Troutman Redeemed

Two days ago, Rome, Rei and Aason dropped off Ursay and headed into space. Rome's parents were in Junior and the three Bieraks were in MINIMCOM. The next part of the story picks up right after they arrive back home, at Deucado:

     After dropping off Junior and her parents at their home on Deucado, Rome, Rei and Aason flew to Helome in MINIMCOM to remand Troutman and Steele into Virga’s custody.
     Upon arriving at Helome, MINIMCOM flew directly to the Erklirte settlement and landed in a field behind Virga’s home. Mother, father and the littlest Bierak exited MINIMCOM along with David Troutman. Steele was being so difficult they decided to leave him in his little cell until they could figure out what to do with him.
     Virga and Maury Keller came out to greet them.
     “I see you got one of them, at least,” Keller said upon spotting Troutman.
     “No, sir, we got both of them,” Rei said. He pointed over his shoulder toward starship MINIMCOM. “Steele is in a cell we rigged up. He’s being completely uncooperative.”
     “Figures,” Keller muttered.
     “What do you want us to do with them?” Virga asked.
     “This one here, he might be salvageable,” Rei said, pointing at Troutman who took a step forward.
     “Is it true, sir?” the tall, red-haired man asked Keller. “Are we giving up the fight?”
     “We already won,” Keller said. “Just a different planet than we thought.” He put his arm around Virga and gently rubbed her tummy. At the same time, a little boy wandered out of the house and came and put his arms around his father’s leg. “This is a beautiful world. We’re given free rein. We don’t need to conquer the Earth. We’re all working together now.”
     Troutman’s shoulders relaxed. “I’m so glad,” he said. “I just want to do something in my life that doesn’t include that idiot Steele.”
     Virga stepped forward and looked up into Troutman’s eyes. “Do you renounce your former life of violence and agree to become a contributing member of our society?”
     “Yes!” Troutman said enthusiastically, holding up his right hand. “Sign me up.”
     Rome came over and put her hand on his shoulder. After a moment, she said, “He is telling the truth.”
     “Good choice,” Keller said. “We’ll get somebody to fit you with one of these…” He held up his wrist to display the tracking bracelet.
     “What is that?” Troutman asked, cocking his head.
     “It’s like a security GPS kind of thing. It lets the Vuduri track us.”
     “Why do we need that?”
     “Because they, no we, don’t want our people messing things up by wandering off and plotting things like you two tried to pull off.”
     Troutman shrugged. “OK, if you say so. Frankly, I don’t care.”

Well, I'm glad Troutman had a change of heart. But what about Steele? Tomorrow.