Pure luck saved them from disaster. That, and an attentive member of the Admiralty Staff, vigilant enough to notice that a new, zealous star at the PR-department discovered an unusual gap in one of the Admiral's schedules. No sooner than done and said Admiral was assigned to a small but yearly PR stunt called, "Surprise VIP visitor" on one of Arcturus school's.

It's catch being it was Rear Admiral Boris Michailovich.
The few who got wind of this among the Admiralty staff sighed with immense relief at the avoided misadventure, even Hackett.
While Michailovich was a skilled commander and a mean son of a gun on the battlefield he was as mean and grumpy outside of it. There was not much charm or social skill to talk about there, hence Hackett never let his officer attend any welfare or PR-stunts.

The rear Admiral in a class with teens was to ask for disaster, period.

Since it might be contra-productive to cancel the event altogether, Hackett volunteered instead. After all, the school was located in the vicinity of the HQ and a hour long visit, and break, from tedious desk work the same afternoon, was a fair deal.

In hindsight, Hackett missed one important detail, too.

It wasn't fifteen-year-old students. And now he endured the firm scrutiny of about two squads of children around seven or eight years old. Impassive faces and a long, heavy silence rivaled even that of any doubtful turian.

While some studied his uniform meticulously from top til toe, others peeped at him and threw sideways looks. But all their tiny faces were serious, poker-faced and unblinking.

Thank the gods we didn't send Boris here, Hackett concluded in earnest, as relieved as he felt lost in this new and uncharted territory.

It began the moment the classroom door closed behind their young teacher, Ms. Wang, who strolled out of the crowded classroom after a few minutes. She would only fetch a paper she said and 'would be be back in a moment.'
Right. But since he hardly was in a position to protest, the only decent thing was to gauge the situation and try find a tactical opening. And hope he could avoid any mines.

Half sitting, half leaning at the edge of the anonymous classroom desk, he slowly removed his cap and placed it on the desk beside him. It probably only made him appear intimidating anyway.
He took a new look around the classroom and at he lemon-colored walls that were littered with images of Earth flags, colony symbols, and star systems.
Maybe he could use that somehow?

"So children, how much do you know about space?" A fair opening move he assumed and waited with a patience that had been honed through decades. After ten long seconds a perhaps seven-year-old girl with a hazelnut brown bobcat, swallowed hard and peered intently at his head and face.

"Why do you look so old?" She finally blurted out, apparently more shy of him than concerned with if her question was too blunt.
Speechless and deadpan by the frankness in the question, Hackett's gray eyebrows shot up to his hairline. He hadn't seen that one coming, but liked it, and choose tactics carefully.

"You mean I look old because of this?" he inquired in a heedful and hopefully soft tone, and pointed at his gray hair and goatee. The girl nodded tentatively.

They were tense, he realized. As if anticipating something, although he couldn't quite wrap his head around what.

"It's because I met a scary space monster once and got so afraid it turned my hair gray - just like this," he mustered all the Admiral's gravity onto his features and rapidly snapped with his fingers in the air before them.
They all jumped a feet, gasped or cried out with eyes large as saucers. Aha, now I have you.
Hiding the smile lurking on his lips and tugging the corners of his mouth upward, Hackett continued and slumped intentionally. "No, it was a joke. The truth is that my hair began turn gray when I was still quite young. It is said I got it from my father."

Fifteen erect backs relaxed considerably and a few even giggled, feeling sheepish. One boy, among the oldest, blonde and pale peered at him with a sad glimmer in his eyes.
Before Hackett could decide whether to ask or not, another kid blurted out, incredulous.

"But don't you know your daddy?..."

"Oh I know who he was alright. But sadly he died before I was old enough to get to know him."

Again their postures slumped or faces betrayed their reactions. It was truly fascinating to observe these immediate, straightforward reactions as the children pondered and merged every new piece of information into their still limited worldview.

It was charming even, he realized surprised.

"Mine died too", murmured the sad looking, blonde boy suddenly and threw a hesitant glance at Hackett's alert face.

A pang of empathy erupted in Hackett's chest and he nodded gravely.

"I'm sorry to hear, son. More than you know." What else could he say?

He knew all about having only one parent and suddenly loose her when still a child. But he lacked all experience on how to deal with children their age - well, of any age to be honest.
So he knew nothing more than that a child should have the undivided attention of preferably two parents. Which was precisely why he had been very careful throughout his life, for if he fathered a child he wanted to be there for it. But he had chosen a military life and career willingly.
In the end his earnest sympathy was all Hackett could give the boy.

Nevertheless, he detested with all of his heart that life should be so unfair to the smallest among them. Those who needed safety and support from loving parents the most. The boy gracefully nodded at Hackett with a composure far beyond his years, and a silent "me too" formed on his small lips.

The shared empathy eased the previous tension in the classroom, and barely had Hackett finished the line of thought before the next straightforward question hit him head-on.

"But why do you have a scar on your face?" Asked a blue-eyed, fair-skinned girl, perhaps seven, with soft long curls falling down to her tiny shoulders. Several others nodded in emphatic agreement.

Of course.

"That, is a secret I can only reveal to other Admirals. So you will have to wait a while for the answer, I'm afraid."

The girl's expression turned into something determined, but while he swallowed the amused chuckle on his tongue, a monumental collective disappointment suddenly hit the room like a detonating bomb in the void of space. Several of the youngest sighed in heartfelt regret, but no one dared to pursue the question.

Sudden mirth filled him when he put his hands together in his lap and took them all in.
"I think you're almost as demanding as the Parliament at our budget negotiations."

"What's a bugget?" murmured the youngest lass to a boy next to her.

"But, I can tell you this," It was time to change the strategy. "I command the galaxy's largest ship" and she is really big and powerful..."
Sharp intakes of impressed breaths and awed exclamations echoed through the classroom. Then another round of questions was blurted out from the older ones.

"Is it a dreadnought?"
"Does it have many guns?"
"Have you been in battle?"

"And, I can tell you something about her not many know..." he waited a moment and added with a voice that dropped for every syllable, "if you'd like to know?.."
Excited everyone leaned forward and two of the youngest jumped impatiently up and down, crying out, "tell us, tell us."

"The Orizaba has the largest, most mighty gun in the galaxy."

Perhaps he stretched the truth just an inch there, but considering her total weaponry and the newly installed Thanix, it was true enough.
Awed commotion erupted among them, mouths hung open, a few cheered, the older more composed among the classmates let out impressed gasps while yet a few simply stared each other.
That's the spirit, Hackett thought, crossed the arms over his chest and shifted position, eyes raking over his young crowd.
A warm smile played at the corners of his mouth, he appreciated their immediate, frank reactions and lack of pretenses.
They could probably be a handful for their teacher though, but there was something truly invigorating about them too - especially the younger ones who were even more upfront and direct.

One girl in the back of the group didn't join in with her classmates, however. With full brown hair braided around her head in intricate patterns, it reminded Hackett of Admiral Lindholm's blonde braids. The proud posture too.
Ines would have charmed and swept the bunch off their feet in mere seconds with her extrovert, warm charm, he thought and met the challenging, witty green eyes patiently.

"Everybody knows the turians have the biggest guns in the galaxy!" She stated knowingly with clear and well-articulated voice over the buzz from her younger classmates.

This time he just couldn't help the whole-hearted laughter - with a composed boldness like that the lass reminded even more of Ines.

"Of course! But you know what, that's only because we want them to think so..." and winked at them.

And this time it was on the other hand the complete truth.

¤¤¤
Class teacher Amanda Wang hid behind the classroom door and peered inside its window at the scene playing out before her.

The distinguished, composed man who entered the classroom fifteen minutes earlier now sat smiling and chuckling softly and untroubled with eyes twinkling of amusement at the children's many questions.
It was as if ten years had disappeared from the Fleet Admiral's shoulders, and she realized their VIP-guest probably wasn't more than fifty or so.

More important was that her wild gamble to leave them alone for a short while, paid off in the end. That he had won the kids over.

It was rude of her to leave the Fleet Admiral, but Amanda's hunch had been correct.

Perhaps most satisfying of all was that her oldest student, the solemn and grieving nine-year-old, Tobias, now sat listening to the Admiral with eager admiration shining in his eyes.
For a short while he was blessed with a tranquil haven from the sorrow after his dead father. A grief that too soon would return.

Sorrow was merciless that way, Amanda thought ruefully.

From inside the room the Fleet Admiral's deep voice pulled her back to reality.

"Hold your horses! One at a time or you'll drown me!" Amanda heard him laugh quietly when she opened the door and entered. The merry Admiral stood with hands lifted before him to keep all the machine-gun sputtering questions at bay best he could.

¤¤¤
Twenty minutes and many additional questions later, Hackett said his goodbyes and was heading back to his office, lighthearted and surprisingly invigorated. Back at his office he made some coffee and leaned against a bookshelf to sip on it. Shaking his head at the last hour events Hackett relished the lingering warmth on his tongue as much as the warm hope in his chest.

Those kids represented that hope he realized, and bore the seeds of future greatness for humanity. And who knew, all of a sudden the years would have flown by and one of them might become an officer in the Navy, dressed in blue and gold too.