Blanche Carlisle

Doctor Blanche Evelyn Carlisle, M.D. is a qualified physician and Starfleet Officer who served aboard the USS Phoenix as Chief Medical Officer, having been commanded by Commodore Rejema Khassid, Captain Dunamis, and later Captain Kunzō.

Early Life
Originally hailing from Madison, Georgia, Blanche led a typically rural life. Her parents had discouraged the young belle from academia, deciding she’d fare better with a life upon Earth. What with its traditional way of living that had survived centuries, there was no need for anything more; she couldn’t be in further disagreement.Though family was, and always had been incredibly dear to her heart, the young girl had stuck out among her four siblings like a sore thumb. Where they held no concern for the likes of learning to any serious extent, it seemed as though the middle child could not quench her thirst for it; she was by no means a swat, but took a particular interest in physiology and its numerous special derivations. Understandably exhilarating, of course, for a little human girl brought up on a secluded ranch.

Despite Blanche’s love for her childhood home, and specifically the closeness to nature she had been raised with, it was her older brother who stressed the importance that her exceptional mind for science didn’t become stagnant where it was of no use. Much to her parents’ dismay, she enrolled within Starfleet Academy, hoping to achieve things that stretched far beyond the confinements of the countryside. An unbelievably daunting endeavour, given her total naivete regarding the weight of the decision as a whole. Being a doctor was one thing, and more than respectable in her family’s eyes. Applying such a skillset intergalactically was another, and practically unheard of to a family less acclimatised to technology than most. Nonetheless, there was no embitterment when the time finally came for Blanche to take the famed entrance exams. Fear, perhaps, surpassed by a great pride that one of their own had been so set in her conviction that great reward lay beyond the frontier of comfort. It later became a fond joke of sorts between siblings, that Blanche had taken such a venture to the absolute extreme.

Starfleet Academy
Her Academy years seemed to be over in an instant, and persist to be a moment during Blanche’s life that are remembered with fondness. Pertaining to her relatively lax nature, academic prosperity seemed to come naturally to the young girl rather than as a result of laborious studying. Not that she was noncommittal to her aspirations, far from it. Blanche simply managed to retain an outward coolness in regards to her studies; learning was something that she inherently adored, and to mar such passion with needless pressure was simply nonsensical to the Georgia born teenager. She was the model student, seldom tardy and consistently polite. Etiquette was second nature to her — instilled firmly by the likes of her mother, who Blanche had always deemed the epitome of grace and poise — and it certainly went hand in hand with the odd batting of lashes every once in a while.

Such was probably a contributing factor to the colourful nature of her love life. That, and her vulnerability in the face of anything remotely romantic whatsoever. Blanche’s betrothal to her childhood sweetheart before she had even left for the Academy was a premonition, of sorts, to the string of matrimonial disasters she’d leave in her wake going through life. This sweet, simple country boy was the first of five husbands who would happen upon this hopeful romantic and her pageant worthy smile.

Starfleet Career
Soon after graduation, her youthful eagerness was put to the test, and she was plunged into life in space as a medical intern upon the science research vessel USS Wintour. After 20 years, she had worked her way upwards to Chief Surgeon, eventually transferring to a constitution class starship where she served as Deputy CMO. It was during this stretch of service that Carlisle married her third husband, who had moved alongside her to assume the posting of first officer. Arguably, these were the happiest days of the woman’s life; the future appeared to be laid out rather perfectly, and to the optimistic eyes of naivete, would most likely run its course unwavering. Of course, as even the most buoyant of souls come to learn through the spontaneity of space, things so simple as joy are often fleeting. They had planned to return to Earth and settle down, start a family and dedicate their lives to the mundanity that had become so desirable a concept up in the unknown. The latter of which could be a cruel mistress, learned rather abruptly by a woman once so caught up in its intrigue and excitement; her husband’s involvement in a botched away mission made for one of the most demanding, exhausting surgeries Blanche had ever partaken in. Such a simultaneous strain upon her mind and heart had been eye-opening, and allowed her a greatly enlightened sense of empathy going forward if nothing else. Within a few gruelling hours, her entire world had been rendered naught but debris, a supernova in real time, its collapse excruciatingly intimate.

His funeral came shortly afterwards, to which she attended in an odd sort of limbo; the phenomenon was shatteringly real, but felt entirely intangible at the same time. Briefly, Blanche was despondent like she had never been, recessing into an odd period of efficiency that was almost inhumane. Her dedication appeared to increase tenfold, intrinsic determination hardening into something akin to resolution; Carlisle would not allow her sunny disposition to meet its demise, and where she had valued empathy before, now came to understand its utmost necessity within her field as a physician. That alongside her fervent morality enabled the woman to eventually move forth with her chin held high, declining to return to Earth with any haste in fear that she would only be doing so as means of dwelling upon what might have been.

It was only when Blanche’s mother fell gravely ill years later that Carlisle returned to Earth for a longer interval. The shift was certainly a jarring one, given the planet’s past and potential connotations, but she had missed Georgia dearly nonetheless. Without her work, she might have been entirely lost, and so Blanche transferred her practice to Starfleet Medical where she was able to maintain an occupied mind, and still be there for her father. Tragedy notwithstanding, the comfort of the country had yet to be thwarted, and the desolation of losing a parent was alleviated slightly by the absolute mass of nieces and nephews she returned to. Great, some of them, and all a joy to properly acquaint herself with given how briefly shoreleaves always seemed to pass over. Unsurprisingly, another marriage ensued, far from the conventional idyllism she’d once held so dear. Bright temperament undefeated, it was merely another whirlwind romance in the eyes of the doctor, albeit rather dull and short lived in hindsight.

Her mother passed peacefully, and as if by fate, the doctor was requested by Starfleet to serve as CMO aboard the USS Phoenix, invited upon an opening of the position. Returning to her family in Georgia had taken its toll on Blanche despite all the fondness and familiarity. Looking back upon the starkness of her familial life in comparison to those of her siblings’ frightened her substantially, and though she adored being in them, it took no genius to identify her as the black sheep. However melancholy an observation it was, she had chosen an alternate route, one whose path she had followed in such a way that rendered what she’d once deemed as normalcy something entirely unattainable. Her family knew this as well as she did, perhaps even better, and thus understood Blanche’s decision to return to the stars. An admittedly daunting prospect, given her eventual reacclimatisation to Earth’s customs and comforts. However, her excitement at the prospect of such an esteemed position far outweighed any anxiety she held, and thus, she accepted the role.

Personality
Amiable to a fault, Blanche is seldom seen without a smile of some form. The woman’s disposition is entirely sunny, her gregarious and outgoing nature making for an intrinsic penchant for playful conversation. There is, however, an underlying elegance to such joviality; the latter can shift to a stern, pragmatic professionalism with surprising swiftness.