As DS9's first Starfleet Chief of Operations, O'Brien faces the doubly challengin job of keeping the patchwork systems on-line and running smoothly despite the incompaitability of Cardassian and Federation platforms. When the Chief is not there to keep things running, the whole station usually breaks down and causes endless problems. It seems impossible that one man can hold station-wide systems together, but O'Brien somehow manages just that.
O'Brien is a direct descendant of the Celtic King Brian Boru and 1902 American labor martyr Sean Aloysius O'Brien. Ruddy and fair haired, he is very proud of his Irish heritage. His family, which included two brothers, lived near a small town on Earth - most probably Ireland. His fondest memories were of his mother cooking unreplicated, meat-and-potatoes meals for the family meal. He was an ordinary child, getting a disciplinary swat from his father now and then, giving substitute teachers a rough time and once owning a pup that would not be let out of sight. However, O'Brien was a pacifist by nature, one who couldn't harm the life of even a mosquito until he had to make the decision between his life and that of a Cardassian in Setlik III. He also enjoyed building subspace transceiver models, along with ships in bottles, but actually scored in the lower third of his age group for mechanical aptitude.
O'Brien joined Starfleet in a rebellious fit two days before he was to leave for the Aldebaran Music Academy to play cello, where he would pursue music as his father had always wished. The elder O'Brien had made him practice every day and sent in his recorded audition which was accepted by the academy. He was furious but calmed down and later accepted his son's choice with pride. Later on he'd introduce his son as, "My son, Starfleet officer Miles O'Brien." Even so, O'Brien still played the cello very well, and has kept up his public playing. One of his favorite composers is Minezaki. His mother died in 2368, and his father remarried in the spring of 2370 to a woman his son would meet later that year.
In 2346, he killed for the first time at age 18 as a member of the U.S.S. Rutledge under Capt. Maxwell, when he was forced to attack a Cardassian who ambushed him on patrol in Setlik III after the border wars there. The pressure of that incident awakened his dormant interest in mechanics when he saved 13 men by getting a field transporter operational in less than 10 minutes without prior knowledge of the systems - a feat that led to his post as Maxwell's tactical officer. Since then he's handled transporters for 22 years without any incident, and served until 2362 on that ship.
After two years of brief stints aboard two more ships, he was assigned to the new Galaxy-class Enterprise when it departed Utopia Planetia, serving in command division as a relief con officer. Later he was on the battle bridge after saucer separation en route to Deneb IV. He changed to the gold tunic of the operations division during his first year, and his favorite worksite in the new position was the 1701-D became Transporter Room 3, where he is found most often found. He once admitted he'd be scared to try a Klingon exchange program as Riker once did, and later confided he feared for his life most during the Borg attack at Wolf 359.
He proposed to botanist Keiko Ishikawa in her Arboretum on the Enterprise, and married her with LaForge as his best man in Ten-Forward on SD 44390, standard date May 23, 2367. Data, who had introduced them, served as the bridal escort. Keiko has tried to give him her green thumb as well as her neatness streak, but without success. Miles has since carried the stigma of the name "Black Thumb." He in turn adapted his meat-and-potatoes tastes to her more exotic tastes. On duty he drinks hot coffee, double black and double sweet, though he's had his share of synthale and visits Quark's place regularly with Julian. His onetime assistant Neela got him hooked on sweet jumja sticks. He dislikes most alien food but somehow relishes even Starfleet combat rations.
He became a father a year after his marriage when his daughter Molly was born, with a second child expected early in 2373. In 2370 the couple had taken their first vacation for either one in five years - since the second year of the Enterprise-D mission - after he was framed and nearly executed for a Marquis bombing by Cardassia. The trip home a year earlier for her mother's 100th birthday was not a vacation.
O'Brien became an enlisted officer and took on the position of chief operations officer when he moved to DS9 in 2369, the equivalent of chief engineer aboard a starship. Keiko agreed to abandon her career as a Botanist in Starfleet and join him, but the O'Briens early on were plagued with whispered gossip that Keiko was extremely unhappy. They had had domestic arguments but both were commited to working them out. They love each other and their children very much, and that love has kept them together through the years. To keep herself occupied, Keiko opened a school on the station for children until the Dominion threat drove her to close down temporarily. O'Brien has offered to transfer for Keiko's sake at least twice - early on, and again when then-Vedek Winn attacked Keiko's secular school, but she firmly stood her ground and remained on board until the end of the Dominion war, when Miles took on a teaching position in Starfleet Academy. As a parent he loves reading to Molly and recommended Sisko separate Nog's influence from Jake, whom he also tutored in mechanics at his father's request.
Despite being a family man, O'Brien often agrees to go along on potentially fatal missions. He, more than any other DS9 senior officer, has had numerous close encounters with death. What with given up for dead on a sabotaged T'Lani III peace mission, nearly killed while an unwitting replicant is substituted in his place and replaced by his doppelganger from five hours into an alternate universes future when he dies of radiation poisoning, the chances of him surviving up till now would seem very slim. Even while on board the Station, he was once saved by Jake Sisko from a fiery death in a plasma-filled conduit when anti-riot procedures left from Gul Dukat's administraion were accidentally tripped on.
Along with his musical and mechanical interests, O'Brien remains athletic. He finds relief for the long hours and uncomfortable work he puts in. A kayak enthusiast, he has had a holo-program since 2364 during his Enterprise assignment - though he has never finished it, dislocating his shoulder six times in the process as of late 2371. It's his favorite activity after work and family, and he sings "ancient human sea chanteys" such as "Louie, Louie" while kayaking to establish a smooth paddling rhythm. Lately he's even got Odo interested on two such "trips."
Around 2355, O'Brien kept a regimen of playing racquetball five hours daily, and missed it so much on DS9 he built a live court himself. He sparked a rivalry with Bashir, with whom he shares a mutual bond of friendship, progressing through that sport into darts during Keiko's 6 month long absence on a Bajoran bio-survey. He's never had a run like his 47-game win streak at darts, ended only by a torn rotator cuff in his shoulder, his most serious injury there yet.
Among his other hobbies O'Brien relishes detective fiction such as Mickey Spillane, lending copies to Odo sometimes. He's also an old hand at poker. The chief uses the holosuites for reliving historic roles, going from RAF pilots in Bashir's own program for the Battle of Britain of Terra's World War II to his own replaying of the ancient Irish-Viking Battle of Clontarf as High King Brian Boru, a direct ancestor.
When out of temper O'Brien was known to mutter racist interjections such as "Cardies" and "bloody hell!" However, his lingering racism toward Cardasssians was swallowed after Keiko rebuked him when the war orphan Rugal stayed with them - although his pre-determined trial and torture on Cardassia didn't help any. He dislikes getting medical physicals, despites the soothing words of Doctor Bashir and hates surprise parties for himself.
He was an arachnaphobe, but conquered it after having a traumatic experience with meter-long Talaran hook spider legs while crawling through the Jeffries Tube in Zayra IV starbase. He kept a pet tarantula, Christina, after he was married.
Special Medical Log
O'Brien has just passed the ordeal of watching his son's emergency fetal transplant to Major Kira after his wife was injured seriously. While physically the fetus was never in harm's way after the surgery, the psychological trauma it caused Kira and the O'Briens' has had lasting effects on both parties. After the initial shock at the prospect of surrogate pregnancy, Miles quickly came to accepting the situation and extended an invitation along with Keiko to Kira asking her to stay with them. She was "Aunt Nerys" to Molly and her intimacy with the O'Briens was quite extraordinary during those months. During Kira's in-stay with the O'Briens, it may be that both Kira and O'Brien experienced a passive mutual attraction that kept them tight-lipped and nervous. By the time young Kirayoshi was born circa 50450, his tension had disrupted the traditional Bajoran birthing routine Kira had requested. The news reached First Minister Shakaar and he came aboard out of concern for the Major.
Recently the chief has also confided that he prepares a "final message" tape to his wife and children prior to each departure on a dangerous mission, such as the covert infiltration to ascertain the rumored Changeling doubling of Gowron and the help in retrieving a prize Jem'Hadar vessel. O'Brien values his staff of engineering team, and the loss of one of his star engineers, Enrique Muniz, has hurt him deeply.
The Chief is vitally important to the station's operations. Without the ingenuity and resourcefullness of Miles O'Brien, the Station would probably still be in shambles, of little use to anyone.
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