She was a member of the resistance, and the decades-long conflict has left her tough and uncompromising, but she is sustained by her strong faith in traditional Bajoran religion.

The backstory of the character states that Kira Nerys was born 2343, in Dakhur province, Bajor, during the 50-year Cardassian occupation of the planet.

At age 13, Kira was recruited into the Shakaar resistance cell, part of an underground movement which carried out guerrilla attacks against Cardassian military and civilians with the ultimate goal of ending the occupation.

Over time, her sentiments change and she becomes one of the strongest supporters of Bajor joining the Federation, and is a steadfast ally and friend of Sisko.

She is deeply religious, which makes her relationship with Sisko somewhat complicated; not only is he her commanding officer, he is also the emissary of the Prophets, the Bajorans' gods.

The movement is eventually successful in helping Starfleet retake the station and driving the Dominion back behind enemy lines.

When the pregnant Keiko was injured in a shuttle accident, Dr Julian Bashir saves the fetus by transporting it into Kira's womb.

At the beginning of the series, Kira despises Dukat for helping oversee the occupation of Bajor and takes every opportunity to antagonise him further.

As the series progresses, the relationship slightly softens, particularly after Kira learns that Dukat has a half-Bajoran daughter named Ziyal whom he initially believed had been killed.

After Dukat, with the aid of the Dominion, reassumes command of Deep Space 9, Kira realises that he is using Ziyal to try and get close to her and, from that point onward, their relationship is chiefly adversarial.

Dukat and Kira have one final encounter in the seventh season when he abducts her to space station Empok Nor and reveals he has become the leader of a cult worshipping the evil Bajoran spirits known as the Pah-Wraiths.

Kira only narrowly manages to stop Dukat orchestrating the deaths of his Bajoran followers through mass suicide before he transports off the station.

Kira also has a fractious relationship with Vedek (later Kai) Winn, a Bajoran religious leader who is in favour of separating her people from the influence of The Federation.

Later in the sixth season, Kira is possessed by a Prophet and nearly defeats a rival Pah-Wraith which has possessed Jake Sisko, but Winn floods the station with chroniton radiation and the reckoning is stopped; Kira is furious that Winn has defied the will of the Prophets and that the Pah-Wraiths remain at large.

With the conclusion of the first wave of Deep Space Nine novels in Unity, Bajor finally joins the Federation, and Kira is given the Starfleet rank of Captain.

In the DS9 episode "Crossover", Kira encounters her mirror self, who is the cruel, powerful Intendant of the station (still called Terok Nor), with Elim Garak as her first officer.

At the time, Nana Visitor dismissed the idea of her character being bisexual, saying that she intended to portray this as "total narcissism on her part.

However, later episodes continued to show her surrounded by a mixed-gender harem, and eventually depicted her being in a romantic relationship with her universe's version of Ezri Tigan.

They elaborate that Kira in the show is not actually part of Starfleet until the last episode, in that brief time she has a big impact on the Dominion war.

In 2013, Slate magazine ranked Kira Nerys one of the ten best crew characters in the Star Trek franchise.