Kira's childhood was one of terror and horror that quickly hardened her into a Bajoran terrorist. Kira was raised in the refugee camps on Bajor and has, in her own words, "been fighting the Cardassians since she was old enough to pick up a phaser."
Her hatred for the Cardassians caused her to join a terrorist group. She fought along with Tahna Los in the Bajoran underground known as the Shakaar. Kira took her involvement in the group seriously and was high offended when, after the liberation of Bajor, she found a Cardassian file which classified her as being a minor operative who ran errands for the Shakaar.
Though the Cardassian threat has been removed from her home world, she still finds herself wrestling with the past. Beset by nightmares and plagued by guilt, coming to terms with her past has not been easy. After the liberation of Bajor, Kira was able to get some comfort from Kai Opaka. The religious leader convinced Kira that she must learn to accept the violence that is inside her because only then can she learn to live beyond it. Kira's major concern is that the Prophets won't forgive her for the violent life she led fighting the Cardassians. Kira gained strength from the words of the Kai and was surprised at Opaka's response--that the prophets were just waiting for her to forgive herself.
Kira rose to the rank of major in the Bajoran underground, a rank she retained even after she quit her cell because of disagreements about the faction's. She believed that Bajorans were better than their Cardassian overlords and stooping to using the methods of their conquerors was no solution. She agreed with attacking military targets, supply lines and other important conduits of commerce, but drew the line at murdering civilians just because they were Cardassians. She would later learn that her belief that not all Cardassians were alike was true, a realization that would both joy and grief.
One of her most difficult encounters with a Cardassian was when Kira helped to liberate the notorious forced labor camp known as Gallitepp. Thousands of Bajorans died there and the conditions at the camp left many Cardassians branded as war criminals. When she believed she had finally encountered one such criminal, it was all she couId do to maintain her professional posture and not strangle the Cardassian.
Kira initially op-posed the invitation to join the Federation. She was concerned that the provisional Bajoran government was splinterring into petty factions. Over time, she came to recognize that only with the support of the Federation would Bajor be able to rebuild without the threat of Cardassian re-invasion.
No sooner did the Federation arrive to oversee the refitting of the space station and the shipment of relief supplies to Bajor, than Major Kira was faced with a renewed attack by the Cardassians who were furious at giving up Bajor right before the wormhole was discovered. Suddenly that small world had become one of the most strategically important planets in the Alpha Quadrant in terms of commerce and the Bajorans came close to losing it again before they could even grow accustomed to the sensation of freedom.
Some of her former comrades in the old Bajoran underground regard her as a traitor for breaking ranks with them before the fight was over. That she chose to continue the fight on her own terms is of little consequence to them. She feels that some of the former terrorists are uncomfortable with their new lot in life now that freedom has been won. She believes that they are opposing the Federation merely because they need an enemy to justify their continued existence. What is a freedom fighter if they have nothing to fight?
Kira has seen the help the Federation and Starfleet can bring to Bajor and she is willing to oppose even her own people if it means taking the side of the Federation in order to protect the greater interests of Bajor against the fractional interests of those who cannot see the big picture.
On another occasion, Kira refused to evict an old man named Mullibok from the Bajoran moon Jeraddo because he managed to deflect her confrontation by comparing what she was trying to do with what the Cardassians had done on Bajor. Eventually, she recognized that evicting the man was for the good of Bajor as the moon was needed for an energy project which would help the people of Bajor through the coming winter. Taking personal responsibility, she set fire to Mullibok's home herself and ordered him evacuated and resettled.
She was relieved of her duties for a time when Li Nalas was given her post and she was reassigned back to the surface of Bajor. VVhile on Bajor she encountered an orb at the monastery with Vedek Bareil and had a vision which led her and Dax to the Hall of ministers to expose the Cardassian plot to use the "Circle" to force out Starfleet. This happened after she escaped from the fundamentalist group that had been using Cardassian torture techniques on the Bajoran to force her to give up Starfleet's plans for supporting the provisional government.
Kira continues to struggle to fit in as she has finally found a place where she feels useful; a place where she belongs, even if she does complain that "Starfleet types" rely too much on "gadgets and gizmos."
Kira and Dax some times socialize while off duty, but one thing they do not have in common is their attitude regarding the Ferengi. Kira has never met a Ferengi she trusts and she finds Quark and his cronies to be particularly loathsome. On the other hand, Dax enjoys playing cards with the Ferengi and accepts their ill manners while finding them quite fascinating. When Kira found herself on the receiving end of the lascivious attentions of Zek, the Nagus, who would pinch her posterior without provocation, Kira remarked to herself, "Dax must be crazy."
Kira Nerys is a Bajoran who grew up on a world where freedom was only a word and a memory. The Cardassians had invaded and conquered her world. Neither Bajor nor Cardassia were allied with the Federation and, consequently did not come under the rules governing the aligned worlds of the Federation. The Bajorans question was a dispute between two worlds which fell outside Starfleet jurisdiction.
Choosing Another Path
While the Cardas-sians considered any Bajor-ans who opposed them to be terrorists, Kira was a member of an active faction who set off bombs and assassinated collaborators. When she investigated a suspected collaborator aboard the mining platform called Deep Space Nine, she was caught by the man while searching his shop and was forced to kill him in self-defense. The Cardassians suspected that the man's murder was more than just a foiled robbery and set about finding his killer. Kira managed to elude suspicion by confessing to Odo that she was committing a different terrorist act at the time of the man's murder.
New Battles
Because Bajor was so effectively plundered by their former overlords, the Cardassians, they remain rich strategically while poor economically and are barely able to support their population. With Bajor now a world bent on rebuilding its fractured civilization, Major Kira accepts the fact that she will now be fighting red tape rather than Bajoran rights violations.
Duty and Principles
Major Kira is impulsive and has risked her career for her principles on more than one occasion. She faced a delicate moral dilemma when a terrorist tried to enlist her aid against Bajor and the Federation. With Odo's guidance, she decided to tell Sisko the truth about the terrorist plan.
Dax and Julian
Kira has developed a close friendship with the Trill, often telling her secrets to Jadzia, trusting the symbiont to keep the secrets. Kira and Dax ventured to the Lunar Five colony where they appropriated a Bajoran rebel fighter and used it to get to Bajor. The two women survived the crash and were taken to the monastery of Vedek Bareil. Kira and Dax disguised themselves as Vedeks to enter the Hall of Ministers, there they exposed a Cardassian plot and prevented the "Circle" from gaining control of the Bajoran government.