Following her marriage to Neral Cherek, Lenara accepted a post at the Central Academy for Sciences where she lectured in ship-based tactical warfare until her death during an outbreak of sague fever twenty years ago.

When the Central Command was replaced by the civilian Detepa Council two years ago, Neral Cherek became an outspoken critic of the new government's cutbacks on military spending, and the bonds which they were forming with the Federation. He saw the former as weakening the Cardassian Union, while the latter, he regarded as a Federation ploy to assimiliate Cardassia into the Federation ethic.

While Rian agreed with his father on the military cutbacks, he was not opposed to the new treaties with the Federation, a fact which caused some friction between the two. Neral Cherek died shortly before the Klingon invasion of Cardassia. The official report stated his cause of death as renal failure due to an untreated bacterial infection picked up on a trip to one of the outer colonies. Rian believes it is more likely he was murdered by supporters of the Detepa council, affirming his belief that civilian governments are no less corrupt than military ones.

Shortly before his father's death, Rian had been appointed Captain of the Kerin Nor, a Kelvin class cruiser, assigned to provide escort to civilian freighters transporting replicators, soil regenerators, and other equipment from the Federation to Cardassia. After Neral Cherek died, inconsistences in the freighters' manifest and the goods they were carrying began to appear. At first these were put down to "shrinkage", that is loss, breakage and general pilfering.

Two months after his father's death, Rian was called before a civilian tribunial to answer charges that not only had he been responsible for the disappearing equipment, but that he had been re-selling it to the Maquis. Since under Cardassian law, the verdict is given before the trial, and is always guilty, Rian prepared himself for the inevitable.

Three days before the trial was due to begin, all charges were suddenly dropped. This was an unprecedented event in Cardassian law. To this day, Rian has no idea why this happened. Following his release, it was determined that to save embarassment, due to the "error" which had occured, it would be best if he did not return to the Kerin Nor. Instead, he was demoted, back to Glin and posted to a freighter named the Groumal as second officer.

At first, Rian believed that the posting was only temporary, and that he would receive a new commission and a new ship, once the "publicity" surrounding his cancelled trial and execution had subsided. But, six months later, he was still on the Groumal.

Then, after returning from a short leave, he was informed by one of the crew that a new captain had been appointed. This did not surprise Rian, as the Groumal had already had two captains in the six months he had been there. In fact, she had begun to earn a reputation as a "punishment ship", a place where errant officers were sent to mend their ways. But, Rian was not prepared for the shock which awaited him when he reported to the new captain for the first time. There, in the cramped ready room, poring over a report on Klingon activity in the area through which they would be travelling was Gul Dukat.

Dukat, former loyal member of the Central Command, then military advisor to the Detepa council, and now he was captain of the Groumall. An even bigger shock awaited him when he found out the reason for Dukat's new posting. After rescuing his half Bajoran daughter, Zyal from a Breen labour camp, the gul had been foolish enough to think he could take her back to Cardassia. This had been an unwise move on his part, which had resulted in his wife leaving him and taking their seven other children with her, his mother disowning him, and his current demotion to the Groumal.

Over the next three months, Rian came to know Dukat very well. The Groumal had little in the form of entertainment, and once Dukat discovered that Rian's father had been a member of the Central Command, and at loggerheads with the Detepa council, the two men found plenty to talk about; mainly what Zyal refered to as "the good old days", an expression she had read in a Terran book once.

Rian had married when he was only eighteen. His wife and small daughter had died four years later in the same outbreak of sague fever which had claimed his mother. He had never re-married, and had had little experience with children or young people since. Yet there was a gentleness and, considering what she must have experienced in the Breen camp, a surprising innocence about Dukat's child, and he found himself becoming quite fond of the young girl. Besides, what did he care, if she had no official status in Cardassian society due to her mixed and unmarried parentage? On the Groumal everyone was an outcast.

When Dukat determined to take the bird of prey which Major Kira had helped him capture from the Klingons, and wreak a little havoc on the Empire, Rian was glad to go along. Finally, a chance to be a soldier again! Things went well for the first couple of months, while the Detepa council hid behind the Federation, Dukat and his renegade crew inflicted a lot of damage on those Klingons who were unlucky enough to cross their path.

Then, Dukat took the ship into the Gamma quadrant for the first of a series of meetings with Dominion representatives. Frustrated at the Detepa council and the Federation's inability to remove the Klingons from Cardassian space, or to handle the problem of the Maquis terrorists, Dukat determined that the only way for Cardassia to survive was to join the Dominion. His logic, as he explained it to Rian was that once the Dominion had disposed of the Klingons and the Maquis, the Cardassians would find a way to dispose of the Dominion.

Rian wasn't so sure, and pointed this out to Dukat in no uncertain terms. But, the Gul had made up his mind, and nothing was about to change it. Two months later, as Dukat's bird of prey followed the Dominion fleet toward Cardassia, Rian could not shake the feeling of dread which was gnawing at his stomach. After Dukat had made his maiden speech as new ruler of Cardassia, Rian went to his quarters to speak with him, but was stopped by Damar, a non-descript and, Rian thought, not too bright Glin who had, over the last couple of months managed to worm his way into the position of Dukat's adjutant.

Damar had been flanked by three Jem'Hadar guards, and had informed Rian that Dukat was in conference with Weyoun, and could not be disturbed. For two weeks, Rian tried to speak to the gul, without success, each time, he was "in conference" with Weyoun. Finally, he received new orders. He was to travel to Guadia Prime, a planet which was located just inside the Gama quadrant. There, he would be trained on the repair and maintenance of Dominion vessels and equipment.

Once the course had finished, he had expected to be shipped back to Cardassia and granted a new commission. Instead, he found himself posted to a Dominion warship. six weeks later, Sisko ordered the wormhole, the only passage between the Alpha and Gamma quadrants to be mined, and Rian found himself trapped in the Gamma quadrant.

His chances of returning to Cardassia looked fairly bleak until he caught Captain Talia Bedford attempting to take over the ship on which he was serving by indulging in a little creative engineering on the transporters. Bedford's engineering skills leaved much to be desired, and after nearly killing them both, she agreed that in return for his help to dispose of the ship's Vorta and Jem'Hadar, she would return him and three other Cardassians to the Alpha quadrant.

Once back in the Alpha quadrant, Rian learned that Damar had murdered Zyal resulting in Dukat's suffering some kind of mental breakdown. Damar and Weyoun were now in charge of Cardassia. While Rian could rationalise serving on a Dominion ship due to his loyalty to Dukat, he had no loyalty to Damar. Add to this the hatred he feels toward Dukat's former adjutant for murdering Zyal, and Rian now has two ambitions, firstly to drive the Dominion out of Cardassia, and secondly, to see Damar die a very slow and painful death.

Talia Bedford assured him that his best chance of achieving either of these ambitions was to remain with her on the captured Dominion vessel as Chief Engineer. Rian agreed on the understanding that his true loyalties still lay with Dukat, and that once these ambitions had been fullfilled, he would most likely kill her and re-take the ship. Bedford informed him that she could live with this possibility, so long as he could program the ship's single replicator to make a decent cup of coffee.

Education and Career:     
*Entered military academy at age fourteen.
*Entered the Central Academy  for Sciences at age seventeen.
*Graduated three years later with first class honours in  engineering. 
*Over the next twenty years, he served as engineer on three  vessels; the  Chin'tak,
 the Kal and the Ter'kas.
*Promoted to Gul at age 35, takes over command of the Ter'kas.   
*Assigned to the newly commissioned Kerin Nor at  age 41.
*Six months later, demoted to Glin, and transferred to the Groumal. Served as engineer
 for six months  on the  Groumal, and later on Dukat's bird of prey.
 *Following Cardassia's entry to the Dominion, spent  two months on Guadia Prime studying
 maintenance and  repair of Dominion ships.  
*Age 42, posted as First  Engineering Officer to a Jem'Hadar warship (designation
 of vessel unknown).  

Other Skills:  Photographic memory (common Cardassian trait).  Immune to simple
                       telepathic invasion such as Vulcan mind meld and being "read" by empaths.
                       Has been studying martial arts since he could walk; is skilled in several.  

Interests:      Vole fights, Cardassian history.

Likes:            Kanar, females, gambling, trying to beat Bedford at chess, teaching  
                      Bedford's pet vole the basics of vole fighting when she's not around.
                      Quentin Tarantino movies, especially 'Jackie Brown' (Bedford  believes
                       he has a crush on Pam Grier).

Dislikes:       Coffee, "bland" Bajoran food (it's not hot enough), Vorta (although he  does 
                      have a grudging respect for Jem'Hadar due to their self-discipline and fighting 
                      skills).   Getting beaten by Bedford at chess.

* * *

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