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 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 dreamt her whole life of this moment, of starting her career as a doctor but somehow she felt woeful unprepared.

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…’

• Ensign Bailey (Med)