Hi there, and welcome to the site! Nice to know that someone's bothering to stop by. Chances are good that you've found your way here in one of a few ways: either you know me and allowed me to cajole you into taking a look (should've stuck up for yourself, you've no idea of what you're getting into), you're a reader of Star Trek-related fan fiction and wanted to have a gander at something different, or you stumbled upon this little corner of the web completely randomly. Whatever the case, feel free to take a look around and see what you think. Feedback is always welcomed, though constructive criticism is always more likely to be taken seriously than flaming (just telling me that I suck doesn't help me write any better).
Before you go onto the story, which should be the reason you're here at all, a few things could bear explaining. This story found its inception in the creation of a character by the name of Martin McManus. Martin popped into my head approximately six months ago, when I was in the process of creating a character for the U.S.S. LeJeune, a role-playing game I'm involved in (if you're interested, there's a link to it in the links section of this site). Martin's character began as an amalgam of several different people, some from films, some from books, some from real life, but as the role-playing progressed, he seemed to develop a life of his own. It was at this point that simply role-playing wasn't enough to satisfy my desire to develop his character, so I started writing what was intended to be a short story about him.
What was begun as a brief work about Martin McManus' origins and background, however, quickly gestated into a full-blown life story. As things went on (and continue to go on), it seemed that allowing the fic to rot away on my hard drive, unheard of and unread by anyone save myself wasn't what I was looking for. Writers don't get better without feedback, and that brings things to the creation of this site.
This site was designed to host my story, "The Making of a Federation Doctor." This story takes place over a period of several decades, beginning in the Star Trek: the Next Generation era and carrying through Deep Space 9 and somewhat beyond. All of the characters used are original, mostly my creations, with a few exceptions. Most will recognize the character of Daniel Pierce for what he is: a blatant rip-off of a certain M*A*S*H character. He was designed in fun, originally as a bit of a joke, but he made his way into the story in a fairly significant role, so that's where he's staying. Other characters that don't belong to me are those members of the U.S.S. LeJeune's crew that were created by other role-players. For details on who created what (and how to join the crew, if you're interested), click here.
Other than that, all characters belong to me, the author. Plagiarism is not an option; you will get caught, and I will seek painful revenge, so do everyone a favor and don't. The pictures of various characters that appear throughout are not mine and were not taken by me; if you recognize a picture as your work and want it gone, let me know and it will be taken care of. As something of an addendum to this "rules and regs" section, I'll mention to the Powers That Be that I own neither Star Trek nor M*A*S*H, am not making a red cent off of this story or these characters and mean no intent to infringe copyright. I'll also add that suing me will result in nothing but legal bills- I'm a college student, which means I'm broke.
With all of that out of the way, feel free to move on and enjoy the story!
