The Tucker Home
Jackson, Mississippi
Earth, Sol System
Trip and T'Pol exited the Ryde and fetched their bags from the trunk before turning toward the house. There Trip's mother, father and brother Benjamin waited for them. Alongside them the family dog, a golden retriever named Buford, the spiritual successor to Bedford who'd died in the Xindi attack.
Trip took T'Pol bag and tossed it over his shoulder alongside his own. A ridiculous thing to do considering T'Pol had three times his strength, but Trip was a gentleman and making T'Pol carry her own bag in front of his mother was out of the question.
The two entered the yard via the white picket fence gate and approached the porch.
"Mom, Dad," Trip said. "You remember T'Pol. Ben, I don't think you two have met. T'Pol, this is my older brother Benjamin."
"Glad to meet you, T'Pol." Ben said, with a grin.
"Okay, alright now." Trip's mother interrupted. "Let's not dawdle on the porch and give the neighbors something to gossip about."
With that she turned and entered the house without another word spoken. Trip followed, with T'Pol, Benjamin and Charles coming behind. Buford followed T'Pol, instantly obsessed with the alien scent she exuded.
Once inside, Trip tossed the bags onto the couch and turned to Benjamin and his father, giving them both handshakes that turned into hugs. His mother had already retreated to the kitchen.
"So, Ben." Said Trip. "Business still good?"
"Oh, yeah." Benjamin responded. "The Revenant won the Eisner award for best story."
"That's great!" Trip exclaimed, then turned to T'Pol. "Ben owns a small comic book publishing agency."
"That is interesting." T'Pol said. "I've never had the pleasure of reading a comic book."
"Say no more." Ben said. "I've got a couple of first editions I'll be leaving for the coffee table."
"I will avail myself of the opportunity."
"Charles!" Trip's mother yelled from the kitchen. "Come help me set the table."
Charles stood up and shuffled to the kitchen. Together he and Margaret, Trip's mother, had soon spread out a veritable feast.
"Mom," Trip said. "You must have worked on this all day. "
"Well," Margaret said. "I wanted both my boys to have a nice home cooked meal. And besides, I hardly see either of you, and you, Trip, are only here because your ship needs repairs, because you've been fighting with Romulans."
"I'm here now, mom, and I appreciate the spread. Oh, and I see you've a few vegetarian selections for T'Pol."
"Hrm. Well," Margaret said. "I didn't really think about that, I just wanted you boys to have a healthy meal."
"Oh." Trip said, disappointed.
The meal was consumed, and small talk was shared. Soon enough it was time to clean up, for which Trip volunteered. His mother had been on edge all through dinner and he wanted to know why.
Margaret washed and Trip rinsed, leaving T'Pol to the company of Charles and Benjamin. Eventually he asked the question he'd been meaning to all evening.
"Mom," He said. "You've been nervous about something since we got here. What's bothering you?"
Margaret didn't answer at first, simply washing and passing dishes to her son. Eventually, though, she caved.
"Oh, Trip," She said. "Why did you have to bring her with you?"
"Who, T'Pol?" Trip asked. "She's my XO and my best friend. Why wouldn't I bring her? It beats the compound in Sausalito."
"How can you be friends with someone who has no emotions?"
"Mom, Vulcans have emotions. They just suppress them, mostly."
"I saw the two of you at baby Elizabeth's memorial. You cried. She didn't. How can you be friends with someone like that?"
"Vulcans aren't about to show their emotions in public, but she grieved with me in private. She was very attached to Elizabeth even with what little time we had with her."
"Trip, Vulcans have psychic powers. How do you know you aren't being manipulated?"
"I think I'd know."
"That's the whole point. You wouldn't know."
"Okay, then. To what end would T'Pol be manipulating me?"
"I don't know, but I'm sure it's something nefarious."
"Mom, you should really get to know T'Pol before you judge her so harshly."
"I know everything I need to know about Vulcans."
"The same Vulcans standing with us against the Romulans?"
"I'm sure they have their reasons."
"So where are you getting your information on Vulcans?"
Margaret paused for a moment before answering.
"Prime magazine." She said,
"Prime maga-...!" Trip responded. "Mom, that's the publishing front for Terra Prime!"
"They use research that's peer reviewed."
"But I bet the articles cherry-pick from the research. Have you ever read the actual research?"
"I can't be troubled to slog through all that goobly-gook."
Trip was too stunned to speak for a moment.
"Mom," He said, at last. "Is T'Pol even welcome here?"
"She's here now and there's nothing I can do about it."
"You could have said something when we called to make arrangements."
"I knew you wouldn't come without her."
"Well, I guess I'll have to take what I get, but I never expected my own mother to be so xenophobic."
"It opened my eyes when the Xindi murdered my little girl."
"You're not the only one who suffered that, mom. But if at any point T'Pol is made to feel unwelcome because of it, then we're both leaving."
Margaret said nothing more and they finished the dishes in silence. Once done, Trip left the kitchen to join the conversation going on in the living room.
Margaret, however, hung back to make a phone call.
Rex P'Trell woke to the sounds of men and women bustling around the house. Once he dressed and left the room, he found out that breakfast was being served and he'd missed his shot a shower just yet.
Breakfast consisted of sausage, eggs and grits. What a grit was, Rex had no idea, and the texture didn't agree with him when he tried them, so he stuck to the sausage and eggs, gladly accepting seconds when they were offered.
After eating, Rex availed himself a good shower and changed into the civilian clothes Asha had suggested; blue jeans, boots and a button-down flannel shirt. So dressed, he set out to find Asha and found her awaiting him in the spacious living room. P'Trell saw that she was similarly dressed save for the addition of a pair of chaps, emblazoned with the rocking R brand.
"Okay, cowboy." She said, "First things first, we teach you how to ride."
"Ride a cow?" P'Trell asked.
"Nope." Asha said. "A horse."
"I saw many pictures of people on horses in the brochures, but I didn't think we'd be riding such huge beasts."
"They can be intimidating to a new rider, but you'll see there's nothing to fear. These horses are domesticated and the one you'll be riding is very easy on new riders."
Rex followed Asha out onto the wide front porch, finding two horses already saddled and waiting. Star and Sapphire were their names, respectively. Rex would be riding Star. Both horses were strapped with plasma rifles, but Rex didn't ask about that just yet.
Basic instructions began immediately, beginning with hoisting oneself up onto the back of the horse using the stirrups, followed by minimal controls; right, left, halt and heels into the flank to move forward. Proper posture while walking was covered, followed by moving with a cantering horse. After moving from here to there a few times, followed by a quick canter about the place, Asha was satisfied Rex knew the basics.
"What are the plasma rifles for?" Rex asked, at last.
"Well, sensors show the south gate is open." Asha said. "We're going to check that out. It could be a bad sensor, or it could be a pack of moon dogs that figured out how to open the gate."
"What's a moon dog?"
"That's a hold out from the third world war. Mutant dogs that look like a cross between a hound and a chimpanzee. They travel in small packs, and they're mean as hell. If a pack of them has got in, we've got to track them down and take them out before they get at our cattle."
"What if it's cattle rustlers?"
"Not likely. All our cattle are branded with the rockin' R and it's very hard to rebrand. But still, if it is rustlers, I think an Orion and an Andorian with plasma rifles ought to be enough to scare them off."
With that Asha led the way at a canter, passing through a short series of gates separating this portion of the ranch from another. Rex satisfied his curiosity as they trotted along.
"How long has your family owned the ranch?" Rex asked.
"Since 2063." Asha said. "About ten years before the land was deemed safe for cattle again, what with the nuclear fallout. Naturally, we got it for a steal. Once it was clear, we reseeded with genseed and brought in cattle the next year. We've been working the land ever since."
"That's over a hundred years. I can see why it's a family business."
"Yeah, my great grandpa really looked ahead when he bought the land. No one wanted it back then, but since we brought the cattle in we've had a hundred plus years to literally grow our brand. Now we have over a hundred thousand head of cattle, including dairy cows, and hold over a million acres of land, which we lease out to other brands from time to time."
"That's impressive."
"We're the third largest cattle ranch in North America and we're real proud of that."
They trotted along in silence for a while, until Asha suddenly reined in and stopped. Reaching back behind her to the saddlebags she produced a large set of binoculars and looked through them. She didn't say anything at first and Rex could barely make out a dot on the horizon in the early morning light.
"I see a range rover near the gate," Asha said at last. "But I don't see an eighteen-wheeler rustlers would need to transfer the cattle. It may have gone on ahead, looking for the herd."
"Do you see anyone near there?" Rex asked.
"Not from this distance." Asha said "We'll have to check it out. Keep your eyes peeled though. It'd be weird to leave a rover just sitting there like that."
"Maybe it's not rustlers at all. It could be someone lost or something."
"Better to be alert regardless."
Asha stowed the binoculars and led that way again, moving at a smooth trot until they arrived at the seemingly abandoned range rover. There she circled the rover looking for footprints, of which there were several scattered about. Coming up on the driver's side she saw a laptop open on the passenger seat, showing a satellite view of the area. On it she could see the rover, herself and Rex.
And also, five figures hiding along the tree line.
She snatched at the butt of her rifle, but it was too late. A voice rang out.
"Don't even try it." It said, "We've got you covered."
"Looky here, Jimbo." Said another voice. "We came looking for them and they came right to us."
The five men came around into view. Each sported phaser rifles, illegal for anyone but the MACO and Starfleet to carry.
"Come down off those horses, nice and easy." Said the apparent leader, an obese man with a large nose and heavy jowls.
Rex could see Asha weighing her options before giving in and stepping down off her horse. Rex did the same and stood alongside her. One of the men then shouldered his weapon and produced a wad of plastic zip ties from a pouch.
At wrists and ankles, he applied the zip ties until both Asha and Rex were firmly secured. With that done, two teams of two carried Asha and Rex to the back of the rover and shoved them into the rear cargo area. The rest of the men climbed into the rover, leaving a buck-toothed man to watch over Asha and Rex in the back.
The range rover backed out of the gate and took to the road.
In back, the buck-toothed man grinned at his prisoners.
"You should have taken your shot." He said. "Now you're screwed."