It was the end of the day. Admiral Ahdee?khee opened up the door to his estate, located in Long Island, New York, and stepped into his home. It was an ordinary day for him. He was a newly appointed Admiral, working with Starfleet?s joint chiefs of staff, and had finished a string of meetings with them at Starfleet Command in San Francisco. Now he was at home, across the continent, and he was looking at his son sitting at the kitchen counter.

?Hey guy, I?m home.? He usually called his son ?guy?; it was a nickname that had grown on him as his son had gotten older. However his son actually was named after him - Glenn Ahdee?khee. He was nine years old, due to turn ten in only two months, and for some reason he hadn?t acknowledged his father?s greeting.

As the Admiral approached he noticed his son had a halfway finished glass bottle of root beer in his hand. He didn?t have his homework in front of him, nor did he have a book or magazine, he was staring down at the counter top obviously deep in thought.

?Glenn,? he asked, ?is everything okay?? Glenn shook his head to the question, still not speaking.

?What?s wrong??

?The kids in school,? he finally answered, ?I got into a fight today.?

?What happened??

?They started making fun of me again, because I?m weird, and when I told them to cut it out three of them beat me up. I didn?t even do anything to them, I was just trying to play with them outside at lunch.?

It had become quite a problem since Glenn was in elementary school. For some reason, despite his best efforts, he really couldn?t fit in. It was almost as if the other children knew that there was something different about him and despite the very small group of friends that he made, his other classmates had practically ostracized him socially.

Glenn?s father leaned over, taking a look at his face to inspect his son for any physical harm that he may have endured.

?You heal good kid, you don?t even have a scratch on you.? His father told him with a small smile on his face in an attempt to cheer his son up.

?I?m not laughing dad, I?m so angry. I can?t even defend myself when there are three of them. By the time the teachers get there it?s too late.?

?Have you tried doing what I told you? Do you tell the teachers what happened??

?They don?t do anything dad, they just separate us and talk to us, but the kids always come back a day or two later.?

?Well then, you need to fight them back Glenn. Don?t ever let anyone lay a hand on you or hurt you, you need to stand up for yourself. If no one is going to help you then you have to help yourself.?

?But dad,? Glenn rebutted. His eyes were welling up with more tears as he gripped his glass bottle tighter, struggling as he tried to look up at his father. ?That?s so easy for you to say. You?re a Starfleet Officer, you?re a war hero, and you saved Earth from the Neosapiens. Everyone respects you and people listen to your orders without thinking twice, and here I am - too scared to even stand up for myself. Sure, my dad?s a hero and what am I? I?m a coward.?

Glenn?s head lowered in disgust. The words that he held for so long, pent up inside of him were finally coming out. He hated feeling that way, but what was far worse was the embarrassment he felt by telling his father. From the moment he arrived home he was dwelling on the notions of his apparent failure, and thinking thoroughly about how he didn?t fit into his family line. Since he was a small child he was taught about his proud family heritage:

His father was a war Veteran and Starfleet Captain promoted to Admiral.

His grandfather was one of the United Federation of Planets founding members.

His great-grandfather was a highly decorated police officer and public servant.

Then there was him. A child who couldn?t find the strength to defend himself from his peers, and a person whose self-esteem was almost completely shattered.

But his father didn?t feel that way at all.

As Glenn sat in silence his father opened the refrigerator and removed the same beverage his son was drinking. Popping off the top, it hissed with the sound of a carbonated release, while he walked back around the counter. He placed the bottle down on the counter and sat next to his son, looking over at him with care in his eyes.

?Glenn,? he started, placing his hand on his son?s shoulder. ?I want to give you a little bit of advice, take it how you want it, but I think it fits your situation.?

Glenn?s father had the feeling that this moment was a unique moment in his son?s life. When all hope seemed lost and his son was desperate for guidance and knowledge, he would be the person to help him through it. He was hoping that the advice he was about to give him would be the sort of advice that would shape him and stick with him for the rest of his life.

?Heroes are brave, right?? Glenn nodded as he asked. ?And people that are brave aren?t afraid you?d say?? Again Glenn nodded. ?Well, I?m going to let you in on a little secret about heroes, Glenn. Bravery? is not the absence of fear, but the will to overcome it. A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles, and a hero is a man that does what he can when no one else will.

?You don?t need to command armies or rush into a burning building to prove you?re a hero, in fact, heroes don?t feel the need to prove themselves at all.?

Glenn turned to look at his father now. His eyes were still red and irritated but something in what he was telling him was making sense. His father wasn?t mad at him and he wasn?t embarrassed by his son?s feelings, he was mentoring him and explaining that it was okay to feel the way he was feeling.

?The youth, intoxicated with his admiration of a hero, fails to see, that it is only a projection of his own soul, which he admires. I served my planet Glenn, that?s what I did. I fought against the oppression of an enemy that wanted to destroy the entire human race, and I worked together with my fellow officers to achieve the ultimate goal: victory.

?What you admire of your grandfather and me is something that is inside of you. You need to take your fear, embrace it, and turn it back on the people that try to instill that fear into you. Then, when you?ve overcome your own personal issues, take a look around. See if there is anyone struggling with the same issues that you?ve had -- or are still having -- and lend them a hand. You?ll notice that one day someone will be looking at you and calling you a hero, and you?ll just be telling them that you were doing what you could.?

?Really dad?? Glenn asked with a smile curling on the edges of his lips.

?You?re already my hero kid. It takes bravery to admit when you?re scared and it takes bravery to ask for help. What more could I possibly ask for in a son??

?I- I promise, I?ll stand up to them next time. If they want to fight me, then I?ll give them a fight. I?ll fight them every day until they learn to respect me and leave me alone.?

?All I can ask of you, is for you to try, Glenn. Violence and retaliation isn?t always the answer, but sometimes you need to fight fire with fire.?

?Thanks dad.?

?You?re welcome. Say, how about we finish off these drinks and we?ll play around in the back yard a bit before dinner time??

?That sounds good to me.?