Mesk is an Orion Starfleet officer on Deep Space 9 whose enthusiasm for pirate culture comes from novels rather than experience.
Mesk is an Orion serving aboard Deep Space 9, whom Tendi and Rutherford meet in Hear All, Trust Nothing while the Cerritos attends trade talks with the Karemma. He talks constantly about Orion pirate culture, a heritage Tendi has tried to distance herself from.
When the Karemma kidnap Quark, Mesk confesses that he grew up on Earth and learned everything he knows about Orion culture from trashy novels. Witnessing the kidnapping, Tendi uses her own pirate skills to stop the Karemma, accepting that they are part of who she is.