“Thirteen-year-old Ethan Talon sat at one of the tables at the station’s replicator.  One could handle only so much solitude in your quarters, and he wasn’t someone you would call a “social butterfly”.

He picked up a slice of Pizza bit into it and set it back down on his plate.  And picked up his PADD.  He had a book report due the next day, and he really didn’t like reading.  Why sit looking at text when you can experience it in the holosuite? With a pen he wrote several paragraphs on his device, before switching to a second PADD to look something up from Larry McMurtry’s “Lonesome Dove.”

“What are you up to Cowboy?”

Ethan looked up to see a girl about his age with dark hair and a hint of Chinese features. A smile spread across his face with recognition. “Howdy, Trinity,” he greeted before standing up and giving her a hug.

The two sat down with Ethan grinning uncontrollably. “I uh… oh it’s nothing.  Just a stupid book report.”

“You know Ethan it’s part of a rounded curriculum.   You have to know how to write, and communicate effectively,” Trinity said.

“No I don’t.   I’m going to punch cows like my grandpa.”

“I bet your grandpa knows how to read and right.”

Ethan conceded that point, “Yeah, he does. And says math is important in the cattle business too. What are you doing here?”

“Mom’s serving on the Tigris with grandpa so I’ve been living with Grandma… She’s the new Strategic Operations Officer here,” Trinity replied, “and you?”

“Dad’s here as the chief of security so he can be close to his wife,” Ethan said acting like it was a minor annoyance.

“You don’t like your step-mom?” Trinity asked. “I’ve known her all my life. She’s always seemed pretty nice to me.”

“Oh, she’s fine I reckon,” Ethan said with a shrug. “She’s better than mom I guess.  I haven’t seen her since she left years ago and took my sisters with her. Mom couldn’t stand Terra Alpha.  It was too backwater for her, and way too far from Earth.  She wanted to go to Paris, New York, San Francisco, and Tokyo whenever the notion took her.  Something she couldn’t do on the Bar V Lazy T.”

“The what?” Trinity giggled.  “What the heck is that?”

“The Bar V?” Ethan shrugged, “It’s the family brand, and thus the name for the ranch.”

Trinity scowled and cocked her head in confusion, “So your family has a brand? Like Coca-Cola or something?”

Ethan laughed, “Not exactly. It’s a set of symbols owned by ranchers that are burned or frozen into the hide of livestock to identify ownership.”

“How barbaric!” Trinity exclaimed.

Ethan shrugged, “We mostly use microchips now, but there are a few traditionalists out there.  It’s a lot harder to change a brand than a microchip.  You can use a running brand, but you can still see the original brand under the skin.”

“It sounds cruel.”

Ethan shrugged and rolled up his sleeve to show an odd semi-rectangular scar on his upper arm, “Technically I was branded.  I don’t know the biology of it all, but it didn’t really hurt beyond the initial sting.” Pulling down his sleeve he turned his attention back to his meal.  Eyeing the remainder of the slice of pizza he picked it up and finished it off in two bites.

Trinity considered it for a moment and shrugged unconvinced, “Maybe, but it still sounds barbaric. I’m glad we don’t live on Terra Alpha. You people are monsters.”

Ethan laughed not offended by the slight.  He was used to his home planet being called a backwater hillbilly hellscape.  But, the truth of the matter was that it was a beautiful planet with sweeping plains of golden grasses, towering peaks, and beaches with crystal clear water and sand so white it could almost blind you on a sunny day.  Capital City was a thoroughly modern metropolis and did trade with all the major powers in this region of the galaxy.  There was even a Ferengi Stock Exchange.

“You never know, you might find you’ll like it,” he said with a shrug as he took a long drink from his cup. “It’s one of the prettiest planets I know.  Might even be better than Earth since major cities aren’t overcrowded and everywhere. More natural beauty if you will.”

“You sound like you are on the tourism board,” she teased.

Ethan shrugged, “I just love home is all.  Someday I’m going to own my own ranch.  Not in the plains like grandpa, but up in the mountains.  Nothing crazy, just ten-thousand acres or so.  That gives me a decent 2,000 head herd.”

“Well it’s good to have goals.  You don’t want to join Starfleet? As soon as I turn seventeen I’m heading to the Academy if they will accept me.”

Ethan shrugged, “Naw, I don’t think so.  I’ve had my fill of being stuck here in a tin can.  I need my wide open spaces.”

“I can appreciate that, but it would be nice if I knew someone at the Academy.”

Ethan shrugged not taking the hint, “You’ll make friends I’m sure.” He checked his chronometer and his eyes grew round, “I got to go!” He gathered up his PADDs and tossed the remains of his meal onto the tray.  “It was good seeing you Trin.  See you around.”

He shoved his tray into the replicator for recycling and then disappeared into the horde that made up the people of Starbase 75.   Trinity simply shook her head.  Boys!