"The Kris"

Logan and Lana walked along the corridors of the ship towards the turbolift. Stepping inside Logan order the lift to deck one. Moments later, they stepped out of the lift cab and stood in front of a door. Logan pressed the door chime and after a few moments, the door opened and Commander Buford asked them to come in.

"Commander, I would like you to meet Ensign Lana McQueen, my younger sister." Logan stated. "She has a request to make of you sir."

"So you're the famous Lana." A.J. commented. "I've heard a lot about you from your brother here."

"Mostly bad I would guess Captain." Lana remarked.

"No. Your brother has only given you praise when he's talked about you." A.J. replied. "

"Thank you sir." Lana responded.

"Now I believe you have a request to make of me Ensign ?" A.J. questioned.

Lana was quiet for a moment, unsure of what to say. Eventually she took a deep breath and spoke.

"Captain, I would like to be given permission to bring a personal weapon aboard ship." Lana stated. "It is a family heirloom and goes back through several centuries."

"Ah. The famous Kris." Commander Buford commented. "Your brother did suggest that you would probably bring it with you. Of course I would have to see it before making my decision."

Logan passed the bundle of red silk across to his sister and nodded to her that she should show the Captain. She stepped forward and slowly started to unwrap the bundle of red silk, revealing what was inside.

The bundle contained what appeared at first to be a wooden sheath, about twenty inches long. Along the length of the sheath were brass rings as much for decoration as function. The wood was highly polished the grain of the wood showing up in the lighting. Even though it was in good condition, it was also very old.

"As you said Captain." Lana began. "This is called a Kris. It's a bladed weapon of Indonesian design."

"How did you come by such a weapon ?" AJ enquired.

"It's a family heirloom, it was given to one of our mother's ancestors Toni Fiorella back on Earth in the early twenty-first century. The blade itself is even older than that, most likely early to mid eighteenth century." Lana explained. "It was given to Toni by her Silat teacher."

She gripped the handle of the Kris and slowly drew the blade from the sheath. The Kris had a wavy, undulating double-edged blade around fifteen inches long. The blade was forged from layers of hand-hammered steel, in a similar manner to a Samurai Katana sword. All this craftsmanship had given the final blade a grain of immense beauty.

"When the blade was new, the people of Java believed that such a blade had magical properties. The pattern in the blade is called Udan-mas which means 'Golden rain'." Lana explain. "Would you like to hold it ?"

Commander Buford rose from his chair and took the blade from Lana's hand. He felt its weight and how well it fitted in his hand. He examined the blade more closely and saw that there was indeed a pattern within the steel, looking like drops of rain spattered upon dry ground, which changed as the light reflected off the blade.

"The weapon has thirteen curves or Luk Dapor." Lana continued to explain. "Some people even believe that a good Kris could slowly kill an enemy simply by stabbing his shadow. They even believed that should an enemy attempt to creep up from behind, the Kris would rattle in its sheath to alert its owner to the danger. There are also various stories that our grandmother and mother told us of Kris that flew from their sheath and attacked people of there own accord."

"There has always been an element of embellishment within Indonesian storytelling." Logan remarked, attempting to prevent Lana from giving the Commander a three hour history lesson.

"It's certainly a fine blade." Buford remarked. "I wonder how it would fair against a Klingon Batleth."

Logan smiled at his sister. "You'd better tell him."

"The last time I was forced to use the Kris in battle was against a female Klingon cadet at the Academy." Lana began. "It's a long story, but she challenged me to a duel and I won. The Kris broke her Batleth in half and honour was served."

"I don't remember reading any of this in your Academy file Ensign." AJ remarked.

"Well it wasn't exactly within the Academy." Lana said in an insecure voice. "Starfleet and the Academy never knew of the fight. Once the Klingon was defeated, she left the Academy a couple of days later. I've since learnt that she took an assumed name and joined the Klingon high guard."

AJ smiled. He'd got into one or two fights during his Academy days, some of which had never been discovered by the Academy staff. He handed the Kris back to Lana and she placed the blade back into the sheath.

"Permission granted." Commander Buford stated. "How can I refuse to allow a blade so powerful that it can break a Batleth in half."

"Thank you Captain." Lana smiled, slowly re-wrapping the Kris back into the silk.

She turned to her brother and they both stepped out of the room and headed back to her quarters.