Charlie’s pace slowed to a crawl as she approached sickbay. She felt her pulse quicken as the doors slid open in front of her. ‘You’ve got this…’ she whispered under her breath as she stepped into sickbay and approached the CMO’s office. Nervously she pressed the chime and waited to be admitted. She did a quick breath check and made sure her hair was still in place whilst she was waiting and checked she was presentable, hoping she wasn’t sweating too much. She wasn’t even sure why she was so nervous, she had prepared for this moment, she was an experienced doctor but there was always a nervous anticipation starting a new post. She just hoped that she could make friends easily and find some people with common interests.

As she waited, a friendly nurse smiled and said good morning to which Charlie replied with “ho, yo, heya, yes…” followed by a little voice in her head saying, ‘well done genius, way to make a good first impression…’

• Lt (jg) Bailey (Med)