Beverly Crusher

Doctor **Beverly Cheryl Howard Crusher** MD, was a Starfleet officer who served as chief medical officer of the USS *Enterprise*-D and USS *Enterprise*-E for many years from 2364 to the 2380s, under Captain Jean-Luc Picard, with brief stints serving as head of Starfleet Medical in 2365 and 2379.

## Biography

Beverly Cheryl Howard Crusher was born (prematurely) as Beverly Cheryl Howard, daughter of Paul and Isabel Howard, on October 13 2324 in Copernicus City on Luna. When Beverly was three (and a half) years old, her parents were killed when their research vessel was destroyed by an Ubarrak warship. From that time she was raised by her grandmother, Felisa Howard, on the small colony world of Arvada III.

In 2339 a disaster exhausted the colony's medical supplies. The elder Howard had learned how to use the local roots and herbs for medicinal purposes during the Arvada III disaster. This sparked Beverly's interest in the medical field. Following the disaster, Beverly and her grandmother moved to Caldos colony, where Felisa worked as a local healer.

## Starfleet Academy(2342-2346)

###

At the age of 18, Beverly entered Starfleet Medical Academy

During her Second year of Training She ran into a young Cadet whom was on the same career track as she was, his name was Michaek Rogers and the two hit it off very quickly. The two of them spent a entire week in an intense relationship which began after they knew each other only a single day, While Michael got her name, she refused to learn his as she didn't want to spoil the intense feelings she had for him, she would only refer to him as only Mike and nothing else. Their relationship ended and the two of each other never ran into one another again.

toward the end of her medical studies, was introduced to Starfleet officer Jack Crusher of the USS *Stargazer* by acquaintance Walker Keel. The couple was soon engaged to be married. In 2344, Beverly first met Jack's Captain on the *Stargazer*, Jean-Luc Picard, at the Utopia Planitia Shipyards on Mars.

Jack proposed to Beverly through the use of the gag gift of a book entitled, "How to Advance Your Career Through Marriage". Beverly accepted and the two were married in 2348 in a ceremony performed in San Francisco. Although Jack's assignment to the *Stargazer* kept the couple apart for long stretches, they corresponded often and got together whenever they could. In late 2348 Jack got an unexpected leave and was able to spend time with his wife, which resulted in Beverly becoming pregnant. She later gave birth to the couple's only child, Wesley, on July 29 2349. Because of his deep-space assignment aboard the *Stargazer*, Jack was unable to return until five days after Wesley was born.

Unfortunately, their marriage was short-lived as Jack was killed trying to detach a damaged warp nacelle from the body of the *Stargazer* in 2354. Picard personally brought his friend's body home to Earth and Beverly.

### Starfleet

After being on Earth for several years, Beverly interned on Delos IV under the tutelage of Dalen Quaice and his wife. In addition, sometime during her early career in Starfleet she was stationed on Tau Ceti III and the USS *Prague*. While serving on the *Prague*, the ship was hit by a tachyon field, which offered her the opportunity to push the boundaries of her medical training. In 2354, Beverly served as assistant CMO onboard Starbase 32, when the base's CO Admiral Jerusalmi came to inform her that Jack had been killed in service. After her husband's death, and in part motivated by her son's well-being, Beverly turned down an offer to serve as CMO of the USS *Hammarskjöld* and resigned from Starfleet. After leaving Starfleet in 2354, following the death of Jack, Beverly moved to Earth and worked in private practice in St. Louis, before returning to Starfleet in 2358.

In 2360, Beverly assisted Admiral Nyota Uhura of Starfleet Intelligence in a top-secret investigation of the Romulan disease known as the *gnawing*.

Beverly didn't want to be restricted in rank just because she was a doctor, and worked her way through the ranks during her early Starfleet career. In 2362, Beverly took the bridge officer's test and was promoted to full Commander, allowing her to assume command if the situation called for it. During her tenure aboard the *Enterprise*, Beverly often commanded the night-shift. Captain Picard again relied on his old confidant's command capabilities during his investigation into the Borg Collective after the Oniaka III massacre. These leadership experiences may have been the prelude to her eventual rise to command. In a possible future, she was in charge of the medical starship USS *Pasteur* by the 25th century.

Beverly also worked on Khyme's Syndrome, earning herself a Nobel Prize.

## Aboard the *Enterprise*-D

In 2364, Beverly applied for the position of chief medical officer aboard the *Enterprise* and her application was accepted. She would be working under her husband's old Captain, Jean-Luc Picard, which she didn't view as a problem, though there was some initial discomfort from Captain Picard.

During her time aboard the *Enterprise*-D, she proved popular and spearheaded many activities aboard ship, such as an acting workshop and giving dancing lessons to Data. Over the years, Beverly and Picard formed a very close friendship that always stopped just short of becoming romantic.

A few weeks after her assignment aboard the *Enterprise*, the starship was called to Archaria III to deal with a large scale disease that was killing the Peladian colonists on the planet. Crusher battled to find a cure for the disease along with the medical staff aboard the USS *Constitution*. Crusher and her team discovered that the disease was engineered from a sample of Rhulian flu. Thankfully, Lieutenant Natasha Yar was able to obtain a sample of the cure for the disease, and Beverly was able to engineer a vaccine.

In early 2365, Beverly was offered the position as Head of Starfleet Medical and she accepted, though Wesley remained aboard the *Enterprise*. During her time at Starfleet Medical, she worked closely with Carter Greyhorse, another former crewmate of her husband's, and Lewis Zimmerman. She supported Zimmerman's plan to develop the Emergency Medical Hologram and provided the initial funding She also taught at least one course at Starfleet Medical Academy, where one of her best students was Elizabeth Lense.

After a year as head, she decided to return to her post aboard the *Enterprise*, replacing Katherine Pulaski. In late 2367, the *Enterprise* crew discovered that the insectoid Jarada were suffering with a biochemical imbalance that was causing insanity. Beverly and Dr. Selar were able to develop a cure and presented it to the Jarada, but they didn't want to take the cure or have any dealings with the Federation.

Mid-2368 saw Dr. Crusher inadvertently stopping a war between the Krann and the Lethanta after she discovered that the virus that had decimated the ancient Krann was a natural occurrence, and not an act of aggression by the Lethanta.

Shortly thereafter, Beverly worked with Leonard McCoy to develop a serum to a disease that was similar to the one that had struck Archaria III, only this time it affected the Romulan royal family. The two doctors were able to synthesize a vaccine after obtaining a clean blood sample from Zevon, who had been on PojjanPiraKot when the virus struck.

In her command role, Beverly occasionally lead the *Enterprise*. In 2370, she commanded the vessel when it came under attack from a Borg vessel while most of the crew were searching for Data on a nearby planet. Later in the year she took command while the rest of the senior staff were attempting to reveal the activities of a Starfleet conspiracy. To cover her comrade's activities, she told Admiral Adams that the *Enterprise* was suffering an outbreak of Andorian measles and, as such, Captain Picard was unable to explain why the *Enterprise* had returned to Earth.

Crusher remained aboard the *Enterprise* in 2371, when the starship was destroyed by a Klingon Bird-of-Prey in orbit of Veridian III. The crew survived aboard the saucer section, which was forced to crash on the surface of Veridian III. After the situation was over, Beverly directed the medical teams at the crash site until the USS *Farragut* arrived.

### Aboard the *Enterprise*-E

Beverly joined the rest of Picard's command crew when the *Enterprise*-E launched in 2372.

In 2375, Beverly worked with Dr. Julian Bashir on starbase Deep Space 9 when the Dominion engineered a virus that targeted Vulcans. The cure was found after consulting the notes of a 22nd century Starfleet doctor named Phlox.

Beverly briefly left the *Enterprise* in 2378 to again serve as head of Starfleet Medical when she was captured on the planet Kevratas by the Romulan Sela. Beverly was listed as "Missing: Presumed Dead", but Picard did not believe this to be the case.

Picard and two other former *Stargazer* crew members, "Pug" Joseph and Carter Greyhorse, traveled to Kevratas and mounted a rescue. Upon her rescue, Picard finally revealed the depths of his feelings for Beverly. Soon after, Beverly began a romantic relationship with Picard.

In late 2380 Doctor Crusher married Jean-Luc Picard. They decided that Beverly would keep her married name of Crusher so as not to cause confusion. Although Picard was initially hesitant to conceive a child, the two dealt with Jean-Luc's emotional baggage.

In 2380, Beverly Crusher was promoted to the rank of captain and given command of the USS *Pasteur*.