Second Year
Second Semester — Summer
Portions of the Enterprise's new AI software developed acute psychosis during acceptance testing. The starship lurched and jerked its way back to Starbase Alpha, near Earth's only natural moon, weeks ahead of schedule.
The AI had truly gone insane…
Gaila got a commendation and a stipend increase for her brilliant work diagnosing and treating the psychologically traumatized software. While she appreciated the recognition, the "Green Genius" (as Pike respectfully nicknamed her) would've preferred getting her life back. She did manage to keep touch with her still-recovering roommate and N'jera at their home compound (a trip she missed making to Africa thanks to the Enterprise's mentally deranged AI software). Nyota's status as a Vulcan diplomatic dependent doubled Gaila's comm allowance; calls to Africa no longer came out of her limited cadet allocation. On Orion, her mother and grandmother benefitted directly from these new "perks" – with full Federation medical, more and longer calls from their Academy "pride and joy" and larger credit transfers (sent to keep them "retired" from the planets oldest profession and largest industry — exploitation by men).
While analysis of the Enterprise's continual failures consumed the experts, those requiring little sleep had ample time to contact family and catch up on events since their departure. For Spock, this meant contacting his mother, a galaxy-renowned xeno-anthropologist, regarding her opinions on the most recent linguistics conference (that he'd missed thanks to an ill-behaved, ill-mannered and vindictive Constellation-class pain in his ass — to quote his mother). He didn't yet trust contacting Cadet Uhura — not with software handling the comms. His personal life would get blasted all over the 'nets given the ship's outright hatred of him and his test team.
Overcoming the inability of the Enterprise to do anything correctly, Gaila anonymously dropped the official vid (from the linguistics conference) in Spock's inbox. She reasoned he could use a pick-me-up: the ship's moody AI software trapped him in his shower for 9 hours and doused the desert-dweller in water — chilled by the warp engine cooling system (about 7º C [45º F]) — in protest of his plan to completely rewrite its personality modules. The toddler savant, Dr. Khan Noonien Singh, might someday be a brilliant cyberneticist, but right this minute (shaking in his shower to stave off hypothermia), Spock's half-human DNA wanted to shove the kid out an airlock… somewhere near the Klingon Empire…
Amanda Grayson communicated her unbridled enjoyment of this year's colloquium, particularly the closing presentation by a brilliant Academy cadet Spock might know.
As part of her discussion regarding current events, the wily mother casually mentioned the circumstances surrounding Vulcan Security's arrest of a former Academy cadet on attempted murder charges.
Spock immediately sent a dinner invitation to a special friend on Earth. Routed through Vulcan by his mother…
When Third Year Cadet Nyota Uhura entered his apartment months later, dinner was ready, his ka'athyra lay accessible for use and a book of pre-Surak love poetry lay open on the sofa.
I missed you, Spohkh…
He shyly kissed her, thanking her for all she had done for him, as he tenderly embraced her for the first of many times.