Stardate 52033.1

     Lieutenant Kyra Draven stood in the conference room of the U.S.S. Equinox,
looking out at the stars that surrounded the ship.  It had been three months 
since the death of her father at the hands of the Jem'Hadar and six months 
since leaving the Enterprise.  It all now seemed like a distant memory.  She 
had made a few friends on that ship, but now, despite hearing all the thoughts 
and feeling all the emotions of everyone on this ship, Kyra felt more alone 
than ever.  Everything seemed totally new to her.  However, she had taken a 
brief tour of the ship and had met one or two of the crew, who seemed nice 
enough.  Somehow, Kyra couldn't shake the feeling that she wasn't meant to be 
there.  Her life as she had known it had ended on Betazed with the death of 
her father.  Since that moment Kyra had wanted to fight the Dominion with 
everything she could, but Starfleet had other plans for her.  Two days after 
the death of her father, she and her family escaped Betazed and traveled back 
to Earth to give their account of the invasion of their planet.  Kyra had 
wanted to join the fight to free her people and everyone in the Federation, but
her mother had persuaded her to stay on Earth.
     It hadn't been an easy time for Kyra since graduating from the Academy.  
She had lost everyone who was ever important to her.  Both men had been a big 
part of her life for so long.  Leaving the Enterprise had been a painful 
decision to make and an even bigger one to put into practice.  Kyra had wanted
to go back to the Enterprise, but in reality, she felt that she couldn't go 
back to her old life.  There were just too many painful memories there.  That 
part of her life was gone.  Now, she had a new assignment and a new life.
     Her mother had sent her belongings, which had arrived only an hour ago.  
Kyra had yet to meet her new Captain.  She knew from her friend on the 
Enterprise, Nichola Watkins, that Captain Picard had given her a glowing 
recommendation.  As yet, there had been no contact from Data.  He hadn't even 
bothered to contact her after the death of her father.  It had been six months
since they had last seen each other and Kyra desperately wanted to talk to him
about what had happened.  Kyra didn't foresee the two of them seeing each 
other, at least, not in this life time.  She believed strongly that whatever 
happens to you in this life time will happen to you in another.
     Kyra looked up as the doors to the conference room opened behind her.
     "Lieutenant Draven?" The woman asked.
     Kyra studied her carefully.  There was something strange about her.  Her
emotions were deeply troubled.  Kyra had felt the same feeling before, when she
had first met Data on the Farragut.  He had always wanted to be human and Kyra
could feel it.
     "You must be Lieutenant Elea."  Kyra said.
     The young woman nodded slowly, "How did you know.  I thought that empaths 
couldn't read.."
     "I seem to have gotten around that problem.  Besides, I recognized you 
from your Starfleet records.  You're a Cyberdroid."
     "Yes, is that a problem for you?"
     Kyra shook her head, "Of course not, I..."
     The young Lieutenant moved closer towards her.  For the first time, Kyra 
got a closer look at her.
     "You're a Soong type android?"  Kyra asked.
     "That's correct.  Do you know of us?"
     Kyra didn't want to say anything.  She didn't want the rest of the crew to
know her business.
     "You could say that.  I was assigned to the Enterprise for nearly a year."
     "So you know Commander Data?" Elea asked.
     "Yes.. I did."
     But she didn't anymore.  She had thought he might have contacted her when
hearing about her fathers death, but there had been no response from him at 
all.  To Kyra, that made him seem further away from her.
     "Was there something I could do for you Lieutenant?"
     "A few of us are going for dinner, I thought you might want to join us?"
     There was a long pause before Kyra said anything, "I don't think so.  I 
have things to do." She said abruptly.
     "Very well."
     Kyra heard the doors close behind her again.  Everything seemed to be
leaving her behind these days.  Data, her family and her father.  There didn't 
seem any way to get her out of her depression she had been in over the last 
few months.  Nothing seemed to have worked.  But, maybe a new assignment was 
exactly what she needed.  She couldn't spend the rest of her life mourning the
loss of her father and the loss of her relationship with Data.  Something had 
to give, and perhaps she had just stumbled across the right thing.
     Lieutenant Elea and Ensign Bruder sat in the recreation lounge talking 
about the new Exobiologist.  Elea felt that she had been a little bit snobbish
with her, no doubt because of her Betazoid background.  By now, most people on
the ship had some information about her.  It wasn't that hard to realize that 
she didn't really want to be there.  When Elea had entered the conference 
room, she had only wanted to try and make Kyra's adjustment a little more 
comfortable, but she hadn't got the response she was looking for.
     "Is anyone sitting here?" a voice asked.
     The two women looked up, seeing Lieutenant Draven, now dressed in her
uniform standing above them.
     "Of course not, please join us."
     "Thank you."
     Kyra sat between them.
     "Welcome to the Equinox." Elea said.
     Kyra nodded in appreciation.  She had known that Elea had only tried to be
friendly.  But Kyra had sent her away with a flea in her ear.  That wasn't the 
kind of impression she had wanted to give her new crewmates and hopefully, her
new friends.  Kyra just wanted to get along with them.  There were going to be 
some painful times ahead for her as she would no doubt finally come to terms 
with the loss of her father.  Who knew what the future held for her now.  After
a while, she might find herself enjoying her new job.  However, her ties with 
the Enterprise weren't severed for ever, Kyra still had one or two friends 
left on board.  She was sure that it wouldn't be before long that Data would 
contact her again, just to say hello.