The Two-Edged Sword

[Chirakis 1]

The Two-Edged Sword

 

A vow of vengeance was never taken lightly; it bound the holder to a dark, tempestuous path that often ended in disaster for both parties. On the one hand it proved cathartic; on the other, it allowed an offense to seethe beneath the surface and become all-consuming, the sole purpose of existence. Therefore, Kirel seldom undertook the practice but saved it for the deepest bonds: those bound to her through kinship, friendship, battle, or all three.

 

In her youth she had taken the vow at the death of her family, slaughtered by Cardassians so they could not be liberated by a Klingon raiding party. Not long after, she had fulfilled that vow several times over as a Maquis freedom fighter.

 

She had also taken the vow at the death of her adoptive Klingon father, HoD GoragH, mortally wounded during the short-lived but brutal Klingon-Federation War. But the vow had been otherwise resolved. After the changeling ruse was revealed, the Federation received absolution, and she turned her attention toward the Dominion.

 

Her most recent vow had been taken after the Breen attack on Aegis, stardate 2386.340. In the aftermath, the destroyed Allied vessel count stopped mercifully at 593, only two identifiable bodies were recovered, and incalculable unidentified mortal remains in the form of a splattered scrap of uniform, a glove, a helmet visor, a blood-spattered helm chair, smears on metal, and blotches on fabric lay strewn throughout Aegis space.

 

Kirel had mourned silently for days until Captain d’Ka had stepped in. In his Sindar wisdom he had voiced the elusive answer, so often lost in grief. They had stood together where she stood now and had performed the sacred ceremony over a blood-spattered shard from an Allied fighter.

 

* * * * * * *

 

Kirel’s d’k tagh, polished to a high sheen and honed to razor edge, lay exactly perpendicular to Aegis’ horizontal axis. Beneath it, a square of heavy white silk angled against the axis, cushioning it from the universe. Another square of the same material cradled a blood-splattered shard from an unidentified Allied vessel. Between the two lay a third square, empty and barren.

 

After a respectful pause, Kirel grasped the knife and raised it between them.

 

“Mid ak kirtus,” she intoned, then lowered the blade. D’Ka set his jaw as he lifted the silk containing the starship shard and cradled it in his hands.

 

“Ní beidh tú dermad a dhé’namh,” Kirel continued, “Your life-blood is on us. Our lives belong to you. Beidh tú díoghal’ar. You shall not be forgotten.”

 

Holding the blade over the fragment, one slow swipe along the palm of her hand drew a rivulet of blood that dripped slowly onto it, covering the blood of the lost pilot. After a respectful silence, d’Ka handed the anointed shard and its silken veil to Kirel. He took the blade, mirrored her action, and dripped his dark golden life-blood over the others’ while repeating the Sindar oath. “Ní beidh tú dermad a dhé’namh. Beidh tú díoghal’ar. You shall not be forgotten.”

 

Slowly, respectfully, the d’k tagh was returned to its place, this time along the station’s axis.

 

“Our lives belong to you,” they vowed, enshrouding the shard and its blood-soaked drape with the third silken square. They folded the first corner. “Ní beidh tú dermad a dhé’namh.” The second corner. “Beidh tú díoghal’ar.” The third. “You shall not be forgotten.” The last.

 

~

Aftermath

 

* * * * * * *

 

After the Breen attack, Aegis’ shields and defenses were thoroughly scrutinized and upgraded, the Joint Allied Powers sparing no expense in light of the losses they had all borne. Never again would Aegis be left indefensible. And yet, the possibility still loomed, haunting her as she gazed out the window, the slowly spinning memorial between the pylons an ever-present reminder of their losses, of their vow to the lost, and an admonition of the vow she had just made.

 

The heinous death of Daniyyel cut her to the quick, an all-consuming passion she would more than likely never sate.

 

The man the rebels had tortured and killed was no ordinary SI-5 operative. It was he who had befriended her during her tenure in the Maquis cell led by rogue Starfleet officer Michael Eddington. Her distrust of Eddington and distaste for his tactics soon became apparent to Daniyyel, an operative working in deep cover. It was he who had convinced her to join him in opposition. Together they formed the framework that lead to Eddington’s demise and Kirel’s eventual entry into Starfleet’s elite intelligence agency.

 

The box in which his ceremonial silken scarf now resided was a gift from SI-5 Director Torak. Intricately carved from a single bough of the acacia tree, Director Torak believed it symbolized life. Kirel believed it symbolized the life of those honored by the ceremonial vow and the life of the vows they pledged, as a vow often took on a life of its own. The scarf would be placed with his body during burial; 1st Lieutenant Sonny Lucas would see to that. She would only be present via subspace, a dagger in her soul.

 

Her gaze traced the course of the memorial in its perpetual spin along Aegis' axis, then focused light years beyond, in the direction of the Garand asteroid belt and the asteroid known as M-2, a place she may never see as she was bound to her pledge to protect and defend Aegis before fulfilling any personal vow she had taken.

 

“Ní beidh tú dermad a dhé’namh, Daniyyel,” she said. “Beidh tú díoghal’ar. You shall not be forgotten.”