Thank you to everyone who read or reviewed the last conversation. You're so great at keeping me happy and writing.

I accidentally almost did not write a response email for this. All the rapid message chapters messed up the sequencing. Fortunately, during proofreading, I realize that I missed writing the response for day 234.

However, because the Enterprise is much closer to the New Vulcan system, I decided to go ahead and put the replies to day 240 arriving first.

Day 277: So, This Is What the Calm Before the Storm Looks Like in Email Form

From: Kevin KR

To: Spock' s_cuddlebunny

Time arrived: 11/26/2260 00:00:01

Subject: The Starfleet PTBs need to stop sending stupid officers to the Academy to teach as a punishment.

That seems to be the only reasonable explanation for some of the crappy professors we have received. I'm sure there's a lot of things that Nyota's mom would not want Liz's now-former professor to know about what happened on Vulcan. I'm sure you got Liz's email by now about what happened. Add another one to the ass hole professor club. The best instructor I had at the Academy was Sue, and in her case, she was sent back to Earth because she had the audacity to get pregnant.

Because Liz is a masochist, she's not switching topics even though I think she should. Liz does have a strategy, and her mom is helping, which is good. Liz is still cursing you out under her breath, though, because this was so much easier before you fucked up the system for everyone.

The cursing has increased tenfold because Liz is now in the putting her crew together phase of the process. She's stressed out over it. Having to help the Admiral with the Starfleet Halloween party over the weekend did not help. Although she is much better at picking up piñatas than me. I'm happy to report that the kids did not accidentally get covered in condoms and little lube packets. Although we probably should get one again for Ben and Sulu's bachelor party for whenever that wedding will be.

Honestly, I'm not sure that Ming would've noticed if Lizzy got the wrong one. She was out of it. As if her mind were somewhere else entirely. I'm worried that something awful happened that she couldn't tell us about. Although I feel like if it involves you, I will know about it. I've already heard about the sentient volcanic rock creatures through the Starfleet Grapevine, even though it was confirmed by Liz's mom. There are members of the brass that still don't believe it happened even with the video footage. Apparently, I'm not allowed to look.

What are you guys doing now? I heard you got pulled out of there for the sake of peace, but I don't know what happened next. Again, Admiral mommy is twitchy. This is making me flashback to Tarsus when my biological parents were trying to hide the fact that we were running out of food.

Liz says not to worry about it, but I am worried because there must be something wrong going on, and nobody is talking about it. Which feels like most of my childhood, but that's neither here nor there.

Anyway, tomorrow is Halloween. Liz got different costumes and many pumpkin peeps. Also, she decorated. There are cobwebs in bizarre places, but it makes her happy, so I'm just going to go with it. We invited Nyota's mom to come over, but we don't know if she will. I think she's a little worried about hanging out with us right now since she's overseeing Liz's class.

Do you know about that already? You probably do. I don't always read Liz's emails to you. Also, considering what happened, it may have made the Starfleet Grapevine. Nothing like corruption on campus to get the masses talking.

Things are a bit of a mess, which makes me grateful I'm going to be on Discovery next year. I wish I didn't have to be without Liz for six months, but that is what happens when your girlfriend is several years older than you. She did her semester before we were dating, and I was miserable then too. I really should've realized I was in love with her back then.

So being the wonderful little brother that I am, I called the storage company and got everything moved to San Francisco. You're welcome. I'm also going to take a few days in the next week and get the best toys and other stuff to bring. I will also see if there are any keepsakes from his mom.

Do you have any pictures of any of the things that got left behind because of contamination? Maybe I can try to get some replicas, or you can see if engineering can pull off some miracles. I was always mad Teddy Rocks got lost on the planet of the damned. I loved that bear, but I think he burned during the rioting. My mom gave me that. I've been looking for a while for a replacement. I found one a few months ago at a vintage toy store. Liz got me the replacement. God, I love that woman.

I think it's essential for you to share stuff about Sam with Peter even though it's hard. He needs that connection. He needs to know that we are his family. It's part of the healing process.

I'm willing to acknowledge maybe I was a little clingy during the first year, but I appreciate you letting me be that way. Tarsus was hell.

I still think you should try harder to figure out how to recall messages. Seriously, there will probably become a point where you're going to want it. Although kudos on figuring out how to block messages. I assume I'm just one little piece in the puzzle that led to Nyota asking you to block Christine's emails.

Also, it's probably better that Nyota had that conversation with Jo-Jo sooner rather than later. You know I saw some messed up shit on Tarsus, and I was younger than her. So those conversations are critical to have. You were younger when the stuff with Frank started. I think this is my way of telling you that you need to have that conversation with Peter.

I don't think Liz would want to bring you or Spock back to the bad place. It's why she's not talking to any of the survivors we know that are on campus. I think her new strategy is to mostly rely on the records. The official report is filled with lies and omissions the I can spot just by the things you told me.

Although we knew that was going to be the case coming in. I've read the barely redacted report for Tarsus, and it's also filled with lies and omissions. If that made you sick, you don't want to know what really happened; you just don't.

I'm glad Peter is settling in and adjusting to Enterprise life. I know firsthand how hard it is to get used to a new family after your parents' death. At least I knew Winona before she brought me home. In a sense, you're a stranger to Peter. Yes, you're related to him by blood, but he didn't know you, and that's a lot to get used to. It's good he's calling you Uncle Jim, at least sometimes. Just let him go at his own pace.

I am happy to hear that he was OK with Spock going on that away mission. Although considering what I heard about the mission, that may have been a bad judgment call on his part. How did he deal with the fallout? I only heard a little about what happened. What happened? I heard there was a fatality, but since no rapid messages followed, I know it wasn't the brother in law.

Hey, I need to cut this short; Liz's mom just called us in. We must go into Starfleet for something she won't tell us about over the COM. I'm worried because she doesn't sound good. You better not be dead. If you are, I'm gonna find some more of that magical blood and bring you back again just so I can strangle you. Don't think I won't.

From: Spock' s_cuddlebunny

To: Kevin KR

time sent: 11/26/2260 21:32:41

Subject: It only took three and a half weeks to get this.

Just reading this email was extra surreal. The fact that it took so long to get here makes it even more surreal. Maybe the Starfleet PTBs were holding messages for a couple of days? It seems a reasonable countermeasure after a conspiracy to start a war is discovered. I got replies two days ago from Dr. Suarez and Spock's grandfather, even though I wrote to them a week later. That's weird, but we are much closer to them.

I think you literally wrote that email before you found out about Sue's kidnapping and thankful rescue. I'm aware Halloween plans were derailed entirely, but I think the baby had more fun just eating peeps with Liz. Those were some adorable pictures.

Also, I assume you never got around to going through the storage units? I understand if you didn't because it's been a weird couple of weeks. You had more important things to worry about. I'll talk to engineering to see what they can do. Spock being Spock, he did take pictures of everything. I know Scotty would've been able to do it. Unfortunately, Scotty will be on the Hamilton until early February at a minimum.

We are almost done with the Hamilton investigation. It's been bad. Like Spock asked Bones and Nyota if they would be willing to host another sleepover yesterday bad, so I could break into the Vulcan headache stash. It was necessary, so necessary. I love my husband.

Peter was happy because he got cuddle time with JoJo. Margarita says that it's OK to encourage it. I'm going to trust my child's therapist on this one

Let's just say I am now looking forward to two to possibly three months of working with members of the Vulcan Science Academy mapping nearby planets. As well as setting up a satellite network to study the New Vulcan system. Yes, they're calling it that. I feel like they should have kept the original name, but Vulcans are Vulcans. I'm not going to argue. There's just no point.

I'm sure you're aware by now that I've been in contact with Liz. I'm grateful that she didn't need me for her project. Although I heard Nyota was invaluable by sending her the unedited reports. I sent mine as well, although I feel those would probably be less useful. At least for the angle that she's going with.

The picking out your own crew portion of the exam is not a new thing. I made Bones my first officer. I don't think he's forgiven me for that yet. I know Liz will pick out a good crew, and I heard you have already been chosen for First Officer. One word of advice I would give is don't go entirely with friends. I picked Nyota even though she hated me at the time, and it was the best decision I made during the entire exam. She is the best.

I'm really looking forward to seeing you soon, especially after everything that's happened recently it's all been a lot. Please bring lots of chocolate. Spock will probably need it.

The disastrous volcanic rock creature's incident feels like 6 million years ago at this point. I think I'd rather deal with that than this Hamilton bull shit. So many dirty officers, it's ridiculous. I have lost 10% of my crew because they're going to be moving to the Hamilton. I also have a lot of people in the brig right now. We will be making a stop at a still not named Star Base to drop everyone off before going to meet the VSA team. I really would like to get the incarcerated people off my ship. It's all been a lot.

I would tell you what happened, but I'm just going to send you the report on the volcanic rock creatures' incident. You have the security clearance for it, and you might get a chuckle out of it. It was so absurd I'm not even surprised that there are members of Starfleet that refused to believe it happened. Then again, these are the members of Starfleet that refused to believe all things happen.

Peter is doing good. Peter is still doing good, which I find to be a damn miracle after the last couple of weeks. He's not even mad at me for having him do a sleepover night, so I could have a Vulcan headache Blondie and get fucked out by my husband. First, Spock came back injured from the Vulcan rock creature fiasco. Then Sue's kidnapping. Even though he doesn't know Sue, he knows Sulu a lot and has gotten attached to baby D even though he only knows her from videos. I think the thought of another kid losing his mommy hurt him.

Not to mention that we had to put the kids in lockdown while we were searching for Sue. I hated doing that. Before that, we just barely got Peter sleeping in his own room again. Unfortunately, I had no choice but to keep them in lockdown. It was the best way to keep them safe while we were in hostile space. Yet despite all of this, Peter is only seeing his therapist one more time a week. Again, it's a miracle.

Peter and I have been bonding over stories of Sam and more comic books. Plus, I've been doing some art projects with the kids. We've been doing a lot of quality watercolor time. It has been helping me get through the chaos that is the Hamilton. I can't have Vulcan headache Blondie's every night. Thankfully, we're almost finished with the investigation and can be done with this.

Well, as done as I can be with a substitute chief engineer for a while. Honestly, I'm not even sure when Scotty will be back. I don't know if Scotty will be back in February. Turns out, the chief engineer was also in on the plot. I don't even know anymore. I'm just so done with Hamilton drama. I'm glad you chose Discovery.

Hey, is Discovery picking you up from Vulcan, or are you going on to Yorktown? I feel like Spock's dad would like to see Michelle again. I'm assuming probably picking you up there because I know they're not actually going on to Yorktown until mid-January. Not until it's time for the Vulcan consulate to set up shop. Also, I think Ben must spend a few weeks at the VSA for part of his training. I think Sue will spend some time there to do some work, or she might just be hanging out at Spock's dad's house for a while. It's not like she doesn't have the vacation time.

I'm probably going to have to call and work that out with the father in law, but I really don't want to. He's a diplomat, so he does contact us more than he probably should, but it's good for Peter to hang out with his cousin. We were going with that because their ages are too close. I feel like the father in law has something planned.

Anyway, how's Liz doing? Please let her know that Sue is doing well. She's even crashing fencing practice.

There are actual rules that make it impossible to recall messages, and I haven't figured out how to break them yet. I will figure it out eventually. You're right; these conversations must happen sooner rather than later. Especially because Jo Jo is Peter's cuddle friend. Thankfully, it's platonic cuddling.

I just realized that I was younger than Peter is now when the Frank stuff started. That seems bizarre because mentally, I feel like Peter might be younger than me, which is saying something. After all, his mother died less than six months ago. I had an intensely fucked up childhood, and you had a very fucked up childhood. Maybe together, we can make sure Peter, JoJo, and babies D and K will have better ones than we did. One can hope, right?

To be continued