Dancing with the Wild Geese
By
UCSBdad
Disclaimer: By now you should know I don't own any of this. Rating: Maybe K Time: Long, long ago in a galaxy…Er, no. I mean a couple of centuries from now in an alternate universe.
Trip suddenly wondered about something.
"Captain, just how fast is the Just Deserts?"
"We usually cruise as warp 7 and can maintain warp 7.5 for quite a bit. We've gone to warp 7.7 on occasion, but that's dangerous."
"Warp 7? Um, can I look at your engine and talk to your engineer?"
"Sure. There's nothing secret about it."
He grabbed T'Pol's hand.
"Come on, darlin', we have work to do."
Later, Captain Xi talked to her engineer about the two.
"Captain, I'm sure Commander Tucker loves his wife more than he loves warp engines, but it's close. You should see how those two work. I believe they have a psychic bond."
Trip won Captain Xi over after sampling the food that the autochef prepared. It was awful. At lunch, Trip came in with a tray of food for the captain. T'Pol was right behind him.
"Captain, I believe you're partial to hot pastrami on rye with provolone, a cup of chili and a glass of cold milk."
She looked at the plate.
"Where did you get that?"
"T'Pol and I did a little work on the autochef."
"My mate is exaggerating. He knows far more about human food than I do."
Xi took a bite.
"If you were a woman, Trip, I'd marry you."
"I'm not and I'm very spoken for."
The Just Deserts went through the bump with no more than a brief vibration. Xi told the Tuckers that they had a way of getting through the bump without damaging the ship, but she didn't want to let anyone from the other universe know about it. As she had said, they had enough trouble in their own universe.
"There's no starship anywhere near here." The Just Desert's sensor officer announced.
"Eventually, Captain Archer would have to leave and consider us…lost." T'Pol said. "But we should be able to find their warp signature and follow it."
The warp signature was easy to find as Enterprise had spent a great deal of time in the area. This led them to a planet where several trading routes converged. They examined the ships in orbit.
"There!" Trip said. "That's Enterprise. Can you contact them?"
"We don't bother with visual on this ship, but we can use an audio call. We'll contact them."
In seconds they heard the voice of the Enterprise's comm officer.
"This is the starship Enterprise. Please identify yourself."
"Hoshi, is that you?" Trip yelled.
"TRIP!" She screamed. "It's you? Is T'Pol with you?"
"I would not allow my mate to roam about by himself as he has a tendency to injure himself."
"Oh, my God. Captain Archer. Come to the bridge. It's Trip and T'Pol."
A half an hour later the two ships docked. The bridge crew of the Enterprise, Captain Archer, Hoshi Sato, Malcolm Reed, Travis Mayweather and all of the off-duty engineers were waiting at the airlock. The airlock cycled open and there were Trip and T'Pol, oddly dressed in camouflage uniforms with odd looking guns at their waists in addition to wicked looking knives. On their heads were grey berets.
Trip saluted.
"Rifleman Trip Tucker and Rifleman T'Pol Tucker reporting for duty, sir."
Archer grabbed Trip and hugged him as did everyone else. Knowing T'Pol's discomfort with a physical touch, the Enterprise crew just smiled at her.
"Captain, I think a quick hug from you would be acceptable." She said.
"Welcome back, T'Pol." Archer said, quickly hugging her, "But how did you ever pass the physical to become a Rifleman?"
"A long story, sir." Trip said. "Can I introduce Captain Nora Xi, who brought us here and Sergeant Fa'an, who protected us."
"I'm dying to hear the story. Captain, Sergeant, would you and your people care to join us for dinner? I'm afraid the captain's mess has limited space, but the mess hall is open."
Both agreed. As the Tarkai marched aboard Enterprise, Fa'an stopped them and spoke to them in Tarkai.
"Remember, you are guests aboard this human vessel. Remember, be polite, be professional and do not have a plan to kill everyone you meet."
The troops marched aboard, and Archer noticed that every Tarkai soldier had a pistol and a fighting knife. He led his guests to the captain's mess, and they learned all about the pair's adventures.
It took over three hours for Trip and T'Pol to describe their adventures, and even then, they'd left out a few things.
"Captain Archer, I'm afraid my crew and I must take our leave. We have business to conclude in our own universe. I should advise you not to try to take your ship through the bump. It would doubtlessly be destroyed. We do know how to manage the bump, but we have enough problems in our universe without involving your universe."
"I understand, Captain Xi, but I will have to report this to Starfleet. They may decide to try to enter your universe. In the meantime, we should gather up your crew and Sergeant Fa'an's soldiers.
As they approached the mess hall, they could hear singing. The song ended as soon as they walked in. The Tarkai had gathered their musical instruments from the Just Deserts and a few of the Enterprise crew had brought out their own instruments.
"One more song before we leave, Sergeant Fa'an?" Sergeant Whaan asked.
Fa'an looked at Captains Archer and Xi, who both nodded.
"Something in Standard English, perhaps, sergeant?" Fa'an said.
Whaan nodded and the song began.
"We sailed out of Dunmore Michaelmas gone by,
"Cowhides and wool and live cargo,
"Twenty young Wild Geese ready fledged to fly,
"Sailing for the lowlands low.
"The lowlands low, the lowlands low,
"Sailing for the lowlands low.
"Ready with priming we'd our galliot gun,
"Muskets and pikes in good order,
"We should be riddled captives would be none,
"Death or else the lowlands low,
"The lowlands low, the lowlands low,
"Death or else the lowlands low,
"We smuggled out the Wild Geese weapons safe ashore,
"Then we unloaded our cargo,
"A fair wind is blowing we're headed for Dunmore,
"Sailing from the lowlands low,
"The lowlands low, the lowlands low,
"Sailing from the lowlands low."
As the Tarkai reboarded the Just Deserts, there were more farewells, and someone even thought that T'Pol had shed a single tear. No one believed that, except Trip.
That night they snuggled in their bed after making love.
"I believe we should visit Dr. Phlox tomorrow." T'Pol said.
"Is there a problem?" Trip asked, suddenly worried.
"We need more information on what is required to produce a human-Vulcan child."
"You want to have a baby with me?" He said with a huge smile.
"You would seem the obvious choice." She replied, raising an eyebrow.
"Absolutely! We could see him right now."
"The morning will be soon enough."
T'Pol went to sleep, but Trip stayed awake for hours imagining a beautiful little girl with blue eyes, blonde hair and the cutest little pointed ears imaginable.
Captain Xi did not immediately return to her own universe but landed and went shopping. She owned some luxury goods that she thought might sell well there. She was surprised at how many local luxury goods she was able to buy. She was also very happy with the prices she got when she returned to her home universe. She never gave up her usual job, but did continue to travel back and forth between universes. She didn't bother with such bureaucratic delay when it came to paying taxes.
Epilog
The navigator of the Sally Girl walked down to the cargo area to brief their passengers.
"Captain Castle? We've found the house, but it looks more like a small settlement. We contacted Mr. Beckett by radio and he's expecting us. We should be down in half an hour."
"Thank you, Mr. Kenney." The captain said.
Kenney ran his eye over the rest of the passengers. Mrs. Castle was a looker all right. The rest of the passengers was a company of heavily armed mercenary soldiers. Most were non-humans but there was a scattering of humans.
Odd to take that many troops to visit family. He thought. But there was damned little in the way of law on these backwoods planets.
Kate Beckett, AKA Kate Castle looked in her pocket mirror once more.
"Do I look okay?" She asked her husband.
"You look just fine. And your dad would be thrilled if you showed up in sackcloth and ashes."
"I haven't seen him in years and now he's married and…"
"And you're his daughter." Rick soothed her as best he could.
When the Sally Girl landed, the first one off the ship was Kate, followed closely by Rick and Sergeant Saava. Kate saw her dad and ran towards him. Jim walked as fast as he could to his daughter. They threw their arms around each other.
"Katie. Katie. I've missed you so much."
"Me too, dad. Me too. I'm so happy to see you again. "Kate and Jim were beginning to tear up.
Kate saw a very pretty, younger woman standing behind Jim with a worried smile on her face.
"You must be Kathy." Kate said.
"I am, Mrs. Castle."
"Please, we're family. I'm Kate." She hugged the young woman. "It feels a little odd to say this, but it's so good to meet you, mom."
Kate noticed two children holding onto Kathy's skirts. She knelt.
"You must be my sister, Anne. How old are you, Anne?"
"Four." Said the little girl, shyly.
Kate turned to the little boy.
"Is your name Jim?" She asked.
The little boy nodded and smiled.
"How old are you?"
The boy looked up at his mom, who smiled reassuringly.
"Two." He said.
"Rick, it's good to see you again. And Sergeant Saava. How have you been?"
"Just fine, Jim."
"Come on inside. All of you. Mr. and Mrs. and Mrs. Hill have the barbecue going. Greg's happy. After seven girls he became the father of two boys three days ago. The Wells brothers are out tracking wild horses. They breed and sell horses now."
A well-dressed man approached the group.
"And we have a visit from Lucky…"
"Eric Vaughn." The man interrupted Jim. "I'm the manager of Braminco's mine here. And I'm the man who's trying the hardest to get Jim to take a job with Braminco's home office. His talents as an attorney are wasted here. He's done some work for me here. Excellent."
"And it wouldn't hurt your career any to have a friend at the home office." Jim turned to Rick and Kate. "I'll probably leave here in a year or two. It's the children. We can teach them for a few years with the books and vids we have, but I want them to have a chance in the wider worlds."
'Mr. Vaughn has been a great help in getting the materials we need." Kathy said. "Jim and I can only do so much."
"If you need any help, Jim…" Rick said.
"Oh, I have plenty left from when I sold everything on Earth. That's no problem. But enough of business, we have a barbecue to go to."
Rick and Kate and Jim and Kathy walked arm in arm towards the house.
The End
Author's note: It's been 486 years since the final collapse of the Terran Empire. A few planets with large populations, industry and powerful local defense forces are hardly any different from the days of the Empire. Others, who needed support from off world have seen the extinction of humans on those worlds. Most have lost much of the technology they once had: Sailing ships have replaced starships; Longbows and swords have replaced blasters.
Lord Richard Castle, Warden of the Southern Marches and Lord Protector of the Shanty Isles has been defeated by King William VI who has brought the semi-independent duchies, the Free Cities and the Marcher Lords under the absolute control of the Crown. Castle has only two options, death and defeat, or banishment. Banishment: Coming soon to a fanfic near you.
BTW, if you'd like to hear the complete Lowlands, Low, go to YouTube and look for it by the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem.