Didja Notice?

 

On page 1, Uhura is discussing with Spock a faint long-range signal she picked up in the lab and says she would like to gain access to the Columbia Hills antenna array since Mars has far less distortion. Columbia Hills are a range of seven hills inside Gusev crater on Mars, explored by the Spirit rover in 2004-2010. The seven hills are named for each of the seven astronauts who died in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster of 2003. Apparently, in the 23rd Century, there is a Federation antenna array there.

 

On pages 1-4, notice that the famous neon sign of the Port of San Francisco is visible through the window of the Starfleet Academy cafeteria where Spock and Uhura are meeting.

 

As Spock and Uhura discuss the possible impropriety of their romantic relationship on page 2, Uhura states that Spock was only ever her instructor for one class when he was just a grad student and they didn't even start seeing each other until the class was over. 

 

One of the patrons at the cafeteria in the background of page 2, panel 1 is a Lurian, the same species as Morn on ST:DS9. He looks to be touching hands with a Caitian, the same felinoid species as Lt. M'Ress in ST: The Animated Series; the timeline is about right, so it may actually be M'Ress herself!

 

Kirk is seen to be having girl trouble with a woman of unrevealed species named Jackie.

 

On page 4, Kirk asks Uhura if she's still mad at him about the bar fight a while back, a reference to Kirk's bar fight at the Shipyard Bar in the 2009 Star Trek film (see "Parallels"). That would have been about 4 years ago, a long time for a girl to hold a grudge! Not to mention that we know the two of them have interacted since then, e.g. in The Gemini Agent.

 

Holographic signs seen throughout the Starfleet Academy campus in the 2261 portions of the story indicate the Academy is celebrating 100 years. The Academy was established in 2161 according to the ST:TNG episode "The First Duty".

 

Professor Trumble remarks that Vulcans do not "dance around the delbat" when they speak. Delbat is an unknown term, possibly a Tellarite word since the professor is a Tellarite himself. From the context, the phrase "dance around the delbat" would seem to be similar to the English colloquialism "beat around the bush".

 

Professor Trumble tells T'Laan that he joined the school's Parrises squares team when he was a cadet and had a natural proficiency with the game's ion mallet. Parrises squares is an athletic game in the ST universe, mentioned in a number of episodes of the various TV series. Trumble reveals his team was called the Fighting Phoenixes.

 

On page 8, notice that the Fighting Phoenixes logo is set in the "Star Trek" font of the original TV series, as are the words of the Inter-Academy Exploratory Competition display Trumble shows T'Laan on page 9.

 

On page 9, Trumble tells T'Laan that a member of the Academy's team for the Inter-Academy Exploratory Competition has come down with lungworm and he would like her to replace them. It seems odd that a cadet would have lungworm, as it is a nematode parasite only known to infect animals, not people; possibly an alien species of nematode-like parasite has infected the cadet. Lt. McKenna is also said to have contracted lungworm in "The Vengeance of Nero", necessitating Cadet Sulu taking the helm for him on the Enterprise's mission there.

 

Apparently, Professor Trumble is also a Commander, as Cadet T'Laan addresses him as such on page 9.

 

Page 16 introduces Cadet Vel K'Bentayr. He is a Monchezkin. A Monchezkin served as a security officer on the USS Kelvin in the 2009 Star Trek film (see "Rebirth"). According to Memory Alpha, the officer was Alnschloss K'Bentayr, likely a relation.

 

On page 16 Cadet Chen says, "Ni men hao." This is Chinese for "How are you?"

 

In panel 4 of page 16, the Andorian symbol is seen in the background among the team symbols of the Inter-Academy Exploratory Competition. The Vulcan IDIC symbol is seen in the background of page 18, panel 4.

 

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