Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Uh...Gene Roddenberry's? Certainly not mine.
Spoilers: "The Circle"
Notes: For SpikeTV, the first channel for men, and their blessed DS9 marathon.
Warnings: ---
Summary: Kira's leaving the only home she cares to remember.
Disclaimer: Uh...Gene Roddenberry's? Certainly not mine.
Spoilers: "The Circle"
Notes: For SpikeTV, the first channel for men, and their blessed DS9 marathon.
Warnings: ---
Summary: Kira's leaving the only home she cares to remember.
Changing of the Guard
The first home she ever knew was a mat on the floor in a crowded resistance hideout. It was dirty and smelled of dust and phaser-fire and blood every minute of every day. That was back before the Cardassian raids and the POW camps which were even dirtier and smelt even worse. Those camps had been the second home she'd ever known, and the last she'd ever forget.
After that, the whole idea of "home" had been shelved in favour of moments of security and days spent holed up in trenches. There was little continuity in her life during the Underground days. Only the smell of phaser-fire remained constant, and the fear of getting caught or, worse, giving up.
Nerys, we are fighting for Bajor, she'd tell herself on the days when she longed for "home." Somehow, it never occurred to her that Bajor itself couldn't fill the longing and that maybe there was something a little wrong with that.
Terok Nor -- no, Deep Space 9 -- is her home now, has been for more years than she really wants to admit. Or, at least, it was her home until today.
"I'll get you back, Major," Sisko says as she makes her way to the Turbolift. "That's a promise I make to you and me."
She wants to tell him that Starfleet promises have never meant much to her. Or maybe, she just wants to say thank you and goodbye, but either way, she chokes it down because if she tries to talk, she thinks she might cry and that would be more embarrassment than she can deal with in one day. Instead, she looks up at him as she sinks below the floor and says nothing.
Odo sees her to the docking bay. It's the way things should be. They started this together; it's appropriate to end it that way.
"You would fight for this if you really wanted it," he tells her.
She laughs, hard and bitter at the back of her throat. "I fought for Bajor and look where we are now."
"Nerys..." He frowns at her.
"Odo, let's not do this now? Let's just say goodbye," she tries pathetically to smile, "OK?"
He keeps frowning. "This station won't be the same without you."
"You'll do fine."
"That's not what I said."
She smiles, easily for the first time. "Goodbye, old friend."
"Goodbye, Nerys."
As the shuttle undocks and drops into the nul-grav of space, she muses that Deep Space 9 was probably the first home she really wanted to protect. The first home she'd rather lose than destroy fighting for.
After that, the whole idea of "home" had been shelved in favour of moments of security and days spent holed up in trenches. There was little continuity in her life during the Underground days. Only the smell of phaser-fire remained constant, and the fear of getting caught or, worse, giving up.
Nerys, we are fighting for Bajor, she'd tell herself on the days when she longed for "home." Somehow, it never occurred to her that Bajor itself couldn't fill the longing and that maybe there was something a little wrong with that.
Terok Nor -- no, Deep Space 9 -- is her home now, has been for more years than she really wants to admit. Or, at least, it was her home until today.
"I'll get you back, Major," Sisko says as she makes her way to the Turbolift. "That's a promise I make to you and me."
She wants to tell him that Starfleet promises have never meant much to her. Or maybe, she just wants to say thank you and goodbye, but either way, she chokes it down because if she tries to talk, she thinks she might cry and that would be more embarrassment than she can deal with in one day. Instead, she looks up at him as she sinks below the floor and says nothing.
Odo sees her to the docking bay. It's the way things should be. They started this together; it's appropriate to end it that way.
"You would fight for this if you really wanted it," he tells her.
She laughs, hard and bitter at the back of her throat. "I fought for Bajor and look where we are now."
"Nerys..." He frowns at her.
"Odo, let's not do this now? Let's just say goodbye," she tries pathetically to smile, "OK?"
He keeps frowning. "This station won't be the same without you."
"You'll do fine."
"That's not what I said."
She smiles, easily for the first time. "Goodbye, old friend."
"Goodbye, Nerys."
As the shuttle undocks and drops into the nul-grav of space, she muses that Deep Space 9 was probably the first home she really wanted to protect. The first home she'd rather lose than destroy fighting for.