A second try

Posted on 17 Nov 2017 @ 1:21am by Lieutenant Tuula Voutilainen M.D.

370 words; about a 2 minute read

After rolling out of bed and getting dressed for the day, Tuula made her way into the kitchen in a quest for something to get her fully awake. She had spent half of her vacation in Finland, though for the past week, she had been staying with her sister in San Francisco, and it was just like the Galileo, only without having to show up for duty shifts, she was free to sleep in, like she did on this particular morning.

Jaana had already left for work when Tuula arrived in the kitchen and ordered her favourite morning drink, a latte with a non-fat whipped topping and chocolate shavings, served in a skull-shaped mug. As she went to set it on the table, though, she noticed a small flickering light on her PADD, informing her that she had a message.

After taking a sip of coffee, Tuula pressed a button to read the PADD. The subject line of the message was "Your application to join the USS Galileo," and she could barely contain her excitement.

Of course, said excitement immediately turned to anger once she read the first few words. We regret to inform you that...

Tuula had seen those words before. Many a time, she had been passed over for assignments during her residency. And, of course, there was the time the Academy wanted to kick her out after the accident.

This time, however, it was different. With her residency completed, she was now a full doctor. Her service record was impeccable, and she had distinguished herself enough that any ship would have her as Assistant Chief Medical Officer.

They can't do this, she thought to herself. I'm more than qualified, why would they possibly reject... With that, she looked down at her legs and sighed. Was it this old chestnut again? Even though Starfleet had said that she was perfectly capable of serving in any medical capacity, there was still plenty of doubts in people's minds and plenty of discrimination for her to overcome.

Angrily, she read the full text of the message before cracking her knuckles, taking a sip of her coffee, and getting to work on her cover letter. Again.

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