Nalas Za'ari

Eccentric, passionate, a hopeless romantic, and a bit of a mystery. He has a cute and youthful face, but his personality is as strong as a Cardassian Gul’s. Nalas loves to argue and debate with others, whether it be about serious topics or more trivial ones. He is outgoing and friendly with others and believes in seeing the good in everyone despite any past wrongdoings.

## Appearance

Nalas stands at 185cm, 6 ft. He has the typical Bajoran nose ridges and emerald green eyes. He has a slim figure and has pale skin with yellow undertones. He has soft features with narrow monolid eyes.

Aside from his nose ridges, he also wears a Bajoran earring on his right ear as is common for his species. His earring is the typical cuff + dangling gem type. The earring is silver, with a dangling green gemstone and a copper coil that looks oddly reminiscent of the Cardassian insignia. Nalas also only has one lung due to a birth defect, which affects his lung capacity and requires him to carry an inhaler. Like most Cardassians, he is also missing one of his molars as he was required to have it pulled when he was 10.

## Early Life

### Age 0-7: 2388 - 2395

Nalas was born as Ratana Nalas (named after the famous Bajoran resistance fighter, Li Nalas) in Tozhat province. He had two Bajoran parents who both worked at the Tozhat orphanage. The orphanage had cared for mostly Cardassian war orphans, but at this time cared for mixed and Bajoran orphans as well. Nalas’s father found out his mother was having an affair with a Cardassian man who had visited the orphanage once and promptly left her. Nalas’s mother remarried not too long after that to said Cardassian man and they stayed in Tozhat province working with the orphans and raising Nalas. Giyon Za’ari became Nalas’s stepfather.  A low-ranking military official who was sent to Bajor to help the Cardassian orphans learn about Cardassian culture with a hope of returning them to Cardassia. Despite being proficient at Bajoran, Nalas’s stepfather only spoke Cardassian and Nalas was raised in a bilingual household.

Nalas attended Bajoran school where he always felt out of place. His mother was often working long hours at the orphanage, which meant his stepfather would have to pick him up from school. It was hard to ignore the comments and stares when Nalas’ stepfather would pick him up from school or when he would walk home with Nalas. It was something that Nalas pretended not to see, but inside it was something he felt self conscious about. Eventually, Nalas’ teachers asked his stepfather to not show up at school anymore due to the discomfort he brought some of the other children, meaning Nalas would have to walk a few blocks away from school to meet up with his stepfather. It was awkward and he felt terrible about it and could tell his stepfather felt the same.

### Age 7 - 18: 2395 - 2406

When Nalas was 7, his stepfather told him and his mother that they were “going back to Cardassia Prime”. The feeling was bittersweet as Nalas was scared to leave the only home he ever knew, but he also was looking forward to a new environment where there wouldn’t be any prejudice against his stepfahter. Nalas didn’t even say goodbye to his classmates before leaving. He did worry a little about Cardasian schools as he remembered rumors that Cardassia was still militaristic and controlling, but he trusted his parents to protect and take care of him no matter what.

Upon their arrival to Cardassia Prime, Nalas was surprised when his father registered him under a new name– Sissil Za’ari. He was told by his father that in Cardassia, he needed a Cardassian name and that from then on he would be Sissil Za’ari. Nalas felt a little weird about the change, but it didn’t seem illogical to have to have a Cardassian name on Cardassia. Although he did wonder why his mother did not get a Cardassian name too.

The family stayed in a hotel in Cardassia City for the first couple days they were there. In the city is where Nalas’ parents registered their marriage and sorted all of their arrival paperwork. Nalas was awestruck by the amount of diversity in the city and he had a great time touring around. He had already learned Cardassian from his father before his arrival and this was a great time to test out what he knew by trying to talk with the locals.

Soon after settling their paperwork, the family headed to Culat Province where Nalas’ step family lived. His home in Culat Province was far from the main city and there was very little to do aside from school. Nalas’ Cardassian family was much different than he had expected, his grandparents were bitter and controlling towards him and to Nalas’ surprise, his stepfather often sided with them. It was as if his stepfather had become an entirely different person when they moved. Nalas and his mother were expected to fully assimilate to Cardassian culture and although it bothered his mother, Nalas was quite receptive towards the change. Nalas thought it made sense to adopt Cardassian culture and as someone who had never really fit in with Bajoran culture, the change was welcomed.

Nalas’ stepfather often took him to work with him (something quite common in Cardassian culture) and introduced him to the world of Cardassian Intelligence. Nalas had already admired his stepfather, but seeing him at work made him more in awe of his abilities. Nalas completely immersed himself in Cardassian culture and often grew frustrated when his mother would resist the changes. Nalas’ mother was very religious and convinced his stepfather to let her tutor Nalas in the Bajoran language with hopes of keeping the faith alive in him.

Despite his mothers’ best efforts, Nalas soon grew resentful of her for refusing to assimilate like he had. He did not realise he was being manipulated and would often take his stepfather’s side in conflicts. Nalas firmly believed his life was better on Cardassia and that his mother was only miserable because she refused to follow the strict rules of their house.

Nalas’ school life gave him a little more freedom than what he had at home. There were some mixed children in his class, although he was the only full Bajoran. He listened to news broadcasts every day and debated with his classmates. His school often had guest speakers come in and lecture for the students and Nalas was immediately drawn to one of the guests named Tey’ma Antana. Tey’ma was a Cardassian who was adopted by Bajoran parents and raised on Bajor. He was a writer who came to Nalas’ school to share his writings, which were mostly epic romance novels set during the Dominion War or other conflicts (mythical or real). Nalas was completely enthralled by one particular story that centered around a Starfleet officer named Cecil who fell in love with a Cardassian officer. Nalas identified with Cecil who also was raised in a culture outside of his own and noticed Cecil’s name wa close his his Cardassian name, Sissil.

## Why Starfleet?

Nalas originally wanted to stay on Cardassia and hoped to get into the University of the Union. However, upon reading Tey’ma’s stories that often involved Starfleet officers, he decided to try his hand at the entrance exams. Being a Federation citizen, he did not need any letter of recommendation, although his name read Ratana Nalas on his Federation ID, which was incredibly awkward for him.

Nalas also had dreams of going into the Cardassian Defense Force, however being of Bajoran descent he knew he wouldn’t have ever been fully accepted. He was accepted to both the University of the Union and Starfleet and was stuck on which path to take. He confided in Tey’ma who had become a parental figure to him and Tey’ma encouraged him to choose Starfleet. As much as he knew Nalas loved Cardassia, Tey’ma wanted Nalas to expand his horizons and perhaps learn more about Bajoran culture away from his controlling family.

Nalas’ mother was thrilled with his decision but his father was not. Nalas was admitted to Starfleet at the age of 18 and headed to France.

## Academy Life

During Nalas’ teenage years his mother kept pressuring him to study to get into Starfleet. Nalas wanted to stay on Cardassia and hoped to get into the University of the Union. His stepfather convinced him to try the Starfleet exam and he made it. Nalas was about to reject his letter of admission, but when he told Tey’ma about it, Tey’ma told him to go so he went. As a Bajoran he would have to enter the academy as Ratana Nalas, which made his mother happy. Her only wish was for her son to walk with the Prophets again. Despite this name change, Nalas still introduced himself as Cecil Za’ari, causing much confusion amongst his peers.

Nalas went into the sciences and did exceptionally well academically. All of the mind training he got on Cardassia really showed. Despite his Bajoran name, he was clearly not like other Bajorans. For one, he never spoke Bajoran nor did he acknowledge he knew the language. He took all his notes in Cardassian, only spoke Cardassian (The Universal Translator saved his butt as Nalas was never great at Federation Standard), and he loved to debate passionately during meal times. There were even rumours that Nalas was actually Cardassian (or at least half Cardassian) who was cosmetically altered to look Bajoran. Nalas enjoyed being an enigma to everyone around him, it was fun to keep people guessing.

In his last couple years at the academy, Nalas and his mother reconciled and she moved to earth to be closer to him. She apologised for relying so much on him, and he apologised for pushing her away. He was no longer the rebellious teenager who wanted to fit in. He was still not comfortable with being called Ratana Nalas, but he was willing to let her back into his life. They grew very close during this time and she taught Nalas all the Bajoran things she could not when he was growing up. Their relationship was not perfect though, as she had hoped Nalas would see the light and walk with the Prophets as a Bajoran. After Nalas graduated from Starfleet, his mother returned to Bajor and became a Renjen. She hoped that by walking with the Prophets, they could help her guide her son back to the Bajoran faith.

## Previous Postings

### Deep Space 9: 2410-2412

After graduating from the academy, Nalas was assigned to Deep Space Nine. On Deep Space Nine, Nalas got to work alongside other scientists to study Ketrecel White and how it could be used to cure the Hur’Q. Nalas had to push his prejudices against the Jem’hadar aside as we Dominion and Federation had formed an alliance during the conflict. He somehow made it and was praised for his hard work.

After the Alliance was formed, he stayed on Deep Space Nine. He hung out with a lot of the other fresh out of the academy kids, mostly the Cardassians or mixed Cardassians. He was a hard worker, but a bit eccentric with his tastes. He definitely had that Lower Decker™ energy. His purpose for reassignment to Starbase 777 was for research.

### Starbase 777: 2412 - present

During his time on 777 he was contacted by a group of Bajoran scientists who asked if he could help genetically modify the Bajoran Rubberwood Tree to make it fire resistant. Nalas’ presentation was a disaster, but his research was great and he succeeded in genetically modifying the plant. For his great work he was awarded a promotion to Lieutenant Junior Grade.