Brass Skies vol 2 (Draft)

Hired Gun part 32

It took over a month for Clarabelle to heal from her wounds and another month beyond that before Asuka was healed enough to return to duty. Both women were extremely fortunate, other than a few minor, barely noticeable scars, neither woman suffered any permanent injuries from their ordeal, though Asuka did wind up with her hair far shorter than she liked.

During the bulk of this time, Robert's Revenge ferried back and forth between the training camp, the Hawaiian Islands and the hidden town that was increasingly becoming known as Catherine's port, interrupting this only to respond to battles or to attempt to take the occasional prize. For the most part, Asuka stayed on or close to the ship except when she was replacing some of her lost clothing or depositing her wages and prize shares into one of the handful of banks that she trusted and who would do business with her.

The others however seemed to always have some errand or excuse to leave and she often found herself alone. Most of the time, this suited Asuka just fine, but sometimes, to her chagrin, she caught herself feeling lonely. More often than she wanted to admit, that loneliness hurt almost on a physical level.

Sometimes, if she was on the ship, Anna would pick up on Asuka's loneliness and snuggle up into Anna's bunk to cuddle for a bit. Other times she would invite Asuka to accompany her into the town. Most of the time, Asuka declined, but a handful of times she accepted and after whatever errands Anna needed to run, the two would enjoy a day and night on the town.

A deep friendship was developing between the women, and Asuka was finally finding herself letting her guard down for a bit. Anna was a source of comfort, a confidant with plenty of worldly advice to give, and someone that tried to always be there for Asuka when possible.

Until suddenly she wasn't.

It started off as a routine supply drop to a town that sometimes played host to a group of people that had been pushed too hard and too far by the crown to remain loyal. This group was not a militia but rather a group of families and individuals that banded together for safety as they moved around trying to stay away from the British troops.

The town itself had a militia in name only of about a dozen men that was simply there to prevent the occasional raid from bandits or coyotes. The town itself wasn't really interested in taking sides and the only reason they sometimes supplied the group of secessionists was because of the children. None of which made a difference to the new local British commander.

The Robert's Revenge had sent down a landing party of twenty with supplies including Anna and Asuka. Half the group and a number of men from the town were unloading the supplies from the life boats. The rest of the landing party, including Anna, and Asuka were stationed around the town keeping lookout, while the Robert's Revenge floated over the town keeping watch.

There was no warning. The British seemed to suddenly appear everywhere in the town over a hundred strong and firing as they swarmed the handful of streets that made up the town. Later the survivors of the town would discover the British had killed the family that lived on the edge of town and hid in the stables, but at that moment all anyone knew is that the sentries and the airship above had provided no warning.

At the sound of the first shots, the Robert's Revenge rapidly descended as it simultaneously began dropping ladders for mercenaries and crew members as well as launched more landing boats. At the same time, those with the best aim fired from the rails into the ranks of the swarming redcoats. Within minutes over a hundred reinforcements were on the ground and fighting the British in close quarters.

Those were minutes the town and the landing party never had to spare. Within the first three minutes half the landing party and over a fifth of the townspeople were dead or dying. Within five minutes, a quarter of the town was in flames and at least that much of the population were dead. Within ten minutes, the British were routed, but at the cost of a third of the towns people, and three quarters of the landing party, Anna among them.

Asuka saw Anna fall and rushed to her side as fast as soon as she could, but even then she barely made it in time to witness Anna's passing.

As Asuka leaned over her, desperately trying to put pressure on her wounds, Anna, grasped Asuka's hand, her grip barely having any strength left. "Honey, don't be sad on my account," Anna attempted a smile even as she felt Asuka's tears fall onto her own cheeks. "I finally get to be with Barry and my boys again. You're a strong one. I reckon you'll be just fine without me, but my boys are youngins and they've been without their mama for too long now. You, though, have a long life ahead of you. Promise me you'll live it, if not for your sake, for mine and my family's."

Asuka nodded, though her face was caked with tears, and her voice was shaky she answered with all the determination she could. "Hai. I will, Anna-san."

"That's the Asuka I know," Anna gave one last smile. Then her eyes focused on something Asuka could not see. She took two more shaking breaths and then fell still.

Still crying, Asuka closed Anna's eyes. She didn't let go of Anna's hand until someone pried her fingers from Anna's and scooped her into a hug. She didn't even care that it was Peters.