Of Acorns and Trees
Posted on January 31st, 2010 by Ian Blackthorne

“Dad!” Ross Blackthorne’s blue-jean eyes widened as he ran to the comm terminal, almost pressing his nose to the camera.

“Hey there,” Ian smiled. “I hope you liked your Christmas presents.”

“Oh yeah! The video games were awesome and I’ve already finished with the Atlantis model! Hold on I’ll show you.” Ross ran off and quickly reappeared with a large model of a Sovereign-class starship,remarkably well detailed with all the correct markings of the Atlantis. “Some of the kids don’t believe me when I tell them my dad’s an Admiral and commands this ship and a whole fleet!”

With a chuckle, Ian answered, “They’re just jealous, of course. Do the phasers work?”

“Yep!” With a button press on the model’s hull, holographic phasers shot out of the saucer. “I’m gonna try to get Mom to get me a Romulan warbird so they can fight.”

“Watch those plasma torpedoes, they pack a mean punch.”

“Oh, I know! And the cloaking device… but they have to decloak to fire, right?”

Narrowing his eyes, Ian answered, “Someone’s been studying.”

Ross leaned in close to the camera, his voice taking on a conspiratorial tone. “I wanna join Starfleet. Don’t tell Mom.”

Of course he wouldn’t tell – as soon as Ross’s mother found out, the blame would quickly be cast upon Ian.
“Your secret’s safe with me, but you’d better buckle down in your science and math classes. She sends me your report cards, you know.”

“Oh, um, yeah, but I got B’s in those last quarter. That’s a good grade,” Ross said without confidence.

“Of course it is.” Now Ian leaned into the camera, his face softly lit by the glow of a Vulcan serenity lamp. “But you can get A’s, and you’ll need them to get into the Academy.”

Staring at the model ship for a few long moments, the boy chewed on his lip. “Okay. They only want the best, right?”

“That’s right. Tell you what, if you get straight A’s this quarter, I’ll not only get you that warbird; I’ll schedule a speech at your school. Then they’d have no choice but to believe you about your Dad.”

Not quite to the age that he’d find that embarrassing, Ross’s face lit up. “That means you’d be coming to Earth to visit! It’s a deal.”

“I’ll come visit anyway, as soon as I can. I’m out pretty far, though, so it’ll be a while. You hang in there and do well in school. Less video games, more studying.”

“I will, Dad.”

“Love you, son,” Ian smiled at the screen, suddenly find himself quite pleased at his son’s desire to follow in his footsteps, however long it may last.

“Love you too. Bye!” The comm went dark and only the serene golden-blue glow of the Vulcan light remained. Ian poured himself a drink and put his feet up on the desk, leaning back in the chair as he took a long sip, wondering how far he had to be from Earth to be safe when Ross’s mother eventually did find out.