Miles O brien Getting Hurt Again and Again
The life of a Starfleet officer can be fraught with danger. As Captain Kirk put it, "Risk is our business." Only what about the life of a non-deputed officeholder? As information technology turns out, the Starfleet grunts bear the burden of that hazard business. None more so than Senior Primary Petty Officer Miles Edward O'Brien, whose career is a resume filled with an unfair excess of pain and suffering.
Then why is Master O'Brien so unlucky?
Information technology'southward time we get to the bottom of Miles's monumental misfortune. With a thorough exploration of several of the chief's most harrowing experiences, perhaps nosotros tin can determine the possible causes of his undue grief, and mayhap even put his cursed career into the larger context of his life to truly determine if Miles Edward O'Brien really is as unlucky every bit nosotros give him credit for.
And then, allow's accept a look at that time Chief O'Brien was…
Shoved into a Jefferies Tube with Spiders (TNG: "Realm of Fear")
"Realm of Fear"
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During a mission on Zayra 4, the arachnophobic chief was forced into a Jefferies tube overrun with Talarian hook spiders.
If the thought of slipping into a tight, coffin-shaped (emphasis on "coffin") tube filled with giant spiders fills you with dread, and then just imagine the shear terror that erupted in poor O'Brien — who grew upward with a morbid fear of spiders — when he was told that the mission relied on him becoming an unwilling contestant in Fear Gene: Starfleet Edition!
"All's well that ends well," wrote William Shakespeare, a human being whose plays ordinarily didn't end well for their characters. However, for O'Brien, this terrifying session of exposure therapy did succeed in freeing him of his phobia. Aboard the Enterprise-D, he kept a Lycosa tarantula named Christina. Still, I'k not sure the reward was equal to gamble. Crawling through spiders is not where about Starfleet recruits sign upwards to "boldly become."
Almost Killed by a Biogenic Weapon (DS9: "Armageddon Game")
"Armageddon Game"
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After O'Brien helps to disarm stockpiles of a deadly biomechanical weapon known every bit Harvesters, he is accidentally infected and faces a painful expiry.
No skilful human action goes unpunished. That thought was surely on the chief's heed when, moments after helping to end a centuries-long war by destroying the bio-weapons, he and Dr. Bashir are ambushed past Kellerun soldiers adamant to make sure the secret of the Harvesters dies with anybody in the room. Though they survive the set on, O'Brien discovers that he'southward been infected and now faces the prospect of dying solitary with a blathering Bashir. As Miles tells Keiko later, "Information technology was hell…you lot tin see for yourself, the human never stops taking!"
The poor primary can't even dice in peace. And as if that's not enough, mere moments from a firing squad, O'Brien let slip that serving with Bashir was an honor. How will he ever alive that down?
Replaced by a Replicant (DS9: "Whispers")
While on a mission to the Parada system, Chief O'Brien is captured and replaced with a replicant programmed for peace conference mayhem.
No, technically this hardship isn't Chief O'Brien's. Still, information technology'south further proof that Miles is so unlucky that even copies of him must suffer. Xerox-O'Brien is a perfect clone, with no thought he's a fake. So, when his friends and family begin to act strange around him, he assumes it's a conspiracy and becomes a paranoid wreck.
Because the apocryphal chief wholeheartedly believes himself to exist the existent deal, it's heartbreaking when he takes a fatal phaser blast and discovers the truth. His last words, "Keiko…tell her I honey—" could easily take been uttered by the genuine O'Brien. A pretty raw deal when you consider that Commander Riker's double, Thomas Riker gets to live out his days at a sunny Cardassian labor campsite. Life can be so unfair.
Framed and Imprisoned on Cardassia (DS9: "Tribunal")
On the way to some R&R with the wife, Chief O'Brien is framed and imprisoned by the Cardassians.
Yes, fifty-fifty on vacation, the principal tin can't catch a break. Within minutes of arriving on Cardassia, O'Brien is stripped naked, slammed into a chair, and has a molar painfully ripped from his mouth with pliers—and that's just the booking procedure. Worse, in the Cardassian's Police force & Order & Unwanted Dental Surgery legal organization, the trial is just a formality. O'Brien'south execution has already been scheduled.
Thankfully, back on Deep Infinite 9, Miles' crew mates succeed in uncovering the Cardassian conspiracy and secure his release. Still, to put O'Brien's cruel calendar week on Cardassia in perspective: three years later when Dr. Bashir is captured and held prisoner by the Dominion for more than a calendar month he makes it out without losing a single tooth! Hardly seems fair.
Killed and Replaced by a Future O'Brien (DS9: "Visionary")
Yes, yous read that correct: O'Brien Really DIED.
Thanks to a workplace accident involving radiation and a cloaked Romulan warbird, O'Brien is pulled into the future. Every time he fourth dimension jumps, O'Brien gets a glimpse of DS9's impending devastation. The only way to save DS9 is one more jump to the future. Unfortunately, that final bound is 1 besides many, and the Miles we've known and loved is killed by radiation. No last minute medical miracles or techno-babble resurrections, just a reluctant bandy with the O'Brien from that futurity.
While future-O'Brien's presence succeeds in keeping DS9's coiffure manifest from beingness curt one "living O'Brien," it's piddling comfort for ex-O'Brien, who's shuffled off his mortal curlicue and joined the bleedin' choir invisible. That O'Brien never sees his family once again. The poor potent doesn't even go a memorial plaque for saving the station. Rough.
Mentally Imprisoned on Argratha for Twenty-Years (DS9: "Hard Fourth dimension")
O'Brien is arrested and implanted with the memories of a cruel twenty-twelvemonth prison incarceration.
Dorsum on the station, Miles returns to his normal routine merely has difficulty coping. O'Brien's haunted past the memories of his cellmate, Ee'Char, whom he killed in common cold blood. Overwhelmed past guilt and rage, Miles snaps at his friends, assaults Quark, and nearly hits his daughter, Molly. Terrified of the man he's go, the chief swipes a phaser from a weapons locker and presses information technology to the soft flesh below his trembling chin. With his eyes clenched shut, Miles is ready to end his life.
Julian, who's been keeping a keen eye on his friend, finds and convinces Miles to put the phaser downwards and get assist. O'Brien returns to his family and embraces Molly. All of this for showing a petty involvement in Argrathi technology. The principal may desire to reconsider ever leaving his quarters over again.
Stuck with a Pah-Wraith Possessed Married woman (DS9: "The Assignment")
"The Assignment"
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O'Brien'due south married woman, Keiko returns from Bajor'southward famed Fire Caves with a stowaway: she'due south been possessed past a Pah-wraith, the ancient nemeses of the wormhole aliens that the Bajorans' refer to as the Prophets.
The Pah-wraith commandeering Mrs. O'Brien is hellbent on killing the wormhole aliens. To complete its mission, it gives Miles a detailed list of modifications to brand to the station. Any divergence from its plan and the Pah-wraith will kill Keiko. With Keiko held hostage in her ain skin, Miles must convince his daughter and friends that everything is normal or risk condign a widower.
Worse? The chief's only hope at survival might be Rom.
Marriage is hard under the best circumstances, only when your significant other is possessed by a Bajoran demon? Somehow playing house with a sadistic spirt seems like just another mean solar day for unlucky O'Brien.
Berated by James T. Kirk (DS9: "Trials and Tribble-ations")
"Trials and Tribble-ations"
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O'Brien travels through fourth dimension and gets to meet the legendary Captain Kirk, merely to be reprimanded by him.
The DS9 coiffure travel back to 2268, to stop an incognito-Klingon named Arne Darvin from exacting revenge on Kirk with a tribble-time-flop. In the process, O'Brien and Bashir are swept into a brawl with Klingons onboard Infinite Station K-7. Every Enterprise crew member involved in the melee (including the two masqueraders from the hereafter) are lined upwardly for a breast-puffed-to-attention dress down from Kirk, who rips into his crew for fighting.
They say never meet your heroes. Information technology's easy to see why. When pressed directly for an explanation, O'Brien, who's blushing redder than his 23rd century velour uniform, is forced to lie to Kirk. While Dax shares a playful shrug and Sisko gets a friendly chat, O'Brien meets Kirk with all the dignity of a pup caught chewing on a shoe.
Invited to a Klingon Bachelor Political party (DS9: "You lot Are Cordially Invited")
"You lot Are Cordially Invited"
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O'Brien jubilantly accepts an invitation to Worf's bachelor party only to discover that Klingon and Human available parties are tragically low-cal years autonomously.
Kal'Hyah is Klingon for "the path of clarity." Nosotros tin safely assume that some vital information was lost in that translation, considering what'south touted as a mental and spiritual journey for the groom-to-be and his closest (or unluckiest) friends, could easily be a deleted scene from a Saw movie. While on the path to kal'Hyah, O'Brien endures searing heat, starvation, and an itinerary that includes ample bouts of hanging from a ceiling to a higher place hot coals.
At the end of Worf's four-day "available party," the principal's only solace is beating the groom senseless with a ma'Staka, the traditional Klingon wedding-bludgeon. When measured against Dax's wild bachelorette party, it's hard to see Worf'south stag political party as anything merely abject suffering. O'Brien improve hope Worf never remarries.
Donnie-Brasco-ed by Starfleet Intelligence (DS9: "Honor Amid Thieves")
"Honor Amidst Thieves"
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Enlisted by Starfleet Intelligence to infiltrate a criminal offence ring known equally the Orion Syndicate, the success of O'Brien'south mission ways the death of the mobster he's befriended.
The Orion Syndicate rules Farius Prime number, but among its operatives, in a seedy bar, waits Miles O'Brien. Posing as a "prepare-information technology-man" named Connelly, O'Brien befriends a low-level mob man named Liam Bilby. The two quickly strike up a friendship and trust that O'Brien uses to gain access to the criminal arrangement. Because Bilby vouched for him, when O'Brien's true identity is revealed, Bilby is destined for death. Miles can't help him and must live with the consequences of his cloak-and-dagger mission.
Undercover work is hard plenty without the added stress of an incommunicable, damned if you practise, damned if you don't success. Even when he wins, O'Brien loses!
Forced to Enhance a Feral Teenager (DS9: "Time's Orphan")
"Time's Orphan"
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During a picnic on Golana, O'Brien'south daughter, Molly falls through a time portal and is marooned in the past. When the chief beams Molly back, she'south lived lone for a brutal decade and emerges a wild, barbaric teenager.
The teenage years are considered the almost difficult for parents, so naturally, Miles' first brush with the feel comes as dad to a manic, bite-happy teen who sleeps in copse. Without a copy of, What to Look When Y'all're Expecting a Feral Teenager on paw, the O'Briens exercise the best they can to re-digest Molly to life on Deep Space ix. Then an epic meltdown and rampage at Quark's sends Molly to the DS9 equivalent of juvie: Odo's holding cells.
While returning feral Molly to the time portal brings viii yr-old Molly dwelling house, one can't assist but wonder why even an O'Brien family picnic has to be an disturbing affair.
24th Century Martyr? (DS9: "What We Left Backside")
"What Nosotros Left Behind"
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Miles O'Brien, a human who plays darts confronting a genetically enhanced opponent, and whose thought of a peaceful retirement is returning to Globe to teach. So, at the very to the lowest degree, he'south a glutton for punishment. But is he unlucky? Now that nosotros've strolled through the daily trauma of the master's life in Starfleet, what'south the verdict? Does Miles live a charmed or cursed life?
In examining just the valleys of O'Brien's life it's easy to get lost in shadows, but when taken with the peaks, we get a fuller portrait of a life that isn't so unlucky afterwards all. While he surely suffers more than than your average Starfleet officer, O'Brien's accomplished something that's eluded many of Starfleet's finest: Miles institute fourth dimension for a family. A caring wife and two beautiful children whose love and unwavering support pull him through each undeserved hardship. Isn't that worth a picayune blood, tears, and pulled teeth?
Indeed, nosotros're fortunate to have lucky O'Brien. In the chief we have a flawed homo who suffers, goes habitation to the waiting arms of his family unit, and so wakes up and does it all again. A 24th century reflection for many of united states 21st century chumps. That'due south a comforting notion, to know that even in Cistron Roddenberry'southward perfect hereafter society, there's room for imperfect blokes like Miles Edward O'Brien — and us.
Picket: A Timeline Through the Star Trek Universe
Andy Bray (he/his) is a husband, father, and co-author of the memoirs, Making Imitation Star Trek and Making More False Star Trek. He developed his unhealthy obsession with Star Trek equally an embryo; in his twenties he acted in an official Star Trek production no one'due south ever heard of: "Spock's Brain" the stage play; after cultivating a drove of obscure credits on his IMDB folio, Andy now spends his days writing and embarrassing his children. You tin can follow him on Instagram at @AndyBrayAuthor and on Twitter at @TheAndyBray.
Source: https://www.startrek.com/news/the-hardships-of-miles-edward-obrien-the-galaxys-unluckiest-irishman
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