Stardate 52037.3

     Lieutenant Kyra Draven sat in Counselor Malar's office.  Ever since she 
came on board, Kyra had been seeing her at least one a week, but the events of 
the last few days had brought her problems to a head.  One moment she was on
the bridge, then she found herself firing on an unarmed ship.  Luckily no one 
was seriously injured, but Kyra's career was in jeopardy.  Captain Mason had 
recommended that she step up her counseling sessions.  So here she was, on 
possibly the most vital day of her career.  After this last session, Counselor 
Malar would make her final recommendation to whether or not Kyra would be 
staying with them.
     Counselor Malar studied Kyra carefully.  Her mood of the last hour had
changed dramatically.
     "You never really told me what happened to you on the bridge," Malar 
asked.
     Kyra looked up.  She didn't really want to talk about this.
     "You can tell me Kyra."
     "I know,  I just..."
     Malar sighed, "Captain Mason said that you mentioned something about your
father at the time you fired on the ship."
     "I can't remember what happened."
     "I'm sure you can.  Who did you believe you were firing at?", Malar asked.
     Draven stood, pacing around the room, "I know what I saw."
     "Or what you thought you saw."
     "It was a Jem'Hadar ship.  I know it was."
     Malar shook her head, "But it wasn't.  It was a cargo ship.  We were light
years away from Federation space and the war."
     "Not everyone is away from it, Counselor."
     Kyra turned back.  It was true.  Not a day had gone by that Kyra didn't 
think about the war, the Dominion and the death of her father.  Somehow the 
image of his death had stayed permanently in her mind and wouldn't go away.
     "How do you feel about your fathers death.  Actually seeing it happen?"
     Kyra couldn't believe she was asking this.  She knew that Malar had wanted 
to ask it.  The young Betazoid had felt her curiosity boil over.
     "How do you think it made me feel?  It was horrible.  I could have done
something to save him, but I was more interested in negotiating with them and
they took advantage of that."
     "From what I've read, your father died trying to save your life after you
were attacked by a Jem'Hadar solider."
     Kyra nodded.  An instant image flashed in her mind, that of her father,
seeing the phaser discharge one more time, knowing that there wasn't anything 
she could have done to save him.  A tear appeared in the corner of her eye,
"That's right.  He died to save me, after everything he did to me."
     "Did you ever forgive him for what he tried to do."
     "I don't think I really did.  My relationship with Commander Data seemed 
to be fading long before I came to realize what had happened between the two of
them.  I just don't think I can forgive him, even now that he's dead."
     Malar looked up at her young colleague.  She didn't have to be an empath 
to sense her pain at the loss of her father and her relationship with the
android Commander.  Something had just snapped inside her, luckily it wasn't
as bad as it could have been.


     Captain Mason sat in his ready room, reading Counselor Malar's report of
Lieutenant Draven.  When he had seen her Starfleet records before coming on
board, he had been sure that he was getting a good officer who, with the right
experience and guidance, would make an excellent officer.  Now after reading 
the report, he still believed that she would make a good officer.  His 
recommendation to Starfleet would be that she stayed on board the U.S.S. 
Equinox.  This is where she belonged now.