Bronok Zell

Bronok Zell was the commanding officer of the USS Marduk in 2409.

Early Life
Zell was born to Cardassian colonists in the disputed Federation-Cardassian border region in 2357. His father Horin Zell sold aircars, while his mother Seska Zell wrote storylines for. Their home planet Res'toka was a primarily agricultural world with no particular loyalty to the Cardassian Union, and was mostly ignored by both sides during the.

The of 2370 resulted in the planet changing hands, a circumstance that Zell would wryly note on later occasions was "a better deal" than those encountered by Federation colonies that ended up inside Cardassian borders.

In 2373, as the Dominion War loomed, Res'toka came under Dominion occupation due to its proximity to the border and its deposits of duranium in the mountains. The Zell family fled the planet with several thousand mixed Federation and Cardassian refugees and ended up settling in the city of Albuquerque, New Mexico on Earth, where Bronok began meeting with Starfleet recruiters. When the war broke out next year he was able to convince Commander Elizabeth Shelby to sponsor his application to Starfleet Academy on tactical track, and became the first Cardassian ever accepted to the institution.

Starfleet Service
Because of his species' history Zell faced a lot of discrimination and dislike from the Academy student body, despite the efforts of the faculty. However, in 2375 Zell and the corps of cadets were called into service to assist search-and-rescue efforts following the Breen. Zell proved himself to his rivals during this period by rescuing some two dozen civilian office workers and five cadets from a partially collapsed Starfleet Headquarters cafeteria. He received a superficial injury to the face when he cut through a downed cable during the effort, and chose to keep the scar as a badge of honor afterwards.

The Dominion War proved short, though bloody, and Zell missed any chance of wartime service in Starfleet, graduating in the 87th percentile in 2378. Upon graduation he was assigned to the USS Intrepid as an energy weapons officer. In 2379 he took part in 's rescue efforts of USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-E) and after the.

In 2381 he was promoted to lieutenant and reassigned to serve as tactical officer of the USS Repulse. He stayed aboard until 2388 when he was promoted to lieutenant commander and transferred to the USS Antares (NCC-9844). On a visit home in 2390 he began dating Atani Irdos, a fellow refugee from Res'toka. The two kept in touch by subspace radio on the Antares' various tours of duty.

In 2397 Zell was promoted to full commander and took a position as an instructor at Starfleet Academy, teaching classes in tactics for high-interference environments. He asked Atani Irdos to marry him and the two were wed in June 2398.

In 2405 Zell was offered a promotion to captain and command of the USS Kyle Brennan, and after consulting his wife agreed to the offer. The Brennan was soon embroiled in the opening shots of the Third Federation-Klingon War, when she was assigned to Starfleet's counterattack against the Klingon invasion of the.

In 2408 Admiral Amnell Kree requested Zell to serve as her flag captain in the Marduk Carrier Battle Group. Zell accepted and was transferred to the USS Marduk.

Behind the Scenes
Bronok Zell was created for StarSword-C's ' Foundry mission "Bait and Switch", of which his story ' is a novelization.