O'Brien, Miles

O'Brien, Miles:(Colm Meaney). Starfleet engineer, chief of operations at station Deep Sp ace 9. ("Emissary" [DS9]). O'Brien's family resided in Dublin, Ireland, on Earth. ("Homefront" [DS9]). His ancestors included noted 20th-century union leader Sean Aloysius O'Brien and 11th-century Irish King Brian Boru. ("Bar Association" [DS9]). Prior to being assigned to Deep Space 9 in 2369, Miles Edward O'Brien had been operating transporters for some 22 years, the last six of which were spent on the Enterprise -D. ("Realm of Fear" [TNG]). As of 2372, he had been decorated 15 times by Starfleet Command . ("Rules of Engagement" [DS9]).

Miles, who was born in the month of September ("Whispers" [DS9]), grew up with two brothers. ("Invasive Procedures" [DS9]). During his youth, O'Brien did poorly in mechanical aptitude tests, but his later skills belied his t est scores. ("Paradise" [DS9]). His father, Michael, wanted him to be a concert cellist, but two days before he was to start at the Aldebaran Music Academy, Miles signed up for Starfleet. ("Shadowplay" [DS9]).

Early in his Starfleet career, O'Brien had be en the tactical officer aboard the U.S.S. Rutledge under the command of Captain Benjamin Maxwell. O'Brien's first experience with transporters came in 2347, when the Rutledge responded to the Cardassian massacre at planet Setlik III. O'Brien repaired a ba l ky field transporter, preventing himself and 13 Starfleet personnel from becoming Cardassian prisoners of war. He also participated in the rescue of several survivors of that bloody massacre. The experience of Setlik III scarred O'Brien deeply, and he con t inued to harbor bitterness against the Cardassians for many years. ("The Wounded" [TNG]). He was rewarded for his resourcefulness by being promoted to Rutledge tactical officer. ("Paradise" [DS9]). Note that "Rules of Engagement" (DS9) suggests that O'Bri en joined Starfleet in 2350, although the Setlik III backstory establishes that he was already in the service aboard the Rutledge in 2347.

O'Brien was deathly afraid of spiders, until an incident where he had to crawl through a Jefferies tube past twenty Ta larian hook spiders to perform a critical repair at Zayra IV. After that considerable act of courage, O'Brien said he wasn't quite so fearful of arachnids, and even kept a Lycosa tarantula named Christina as a pet. ("Realm of Fear" [TNG]). O'Brien once di slocated his left shoulder while kayaking on the holodeck. O'Brien was healed, almost miraculously, by a touch from the Zalkonian named John Doe. ("Transfigurations" [TNG]).

O'Brien married Keiko Ishikawa on stardate 44390 in a ceremony in the Ten-Forward Lounge aboard the Enterprise -D. Captain Jean-Luc Picard presided at the ceremony, and Data (who had first introduced Miles and Keiko to each other) served as father of the bride. ("Data's Day" [TNG]). O'Brien became a father a year later when Molly O'Bri e n was born. ("Disaster" [TNG]). O'Brien was deeply committed to his family, and was well aware of the risk that Starfleet duty entailed. He periodically recorded a "goodbye" message for his family, to be played in the event of his death. He recorded such a message every time he was about to go into battle, and as of early 2372, had done so 11 times. ("To the Death" [DS9]). His second child, Kirayoshi O'Brien, was born in 2373. ("The Begotten" [DS9]).

O'Brien was promoted and assigned to be chief of operatio ns on station Deep Space 9 in 2369, and moved there with his wife and daughter. O'Brien's technical expertise and skill at improvisation proved invaluable, given the station's generally poor condition and the lack of technical resources at the distant pos t. ("Emissary" [DS9]).

O'Brien almost died in 2370 after being exposed to nanobiogenic gel while helping the T'Lani and Kellerun governments to neutralize their deadly harvester weapon. He drank coffee, Jamaican blend, double strong, double sweet. ("Armaged don Game" [DS9]). Later that year, O'Brien was assigned to assist in preparations for the peace talks between the Paradan government and the rebels with whom the government had been at war. The Paradan government abducted O'Brien and replaced him with a c l oned replicant that was physically identical to O'Brien. The replicant, who was programmed by the government to assassinate members of the rebel negotiating team, was given O'Brien's memories, and had no way to know that he was not the original. ("Whisper s" [DS9]).

O'Brien died of severe delta-series radioisotope contamination in 2371, when he was timeshifted several hours into a future in which the Romulan government destroyed Deep Space 9. The timeshifting was triggered by interaction of temporal displace ment waves from a nearby cloaked Romulan warbird with the radioisotopes in O'Brien's body. Ironically, O'Brien's death made it possible for his future self to travel back in time to his original "present," where the future O'Brien successfully warned stat i on personnel of the impending Romulan attack. The future O'Brien thereby effectively changed places with the present O'Brien, and continued his life in this altered reality. ("Visionary" [DS9]). This would seem to mean that every appearance of O'Brien sin c e "Visionary" (DS9) has been the alternate O'Brien from several hours into the future, since the original died in that episode. The alternate O'Brien from the future fit in well, showing virtually no difference from the original O'Brien. During a rather r e markable winning streak at darts, this O'Brien suffered a rotator cuff tear and was forced to have humeral socket replacement surgery. It ended his winning streak, but allowed him to finally complete his beloved kayaking program. ("Shakaar" [DS9]). In 237 2 , O'Brien was falsely accused of espionage by the Argrathi government and, as punishment, was implanted with memories of a 20-year prison sentence. After returning to Deep Space 9, O'Brien suffered mental stress and hallucinations caused by the implanted m emories, pushing him to the brink of suicide. With help, O'Brien was able to cope with the incident. ("Hard Time" [DS9]). When Kira Nerys shared the O'Briens' quarters while she served as surrogate mother to their second child in 2373, both Nerys and Mile s realized that they shared a mutual attraction. They nevertheless agreed to ignore their feelings. ("Looking for par'Mach in All the Wrong Places" [DS9]).

Besides engineer, husband, and father, O'Brien briefly served as a substitute schoolteacher, when his wife visited her mother on Earth. ("The Nagus" [DS9]). O'Brien's off-duty pastimes also included music, and he was seen playing the cello in a string quartet in Ten-Forward aboard the Enterprise -D on at least one occasion. ("The Ensigns of Command" [TNG ]). O'Brien liked to kayak on the holodeck and holosuite. ("Heart of Stone" [DS9], "Transfigurations" [TNG]) and enjoyed racquetball, although perhaps not quite so much as did Dr. Julian Bashir. ("Rivals" [DS9]). O'Brien was first seen as the battle bridge conn officer in "Encounter at Farpoint" (TNG), a role he reprised in "All Good Things..." (TNG), but it was many episodes until he got a lastname. He did not get a first and middle name, Miles Edward, until "Family" (TNG).

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