Thank you to everybody who read or reviewed the last conversation. I'm so grateful for all your encouragement. You keep me in a happy writing place. Which is always a good thing.

Day 285: I hate the Kobayashi Maru

From: Elizabeth_Chen
To: kitten_loverJJMU
cc: Kevin KR
Time arrived: 12/03/2260 00:00:01

Subject: I'm not that upset that you couldn't recall.

In this case, I'm not upset that you couldn't recall your original message. Weirdly it's comforting knowing what was going on at the time of Sue's rescue even though you didn't know that was what was going on at the time. I'm also thankful for the sacrifices you Enterprise kids made so that my sister could be rescued. Being confined must have been really scary but just remember it was for a good cause. So tell all the kids thank you from me. I appreciate it.

Yes, Jim did send me multiple rapid messages. Rather, he sent them to Kevin, who broke the news to me gently or as gently as he could when I was already a crying mess. Mom told me about the kidnapping just a little before we got the rapid message. There was a lot of kissing and crying. I broke a few things, although that mostly happened when I found out about the initial kidnapping. My new PADD is 1000 times better than what I had before. Also, the lamp I broke was hideous anyway. So something good came out of all this craziness.

I'm just happy that Sue is safe now and far away from the drama of the Hamilton. I think being on Enterprise with all of you kids will be good for her for a little bit. I have to ask, how is she really doing? I trust you not to sugarcoat things.

In my years of experience, I've learned the importance of cutting out toxic family members that will just bring you down. I have an aunt from my birth mom who I haven't spoken to since before Tarsus. She didn't want anything to do with me after everything that happened until she found out I came with a very hefty trust fund because of the settlement. Whoever says our society has moved beyond money is lying through their fucking teeth. It's better than it used to be. There's no homelessness or food insecurity. We actually have universal healthcare. Poverty is almost nonexistent, but greed will always be with us.

That's also evident with the latest Kirk tell-all book circulating. I hope you're not able to download a copy wherever you are. Kevin said nothing in it is remotely accurate. They also refer to him as Kyle, the interloper, and pretender Kirk. He's trying to decide if they use the wrong name on purpose to make it harder for him to sue them for defamation or if they're just incompetent. Your aunt still thinks she can take them down. I like her.

I apologize for that tangent. Anyway, the point I'm trying to make is sometimes we can choose our own family, and they're better for us than family of blood. You have your new family with your Uncle Jim and Mommy Nyota. Although I am not 100% sure, you're going to consider Peter to be your cousin. But you're barely 13, and you should probably stick to the safety crushes. Pav was definitely a safety crush.

Don't be upset about the Judge. Maybe it's for the best to cut him out, especially if he can't respect who you are now. You don't need him. You have us because we are your family now. I'm always going to be there for you, no matter what.

So now I want all the juicy gossip from Enterprise. Again I want a sister update. Last I heard, Sue is sticking around until we meet on New Vulcan. Have you had an opportunity to hang out with her at all? She's kind of cool, sometimes. Other times she's the ridiculous overprotective big sister. Also, how are things with her and Gina? Last I heard, it's a little complicated.

How are relations with the other kids? Did being stuck in a confined space for several days make things better or worse? Is Peter still making friends?

I probably should apologize at this point for being a little late with this. I've been crashing on my Kobayashi Maru project because my brother-in-law just had to make them rethink the whole process. I turned my paper over to your grandmother about an hour ago. I am so happy about that. My mom wanted to proofread the thing. Probably to make sure I didn't put any family secrets in there or anything really classified, but I said no. Instead, I just let Kevin take care of that. He is the best proofreader.

I considered sending it to Ben because he now has a security clearance, but his husband died during that battle. I think it would be a bit much for him to read through all of that. I also considered Admiral Pike and Winona, but Jim and Chris were heavily involved. It might be hard for both to read. Also, Winona warned me that pregnancy hormones have done a number on Admiral Pike. We are just going to do everything possible to not make her cry.

I'm actually taking my Kobayashi Maru in two days. I'm the second one up. Mom requested that I go early because I'm escorting her on her official travel to New Vulcan. I understand the necessity of me going early, but I could've gone in the 10th spot and still would've got through the tests before we had to leave. I'm just glad Loki is going first.

Yes, I have a classmate named Loki. She is definitely a Loki, pre-heel face turn. Half the class calls her the princess of lies. I had no idea how Loki did today because I'm not allowed that information until after I'm done. Although going second means that I'm allowed to watch everyone else's test until I leave.

I'm so stressed out. I barely finalized my crew by the deadline. I have a few friends on my team. However, most are either required to be a crewmember for credit or those who volunteered to help Kobayashi Maru candidates. Your mom was one of those volunteers. That's how she ended up on Jim's crew the third time he took the test. They definitely were not friends back then. But obviously, they're good friends now.

Because I'm the second person in my class scheduled for the test, I'm allowed one planning meeting/run-through. Unfortunately, it couldn't happen until tonight. Kevin is baking cookies. Mom was supposed to take care of Desi, but she has to work. Ben is doing family stuff with Zoe and her mom. I don't think I'm ready to send D along for that. I guess I'm going to be doing the run-through with a kid. It will add an extra element. I might have to put her in the baby carrier and keep her with me during the practice session. That's not going to go over well. The older she gets, the more fussy Desi is about the baby sling. It's still common for babies her age, so I don't know why she complains so much about it.

Anyway, write back when you're able to. I hoped that we would get your response before leaving so we can get you more goodies but probably not. I think we might be departing even earlier than I thought because mom might need to make another stop before New Vulcan. Because it's official Starfleet sanction travel, I get to finish up on the ship. Fun.

I should get used to it because half my classes are going to be distance-learning next semester. The other part is going to be my second internship. Although I don't know what Starfleet department I will be officially interning in at Yorktown. I think mom is letting people bid on me.

Of course, I am bringing snacks. At a minimum, we need to fatten Sue up. Also, I may have been really depressed after Halloween, and purchased way too much half-price candy. It was a stressful time, but I'm working on it. I'm just going to focus on getting ready for the Kobayashi Maru and my finals.

As well as packing up for my semester on Yorktown. Have you already heard about that? Beyond what I said earlier in this letter? If not, you are probably really confused at this point.

Basically, with everything going on, I need a little break. It doesn't hurt to have more non Academy experience before graduating. Especially when your mom is the head of Starfleet. You want people to know you got your job because of your own skills and not your last name.

I thought about taking Kevin's name early, but Kirk seems like an even worse name in Starfleet to have right now. Neither one of us want to go back to our pre-Tarsus last names. We both associate too much dark energy with those names. In all honestly, we're not that person anymore. See, Kevin and I do understand why you changed your name. Maybe the hyphenated version of our last name can have less baggage. We can be the Kirk-Chens and therefore judged by our own merits. One could hope.

Anyway, do well in your classes, hug my sister for me, and send more pictures. We love pictures.

XXXX

From: kitten_loverJJMU
To: Elizabeth_Chen
cc: Kevin KR
time sent: 12/03/2260 12:49:31
Subject: I'm sure you did great on the Kobayashi Maru

I have sent more pictures. A lot of them are of your sister. She started tagging along to the fencing club now that she's cleared for light activity. Although dad doesn't consider fencing light activity, he is too afraid to say no. I had no idea your sister could fence. They are outstanding together. A little scary but we're learning a lot. (Although Ashley 3 says they are 30 seconds from making out.)

With the email system being the way it is, I think we already received pictures from your Kobayashi Maru a few days ago. We're not quite sure who sent them, but we think it might be my grandma. You know actual messages get lost. Although apparently, the gap is getting shorter. You sent your message four days after Ben sent his last to Sulu, but it arrived only two days later.

Do I want to know why Desi was strapped to your chest while taking the Kobayashi Maru? At first, we assumed it was your practice run-through, but Jim said you wouldn't be in full uniform for that. I feel like it was a significant babysitting failure. We all want answers to that. Although Uncle Jim said, it made you look badass and perfect captain material and strongest mom ever. My mom agreed. Sue found it adorable. Although we have so many questions.

Yes, the lockdown was scary, maybe even more so after discovering what was really happening. I'm trying to decide if it was better that I didn't know that we were looking for your sister. If we knew, Gina would not have been there with us. She kept us calm and under control during the whole lockdown. She's so much better than our first teacher.

It's been a month, and she is still upset at Uncle Jim for not telling her the truth. This is weird because it wasn't even Uncle Jim who made that decision. It was Uncle Spock; he's the captain, and what he says goes. OK, technically, they're both captains, but it's Spock's ship, at least on paper. Therefore he gets to make the final call. I don't know why Gina is still annoyed.

Yes, things are weird between Gina and your sister right now. Good news they are on speaking terms again. But obviously, there's some awkwardness there. Because everybody still sees me as a little kid, I'm not being told what's going on. Although I did see Gina reading a copy of the idiot's guide to multi-species Polyamorous relationships during class. So fingers crossed she'll get it.

I'm young but not an idiot. Family comes in all shapes and sizes. It is not my place to make snarky comments about that. Desi has a mommy and daddy and another daddy; that's a good thing. She even has a big sister too. This is great because being an only child sucks. If the miscarriage didn't happen, I would be a big sister right now. Sometimes that thought makes me really sad. But Spock said I can borrow his foster sister. I'm looking forward to getting to see her soon.

I like my new family. They're better than my old family. The only person salvageable from that was my aunt, so I'm bringing her into this new family. She needs it probably more than anyone else.

I am sad that you and Kevin are going to be away from her next semester. I hope she's making other friends in San Francisco. I heard about Chloe in her last letter. I was feeling better before with you and Kevin being around to keep an eye on her. Now she's going to be on her own again. But at least she's far away from the Judge.

I know she'll take care of the tell-all lawsuit. Jim managed to get a copy of the book. He broke a PADD. Because of that, I am banned from reading it.

The Judge tried to send another message to me, but it went to dad because I'm underage. He also broke his PADD when he was reading. I don't want to know what that email said. I think mom's team has now blocked all messages from him.

You don't have to bring me more goodies. Just getting to see you is going to be enough. Besides, you need to bring your own provisions for your time in Yorktown. I know Kevin is going to need to bring his own secret stash to Discovery.

Classes have been interesting these last few days. We managed to have one of our Vulcan researchers do a guest presentation today. Apparently, she's friends with Gina. They went to the same school in San Francisco when her dad was an ambassador there. I think Sue may have been a classmate as well. Per Spock, many of the Vulcans on board are a little more liberal because most were hiding abroad because they didn't quite fit into traditional Vulcan society. If these are liberal Vulcans, I don't want to know what conservative Vulcans were like pre-implosion. I'm getting the impression that they were really gigantic bigots per Saavik. She gets teased a lot for being part Romulan.

Spock has confirmed this because they did the same to him for being part human. Spock has been telling me and Peter stories about his childhood recently. There's a lot of people I want to punch on his behalf. How could they say such nasty stuff to a little kid just because his mom is human? Fortunately, most of these idiots are dead, and the one that isn't has been dealt with. Although nobody wants to explain to me what happened to him. I really hate being treated like a kid.

My classes are OK. One of the Chrises is a dick but still nowhere near as bad as Jeremy. No one is as bad as Jeremy. He flunked out of military school because, apparently, he killed someone's pet. I'm not surprised. Uncle Jim expects him to be in jail by the time he is 20, if not sooner.

Anyway, I would wish you good luck with your Kobayashi Maru, but I know it's already taken place. I can't wait to know the outcome. Although I'm sure you did well. I can't wait to hear from you.

New Vulcan is going to be fun. I managed to convince Peter to participate in our field trip. He was afraid to at first, but I talked him into it. We will be on New Vulcan by ourselves for two weeks, with our classmates and a chaperone.

I think Spock is a little afraid, but Jim convinced Spock that it's perfectly normal to send your kids in the summer to hang out with their grandparents. Unlike the other students who will be staying at the VSA, we will be with Grandpa Sarek. It is technically summer on New Vulcan. Also, Spock's dad is our good grandparent. Number two is the Admiral. She gives good presents. Winona is getting there, but we don't have the best options. I hope she stays sober. Again, the Judge is an abusive piece of shit and apparently, so is Nyota's father. She doesn't want to talk about him, and I respect that.

Anyway, I can't wait to see you soon.

To be continued…