… is the USS Hiroshima’s Assistant Chief of Operations.
Introduction
Carrying a mix of two worlds, Mak grew up under the rigid discipline of a Cardassian Gul. Even for a short time, he grew up in a military structure on a Cardassian station, yet remained fiercely resilient. Seeing other Bajorans on Xenok Nor made him question why his father, Gul Olmec, denied his Bajoran heritage and instead enforced Cardassian culture in its place.
Growing up under Olmec for a total of nine years shaped Mak’s unique worldview into the opposite of what his father tried to imprint. After his death, when the Cardassians withdrew from the station in 2369, Mak became reliant on himself. He developed a charming, quick-witted, and strategic mind, along with a rebellious attitude. He lived his solitary life being sarcastic, guarded, and self-reliant while surviving on Xenok Nor. Beneath his hardened exterior, however, is a deeply spiritual, passionate, and loyal soldier who commits himself to any tasks or causes he believes in. His moral code is rigid but unique to his own, forged from trauma, cultural clashes, and his search for his sense of belonging. While keeping others at arm’s length, he eventually accepts people into his circle and fiercely defends them while committed to his adapted ideals.
He uses a discreet Sensory Modulation Device (AFD/SMD) as a grounding tool for his rhythmic humming, a habit that blends naturally with Bajoran cultural gestures toward the right ear.
Details
Callsign: Osprey
Birthdate: June 23, 2360
Birthplace: Xenok Nor
Physical Appearance
Height: 6’1”
Weight: 175
Hair Color: Brown
Eye Color: Brown
Physical Description
Tall, rugged, well built. Nose ridges depicting him as Bajoran. His hair is short, neat and cropped in a military style. His uniform is normally crisp and clean to represent his orderly style. Has some scars from his early years growing up in Xenok Nor, including gashes on his back from the Cardassians during the occupation. He has several tattoos. During his later years, he eventually wore his Bajoran earrings to reflect his cultural heritage and his survival.
Strengths & Weaknesses
Unique moral code.
Headstrong. Survivor. Adaptive.
Exploring the unknown
Pragmatic
Stubborn, rebellious, unyielding
Rigid Moral code
Isolationist, but pragmatic
Ambitions
Defend his friends and family. Uncover the past to learn more about the culture. Protect New Bajor and its people from hidden threats.
Archeology
Piloting
Bajoran Martial Arts, and Federation Krav Maga Hybrid
Sparring and weightlifting
Reading
Tinkering with any tech.
Learning more about his Bajoran cultural heritage.
Languages
Federation Standard. Bajoran, Cardassian
History
Aerie Mak’s story begins before his birth, during the Bajoran Resistance. His father, Aerie Pokka, fought in a resistance cell until the Cardassians captured the group, including his pregnant wife, Aerie Thera. As punishment, Thera was transported off world to the ore processing station Xenok Nor in the Badlands. Despite the harsh journey, she resisted her captors at every turn. Upon arrival, she was placed in medical quarantine, where the station’s commanding officer, Gul Olmec, discovered her pregnancy and took a personal interest in the unborn child.
When Mak was born, Olmec quietly separated him from Thera, stripping him of his Bajoran identity while keeping the Mak name. Thera was released back into the station’s general population, where she later died in a prisoner revolt while trying to reclaim her son. Mak was raised by a caretaker under Olmec’s orders until age three, when Olmec began personally shaping him according to Cardassian ideals. Cardassian became Mak’s first language, and any questions about his Bajoran heritage were met with punishment. At six, Mak discovered a locked room Olmec forbade him from entering—something meant for “when he was older.”
In 2369, as the Cardassians withdrew from Bajor, Xenok Nor erupted into revolt. Olmec tried to hold the station, but his own guards turned on him and killed him in front of Mak. Because Mak had been kept secret, no one knew he existed. His caretaker fled with the other Cardassians, leaving Mak completely alone on the abandoned station. For years he survived in isolation, repeatedly returning to the forbidden room but unable to unlock it.
His solitude ended when a group of Maquis raiders discovered the station. Initially wary of the Cardassian raised boy, they grew curious about him, and Mak slowly warmed to them. He learned their tactics and lived among them until age fourteen, when the group moved on. Choosing independence, Mak stayed behind, and the Maquis left him a small ship. They never returned; the Dominion destroyed the remaining Maquis cells soon after.
Alone again, Mak revisited the locked room. Now older, his biometric signature activated the scanner, granting him access. Inside he found Olmec’s hidden trove: stolen Bajoran artifacts, ancient texts, Pah Wraith relics, ritual items, and forbidden scrolls. With no guidance and no identity beyond what Olmec had imposed, Mak drifted into a brief Pah Wraith phase, trying to make sense of his origins.
Over the next five years, the artifacts and texts he found stirred questions he couldn’t ignore. He began having recurring dreams and thoughts about Bajor — not visions, but the restless pull of a heritage he’d never been allowed to know.
In 2380, he traveled to Rakantha Province, where he met an elderly man who claimed he had been waiting for someone. The man, Aerie Bhan, recognized Mak as his long lost grandson, renaming him Aerie Mak. Bhan restored Mak’s family history, gave him his father’s Bajoran earrings, and explained that Pokka had remarried into the Shan family before dying in the Occupation. Bhan invited Mak to accompany him through the Bajoran Wormhole to New Bajor in a pilgrimage, where more of their family lived.
On New Bajor, Mak encountered a blend of Bajoran culture and Starfleet presence, including his long lost family of the Shan household. A recruiter recognized his potential and encouraged him toward Starfleet service. After two years of preparation, Mak traveled to Earth and entered Starfleet Academy. In 2386, he graduated as an Operations cadet—finally stepping into a life he chose for himself.
Service Record
Starfleet Academy: 2382-86
USS Demeter: 2386-91
USS Vigilant Raven: 2391-95
Family
Father: Aerie Pokka. 5’8”. Former Resistance fighter turned healer. Mourned his wife, Aerie Thera, for two and a half years before remarrying Shan Miran. Never knew Aerie Mak.
Mother: Aerie Thera: 5’7”. Taken from her husband on Bajor as punishment. A few months pregnant, unnoticeable. Aerie Mak was born. Thera died on Xenok Nor during the prisoner escape.
Brother(s)
Shan Uriel: 5’7. Born 2367. Twin brother. Lean, muscular. Wiry strength from working the farm.
Shan Ezik: 5’5. Born 2367. Twin brother. A few weeks younger than Uriel. Same physical strength as Uriel.
Shan Pokka: 5’9”. Born 2369. Youngest brother. Died 2388. He was Aerie Pokka’s legacy.
Sister(s)
Shan Thera: 5’7”. Born 2362. Grounded and physically powerful; thick muscled frame with martial arts training.
Shan Luren: 5’6”. Born 2364. Neurodivergent; slender build with light muscle tone.
Other Family
Gul Olmec: Adopted father. He raised Mak with strict Cardassian discipline and expectations. His guards killed him during the Cardassian withdrawal in 2369.
Aerie Bhan: Grandfather. Aerie Mak’s legacy and reason for pilgrimage to New Bajor. Died of Natural causes on New Bajor in 2388
Shan Miran. 6’0”: Former Vedek. Tall and slender with light muscle tone; moves with quiet power and elegant grace.e Cardassian.
(NPCed by Caden)