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Nurse Cherry Ames stood in the spaceport docking bay, satchel slung over her shoulder, and stared through the wide viewport window at the gleaming silver curves of the Enterprise. A massive anti-grav cargo transport whizzed close behind her, stirring up a swift breeze. She raised a hand to push her short dark curls out of her face.
"What a beauty!" said Cherry's brother Charlie, leaning in and bumping his shoulder against hers.
"She's tremendous," Cherry replied, awed. It was one thing to study blueprints and schematics; it was another thing to see a ship like the Enterprise with your own eyes.
"It's not too late to back out," Charlie teased. "Take a nice safe job at Starfleet Medical?"
Cherry shook her head indulgently. She smoothed her hands down over her hips, soothed by the familiar texture of her white Starfleet nurse's uniform, sleek and functional. "Oh I don't think so. Mom and Dad might like that better, though!"
Growing up in the Federation, Cherry and Charlie had been encouraged to devote themselves to self-improvement and personal growth, and to spend their lives contributing to the betterment of society. Cherry's father was an environmental geologist (though he often jokingly claimed to work in "real estate") and Cherry's mother managed a botanical garden of native plants for the local cultural center.
Cherry herself had considered many different paths, but never managed to settle. All she knew was that she would never be content unless she was doing something vital, something urgent. Two very different events had led her here...
First, when Cherry was a teenager, an elderly Starfleet medical researcher had retired to her hometown in Illinois. His stories of adventure and service in Starfleet had been compelling, sparking Cherry's initial interest in a medical career. And second... Cherry and Charlie had been eighteen when when the Klingon War broke out. Both had felt it was their duty to enlist. Charlie had become a pilot and Cherry graduated from a Starfleet Medical nurse training program, volunteering to serve on the front lines.
Their parents were proud, of course. Which didn't stop them from occasionally mentioning, casually, that Cherry and Charlie would both be very welcome if they ever wanted to come back to Earth and do something less dangerous. But Cherry had never been tempted. Not even now, when she was about to start her most intimidating, most unpredictable, most high-profile assignment. Not even a little.
Well, maybe a little.
"In all seriousness, Cherry, can I give you one piece of advice?" Charlie waited until Cherry tore her eyes away from the Enterprise, then cleared his throat, blue eyes gleaming. "Try not to get lost on your way to breakfast on your first day," he said, and broke into laughter.
"I should never have told you that!" Cherry shook her head, laughing despite herself. Charlie's teasing was helping to settle her nerves. It helped to remember how intimidated she'd been, all the way back then. She'd made mistakes and run into obstacles. But she'd never let them discourage her for long. She'd made great friends at Starfleet Medical, and they'd all learned so much from each other. As frightened as she'd been, to begin with-- those had been some of the best times of her life.
Maybe the Enterprise would be the same... and maybe, even better.
A blonde woman emerged from a passenger boarding bridge, further down in the docking bay where a long tunnel extended towards the hull of the Enterprise. She wore a white nurse's uniform, the twin to Cherry's own. Cherry held her breath for a moment in anticipation as the blonde woman looked around, then walked towards them. "Nurse Ames? Charity Ames?" Her voice was low and friendly, and her blue eyes were sharp and piercing under dark, serious brows. "I'm Nurse Christine Chapel. I'm here to escort you aboard."
"Nice to meet you." Cherry said, shaking her hand. "I'm Cherry to my friends. I'm so excited to be here!"
"We're glad to have you. I hear Commander T'Pil said she was 'satisfied' with your performance on Starbase 14."
Cherry's face grew hot as she blushed. To be deemed 'satisfactory' was great praise from the stern Vulcan officer who had been in command of Starbase 14. "And to think, one of the first things she ever asked was if I could get my team to be less..."
"Less emotional," Charlie filled in.
"No, it wasn't that," Cherry said, wanting to be fair. Commander T'Pil hadn't been one of those Vulcans who looked down on other species because she considered all emotion distasteful. "She just didn't understand why we kept laughing with the patients." What had been her exact phrasing? Cherry cleared her throat, imitating Commander T'Pil's stern tone. "I do not understand the purpose of this levity among your staff. Could not their cheerfulness be restrained?"
Christine laughed. "I'm glad you've got experience with Vulcans! Wait till you meet our science officer-- he's a scream. Still, I know that was a rough assignment. I hear you barely got a break."
Cherry nodded. Her memories of Starbase 14 were sweet and bitter. They had been as close to the front lines as you could get without actively being in combat, and it had been Cherry's first assignment after her promotion to Lieutenant Commander; her first experience supervising and leading a team of other nurses. It was hard not to feel frightened and alone when more and more wounded were shipped in every day, with no end in sight and only limited resources... but Cherry had done her best to lift up her team, keep them energetic and on task. How could they bring comfort and cheer to their patients, if they didn't stay optimistic themselves?
"I couldn't have done it alone. I had a great crew, and we got through it together," she said.
"In case you hadn't guessed, that's why she's called Cherry," Charlie said, pointing with his thumb at Cherry's still-blazing face.
"Nurse Chapel, let me introduce my awful brother Charlie," Cherry said cheerfully. "We're twins; he's the terrible one."
Christine blinked, but unlike most people she didn't make the predictable remark about how they didn't look anything alike. "Well, hi, Charlie," she replied instead, giving him a flirtatious look. "If she's Cherry, what about you? Do you have a cute little nickname?"
Charlie straightened his shoulders and gave her his best charming pilot's smile. "Maybe you could think of one?"
"Hm. Maybe," Christine said neutrally, then turned to Cherry. "Well, Nurse Ames? Ready to come aboard?"
"Oh, yes!" Cherry said. Glancing back at Charlie, she tried not to laugh at the disappointed look on his face. In the midst of her mirth, it struck her that this might be their last meeting for a long time, and she swallowed hard.
"I'll give you a moment," Christine said kindly, and turned away, heading back towards the base of the passenger boarding bridge.
Her throat tight, Cherry turned to Charlie. He pulled her into a tight hug. "Stay safe out there."
"You too," Cherry said. "Don't forget to write."
"I won't." He held on for one more moment, then let go. Cherry turned away, settling the strap of her satchel more firmly on her shoulder. Lifting her chin, she headed towards Christine.
Christine was waiting at the lip of the access tunnel that led up into the Enterprise. Cherry stopped next to her and took a deep breath. "I'm ready."
"Is that everything you packed?" Christine said, gesturing to Cherry's satchel.
Cherry patted it confidently. "Oh, yes. Everyone should have at least one virtue. Mine is that I can fit almost anything in a suitcase."
"Good to know. I guess I might have one somewhere, but I'd have to check," Christine said, and winked as Cherry followed her into the tunnel. "I'll show you to your quarters first, and then how about a tour of Sickbay?"
"I'd love that. Do you think I could find someone to show me around Engineering, too? And I understand you have a fully equipped suite of research labs-- and a hydroponics garden-- I want to see everything," Cherry confessed in a rush.
Christine grinned. "That could probably be arranged."
Cherry inhaled excitedly.
Before choosing nursing, Cherry had floundered slightly, trying to figure out how she was going to contribute to the well-being of society. She'd looked into scientific research, diplomacy, counseling, project management, and half a dozen other potential careers. Every opportunity she explored seemed like it would be fascinating. For a while. But no matter what, the whole concept of picking just one thing, settling down somewhere and doing the same thing every day for years on end...? Nothing like that would never really satisfy her.
At Starfleet Medical, she'd realized that nursing could be a source of constant new challenges. Wherever humanity went, on starships or space stations or distant colonies and settlements, they would always need nurses; for a nurse, there would always be a new horizon.
When the Federation went to war, Cherry had put her own plans aside. Now that the war was over-- well, many of her colleagues at Starfleet Medical had decided to resign their commissions and return to civilian life. Cherry had considered it herself. She had felt that serving was her duty, but if she retired from Starfleet, then she could focus on her own career again. She could go wherever she was needed, do anything she wanted.
Then, while she was still mulling it over, she'd received the offer of service aboard the Enterprise. It had been the ideal assignment, and Cherry couldn't say no. It truly was the best of all possible worlds. Aboard the Enterprise, there would be no predictable routine. She would have countless opportunities to study cutting-edge technologies, to learn or invent new medical techniques and treatments. To work with medical professionals from all over the quadrant, and even brand new alien species!
Serving aboard the Enterprise, Cherry would go where no nurse had gone before.
She could hardly wait for this new adventure to truly begin.