A Bit of History:
"Hide!"
Sevrta Bor looked up a his father, seeing fear in his eyes for the first time in child's life. The pounding on the door continued , sending Bor running for his room. He flung open his closet and removed the panel that covered his hiding place. Crawling in he pulled the panel back behind him, crouching in the darkness.
He heard the front door give way and muffled voices. Many foot steps rushing thru the living room, the sound of furniture being tossed about. Then it was suddenly quiet. He waited for several minutes, not sure what to do. Carefully, as gently as he could he opened the panel door and looked out. There was no one. Then he climbed out and crept thru the hallway to the living room. Furniture was smashed and thrown about. But there was no sign of his father Sevrta Chraa. He climbed up on a chair and looked out the front window to see the Alien Creatures hauling his father away to a waiting hovercraft. He tried to whisper their name 'Cardassians'.
Once they had left he ran next door, as soon as he was about to reach the latch the door swung open and a hand reached out and jerked him in.
"Bor! You should have stayed in your hiding place like we practiced!" Comina Sooru said, pulling the boy close.
The little boy looked down at the floor embarrassed. "They took father!" he looked up with tears in his eyes "They took FATHER!"
Sooru wiped away the tears from his cheeks, "Stop your crying Bor, You have to be brave. You have to be brave to fight the evil upon us!"
Around the corner a little girl peaked from the kitchen. Bor looked past Comina Sooru and saw the expression on Kira's face and felt ashamed.
****
Ten years later:
He checked the targeting system for the third time on the launcher. Assembled from several pieces carried in on the backs of his team Bor was being extra cautious. Across the valley, just beyond tricorder range was an encampment of Cardassian soldiers.
"How many do you think?" Rivin asked him
"What?...Oh how many? Does it matter?"
"After a ten click hike thru the jungle, yea...it does. I don't think we should waste one of these on less than a squadron." Rivin said as he sat down beside him.
Bor looked around at the team. They were making ready to retreat as soon as the missile was launched.
"The important thing is the message Rivin, Not the number. We want them to know we can hit them anywhere, at any time. And we're never going to stop."
Rivin wiped the sweat from his face. "Still, I'd like kill as many as we can."
Bor made the final adjustments. "Ready?"
The team nodded, set to run. For as soon as the missile launched the Cardassians would have a fix their location.
"Then run boys!" Bor yelled as he pressed the timer. The team of five Resistance fighters sprinted thru the jungle as quickly as they could as the two minute timer counted down. Bor was sure they were at least a hundred yards away when he heard the missile launch and streak into the sky. As expected the response was quick and deadly. Phaser fire tore thru the trees, focused on the launch site. In seconds the small launch platform was disintegrated. Another minute and Bor heard their missile strike its target, the sound of the explosion echoing thru the jungle. 'How many indeed' he allowed himself to wonder 'How many did we kill.'
They continued to run as fast as they could but it did not take long for a squadron of light fighters to streak overhead. Bor looked to his right just as a phaser blast took away Rivin, leaving nothing more than a burned patch of dirt. He started to weave back and forth, breaking from the group, heading for a stream of icy cold water coming off the mountains to the west. The Cardassians were tracking them by their heat signature. If he could just make it to the stream. A blast shattered a tree right behind him, the concussion sending him flying thru the air. He praised the prophets when he landed in the stream, the cold water shocking him. He crawled along the bottom, gasping for air when only when his lungs were about to burst. Finally the sound of the fighters grew faint and he felt brave enough to come out of the water.
Shivering he searched for the rest of his team. He searched until dark and gave up. To fearful to build a fire he covered himself with dirt and leaves and waited, watching for a search party that was sure to come and confirm the kills.
The next day he made his way back to base, arriving a muddy, dirty example of a Bajoran Freedom fighter. He entered the commanders hut to find him pouring over maps and readouts.
He looked up "Sevrta Bor, you want to explain yourself?"
Taken off guard he just stood there. 'Sir? I don't understand. We took out the target as ordered."
"Yes... but where is your team?"
"My team? We had to break up. We were being strafed by Cardassian fighters. I looked for them but I....couldn't find them. I figured they came on in on their own."
The Commander was beet red with anger. "No Sevrta Bor , they have not come on in. Now you get back out there and you find them! You don't come back here without them...DO YOU UNDERSTAND!"
"Yes Sir." he turned on his heel and ran.
The commanding officers aid looked grim. "Sir you know they are all dead."
"Yea.. I know that. But he doesn't and by the prophets he's going to learn, you don't leave your team. No matter what."
***
Ten years after that:
The ballroom was filled to capacity, the power brokers of the Southern Province mixed and mingled, glass of wine in every hand. The Bauther Party had decided on it next candidate for Provincial Minister. A young Rebel veteran, weren't they all, the man had a ferocity in his voice, a personality that would could sway the hardest critic. And most importantly, he could lie like no ones else.
The lights dimmed a bit and a speaker stepped behind a podium with a single spot light on it.
"Ladies and Gentleman. If you would." the crowd grew silent. "At this time I would like to introduce to you... the man of the evening. A Bajoran that proved himself in the jungles during the occupation. Leading countless successful raids on the Cardassian's his body count cannot be matched. Once out of Military Service he didn't return to civilian life, no he entered civil service and has worked from the lowest of civil servants to a shaker of government. Ladies and Gentleman I give you Sevrta Bor."
The applause filled the room and the charismatic young man bounded to behind the podium. Waving as if he loved every person in the room he then nodded to the Chairman of the Bauther Party.
"Chairman Divin, thank you. I just want express my sincere appreciation for the opportunity to continue to serve...you..the best Bajor has to offer, the constituents of the Southern Province. With your help, our party will continue to grow and we will continue to claim a greater share of the seats in parliament and we will, in time, assume control of the First Ministers Chair."
The crowd roared with approval.
Back against the wall one man did not seem to share the enthusiasm. "How do you explain it?" he asked the woman standing next to him.
Comina Kira took a long deep breath. "He has the Circle behind him."
"Well yea. I figured that. But why him? Doesn't everyone know they have completely re-written his service record?"
Kira smirked. "I don't thing one of them would care. Bor is controllable. He looks good behind the camera and he is a master at deflecting blame on anyone other than himself."
"Like the Humans."
"Like the Humans. Every corrupt movement has to have a person or a group to blame for everyone's troubles. You would think after so many centuries we would be smarter by now."
"Some lessons are never learned I suppose. What are we going to do?"
"Handle it. Quietly, carefully handle it."
***
Now:
Dayor Jaran put down the intelligence report on Sevrta Bor. Rubbing his eyes he opened his top desk drawer and found a bottle of sorrivn for his headache. Just where he thought it would be. Taking a pill with a glass of water he wondered at the little things he remembered when he could not for the life of him remember any meetings with Vedek Comina on the subject, or even meeting the Vedek at all.
Shaking his head he set about making his plans, it was time for Sevrat Bor to be taken down a notch or two. Before he could make any more trouble for Vedek Comina and the Ephyra Colony.
Off:
A post by Commander Dayor Jaran
Senior Research Administrator of the Bajoran Temple Vor-Huar
Clandestine operative of the Bajoran Intelligence Service
Previously Marcus Dinn
