Rec Time
DISCLAIMER: Star Trek, the whole Trek universe, and its characters belong to Paramount.
DISCLAIMER: Trigun and its characters belong to Yasuhiro Nightow.
The first noticeable thing about him was that he was tall, noticeably taller than the average person on the desert planet of No Man's Land. Second, the blond mass on top that stood up like a cluster of spikes of hair. Then the red duster. Finally, the hefty six-gun holstered at his side.
Staring at the saloon across the way, he rubbed his jaw and grinned. Sauntering over confidently, he gave one of the swinging doors a push. His confidence took a hit when it fell off its hinges and thudded to the ground, bringing sets of wary eyes to bear on him. He frowned – that wasn't supposed to happen.
Then he shrugged, doing his best to ignore the suspicious watchers, and went to the bar, slamming a fist down. "Whiskey!"
"Coming up," replied the bartender.
An attractive, curly-haired redhead approached. Her outfit wasn't that of a saloon girl, it covered much more than a saloon girl's did, but was form-fitting nonetheless, showing off her figure. "Hey, stranger. What's your name?"
The blond man grinned. "Vash. What's yours, little lady?"
Instead of answering directly, the woman said, "Vash? You mean Vash the Stampede, the notorious gunman?"
He nodded with what he hoped was a flirtatious look. "That's right. But you don't have to be scared around me."
Her look hardened. "Oh, I'm not scared at all. I just needed to confirm who I had for the bounty."
The man who called himself Vash paled as he felt the barrel of a gun pressed against him.
"Step back, Monique!" boomed a man's bass voice from the doorway, and color started to return as Vash thought himself saved. It retreated again when the bass continued, "That's my bounty!"
"No, he's not, Yeager," the woman bounty hunter retorted. "I found him first, fair and square."
"He's coming with me!"
"He's staying with me!"
Vash interrupted, "I'll just let you two sort this out while I go…"
"Shut up!" Monique commanded, slamming her booted foot down on top of his.
"OW!" Vash jerked in pain, hopping on his good foot. It knocked Monique's gun out of place and it inadvertently went off.
That sent everyone into the bar into motion, triggering gunfire right on the heels of Yeager's own gunshots, while Monique dove behind the bar for cover and began to return fire. Vash's ears rang, the cannon-like sounds assaulting his eardrums.
He ducked and crawled into a corner, cowering and making himself as small as he could, lamenting how this was not at all how it was supposed to go.
When a stray shot sent a piece of wall nicking Vash's forehead, blood trickling a course down over an eye, he finally had enough. "Computer, end program!" he cried in panic.
The simulation vanished, leaving the young ensign in his Vash outfit, still curled up in a shaking ball - what was supposed to be a fun scenario of the old Earth manga he liked to read hadn't been any fun at all, going off script like that.
The doors quietly slid open. Another pair of ensigns almost entered, stopping as they saw their fellow junior officer trembling on the floor. They exchanged looks and mutual nods before one of them tapped her badge. "Ensign Bronson to Engineering. Better send a tech, looks like Holodeck Three is on the fritz again."
She regarded the young man in his fetal ball on the floor. "And maybe the ship counselor, too."