The title reflects the 300th day since the start of Fall Semester and as the first caption states, the end of the cadets’ first academic year. That places it around mid- or late June 3192, which is when the academic year in the US usually ends. This also places it approximately 87 days, or just under 3 months, after the previous episode.

The r’uustai is a Klingon ritual where two people bond as brothers and enter each other’s Houses (TNG: “The Bonding”). Chech’tluth is a strong Klingon alcoholic drink that usually looks like it’s smoking (TNG: “Up the Long Ladder”). The word chech in Klingon means to be drunk or intoxicated.

“SoS jiH batlh SoH” translates as “Mother, I honour you.” In the context of TNG: “The Bonding” that made sense as Worf was bonding with Jeremy Aster, who had just lost his mother, so using “SoS” was to honour both their mothers as Jeremy became part of Worf’s House. A more generic word - and probably more appropriate for this r’uustai’s immediate context - for “family” would be qorDu’.

Nus Braka’s theft from J-19 Alpha took place in SFA: “Come, Let’s Away”. Omega molecules (VOY: “The Omega Directive”), when detonated, can destroy surrounding subspace and make warp travel impossible. “47” is an in-joke in Star Trek, dating back to TNG writer Joe Menosky, who went to Pomona College, which had a club called the 47 Society.

Krebs’ Talaxian furfly is now missing and has entered a replicator. This does not bode well.

Sam’s “old me” refers to her memories of attending the Academy prior to her program being reset and this time growing up from childhood on Kasq in SFA: “The Life of the Stars”.

Caleb’s not kidding when he talks about “old classics” like ECC, RSA and 10DES. These are all encryption standards developed in the 20th century, so well over a thousand years old.

Sam says Caleb is 20 years old, but I assume she’s not being precise, since he was separated from his mother nearly 16 years prior, which would make him nearly 22.

Most of the worlds Anisha mentions - Modavi, Elworth V, Ukeck, are first appearances, but the Typhon sector was mentioned as a staging are to confront the Borg cube at the beginning of the TNG movie First Contact. The Typhon Expanse, which may or may not be related, was the area where Enterprise-D was caught in a time loop (TNG: “Cause and Effect”). According to the file, Ukeck is a Class-M planet in the Alpha Quadrant.

40 Eridani A has long been supposed to be Vulcan’s (now Ni’Var) system in fandom. The choice was endorsed by Gene Roddenberry in a 1991 letter published in Sky & Telescope.

Sam’s technobabble somewhat makes sense if you imagine that the shuttle will not be capable of sustaining the same degree of speed as Athena. When the shuttle first exits the bay, even if it’s moving at warp Caleb will have to march its speed with Athena’s by synchronising the two warp bubbles. But once he exits Athena’s warp bubble, there will be a sudden deceleration since the shuttle will be traveling slower. It’s kind of like jumping off a speeding train.

Khionians lacking the enzyme (polyphenol oxidase to be exact) to break down bananas was established in SFA: “Series Acclimation Mil”.

Transwarp tunnels or conduits were used by the Borg, first appearing in TNG: “Descent”, allowing for speeds much faster than conventional warp drive. Abandoned conduits have been used before (PIC: “Broken Pieces”).

Sam’s dad is the Doctor, who on Kasq raised her for 17 years, relative time, in “The Life of the Stars”.

Darem says he thought ships had two nacelles so they don’t fly in circles. According to the TNG Tech Manual, nacelles, firing together or asymmetrically, shape the warp bubble, distorting space to steer the ship in various directions. After research, Starfleet determined that two nacelles were optimal for this. Of course, this doesn’t mean you can’t have more than two or even one nacelle to generate a warp field, but we don’t have time to nerd out about that now (LD: “The New Next Generation”). Khionian glitter vomit was also established in “Series Acclimation Mil”.

The starchart Ake examines shows the location of the mine near what would be in the 24th century the Tzenkethi Coalition. In fact, Tzenketh is still marked in grey (whatever that means) a little to the left and down from it. This is very much also consistent with Geoffrey Mandel’s Star Trek: Star Charts which have been used ever since DIS, but with some additions. From what I can estimate, the first detonation took place at least 50-60 light years away from the current mine. I’m hoping someone manages to release a high-res version of I can get my nerdy little hands on.

This is the first time I’ve heard “maggs” as a unit of measurement.

Q’mau is another planet outside Federation space, first appearing in DIS: “Red Directive”. A desert environment, it had a settlement that couriers would go to trade and sell goods, stolen or otherwise. “Pulling a Q’mau” refers to what Discovery and Antares did in that episode, when the starships descended into the atmosphere, beaming up two civilians before combining their shields to block an avalanche. Enterprise-D pulls a similar rescue in PIC: “The Last Generation”.

Isolytic weapons (Insurrection) were banned weapons that could, like Omega, permanently damage subspace. The So’na used isolytic bursts to create subspace tears, and in the 32nd century, Ruon Tarka used an isolytic-type weapon against the 10-C (DIS: “Rubicon”). Given its effects on subspace, it makes sense that it could potentially tear a ship out of warp.

We saw Athena’s saucer separation ability in SFA: “Vox in Excelso”, in the staged battle against the Klingons.