Kira Nerys

Kira Nerys is a heroine from the Star Trek spin-off TV Series, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. She's from an alien race known as the Bajorians from the planet Bajor.

Childhood
Kira Nerys was born in the Dahkur Province on Bajor, presumably in 2343, and lived a large part of her life in the Bajoran Singha refugee camp. In 2346, her mother Kira Meru was taken to Terok Nor to serve as a comfort woman to the Cardassians. At three years old, she was too young to understand this, and Kira Taban, her father, told his children that Meru had died. Nerys would not learn the truth until 2374. After her mother was taken, Nerys and her brothers began receiving better food. Though many Bajorans, including Nerys herself, viewed comfort women as collaborators, her father felt Meru was making a great sacrifice for her family, and often told his daughter that her mother was the bravest woman he'd ever known.

Kira often got into trouble as a child because of her interest in annoying the adults. However, the Cardassian occupation of Bajor had affected every aspect of Kira's life, and led her to join the battle for liberation. In 2369, Nerys told Kai Opaka that she had known nothing but violence since she was a child. She began her association with the Bajoran Resistance at age twelve, when she ingratiated herself in the base camp of Shakaar resistance cell leader Shakaar Edon.

Bajoran Resistance
By the end of the year 2356 Kira was running errands, cleaning weapons, and doing various other tasks for the Shakaar resistance cell. When they planned an ambush and required more infantry, Kira immediately saw her opportunity and volunteered for the mission. Although everyone thought she was far too young, Lupaza stood up for her and told her she had the heart of a sinoraptor and that they had no other choice but to accept her help. When Furel made a joke about Kira, Lupaza hit him for it. Eventually Shakaar himself approved the teenager and she joined the ambush.

The ambush was her first mission, one she would never forget. She was scared, cold and kept biting her fingers to keep the blood flowing while the group waited on a mountain ridge. She was most afraid that one of the other Shakaar members would notice her doing so. After three or four hours, the skimmer they were waiting for appeared. When the hatch opened and the first Cardassian emerged, she opened fire and kept shooting until the power cell was empty. When it was all over, she was giddy, grinning and relieved that she had not let anyone down. Later, Lupaza crafted a Bajoran earring out of some of the metal of the destroyed skimmer, which she gave to the younger Bajoran. Kira would wear the adornment throughout the rest of her life.

Having proven herself, Kira Nerys was now regarded as a member of the Bajoran resistance.

In another mission Kira planted a bomb outside the house of Gul Pirak, the resulting explosion vaporized the east wing and killed twelve Cardassians, including Pirak's entire family. Twenty-three others were crippled, including Silaran Prin.

Kira also participated in the raids against the Haru outpost. Years later she still had nightmares about her actions during those missions.

The Cardassians never saw Kira as much of a threat and her security file described her as "A minor operative whose activities are limited to running errands for the terrorist leaders."

2369
After the Cardassian withdrawal in 2369, Kira joined the Bajoran Militia with the rank of major and was appointed the position of Bajoran liaison officer on Deep Space 9. She was torn between her loyalty to Bajor and to the fact that she knew that the Federation's presence was needed to secure her homeworld's safety. When she first met Commander Benjamin Sisko, she told him outright that she did not feel the Federation had any business on Bajor. However, while Kira and Sisko disagreed on a number of issues, she eventually became his trusted right arm as second in command of the station.

The major was deceived by Tahna Los, a former Bajoran resistance fighter, who was rescued when his ship was attacked by Cardassians, who claimed he was a terrorist. Kira convinced Commander Sisko to grant Tahna asylum, despite his own misgivings. However it was soon revealed that Tahna was indeed planning to collapse the entrance to the wormhole in order to drive both the Federation and the Cardassians out of Bajoran territory. Kira was able to thwart the terrorist's plan.

When the station was infected with a virus, inducing aphasia in the crew, it was discovered that this was a booby trap left behind by the Bajoran Resistance. Kira was able to track down Surmak Ren, who helped plant the virus, and an antidote was found.

In addition to her duties on Deep Space 9, she was called upon to act for Bajor on a number of issues. She evacuated an elderly man named Mullibok from his home to make way for Bajoran development.

Kira would suffer a great loss when Kai Opaka arrived on the station. She along with Sisko and Bashir would take Opaka on a trip through the wormhole. They became stranded on a planet where eternal war took place. People died, only to revive and fight again. During the crash Opaka would die, but later would regenerate. When the force field on the planet was broken, Opaka would decide to stay and help try to end the fighting.

Kira and Sisko came into conflict when she led a mutiny against him while under the control of an energy matrix which contained an archive of a power struggle within an ancient species. It had infected the crew of a Klingon ship in the Gamma Quadrant. It was brought on to the station by the sole survivor of that ship, who, although safely aboard the station, killed himself. It was then affecting the station crew, with Kira in the role of the murderous leader of the opposition. After Odo managed to trap the affected personnel in a single cargo bay, he used a program written by himself and Dr. Bashir which drove the matrix out of the affected personnel and placed it into suspended animation in the atmosphere of the cargo bay, at which point the bay was vented into space and the affected crew returned to normal.

At the end of the year, Kira was confronted by a Cardassian who commanded the notorious Gallitep labor camp. The Cardassian had the ailment Kalla-Nohra Syndrome, which was caused by a mining accident at the camp. Kira charged him with being a war criminal. He stated that his name was Marritza, and that he was a file clerk at the camp. After examining pictures of the camp it was believed that he was in reality Gul Darhe'el, the commander of the camp.

He confessed to the Major and proceeded to horrify her by bragging about the camp and deaths he caused. He accused her of being a war criminal, since her terrorist activities killed innocent Cardassians. Odo investigated, and revealed that "Darhe'el" really was Marritza, and that he had cosmetic surgery performed to look like Darhe'el. He wished to be caught and stand trial so that the crimes would be exposed. He hoped that Cardassians would be shocked and admit their guilt so that a new government could be put in place. He was released but was killed by a Bajoran on the station.

2370 - 2371
Kira rescued Li Nalas in hopes that he would unite the different factions on Bajor. She fought on the Federation's side against the Circle, a radical Bajoran group who attempted to overthrow the Bajoran government and drive the Federation from Deep Space 9. She was captured by them and tortured, but refused to divulge any security secrets about the station to them. After learning that the group was being financed by Cardassians in order to cause turmoil, so Cardassia could re-occupy Bajor, she traveled to Bajor and presented the evidence to the Council of Ministers, helping to end the threat.

She became an opponent of Vedek Winn Adami. She believed that Winn was responsible for the assassination attempt on Vedek Bareil, whom the major supported in his bid to be elected Kai. Bareil suddenly withdrew in order to keep a secret concerning Opaka's conduct during the Occupation. Winn won the position then proceeded to attempt a takeover of Bajor's secular Bajoran Provisional Government. Kira continued to have a deep-seated mistrust of the Kai.

A Bajoran named Vaatrik Pallra attempted to have Quark murdered after he retrieved a list of Bajoran collaborators. This reopened the five year-old murder case of her husband, in which Major Kira was a suspect. Kira first met Odo at the time of the crime, and even though much of the evidence pointed to her, she told Odo that she did not kill him as she was in the underground and was sabotaging a different part of the station. Odo believed her and did not turn her in. After he solved Quark's attempted murder, he realized that Kira did kill Pallra's husband because he was a collaborator.

Refugees called the Skrreea from the Gamma Quadrant arrived on the station believing that Bajor was their long lost paradise. They wished to settle on the planet. They were refused because the Provisional Government feared that the still-devastated planet could not sustain such an increase of population and Kira supported that decision. As they left, Kira then realized that the Skrreeans were accomplished farmers who could have cultivated the land and help end the famine on Bajor.

She was with Odo in 2371 when he discovered that his people were the Founders, rulers of the Dominion. Later that year she was kidnapped by the Cardassians who surgically altered her to look like a Cardassian. They were nearly able to convince her that she was really a spy, named Iliana Ghemor, who had been planted in the Bajoran Resistance. She was rescued with the help of Elim Garak. Later that year she became involved in Thomas Riker's plot to attack Cardassia on behalf of the Maquis.

She was also one of the first of Deep Space 9's crew to visit the mirror universe, where she met her counterpart, the "Intendant", one of the most evil people in the Alliance.

2372 - 2373
Kira helped repel the Klingon invasion of Deep Space 9. The Klingons believed that the fall of the military government and rise of a civilian alternative on Cardassia was the result of Changeling infiltration. She helped Gul Dukat rescue his daughter from the Breen. She also taught Dukat how to fight as a resistance fighter against the Klingons. All of this was deeply distressing to the Major, as Dukat was her sworn enemy during the Occupation of Bajor.

Delivering Kirayoshi O'Brien in a traditional Bajoran birthing ceremony After an accident aboard a runabout in 2372, the fetus of Kirayoshi O'Brien was transferred from the injured Keiko O'Brien's womb to Kira's to allow his survival. Soon afterward, Kira moved in with the O'Briens so that they could care for Kira while feeling close to their unborn child.

While pregnant, Kira investigated the killings of her former Resistance Cell cohorts and was captured by a Cardassian named Silaran Prin. He was disfigured in an attack by her group. After he revealed that he intended to kill her and raise Kirayoshi himself, she killed him in order to escape.

Kira gave birth in a traditional Bajoran birthing ceremony aboard Deep Space 9 in 2373. Miles, Keiko and Shakaar Edon were at her side.

The Dominion War
After the Dominion captured Deep Space 9, Kira remained on the station to represent the Bajoran Government under the new Dominion administration, who placed Dukat back in his former position as station commander.

While at first she cooperated with the Cardassians and the Dominion, a crisis of conscience after Vedek Yassim accused her of being a collaborator, the very type of Bajoran she spent her early years fighting. After Yassim committed suicide in protest against the Dominion occupation, she decided to start a new resistance against the Dominion.

Immediately, with the help of Odo and others, the Major began a campaign of fomenting conflict between the Cardassians and Jem'Hadar. Some time later she and Rom were captured while attempting to thwart Dominion attempts to re-open the Bajoran wormhole.

She, along with Rom, were condemned to die, until Quark rescued them. Kira, along with Quark, Rom, Jake, and Odo, helped disable the station's weapons, which helped Starfleet retake the station.

Shortly after the Dominion withdrawal Bareil's mirror universe counterpart arrived on the station rekindling feelings Kira had for the late Bareil of her universe. He claimed asylum and spent much time with the major, although he was actually the lover of Intendant Kira, with whom he planned to steal the Orb of Time from the station. However, he fell in love with Major Kira and released her from capture, although he found he could not remain in her universe living under the shadow of the revered vedek he resembled. The Major thus again lost one of the great loves of her life.

Kira's body was taken over by a Prophet when a Pah-wraith possessed Jake Sisko, bringing about the prophesied "Day of Reckoning" that would determine if Bajor would enter into a golden age, or the evil ones would ravage the planet. The battle was terminated before a conclusion because of Kai Winn flooding the station with Chroniton radiation that drove out the lifeforms.

In 2375 Kira was promoted to the rank of colonel and placed in command of Deep Space 9 after Captain Sisko took an extended leave of absence. She confronted the Romulans, who were allies against the Dominion, over the placing of weapons on a hospital planet in the Bajoran system.

Gul Dukat and his cult of Bajorans loyal to the Pah-Wraiths captured the colonel later that year. One of her teachers, Vedek Fala, was a member of the cult. When Kira attempted to expose Dukat as a fraud, Dukat announced that the cult members, even himself, must give themselves to the Pah-Wraiths by committing suicide. Kira saved the cult by exposing Dukat's personal suicide pills as fakes. Disillusioned, Fala killed himself.

Kira was asked by Captain Sisko and Admiral Ross to help Legate Damar organize the nascent Cardassian uprising against the Dominion and teach them the finer art of guerrilla warfare because of her extensive experience in the Bajoran Resistance. Sisko granted her the rank of Starfleet commander in order to help her gain the trust of those Cardassians who still believed she was an anti-Cardassian terrorist. Odo and Garak departed with the commander to join Damar at the Cardassian Liberation Front headquarters.

Although Damar welcomed her assistance, Gul Rusot was vocally distrustful of her. Kira injured the Gul when he confronted her. Their animosity almost led to Kira's death at Rusot's hand, but Damar killed him before he could carry out his attempt. Her force succeeded in commandeering a Jem'Hadar ship fitted with a Breen energy dissipator and bringing it to Deep Space Nine, where the Federation could analyze it and develop countermeasures.

During the final battle of the Dominion War, Kira, Garak, Damar, and two other soldiers from the rebellion stormed the Dominion command center on Cardassia Prime. Damar and one of the soldiers were killed, but Garak and Kira managed to make it to the command center, kill Weyoun and capture the female Changeling.

After the end of the war and Captain Sisko's disappearance, she once again assumed command of Deep Space 9.