Chapter 1

Five Years Ago…

I was 13 years old when my father and I moved to the Cardassian side of the demilitarized zone on Zestas 3. He wanted to try a new kind of life, so I gave in to his childish hope and agreed to try it. I didn't feel right about leaving the colony of Rheas, near the Klingon home world, because of the comfortable life that we already had.

My father, Travis Steele, was a trader of practically anything except those of illegal means; at least, that is what he would tell me. I never believed him on those late nights when he would come home smelling of synth-ale and Firengi snuff, Father was not inebriated but he wasn't being honest with me. That almost bothered me more than anything did, I used to think that I had his trust but at that time, I assumed that we could handle whatever came our way.

The first five months on Zestas 3 were not that bad. I was attending school with the Cardassian children because Father felt that I would learn more among them then I ever would be with the human children. I easily made friends with two brothers, Tavek and Revin. They were both Cardassian boys whom had been impressed by my self-defense skills with a knife. They did not realize that I had studied with several masters of Klingon martial arts when I was on Rheas. The human educational system didn't compare to Cardassian education when it came to dealing with those physical aspects; I learned that as time went by.

Those months were easy because my father had established himself as an honest trader between the Cardassians and the Federation citizens but eventually, the Federation settlers became dissatisfied with Cardassian military policy. Father and I were caught in the middle of the whole thing. The settlers looked down on me because of the Cardassians that I went to school with, and the fact that I had bore no ill will towards the Cardassians, I saw them as my friends.

Then everything went wrong. Nearly ten months after we had settled, our house was attacked. We never saw them coming until it was too late. My father had tried to get me to run away but I wouldn't leave him. Some of the settlers confronted us outside of our home when we tried to leave that night. They had surrounded the house so that we couldn't escape.

Father asked them to let us go but the settlers were unmovable to his pleas. They formed a circle before they seized both of us, even though they only wanted my father. I didn't know who most of them were but there were a few that I had seen in the towns. Two men came forward, I wouldn't learn their names until years later, they accused my father of siding with the Cardassians and smuggling weapons to them. I knew that my father did smuggle illegal cargo but he was a pacifist and didn't believe in selling weapons. Father didn't even blink when they finished, he just shook his head and stared at the ground. He told them that he had never committed any of those crimes, that he wasn't a part of either side, Maquis or Cardassians, and that they were mistaken.

The men laughed at my father's words. I wasn't scared of them but I was enraged by their treatment of us. I had heard of the Maquis and I had always thought of them as nothing more than terrorists. So, I spat at the nearest one in anger and called him a damned fool. All of them rushed forward to punish me but my father ran in front of me and begged them not to harm me. One of the first two came towards us, he smiled and spoke nicely. He promised my father that I wouldn't be harmed in any way if my father would just admit that he had committed those crimes.

At first, I expected Father to laugh at them and never submit. Then he turned around and looked me in the eye. His expression told me to trust him, his words came out only for my ears; they were said in our native tongue for only us to know, "You are an adult now. I expect you to behave as one. Take care of yourself. You make this heart feel good, daughter," then without stopping, he turned back while mumbling, "It is a good day to die."

I knew then that my father was going to die. No tears came to my eye, only a heaviness hung around my heart as my throat tightened and I waited. It was silent in the night as my father admitted to all of the crimes with an easy lilt in his voice. I could feel the anger and hate that all of them had for my father.

He was a traitor in their eyes and a hero in mine. Without any warning, he was stabbed. The two men that had accused him, automatically stepped forward and they both stabbed him. My father fell back into my arms as I collapsed under his weight, I held him to me and prayed that he wouldn't suffer long.

Those Maquis taunted me as I sat with my father. They laughed at me and ridiculed my lack of despair. They didn't understand the hate that was growing inside of me, perhaps if they had known that one day I would hunt down all of them for what they had done then they wouldn't have acted as they did.

Halfway through the night, they finally left me. They didn't want to be caught by the Cardassian authorities and they felt that threatening me would be enough for my silence. I had them fooled about that by cowering at their cruel words.

Then dawn came. I was still holding him and he was gone, yet my mind was racing at warp speed. What would I do? Where would I go? So many unanswered questions for one so young. The only things that I was certain about was that those men would be punished, that I would somehow destroy the Maquis, and that nothing was going to stop me.

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