Born Francesco Eduardo Rossini on a Friday the 13th to his loving parents Luciano and Elizabeth, some might say he didn’t get off on a good start. The first two weeks of his life were spent in the community hospital in Sacramento, because he had been born a few weeks early. But he quickly gained strength so his mother could bring him home.
His mother became a bit overprotective concerning Francesco or “My little Franky” as she called him. With everything he ever did as a kid, he had never anything to fear. His mother would always watch closely so nothing could happen to her little boy. That comforting blanket of protection would remain until his first day at school. There he had to rely on his own, which was an unpleasant feeling for him. It took a while for him to get used to this new situation, but with his easy-going character he easily befriended the other kids in his class.
His shorter than average physique as a kid caused his mom’s nickname “Little Franky” to stick even half way through high school. Even his friends called him “Little Franky” and he was fine with that as long as it wasn’t meant to make fun of him. Luckily for him he started growing in his late teens so he finally reached an average height. He decided he should be called Frank from now on, although he was still Franky to his closest friends. Of course his mother would never change her ways…
After high school he decided to enroll into the Starfleet Academy. His father was an enlisted engineer at the time at the rank of Chief Petty Officer, serving aboard the USS Grissom. Frank also wanted a career in Starfleet, but knew early on he would make a lousy mechanic. Through high school his interests were mainly focused on xenobiology and science. After a compelling speech on a career in Medicine by a recently graduated Ensign at his high school, Frank was convinced that was the path he should take. After graduating from high school in 2364 he immediately applied for the Academy, and was accepted at his first attempt.
He was an above average student and graduated in 2368 at the rank of Ensign. But becoming a doctor in Starfleet meant four more years of study at the Starfleet Medical Academy. Frank had always been keen on gathering more knowledge and information, so he was an eager student graduating in the top three of his class in 2372. But besides study he always found time to spend on his main hobby, sports. He competed in the Starfleet Academy marathon three times, finishing in the top five the last time.
Positions for medical personnel were plenty aboard Starfleet vessels, so Frank had little competition applying to a ship of his choice. He applied to the USS Sarek to become a medical officer on board. He didn’t want the highest possible position right away, fearing lack of experience could harm his career instead of do it any good. During the war between the Federation and the Klingon Empire the USS Sarek was patrolling on the other side of the Alpha Quadrant, and Frank had the relative comfort of fitting into his role of medical officer, working his way up.
Unfortunately, a year later the Dominion threat became a full scale war and the USS Sarek was one of the ships to see a lot of action. Medical personnel got transferred between ships and the Assistant CMO position opened up on the USS Sarek. Frank immediately applied for that position, but unfortunately for him, that position went to a country-doctor-turned-officer-again-to-help-the-war-effort. It turned out to be the same Ensign that got him excited about a career in Medicine a few years earlier, Russell D. Floyd MD. With a feeling like he had stolen ‘his’ position aboard the ship, their fellowship had a rough start, but there was no time for a feud aboard a ship heading for war.
During the war he tried to keep in contact with his family the best he could. His father was still serving aboard the USS Grissom, but had been promoted to Senior Chief Petty Officer in the Engineering staff. His mother was back at Earth fearing for both their lives, sending messages on a regular basis. The war took a heavy toll on the Alliance fleet, but things were looking up after almost two years of fighting, until that horrible message he received from Starfleet Command. The USS Grissom had been destroyed with almost all hands in the Battle of Ricktor Prime. From the six survivors, none of them was listed as his dad. That was a major blow to Frank, he had lost quite a few friends from the Academy to the war so far, all of which were a heavy burden. But his dad had been his best friend his entire life. The message he received from him shortly before the battle would commence would be Frank’s last memory of him. A memory he cherished by playing it over and over again.
Soon after that the war was won, but at what cost. After the war the Assistant CMO position was available again, because the temporary replacement resigned. Frank applied to that position again and drowned himself in his duties, trying not to think too much about the people he loved and lost. His mother had advised him to take an extended shore leave, just to put his mind in order. He didn’t follow that advise and continued working aboard the USS Sarek. There were still a lot of war casualties in need of help and the missions related to the relief and rebuilding effort kept his mind of the more relevant matters.
After years of almost continuously working, he almost reached a breaking point. Getting less sleep by the day, due to an increasing amount of nightmares, his duties began to suffer. He realized he was kidding himself, working wasn’t the remedy. He needed to follow his mom’s advice and take some serious time off to set things straight. He asked for and was granted an extended leave of absence and spent most of a year back home on Earth. Being among friends and family but especially the long talks with his mother did him much good. The nightmares left, only to return in times of severe stress.
He spent good part of a year on extended leave and resumed his duties early 2382, back on the USS Sarek as assistant CMO. The ship was in the middle of a big reshuffling of crew by the time he returned. Few of his previous colleagues remained aboard the ship and the CMO he served with during the war got reassigned as well almost six months later. Frank applied for the CMO position, but the new CO of the Sarek had another person in mind for that particular position and denied Frank the promotion. The new CMO and Frank weren’t the best of friends right from the start. It seemed like whatever Frank did or whatever choice he made in his duties, he could never get it right. At first he blamed himself for it, thinking it was probably because he had been away for almost a year and might not have caught the latest memo on ship’s procedures. But it seemed the CMO just didn’t like him, and wasn’t going to any time soon.
Before Frank started looking around for another job opening, he requested to do the Bridge Officer’s Test. His XO granted his request and personally administered the test. At the first attempt he failed the test because he tried to look for alternatives too long before accepting the inevitable outcome of the final test. At the second attempt he knew there was only one way out of the situation, and thereby completed the test successfully. His CMO saw Frank’s step to take the Bridge Officer’s Test as a threat to his own position and made Frank’s life even more miserable aboard the USS Sarek. And because you can only take that much crap from anyone, Frank decided to try his luck elsewhere. Early 2384 a position for Chief Medical Officer opened up on an Akira class cruiser. The USS Isoroku seemed like a great new start in his career so Frank immediately applied. |
