Stepping into the lounge, PADD in hand Cadet Olivia Darwin reads book after book everything she could get her hands on about medicine. She had spent the last two days with engineering, something she didn’t enjoy in the slightest. Spending her free time in sickbay, watching the doctors and the nurses treat and care for the sick and nuture the weak.

As she made her way through the lounge, she looked up spotting a blue skinned humanoid sitting in the lounge.

Theran had just finished a scheduled surgery.  A long surgery. One of those things that was a challenge of endurance, even if everything went well. And it did go well – but as one of the starbases few specialty neurosurgeons, it meant that when Theran was called for a scheduled surgery it was something long and involved.

And yet it was what he enjoyed most, the chance to flex his skill and fix some brains. It was his core and his calling. But now, eleven hours after he had first suited up, with the patient finally in the recovery bay, he was ready for a mug of something warm and some decompression time.

She stared at the Andorian for a while. Having read some of his research papers and his dissertation when he graduated from Starfleet Medical. Dr. Theran Jos was one of the brightest and most skilled neurosurgeons in the modern age. As she stood staring at him she slowly mustered the courage to talk to him and cautiously walked towards him.

“Excuse me, doctor Jos.”

His antennae rose upwards before his eyes did and he nodded pleasantly at the Cadet. “Hello there. Cadet… “He searched for a name and it flitted away from him.

“Darwin,” she said smirking to herself. Surprised at how she managed to keep her voice steady while she spoke.

“Yes, Darwin, my apologies. You look like you have something on your mind…” he prompted gently. Actually he would say it looked like she had a lot of her mind, but that was presumptuous and he had only just met her.

”Yes,” she said looking down at the ground. “May I?” she asked as she pointed to the chair near him.

He gave a gracious gesture. “Of course, please join.” Theran settled as well. “What’s going on?”

”I’m interested in going down the medical path but,” she said her voice wavered slightly but she managed to recover quickly and continue. “I’m not sure what to spealize in. How did you decide you wanted to be a neurosurgeon?” Although she had read his research papers and countless others, she still wasn’t sure what specialization she wanted.

That was a good question.  Theran’s antennae flexed as he considered. “Well, this isn’t especially glamorous, but I followed in my father’s footsteps.  He’s a neurosurgeon.”

“Did he push you to be a neurosurgeon?” she asked him.

The Andorian twitched his antennae in a gesture that resembled a head shake. “No, he never pushed be to be a neurosurgeon. But he made it seem exciting, interesting, challenging. And so I tried it and I was good at it.”

Nodding, she hopped it would be that easy for her. “Do you like it?” She swallowed hard as she asked him the question, uncertain of how it might be received.

He nodded, watching her. “I do think you have to like what you do. And feel you’re good enough at it to keep going.” he paused, antennae flexing. “Is there anything you feel particularly drawn to?”

“I’m interested in being an ophthalmologist,” she said proudly. She was sure of her chosen path and was excited to being studying medicine.

As they sat they continued to talk about her future career. She shared her reason for wanting to study the specialty but was nervous on whether she would be good at it or not.