Thank you to everybody who read or reviewed the last chapter. You are all fabulous. I really appreciate all your kind words.

Here we are, the last day of 2260. Sidenote: I actually wrote this chapter on New Year's Day 2022.

Day 313: Congratulations, We Survived 2260

From: SuluHG2260

To: NyotaUM

Time arrived: 12/31/2260 00:00:01

Subject: Greetings from the cliffs.

Hey, greetings from the cliffs. It's so beautiful here. We arrived just at sunrise so that we could beat the heat. Although I'm glad because it was a spectacular sight. Pictures attached. It's nice to watch the sunrise every once in a while.

We chose today for the hike because it will be a little cooler than usual due to rain. Actually, that's why we decided to do brunch today. It's beautiful there in the rain. Especially when you have a "bubble" to protect you from it. That hasn't happened yet. But I do see clouds. I thought I would take a moment to write to you while we're waiting for that to happen.

It was a nice hike, even though we took the easier trail. Neither kid tried to get out of their baby carrier. There are actually several trails available. Hiking is a popular leisure activity here, per the ambassador. All Vulcan leisure activities must still have a purpose, so leisure activities that double as cardiovascular exercise are trendy.

Per the experts at the wildlife sanctuary, the goal is in 20 years to start releasing some of the wildlife indigenous to the original cliffs back in this area. Although that depends on how the actual indigenous species react. So far, it's been going well, at least on the flora front. This planet really has a lot of similar characteristics to Vulcan of old. It does rain here more often, and there's more water. So, the researchers are trying to figure out how that changes things.

You asked about how Jim was handling the situation with the Elder. I think he's doing better now. A few days to process and a couple of emergency phone calls with Margarita have helped immensely. I think his big issue is now how to tell the kids. He's been reading a ton of books on this. He's also been talking to my sister. She votes for telling them now so that they have time to get in a goodbye.

Winona was also consulted and feels that it's better to tell the kids the truth now than hide it and have it be a surprise later on. At a minimum, they should know he's sick. Actually, Winona thinks that the Elder should tell the kids himself. She is annoyed at him. Winona also hopes that Spock's quality time in therapy has made him better at overall communication and breaking bad news.

You never answered my question if I should be concerned or not about her visiting the Elder. Probably because you realized I did need to be worried. I'm just grateful that I did not have to get Winona, Liz, or Kevin out of jail. Again, she's very annoyed with the Elder. My fiancé is 100% on her side. They really are best friends.

At the same time, this whole thing made Jim and Spock reevaluate their priorities. Mainly, do they want to stay in Starfleet beyond the five-year mission? I don't think the answer is still an easy "yes" anymore. Some of that is related to the Elder being terminally ill and Spock's renewed desire to help with the rebuilding efforts. Although Spock's father quickly pointed out that he could do a lot of good for his people in Starfleet, such as the current exchange program with the VSA. Spock was instrumental in getting that off the ground. I had no idea. That Vulcan does a lot on his day off.

I think being a parent has also affected their priorities. Which makes sense. I threw my original 12-year plan out the window when I found out I had a daughter. Now I have two, and I'll have a husband in a few months. So, it does change things. I definitely will never do another five-year mission. I don't want to be away from my family this long again.

When you have kids, they become your main priority. Along with that is trying not to take risks that would take you away from them. I don't want my babies to become Starfleet orphans. Baby K already lost one dad. I don't want her to lose another. I don't think Jim and Spock want Peter to lose another parent either.

Unfortunately, we just had another near miss. I don't think that conspiracy would have done anything even if they weren't caught this early because they were that incompetent, but it's still concerning. Regardless, I think this is going to make them consider their options. If Chris three's shenanigans result in the Enterprise kids program being shut down, they are definitely leaving.

I had a good visit with my sisters even though I didn't see them as much as initially planned. At least not my baby sister due to her dealing with the idiot conspiracy. It was nice to spend Christmas with them again, like when we were kids.

I also got to do a video call to the nieces yesterday. They've gotten so big. Peter joined us and told them a few stories about their biological mom. They enjoyed that. I know my brother-in-law did even though he cried. I think it helped him process his grief a little bit.

My big sister should be with you to set up Jim and Spock's not a birthday party by the time you get this. I think we were able to negotiate it to a Jim and Spock appreciation day. This morning your daughter made everybody realize that we shouldn't throw somebody a birthday party that doesn't actually want a birthday party. If they're going to have a party just to have cake, they should just have a cake party. You really should be proud of that girl.

It just started to rain, which means you're getting pictures of it. Actually, you're getting video. It really is magical. Your daughter has decided to leave the safety of the "bubble" and is now dancing in it. That is understandable since she hasn't seen rain since Valentine's Day.

Anyway, we'll see you soon.

PS: I've been told to tell you that lemon bars are coming. Spock is getting them himself. So, you know they're going to be strong.

xxx

From: MomOU

To: NyotaUM

Time arrived: 12/31/2260 00:00:01

Subject: Never ever agree to proxy the Kobayashi Maru

I apologize for waiting a few days to respond. I was ridiculously busy with the end of the semester. If you think taking the Kobayashi maru is exhausting, try administering it, especially the new version of the course. I want to slam my head against the desk.

I have read so many bad essays. Grammar AIs exist, and I think only five people actually use them. We need to add a writing class to the curriculum. Starfleet is 80% writing reports. It would help if people actually knew how to write something concisely. This is at the top of my list of possible education reforms.

It's OK that you said a little too much about the Hamilton incident. I've read the preliminary report, the actual preliminary report. We're currently deciding how to change the communications curriculum to keep what happened on the Hamilton from happening again. The current proposal includes a new ethics class for the communications track. There's some discussion about making it a requirement for all tracks.

Of course, if we add a new class, we have to take something away or consolidate it. We just had to do that for the new Kobayashi maru. Although we were able to combine it with a previous tactics class. Not many people have realized that yet since many of the people taking it this semester already took the previous class. Although considering how horrible the papers are, I don't think many of them paid attention and probably needed to retake the course.

If we completely revamp the communications curriculum, I would like your input. You don't have to work with me, but you could work with Admiral Pike. I know you're acquainted with her. Also, your friend Rebecca is already a faculty member at the London campus. Granted, she's in a completely different field, but she is at that school. I just feel that most of the communications professors haven't actually served on a ship for a while. If we're going to change things to at least add an ethics course, then maybe we need to re-write the curriculum from the bottom up.

I really appreciate all the pictures and drawings. Josephine is so talented. I sent more art supplies, and I'm pleased I did that. I'm sure she'll make good use of everything. I want to encourage her.

I just received pictures of the kids petting what I think is a Vulcan bear of some sort. I guess it's easier to send things from the colony. That makes sense. Even non-express messages from a planet make it to Earth faster than from a ship, especially from New Vulcan. The first thing they did was build a communications network for the colony. Allegedly they made it jam-proof. I'm sure only you know if that's true or not.

It looks like the kids are having fun visiting Peter's grandfather. From some of these images, I get the impression that Josephine may have been adopted as well. Which is good. She deserves one grandfather who isn't toxic. I'm sorry my ex-husband couldn't be that for you. I'm also sorry I didn't divorce him earlier, but that's a different conversation.

I hope you had a good Christmas. I'm sure it will be after the fact by the time you get this message. Don't worry, I won't be alone. I'm going to be meeting up with some old friends for a road trip. Yes, I do have friends outside of Starfleet.

I even have New Year's plans beyond avoiding your father's wedding. Since the Academy is on break, we're going to wine country for the week. I need wine tasting after Kobayashi maru hell. I'm exhausted. I am also grateful I found a teacher to take over next semester. I never want to teach this course again.

Xxxx

From: NyotaUM

To: SuluHG2260

Time sent: 12/31/2260 07:11:01

Subject: Re: Greetings from the cliffs.

I would probably be dancing in the rain if I was on the planet. I do miss the rain. Artificial environments are just not the same. Although I hope Josephine doesn't get sick because I would never hear the end of it from Leonard if that happened. We haven't received an emergency message from Olivia regarding that, so I'm hopeful.

I saw that the babies joined her. Did you manage to get the mud out of their hair? Oh, wait, I'll ask you that when you get here. I'm actually debating sending you this email since I might talk to you first, but I think it might just push to you as soon as you arrive on the ship tomorrow morning.

Jim really did not want a birthday party at all. Being reminded that he is getting older after losing so many people is starting to get to him. He lost Arlene this year, and he is about to lose the Elder. That weighs heavily on him. I'm glad my brilliant child talked some sense into everybody forcing a birthday party. I think a Jim and Spock appreciation day is better. I can report that not a single happy birthday banner is in place.

I also sent a ship-wide email reminding people of the importance of respecting other people's emotional triggers. Actually, Margarita wrote the email, and I just sent it out under my name. It was essentially saying, "please don't remind our first officer that his father died on his birthday," but without saying that directly. Margarita also made it applicable to multiple situations. It was difficult, but Margarita is good at her job.

I'm glad you got to spend some time with your sisters. I'm sorry it wasn't as much as it should have been because of the idiot conspiracy. Although I am having fun with your big sister again. We bonded after she helped me deal with my miscarriage, and I love getting to hang out with her. That might be why she came up two days earlier to work on the party. We're having dinner tonight. I am really looking forward to it because I need more female friends. I am starting to hang out with the other moms, but Olivia is on New Vulcan right now. She's the one I am closest to her because we're both nontraditional.

I'm glad Josephine had such a good time on the planet. I'm happy she'll be back tomorrow. I miss my kid. It's hard being away from her. I don't know how you do it. I really don't. I can understand why you're reassessing things. I think we all are.

We're going to take a different path. I'm not sure what that path is yet, but it won't be the one our counterparts took. I think that's a good thing. We are our own people.

My mom wrote to me today. I'm glad I can send her the pictures of the kids dancing in the rain. You all seem so happy.

Let's try to have coffee at least one day this week. I know with Sue and Ben leaving, you'll need a hug and a friend.

XXXX

From: NyotaUM

To: MomOU

Time sent: 12/31/2260 22:34:01

Subject: You deserve quality wine country time

I do not blame you for deciding to spend the week between Christmas and New Year's in wine country. Honestly, I would do the same thing. I almost need the same thing after chaperoning the interns. I wasn't even the primary chaperone. That was Olivia and her boyfriend. A lot of things went down that I am not at liberty to talk about. Although since I was on New Vulcan, it would be more of a "tea" tasting tour.

I'm glad you sent lots of art supplies. She is running through them like crazy. I even stocked up on New Vulcan. Thankfully, the shopping district does have one Art store. I appreciate you sending more because I couldn't find everything on the colony. That's what happens when you're rebuilding.

Thank you for the offer. I got a work email from Admiral Pike extending something similar, and I'm going to accept. I always wanted to change the curriculum. There's too much emphasis on the universal translator and not enough on learning the languages. If it wasn't for my time spent with my grandmother, I wouldn't have bothered to take as many electives as I did. Who knows what could have happened if I didn't take basic Klingon my first year. Or Romulan, for that matter. We could all be dead right now if I didn't take Romulan. Those are all elective classes for the language track.

By the way, it's bullshit that they're saying you must take a class away to add new ones. There's a lot of space among the electives. They're more concerned with the introductory courses because they are interested in getting people out and up here as fast as possible, especially with the shortage.

After spending some quality time with the current interns, that's not good. The best interns we have are the older ones that went to university first. (Except for Jacqueline, but she is dual enrollment and is a Starfleet legacy.) A lot of the young ones don't know what they're doing. And I wonder if that's because they're speeding through the curriculum. I know we need more people. But we need more good people. So, if I can help with that, I'm all for it.

Yes, the ambassador has essentially adopted Josephine as another grandchild. Josephine is happy because the judge was a really horrible grandfather. Did I ever tell you that he was abusive? Maybe I didn't need to. That's pretty much an open secret, thanks to the court proceedings. Josephine's aunt has a restraining order against the guy. He violated it on Christmas. He actually burnt part of her house down. Josephine found some of the stuff out during a video chat with her aunt on Christmas day.

I regret we didn't do that. However, since you're in wine country right now, that probably wouldn't be possible. We could've done that earlier before you left, but you were busy with exams. Maybe I'll try to call you in February. There was some damage done to the engineering department that will require a couple of days at a Starbase once we're done with the current New Vulcan research mission. Equipment will need to be replaced.

In the meantime, I'm including a video of Josephine playing in the rain at the cliffs. It's one of the new Vulcan nature preserves. She's delighted. Which I'm glad. There are all sorts of other pictures. You're probably going to be getting pictures for weeks. Just to let you know, there will likely be a gap since I'm now sending them from the ship again.

Yes, New Vulcan does have better communications facilities. Therefore, you're getting messages faster. Which I appreciate. Because you should get all the pictures possible from the kids' time on the planet. They really did have fun.

Anyway, I hope you have a great time in wine country. You deserve it. Don't think again about the ex-getting remarried. You're so much better off without him. Anyway, happy new year. I think 2261 is going to be a good year for us.

To be continued.

2261 here we come

Also, I think I probably missed numbered the number of days. So, we're not going to line up right. This should surprise nobody.