The old man opened his eyes and looked upon Miraj and smiled.

"You have returned at last," he whispered. "Sit. Tell me of your adventures and how you escaped your captors."

"Oh, er, well, there's not a lot to tell." Miraj said,stalling for time. "I was ...taken to a town, and made to work cleaning for a preacher and his wife. and they were okay, didn't beat me,... but they got sick and they died and a man came a took me away to a... house with a lot of women...and they wanted me to do things, but the first time they sent me to a man, i stabbed him and jumped out a window. They tried to shoot me, but I jumped out a window and then she rescued me." miraj finished pointing at Amaranai. She hoped that would do.

The old man listened and nodded his head as she spoke. He looked to Amaranai several times during the story and then back at his princess. When she finished, he paused and stared into the fire.

"You speak honestly," the elder said and then he looked to Amaranai. "And you," he said. "Thank you for taking care of our princess and returning her to us."

Amaranai nodded and cleared her throat.

"In all honesty, sir," she started. "I do need your princesses help with one more task." She paused. "In fact, it would be a way to seek revenge on some of the men that held your princess."

The old man shook his head.

"Revenge is not our way," he said. "The princess has been reunited with us and here is where she will stay."

To Be Continued

Ensign Miraj Derani

Lieutenant jg Amaranai Franklin

RSS Feed