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Posted on Thu Oct 5th, 2017 @ 7:40am by Fleet Admiral Donatella Figueroa

Mission: S01E01 - At the Brink of Night
Location: USS Musashi | Nurse Stephens' Quarters

The Captain had met Nurse Danael Stephens not too long ago, though long enough to ensure that the man had been moved into his quarters aboard the USS Musashi. The Ares class starship had been home for crews in the past, but it was not the echoes of the past that had Captain Figueroa wandering the corridors of her starship, but rather the souls of the present and phantoms of the future.

She was arguably a Federation starship Captain like very few or possibly none before her. Some days, it most certainly felt as though she were a trailblazer setting the pace for others to eventually follow in her footsteps. She had taken a very unique route to get to where she was today. Enlisting in Starfleet's Reserve and being called to action during the war.

Fig had wore a handful of uniforms, starting her career in slacks and a high collared uniform top as Captain's Yeoman to eventually becoming an officer and obtaining a command of her own. She knew what it was like to work from the bottom and to have to work hard to climb up the longest ladder.

Something had really struck her when she met the Musashi's newest nurse. There was no question about it. He was young, green, but exceptionally smart and hard working. His performance at the academy earned him high marks and graduating with honors. Fig knew that the personnel report only just scratched the surface. She was intrigued to know more. This intrigue lead her to stop by and check on the young man.

Fig stood outside the man's quarters until she was 'granted permission' to enter. "Looks like you are settling in well, Ensign" she said making a friendly observation of his decorations.

Danael had just finished hanging the pennant he'd brought with him for the Starfleet Phoenixes soccer team when he heard the door chime. Glancing around the room he was glad to see he'd pretty much gotten all of his stuff unpacked, and put away, so there want much clutter, or mess. He was pleasantly surprised when he saw that it was the Captain, and even more surprised when she paid him a compliment. "Yes, ma'am. I didn't figure it would take me long. I've not had a lot of time in my life to build up a lot of clutter. But I did have a few pieces I knew I'd want with me." He said.

She smiled at the young nurse. "Musashi doesn't have a full crew compliment yet. That's why we are still getting some transfers coming aboard. We do not yet have a Personnel Officer aboard. So, I thought I would stop by and check in on you" she said rather welcoming, a book tucked underneath her arm.

The Captain repositioned the book and presented it to the nurse. "Consider it a welcoming gift" she said as she handed an actual physical copy, a collection of works from Earth author Howard Phillips Lovecraft.

Danael's eyes widened at the extravagance of the gift. Such things were sometimes quite difficult to come by, and someone as obscure as Lovecraft had to have made it even more difficult. "Thank you! I'm honored!" He said with a huge smile on his face. He'd been somewhat worried about how well he'd fit in, with his quiet nature, and naivete he'd honestly expected it to take a while before people warmed up to him. It was a pleasant surprise to find that his own captain was this warm, and welcoming.

"Oh you are quite welcome Ensign. It's been in my collection for a while, but to be honest I am not that much of a horror person" she confessed. "I actually find some of Lovecraft more terrorifying than the Klingons" said Fig with a smile.

She looked around and admired the decorations. Though few, they did show the young nurse had personality. "I wanted to talk to you about career advancement. I know the Musashi is a smaller starship, our medical staff skeletal, and we may not be any nurse's first choice for a posting, but I want you to know that there's a career to be had aboard these smaller starships if you let that happen. I do not know what your career plans are at the moment, but I would be interested in hearing them" explained the Captain as warmly as she could.

"Of course, please, take a seat." Danael replied, realizing he had been quite rude not to ask her to sit down in the first place, leaving her standing in the doorway. "Can I get you anything to drink?" he asked.

A martini or two would be nice after the day I have had, but I want my frist impressions to be that of a sincere and capable, Captain, not one that's over worked, over stressed, and finds herself with an evening cocktail to end her days from hell thought the Captain. She smiled warmly at the younger man. "You are a kind host" stated the Captain. "I'll have a cappuccino...need to burn the midnight oil" she explained her choice of beverage.

Once they were both settled her at his desk, him on the only other free chair in the small room given to a junior officer like him, he relaxed a bit. "I actually have some ambitions that are much more forward looking than would really pertain much here. My mother is a medical officer in Starfleet as well, currently assigned to an office on Mars, doing medical screenings and such at the shipyards there. But previously she'd been an instructor at the medical academy. I would love to see myself following in her footsteps eventually. But, for now, I really just want to get in my own groove, and get down to the hard work of learning what it's like to be a medical officer, more specifically a nurse, on a starship, out here in the frontier, where anything, and everything can, and often does happen. I'm just starting out, but in five years I'd like to see myself in a more advanced position, and if it doesn't sound too much like hubris, I might even say I'd like to be head nurse." he said, laying it all on the line.

Fig smiled at the man. "I joined Starfleet as a reservist, enlisted right into the reserves. I was a Yeoman when I first joined Starfleet. Now, I am a Captain of a Federation starship" she said rather proudly. "So, anything can indeed happen out here on the final frontier" she added.

The Captain took a sip of her cappuccino. If she had hairs on her chest, they would be shooting outward. Damn that's some cappuccino she thought. "That may very well take less than five years with your scores. Those scores, with your honors, and a solid performance aboard the Musashi...I can see a Head Nurse position being yours" she said encouragingly. "Is there any particular area of medicine that you find yourself drawn to specifically?" she asked.

"I am one of the ones in the minority, ma'am, but I really enjoy triage. It can be exhausting, and it can be depressing, but it is also one of the most fulfilling fields in medicine. You potentially have the ability to save a life that is only moments from being extinguished. Very few of the other available fields of medicine really have that kind of imminent life and death threshold." Danael answered without hesitation. His few shifts in the ER for his clinicals had been some of the most rewarding shifts he'd ever worked.

Fig nodded. She could understand the benefits and draw of Emergency Room medicine. It was rather frontline and cutting edge. If this nurse had the stamina for this sort of medicine and an interest in triage, Fig had a few thoughts. "Ensign, have you thought about getting out of the Sickbay? Though I personally fancy dragging the Doctor away from his precious Sickbay, sometimes his place is definitely aboard" stated the Captain.

"If you have an interest in triage and emergency medicine, perhaps we should consider getting you sufficiently trained as a field medic? You obviously have the medical knowledge and skills already there. I think it would just be a matter of getting you used to being on landing parties on alien terrain" Fig said with a small smile.

Danael didn't even have to think about this question. "That would be a dream come true!" He blurted with more enthusiasm than she'd probably expected. He'd often worried, during his academy says, that he'd chosen a career track that would keep him shipboard, and away from any of the interesting stuff the rest of the crew got to experience. This would give him a chance at the best of both worlds. "I'd be willing to take on any extra training I'd need, and I can promise you I'd give it my all." He added, somewhat more soberly.

Fig smiled widely and finished the mug of cappuccino. "Excellent" she said swiftly, pleased to know that her idea was something that the new nurse could on board with. "I want you to continue training in medicine of course. Doctor Hill can oversee all your medical training. However, I would like you to be capable of defending yourself if the need arises" said the Captain.

She stood up and set the empty mug aside. "Ensign D'Darra and Chief Petty Officer Phillips can train you on basic weapons" instructed Captain Figueroa. "Commander Samuels can train you on the fundamentals of manning the science station on the Bridge" added Fig.

"Thank you for the opportunity. Should I contact them, or wait for them to contact me?" He asked, unsure how that would be handled, and not wanting to overstep any boundaries.

Fig slowly made her way back towards the doors. "I will have a discussion with them and arrange things. For the time being, try to just get settled in." said Fig with a smile.

"Will do." Danael replied with a grin, watching the woman exit his quarters.