Thank you to everybody who read or left kudos for the last section. I always appreciate your feedback. You're so wonderful.

I also want to thank everybody who wished me well regarding my surgery. I really want to show my appreciation.

I also want to let you all know that I've encountered more turbulence in real life. This past week my mother died due to complications of Alzheimer's, so I have been going through a lot recently. A lot of stuff is pre-written right now, but there could be delays down the road. However, those of you who remember my story The Denial Phase, you are aware that writing is how I process things.

Day 346: Greetings from middle school hell

From: Saavik of New Vulcan

To: Peter_K

Time arrived: 1/29/2261 00:00:01

Subject: The new school is still better than the last one

Thank you so much for writing back. It's always good to hear from you. Thank you for sending me the video files. I find those Muppets extremely fascinating. The ambassador was familiar because he had watched the show on Earth. Although it couldn't have been because of Amanda because Spock would've been aware. It's best that I don't ask questions.

As requested, I sent you a list of recommended classic Vulcan media. Most of it is adaptations of Earth literature and plays. There was a lot of that after First Contact with Earth. And since you're already familiar with a lot of it, it would be an excellent place to start before going into the pre-reform works.

I have discovered that the International School studies Vulcan's entire history, not just post-reform society. We'll also be reviewing much of the art and culture from earlier. There's more of a focus on that here compared to the traditional Vulcan curriculum, in addition to standard Federation history and cultural Curriculum requirements. This is interesting.

I'm sorry that things are more hands-on here. We actually get to go to the Vulcan botanical gardens once a week. I sent an email yesterday to Commander Sulu regarding my botany research project. Unfortunately, I had to send it to his work email because I lost his personal email. Can you please make sure he responds?

We got your paper. I'm not allowed to read it, which is entirely unfair. The ambassador is not happy. The official version of what happened the day of the cataclysm has a very anti-Romulan focus. Which makes sense, considering how I'm treated by most Vulcans. Gina's girlfriend is one of the few non-relative Vulcans that has been nice to me. Being in a same-sex relationship with a human means she's more open-minded than many of her contemporaries because she's dealt with much discrimination herself.

No, we did not have counseling services at the previous school. I am unsure if any would use them if it was an available resource. However, I refuse to be anything like those individuals and acknowledge that I might need outside assistance to work through my traumatic experiences.

I mentioned your suggestion to the ambassador. He is going to talk to Dr. Suarez to see if there's anybody who can work with young Vulcans. The new school has a staff psychologist, but the ambassador wants to check with Dr. Suarez before I see her. My foster father is very protective of me.

Anyway, right back when you get a chance. Also, I'm planning to write Josephine next.

Xxx

From: Kevin KR

To: Peter_K; kitten_loverJJMU

Time arrived: 1/29/2261 00:00:01

Subject: Greetings from intern hell

Greetings from Discovery. I miss all of you. Sorry, I'm writing you both together. The first week of being an intern is intense. Classes prepare you for ship life less than they should. I was warned about that by Liz and Jim, but I had to see it for myself. You two will be in a much better position than me because you're growing up on Enterprise and have already seen a lot of stuff.

My boss is OK, although he expects us to know everything already and doesn't bother to explain anything. Thankfully a few of the people on the team are more accommodating. Kelly used to work on Enterprise, so she feels it's her job to watch out for her favorite captain's brother. It's nice to have one person who doesn't hold being Jim Kirk's brother against me.

I do not like my roommates at all. They're not happy sharing their room with a Legacy brat when they had to earn their place and Starfleet. It got worse after the admiral decided to contact me herself. I am never living that one down.

Sorry for the ranting, but I can say these to you and Josephine and not necessarily to my big brother or girlfriend because they would intervene. The two of you will just let me vent. That's what I need.

So how are classes going? Is it much better now that Chris three is gone? I hope nobody is taking his place as the class asshole.

Also, how's the rest of the family? I'm still waiting for a response from my brother, although that's my fault since I told him not to rapid message me. I'm still waiting to hear from Liz directly. Hopefully, those messages will get here soon. All the other people around me have gotten letters from home, but I haven't. I wonder if that's connected to Jim's special encryption. Probably.

Xxxx

From: Peter_K

To: Saavik of New Vulcan

Time sent: 1/29/2261 19:07:01

Subject: Glad things continue to not be horrible

Write to your brother first, but there's a good chance that your letter to Josephine has already been sent out by the time you get this email. But if you move him up in rotation, that would be wonderful. He was a little sad that you wrote to the commander first. Although it was for schoolwork, so he understands.

Because you wrote to Sulu's work email, it got to him almost in real time. The delays in personal emails are super ridiculous. I know they want to be cautious with personal emails after the Vengeance screwup. Now people only get letters from their family once or twice a month when they got messages nearly daily. Or maybe that's just Enterprise because we were the ones active in the conspiracy. It seems that way from Kevin's letter. All his roommates have received messages from home, but he hasn't. I got a letter from him today. OK, me and Josephine got a letter together, and technically she's the one who's responding to him. I better text her to ask for clarification.

OK, I'm done. Josephine also says hi and can't wait to hear from you. I haven't been telling her too much of what's in your letters because I don't know what you want me to say to her. I'm sure you will tell her what you want her to know yourself.

I am sure Dr. Suarez will give Grandpa excellent recommendations. There's nothing wrong with seeing a therapist. I see one a lot, as I mentioned before. Although Dr. Margarita thinks I can go down to once a week soon. When I got here, I saw her three times a week. So two is already an improvement. However, because I could visit grandpa and deal with Uncle Spock's away mission without freaking out, she thinks I'm ready to step down. Although I have to keep writing in my therapy journal. :-(

I'm so jealous you get to go back to the gardens. Also, you're getting to look at more Vulcan culture in history. Can you send me the curriculum? I would love to learn this stuff too. We're doing the standard universal Federation curriculum, and it's a little dry. The extra Vulcan culture stuff we did in preparation for our field trip was the most exciting part. Now we're returning to the usual stuff, and I hate it.

Thanks for the recommendation list. Also, thank you for including some of the files. Uncle Spock is tracking down everything not included. There's a lot of stuff on your list that he still needs to watch.

Spock thinks his dad is familiar with Earth culture because of his time as an ambassador. Studying the culture of a planet you're working with is very important. This includes viewing the pop culture materials in the dossiers whenever possible.

Uncle Jim added that it was common after first contacts to do cultural exchanges with other planets. There are several Earth adaptations of classic Vulcan literature from the late 21st century and early 22st-century. Uncle Spock is also tracking down some of the stuff for me, but only the things without xenophobic undertones. Apparently, there was a lot of that, too, which doesn't surprise me after the great "Winter" Break research project.

I'm sorry you couldn't actually read the report. My uncles take classified material very seriously. Some of my essay is classified, or at least it is now. Whoops. But eventually, you'll be able to get answers to your questions. I hope so, anyway. I suggest talking with Granddad about it.

I hope things stay non-chaotic in school and things get less boring here. There's talk of a kids' rec room getting put in during the repairs next month, so we'll see how that goes. There's also talk of a fun field trip. We will see.

Xxxx

From: kitten_loverJJMU

To: Kevin KR

cc: Peter_K

Time sent: 1/29/2261 20:08:31

Subject: Greetings from junior high hell

We are not surprised that you're getting emails late when nobody else really is. Peter was already wondering if it was just an Enterprise thing. The cousin emailed Sulu on his work account one day earlier. The message arrived four days earlier than the one she wrote to Peter. You should talk to the mother-in-law about the next time she rapid messages you. You really should've just messaged your girlfriend. During fencing practice, I heard from Mr. Sulu that she is very annoyed with you. I think that's because she misses you.

You had to listen to me and Peter vent about everything for the last year. You deserve the same courtesy. I promise we won't say anything to Uncle Jim unless it hits the "we must tell an adult about this" threshold. It's a high threshold, which means you're either a danger to yourself or others.

I'm sorry that you have to deal with idiots. Before, people were mean to me at school because the judge pretty much owned the town. Some people assumed I ended up at the top private school in Georgia because the judge bought my way in. Not that I worked my butt off to meet the admissions criteria. My biological mom said people said the same thing about her when she got into the law programs at Vanderbilt and Emory. I'm sure my aunt had similar experiences when she got into Columbia. Anyway, I was told that they were all jealous idiots and you should ignore them. It was one of my biological mother's better pieces of advice. She had them occasionally when sober. Which, of course, was a rare thing.

We are slowly getting back into the swing of classes. No one has taken over as school asshole yet. But we might pick up a few more kids soon. Mom hasn't said anything, but I would be shocked if Scotty is the only crew member we pick up during repairs.

I'm glad you have at least one person watching your back. And maybe you will have more eventually. If you had told me 11 months ago that I would be friends with all the Ashleys, I would've called you a liar. And yet I adore all of them, even Ashley one. Although we are more acquaintances than friends. Ashley two and three are definitely good friends. It just took me time to cultivate those friendships. You have five more months to make friends. You'll get there unless you're in a Hamilton situation. But I feel like your captain wouldn't put up with that. I hope that's the case anyway.

So far, everything is going fine. OK, an Ensign lost a hand on an away mission due to carnivorous plants, but that was the only injury. And none of your family was on that mission. Although your brother plans to spend some quality time on a few moons. I think he purposely selected the boring assignments. Who knows with that couple. Anyway, we'll see you in five months. We will be counting down the days. Hopefully, things will start to move fast.

To be continued...