A Town Called Redgorge

Posted on Tue Nov 1st, 2016 @ 1:06am by Captain Tim Williams
Edited on on Thu Dec 1st, 2016 @ 9:20am

Episode: Out of Sequence
Location: USS Highlander - Holodeck
Timeline: BACKPOST - Before discovery of the DeSalle

The train station in Redgorge was a fairly small wooden building - more of a shack than a station, really, with a small desk to serve as a ticket office and a pair of benches for passengers to wait out of the sun. Tim and the other passengers disembarking quickly made their way through it and out into the sunshine of the town, where the captain stood to take in his surroundings. The town was very small - essentially two rows of buildings, with another row perpendicular at either end, creating a I-shaped road through the town. The station sat at one of the ends of the 'main' street, with the sherif's office directly opposite. Between them sat a saloon, general store, doctor's surgery, and an assortment of other buildings, all build out of wood, with posts outside for the tethering of horses.

Tim hadn't looked up what he was supposed to do with the holonovel, as he tended to prefer lettin the story happen naturally to and around him, so without anything else to do, he headed for the saloon. It had the stereotypical swinging doors that were always conjured in the imagination when one thought of an Old West saloon, and he resisted the urge of throwing them open dramatically as he walked through, once again finding himself a seat at the bar. The atmosphere in the bar was far more lively than it was on the train, with music coming from an old man at a piano next to the stairs, and laughter coming from the various men sat at the tables, the women of the establishment dotted around either on the couches at the side of the room or on the laps of paying patrons.

The atmosphere was soon broken by a man throwing the doors of the saloon open in the very manner Tim had resisted a few minutes ago. The man stood just beyond the threshold, hands on his hips as he let the doors flap behind him. The sun was to his back, so Tim couldn't make out his face, but he could see the badge of the town sherif on his chest.

"Williams!" the man called out, his head turning as he studied the now silent patrons of the bar. "I'm looking for a Timothy Williams, fresh off the train from Buffalo Springs!"

"You found him," Tim said, trying to affect the air of non-chalance he imagined his character should have. "What can I do you for, Sherif?"

"You were supposed to come to me directly after your train came in, Williams," the sherif said, striding over to the bar. He grabbed Tim's drink, took a brief look at it in the light, and then downed it, smacking the glass back on the bar top. "Now get yer behind off that stool and follow me."