Part Two

All it had taken was a blink of an eye and Chris Larabee was no longer on his bridge.

Though his eyes recognized his surroundings, his brain had trouble registering it for an instant. The setting was familiar of course, even if how he had suddenly arrived here eluded him when a moment, he had been on his bridge. Letting his gaze sweep across the room, Chris was more than acquainted with his new environment. He had visited this place on numerous occasions as Chris Larabee, gunslinger, as opposed to Captain Larabee. Clad entirely in black, from the sepulcher colored hat on his brow, to the jet duster covered in just a hint of dust and the pearl handled guns that hung around his hips, he looked every bit the part.

At present, he was in the saloon of the fictional town of Four Corners that existed only in the tales written about the Magnificent Seven and the holodeck setting for his favorite recreational program. The saloon was as authentic as programming could make it with a sultry bartender behind the bar who was serving drinks in small shot glasses and patrons gathered around circular tables playing cards or being entertained by gaudily painted saloon girls. In the background, someone was playing the harpsichord, sending clunky music through the air. The atmosphere was lethargic which was not unusual because it was the afternoon and the sun that was radiating outside relentlessly had driven away the compulsion to get any work done or the need to leave the cool shade of the building.

Fortunately, he was not alone in his confusion.

Standing next to him at the bar, appearing just as bewildered by their change in circumstance was Vin Tanner. The helmsman was also wearing the clothes he normally did when engaging in this program. Vin's costume was most prolifically a coat made of hide. According to the times, Chris had deduced long ago that it was meant to be buffalo. In this universe, Vin was not his officer of the con but rather his trusted second and a formidable tracker. Vin was wearing a slouch hat, the kind that were meant to be popular with army scouts back in the days when combating Indians was a national pursuit. Vin always seemed to be wearing a different shirt and a multitude of colorful scarves against his hide pants.

"Chris." Vin found his voice to speak. "What the hell just happened?"

"I don't know," Chris answered automatically, his eyes fixed on the people in the saloon, wondering if they were what they seemed, holodeck recreations or the ones responsible for bringing Chris and Vin here. "We were on the bridge."

Suddenly footsteps were heard walking rapidly towards the batwing doors that served at the entrance to this place. The footsteps were short and not very loud but there was no doubt the person approaching was making great haste to reach the doors. A few eyes shifted towards the batwing doors in anticipation of the new arrival and instinctively, Chris dropped his hand to the pearl handled weapon at his hip. In this environment, it was an instinct and his mind though slow at first to accept where he was soon adapted his psyche to survive in this new environment.

The instinct was mirrored in Vin Tanner as well for the helmsman made similar motions towards the sawn-off rifle he had sitting in the makeshift holster fashioned to hold that weapon, slung around his lean hips. Both men were reluctant to shoot, especially when this could all turn out to be some elaborate joke by one of their comrades, however, were it not, they wished to be ready for any unexpected danger. Although holodeck safety protocols would ensure that they would not be harmed, the mystery about this situation warranted the precaution.

The shadow of the new arrival proceeded the actual entry itself and when the figure did move into their line of sight, Chris found himself growing more and more convinced that this had to be someone's idea of a joke. Someone, he thought silently, who was going to be spending the next month, cleaning EPS conduits with a toothbrush. If he were a betting man, Chris would have placed all his money on the odds of that someone being Buck Wilmington.

Mary Travis stepped into the saloon and immediately found him with her gaze. Her blond hair was forced into a tight bun at the back of her head and she was dressed for the period in a dress with floral that covered her modesty appropriate for the era. She walked toward him, oblivious to the disapproving stares being sent in her direction by the patrons who felt it was not proper for a good Christian woman such as herself since they saw her as the character she played, to be in a saloon. Whenever Mary accompanied Chris to the program, she normally played the part of the feisty newspaper reporter.

"What the hell is going on?" She demanded upon reaching them, her cheeks flushed as she unashamedly revealed her displeasure. "Is this one your guys idea of a joke? I just got through sorting out more religious dogma then I care to wade through in my entire life and found the perfect point that will sort this Antarian situation out and I get beamed out of my quarters into my newspaper office!"

"Hold on Mary," Chris said quickly, trying to calm her down. She was rarely moved to this level of irritation but when she was, even the Captain of the Maverick was smart enough to take cover. "I didn't do this. In fact, me and Vin are just as pissed off since we were on duty on the bridge, when we were brought here."

"So, you didn't deactivate the archway?" She looked at him, puzzlement and worry starting to seep into her skin and she suddenly felt very uneasy.

"Deactivate the arch?" Chris' eyes widened ever so slightly but in truth he was just as shocked as she was. "Vin." He said simply, still meeting her gaze.

The helmsman nodded and looked around, not wishing to be seen but decided what did it matter since they were being viewed by a bunch of images produced by light and magnetic and that the minute they stepped out of here, everything in this world would cease to exist anyway. "Computer, arch." He called out, waiting for the doors to slid open so that they could step out of this holodeck fantasy. However, seconds tumbled past with no evidence of an arch or anything remotely resembling a door appeared before them and eyes continued to stare at them in curiosity.

Vin glanced at Chris and then tried again. "Computer, exit." He spoke up.

Once again, the same inactivity followed and this time, Chris decided to take a turn. "Computer, command override, authorization, Captain Larabee."

"I think you had enough," the bartender behind the counter remarked as she walked past the three of them. Buck had programmed the simulation so that she would look like Inez Recillos, much to the woman's chagrin. Despite Inez' insistence though, Buck could not bring himself to change the lovely countenance as he put it of the bartender "Your drinks are getting to your head." She gave them a look of disapproval that did not look unlike the original.

Chris frowned and looked at the two officers with him. "Let's take this outside." He ordered.

Without looking behind, him to see if they were following, Chris strode out of the saloon. Eyes followed him as he moved across the floor and he wondered how much of this had to do with their peculiar behavior a moment ago, or the imposing persona he was meant to have in this holodeck town. He supposed it was probably the latter since the reaction he garnered every time he made eye contact with someone other than Mary and Vin were met with quick about face. Chris put these concerns aside for the moment, more interested in learning for certain that the exit protocols for the holodeck was not as disabled as they appeared. While this had all the trappings of one of Buck's pranks, even the first officer knew better than to lock out the captain's access without a monumental death wish.

They stepped outside into the open air and immediately blinked as the noonday sun shone brightly in their eyes after the dim lighting inside the saloon. No one was watching them as they emerged even though everyone noticed their arrival. Chris Larabee was not someone whose gaze you held unless you had good reason for it. He could see that look in their faces as they turned away and went about their business.

"Chris!" Buck Wilmington called out as he hurried down the steps from one of the rickety structures that passed for buildings in this place. From the window, a brunette with wild tousled hair and not much on, waved after him.

"Come on back Buck!" She wailed. "You don't have to be in such a hurry now."

Chris, Mary and Vin could only watch as Buck Wilmington descended the steps, one hand pulling up his britches, the other keeping a firm hold on the rest of his clothing. The expression on his face was not one of mischief as he was normally prone to displaying on occasions like this for the man had no concept of shame or embarrassment, but rather concern as marked by the frown he was wearing. Some of the townsfolk had started to laugh in amusement, with women bowing their heads and tittering to themselves while the men did not bother with such subtlety and openly guffawed. They were shaking their heads and laughing, telling themselves that this was just another Buck Wilmington moment.

"Chris," Buck growled when he reached them. "I know you got a strange sense of humor, but you mind warning me the next time you decide to pull one of your tricks?"

Chris, Vin and Mary exchanged glances before looking at Buck. "You didn't do this?" Chris asked, certain that this was Buck's ruse.

"No, I didn't do this!" Buck retorted sharply, looking somewhat hurt that they would even consider that he would do something so stupid. "I was working on reports and the next time I knew, I was lying in bed next to that." He shifted his gaze at the window the brunette had retreated into after she had made her impassioned plea for his return.

"And this is bad how?" Mary replied with a completely straight face. "I was under the impression that finding yourself in the bed of a strange woman is not exactly a unique experience."

Despite the growing seriousness of the situation, Vin could not help but remark. "She got you there Buck."

"How would you like to be monitoring for gaseous anomalies for the next month, lieutenant." Buck returned irately.

Vin shrugged off the threat, knowing that it was just Buck's way of venting but having done so, he started to feel a little anxious realizing that the list of perpetrators who could carry out this ruse were starting to become uncomfortably short. JD simply did not have the nerve to transport them all here and program the computer to disregard Chris' authority. Aside from the fact that Chris would mostly likely resume the practice of keelhauling, JD had too much adoration for his captain to pull a prank like this.

Ezra on the other hand did have the expertise, not only in bypassing command recognition but also in transporting them here through the Maverick's formidable internal alarms to prevent such a that prevented an enemy ship from simply beaming crew away. However, Ezra had neither the disposition nor the emotional frame of mind for such mischief these days. The security chief was still nursing a broken heart following his splintered relationship with Julia Pemberton.

It could be transporter chief Rain, who Vin was getting along with famously because she had his own absurd sense of humor but once again, it came down to the obstacle of removing Chris' authorization. Only a command level officer could get away with it and although Alex was quite capable, she did not have the patience for tricks and would have selected another simulation because she did not like this one and tolerated it only for his sake. Josiah and Nathan were too sensible for such nonsense and Julia Pemberton fell under the same category as Ezra, too wounded to be in the mood for jokes.

"Okay," Mary spoke up. "This is starting to get creepy. Buck, we can't get out."

Buck stared at Chris. "What do you mean we can get out?"

"Like she says," Chris' scowl became deeper and his let his eyes move across the town and wondered who among the townsfolk was responsible for the situation he and his crew found themselves. "The arch doesn't respond to voice commands."

"Even your override?" Buck's eyes widened the more he was told.

"Even mine." Chris nodded unhappily.

"Are we the only ones here?" Buck asked once more.

"Its a safe bet that we aren't." Vin replied before Chris could. "Chris and I got taken at the same time and I'm pretty sure the same goes for Mary too. I think we all got swept out of where we were at the same time."

"Okay," Chris started to think about this a little more deeply. "Mary, where did you appear?" He turned to the blond and noted secretly to himself that he was issuing a standard order when they got out of here that she was never to wear her hair up whilst on his bridge.

"In my newspaper office." Mary remarked. "Remember, I play the intrepid news editor who tries to set the town on the road to lawlessness."

"That's right." Vin nodded. "Buck, was with a lady which is usually is in character, since he's the scoundrel remember?"

"And since we're always in the saloon together," Chris added in full agreement with Vin's hypothesizing. "That's where we appeared."

"So, Josiah who is something of a preacher, will be in his church?" Mary ventured a guess.

"I think so." Chris nodded, becoming more and more confident that all his comrades were here, particularly those who indulged in the Magnificent Seven holodeck program. "Nathan ought to be at his infirmary, JD at his jailhouse since the greenhorn sheriff and Ezra should be at one of the hotels, trying to con the locals out of their money."

"What about Alex and Julia?" Mary asked. "They're not the seven but their apart of the literature."

"True," Buck remarked and then pointed. "But remember, they were add in characters that came in later. They were not apart of the original literature that was created by the seven."

"Does it matter?" Vin looked at the first officer. "Besides, I've only got Alex to come to this program once time."

"Hell, nobody forgot that." Buck rolled his eyes in sarcasm, remembering how much fun that had been. The science officer had made it clear that the only reason she was participating was because she had allowed herself to be talked into it by Vin and spent most of the time, complaining about the clothes and the backseat women were forced to take during this time.

"It wasn't that bad." Vin retorted but could not deny that even he had difficulty tolerating Alex's annoyance and he had learnt his lesson well and truly by then. She simply did not have the patience to be treated an anything less than an equal and thus whenever she joined him in this program, it was normally just the two of them and they spent it riding. In the end, Vin had to admit he liked it better that way.

"Yes, it was." Both Mary and Chris said in unison. Vin gave them a look only to be met with a triumphant smirk on Buck's face.

"Alright," Chris spoke up a moment later, reminding everyone that jokes aside, they were still in very strange and tense situation. "Assuming that Alex and Julia are here, where would they be?" He asked.

"Julia is the emporium owner," Mary answered automatically.

"And Alex was supposed to be the new doctor." Vin offered.

"Alright then," Chris nodded, having something of a plan of action for the short term. Now, he was more concerned with making sure that all their number was complete before they attempted to figure out how they had come to be here and for that matter, how they were going to extricate themselves from their present situation. "Mary, you and Buck go find Alex and Julia. Vin and I will find Josiah, Nathan and JD. It shouldn't be that hard since this isn't a bustling metropolis and chances are, they will just as have determined to find us as we are."

"Good idea," Buck replied, pleased that they had some kind of plan in motion, since his confusion over their entire situation was mounting. "If we get Julia here, she should be able to find out how we can access the holo-deck controls and get the exit back up."

"That's true," Mary said glancing at Chris before remembering something else. "Chris, we have to get out here, we're expected by the Antarians in a day. If we do not get there in time, we could be the reason for the genocide of their species."

Chris had not forgotten that at all. In fact, it was one of the primary reasons why he was so intent on getting them out of here. The Antarian crisis was sitting at razor's edge at the moment, with either side poised to take decisive action if mediation did not provide results. As it was, factions on either side, were pressing for any reason to justify abandoning the peace process and the absence of the mediating team required to bring that peace would serve their purpose well enough.

"I'm aware of that Mary." Chris said with just a hint of tension in his voice for her to realize that despite their surroundings, he was still captain and their relationship had boundaries she could never cross for it to work.

"I'm sorry Chris," she responded, feeling a little ashamed to think that she considered he might forget about the Antarians when they were relying on both to prevent planetary mass destruction.

"Its alright," he answered, hand on her cheek as a gesture of forgiveness. "I'm worried about what's going to happen to them too."

Buck and Vin pulled back a moment, allowing the couple a quiet instant alone. Like most of the ship, Vin and Buck heartily approved of the relationship between Chris and Mary even if it was differing reasons. For Buck, he was happy to see that Chris was starting to let go of Sarah and Adam. It had taken him a long time to put the past behind him and start living his life without them. Mary with her own losses in her life seemed perfect because Chris had met someone who knew what it was like to a lose someone and he could in his own way could help her deal with her grief as Buck had once helped with his.

Vin had more simplistic reasons being that he liked Mary and Chris and seeing two people who meant so much to him, salve the wounds within each other gave Vin his own sense of pleasure. Chris Larabee was his best friend and he could read the captain's moods better than anyone, even Buck Wilmington could see the sadness that pervaded his eyes at times. Vin had more idea of how much weight Chris carried on his shoulders as captain and was happy that Mary could make that burden somewhat easier to bear.

When the tender interlude had passed, Chris turned back to the others in his party with the expression on his face that said clearly that he was ready to get back to working on their situation. "Alright, people, let's move like we got a purpose."

Transporter Chief Rain was unimpressed that she was forced to be late for her appointment with Billy Travis at Holo-deck 2. Although she had been running errands for the last hour, she had been more than confident that she would be able to keep her promise to Billy about teaching him how to surf. Unfortunately, at the 11th hour for these things only seemed to make their appearance then, she was called down to Transporter 3 which had been experiencing some strange power fluctuations. Since the nature of transporter travel was disassembling human atoms and reassembling them again, safety was of the utmost importance and a power fluctuation, though minor in its appearance was not acceptable in any shape of form.

Thus, she had spent the last half an hour beneath the transporter console, checking every wire, relay and diode required to find the problem, which in the end turned out to be a damaged coil that took no more than a second to repair, once discovered. Rain had barely enough time to replace the damage section with a new part, dash back to her quarters to change before hurrying out again to reach Holo-deck 2. By the time she arrived at the place, she was out of breath and panting. On top of all the other problems that Billy must be experiencing being a Vulcan Human hybrid that made him the object of derision by other children his age, she did not mean to add her inability to keep a promise as another.

Rain cared genuinely and deeply for Billy Travis because he seemed so fragile, like something that ought to be put on a shelf and kept away from the ills of the world. She supposed she always had a soft spot for things left abandoned and although Billy had people in his life and a mother that adored him, Rain could see his loneliness still existed. She knew this gesture of holo-deck time together was a stopgap measure, but she could think of no other that would suffice for the moment.

She was about to reach for the panel that activated the holodeck doors when suddenly; she heard red alert signals erupting all throughout the ship. Her heart leapt into her throat for a moment but the sudden burst of noise and was startled into jumping a little.

"All hands," the computerized voice echoed through the ship as Rain collected herself. "We have unauthorized transport. Repeat, we have unauthorized transport."

Rain's mind struggled to cope with the enormity of the statement. Someone had evidently bypassed all their security measures in place to keep just such a happenstance from occurring to spirit members of their crew away. She wondered who had been taken and found herself selfishly hoping that it was not Nathan, even though she admonished herself for such thinking a split second later. Unfortunately, the emergence of this crisis meant that she was going to have to break her promise to Billy after all, although he had lived on the Maverick long enough to know that red alert was nothing to be taken lightly. Pushing the button on the access panel, the doors to the holodeck slid open and she stepped inside the room, expecting to find Billy.

She did not find Billy or anyone else because Holo-deck 2 was empty