Delivering quintuplets with a twitchy alien father pointing a laser rifle at your head is difficult. But doing it calmly and then helping the new family of interstellar terrors get off the planet safely? That takes style.

Fortunately, Dr. Cherijo Grey Veil, the protagonist of S.L. Viehl's debut novel Stardoc, manages to keep both her wits and her medical skills about her. Since violent alien terrorists giving birth is just another day in the Trauma Center, she needs them.

Cherijo is the newest doctor on the frontier world of Kevarzangia Two (K-2), settled by 200 different intelligent species. Her patients include humanoids, insectoids and the occasional elephant-sized Trytinorn dockworker.

With only six doctors on the planet, it's tough work at the best of times, but Cherijo isn't complaining. She's fascinated by the many aliens of K-2, even to the point of falling in love with one of them.

As if that weren't enough, she has a more pressing reason to stay far away from Earth. Cherijo has discovered unpleasant truths about the activities of her father, a famous physician and researcher, and her life depends on escaping his influence.

Cherijo is a smart, engaging heroine with a variety of talents and vulnerabilities. She's easy to identify with, and while the character's intelligence and active approach to problems means she usually succeeds at what she does, Viehl avoids the trap of making her victories too easy.

Cherijo's friends and allies are interesting, especially a man-sized sentient cat who, much like his Terran analogue, wanders into Cherijo's life and becomes her pet.

However, the rest of the supporting cast isn't always so well-drawn. The villains in Cherijo's life never become much more than flat, predictable stereotypes. We know incompetent physician Phorap Rogan is shrill and vicious by the time he files his third protest with the colony's governing council, but it's never clear why.

Some of Viehl's science is a little shaky as well.

During an epidemic, Cherijo tries the long-shot therapy of injecting her own blood into an alien character. The treatment works, but over the next few weeks Cherijo's blood systematically attacks the alien's body.

The ongoing cellular attack makes little sense. Either the blood should have produced an immediate reaction, or a slow poisoning that decreased in intensity as the alien bloodstream filtered out the harmful intruder.

Viehl drops a hint in the final chapters that Cherijo's blood may not be as normal as it seems to be, perhaps pointing toward future volumes in what the author promises will become "the Stardoc Series." But even if the next book can explain the reaction, it's odd that none of the medical personnel suggests a massive transfusion to clean the tainted blood.

In brief, the problem seems to be driven more by Viehl's need to remove the character from the plot than by scientific speculation.

Otherwise Viehl's presentation of medicine among aliens and life on K-2 is plausible and entertaining. She clearly describes a variety of lifeforms, medical problems and therapies without getting too technical or slowing the plot down with unnecessary exposition.

In fact, most of this novel is fun to read, although the ending drags a little while Viehl sets up the next book and there's a rape scene that feels not only unpleasant but unnecessary.

Overall, Stardoc is a strong first novel. Viehl has created an excellent protagonist in Dr. Cherijo Grey Veil, and she's set the stage for an interesting series of interspecies medical adventures.