Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Death Reveals Federation Hypocrisy No One Mentions
One of the morbid constants of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is that Chief O’Brien is always suffering: at least once per season, he usually receives more physical and mental torment than most Starfleet officers experience in a lifetime of service. One of the stranger examples of this occurred in the episode “Whispers,” where Chief O’Brien seemingly worries the entire station has been overtaken by an enemy force before the bombshell reveal that he is actually a clone designed to disrupt peace talks between aliens.
The Chief O’Brien clone is quickly shot and killed after the reveal, and the reaction of Sisko and even the real O’Brien is so dispassionate that it reveals the hypocrisy of Federation morality.
Whispers
For this sad tale about immoral officers to make much sense, we need to recap the episode where the Chief O’Brien clone dies.
The entire “Whispers” episode is told through the clone’s perspective (though we don’t know he’s a clone until the end), and he notes how everyone from his fellow officers to his own family seems very suspicious of him.
He eventually confirms that Sisko and others have been closely monitoring everything he does, and he has no idea why this is.
The Reveal
Because this Chief O’Brien has no idea that he’s a clone, his natural assumption is that some malignant alien force has taken control of the station’s command crew. He subsequently escapes in a runabout and warns Admiral Rollma about his suspicions before heading to Parada II, dodging a pursuing vessel along the way.
It’s only when he gets to his destination that he encounters Sisko, Kira, and a couple of aliens; they promise that the answer to his questions is right behind a door, but he is shot by an alien before the door opens to reveal the real Chief O’Brien.
No Sympathy
Now, to his credit, Commander Sisko does immediately order Dr. Bashir to tend to the Chief O’Brien clone, but it’s evident that there is no way to save him. What is interesting is that the Starfleet officers don’t seem to have much sympathy or empathy for the dying man, and they spend his last moments dispassionately explaining the plot to the audience.
Obviously, we needed some kind of explanation, but it’s completely wild that these officers (including Chief O’Brien himself) mostly sit back and watch the clone die, saying nothing to comfort him even as the dying replicant expresses his love for Keiko O’Brien.
Valued Less Because He’s A Copy?
In addition to making the officers look like bad humans, the reaction (or lack thereof) to the death of Chief O’Brien’s clone reveals Federation hypocrisy: their mandate is to “seek out new life,” but they seemingly don’t care about this replicant lifeform dying.
Their reactions make even less sense when you consider that the crew encounters Riker’s transporter clone one season later and treats him with dignity and respect even as he gets hauled off to prison for his traitorous actions.
The Chief O’Brien clone was also a thinking, feeling copy of a beloved character, but his death is treated with nothing but detached curiosity.
Seek Out New Life
Compared to some of what Chief O’Brien experiences later in the series (including multiple kinds of exotic torture on multiple occasions), watching his clone die is arguably not that big a deal. But the clone’s death does underscore some major Federation hypocrisy on the part of Sisko and even Dr. Bashir, who just watched a clone of his best friend die.
Judging by their reactions, “seek out new life” doesn’t really extend to clones, and this poor copy is treated like something right out of Waste Extraction.
