Keiko O'Brien
| Character | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Keiko O'Brien, Keiko Ishikawa |
| Occupation: | botanist |
| Relationships: | married to Miles O'Brien; mother to Molly & Kirayoshi |
| Fandom: | Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine |
| Other: | Memory Alpha article |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Keiko O'Brien (née Ishikawa) is a human recurring character in Star Trek: The Next Generation & Star Trek: Deep Space Nine played by Rosalind Chao.
In Canon
Keiko is a civilian botanist and head of the biology lab on the USS Enterprise. Her family comes from Japan on Earth, and she follows some Japanese traditions. She marries Miles O'Brien and later sacrifices her career to transfer with him to Deep Space Nine. There she works briefly as a primary school teacher before taking up a position on Bajor as chief botanist on a research expedition. At the end of the series, they both transfer to Earth.
Bucketloads of angst get thrown at the O'Brien family. Keiko's first child, Molly, is born during a systems failure on the Enterprise, and her second, Kirayoshi, has to be carried to term by Kira Nerys, after a shuttle accident during pregnancy. Keiko is de-aged, held hostage by Evil Aliens, possessed by another Evil Alien, loses her child to a portal -- all in a day's work for Mrs Everyman!
Besides her family, Keiko's canonical associates include Data on the Enterprise and Kira on Deep Space Nine. Her non-botanical pursuits include playing the clarinet, cooking and passionate sex with Miles.
In Fandom
Keiko is not a particularly popular character with fans.[1] She appears in a little fanfiction, which mainly focuses on her being an obstacle to her husband's buddyslash pairing with Julian Bashir. Usually her character is portrayed negatively in such stories. Even though her husband is the one being unfaithful, Keiko is frequently depicted as a shrew, divorcing Miles or warning Julian off. Sometimes Miles is portrayed as a saint for resisting the temptation to have sex with Julian. Occasionally, however, the situation resolves into a threesome.
Keiko sometimes appears in femslash, with Kira as the predominant partner. Many f/f stories initiate the relationship with Kira while she's pregnant with Kirayoshi, and have the couple bonding over the shared unborn child. Gen works also sometimes address her "extended family" bond with Kira. These genres usually give a considerably more positive view of the character than does m/m slash. Sometimes she is part of an ot3 consisting of Kira Nerys/Keiko O'Brien/Miles O'Brien.
Example Fanworks
Bashir/O'Brien
- Big Kid, by Paranoid Kitten -- Garak & the Keiko/Miles/Julian triangle
- A Five-Point Tour of the Alpha Quadrant, by Mosca -- Five Things meme for Miles
- A Reasonable Request, by Kangeiko
- Stolen, by Your Cruise Director
f/f
- Openings, by thingswithwings -- Keiko/Kira, while Kira is pregnant with Yoshi
Threesome
- Blue Champagne's "Crisis Team" series, which starts with Julian/Miles and develops into a happy Julian/Miles/Keiko triangle.
Gen & Keiko/Miles
- Families, by sophiegrace -- gen vignette about Kira's family of choice
- Home, by Thistlerose -- rare happy vignette for Keiko/Miles, set between TNG & DS9
- The Long Road Home by Little Red -- fix it for the end of the series
- Judgement Day 07: The Roads Must Roll, by Alara J Rogers -- dark alternate universe for the O'Brien family
- Opportunity, by Laura Schiller -- unusual gen vignette set during Keiko's stint as a teacher
- The Targ and the Sehlat, by Orangeblossom -- Keiko & Miles pre-marriage; set during TNG
- Like I Have Nothing To Hide by Vyc. Keiko-centric case story (2014)
- PLEASE have SEX with my HUSBAND!!!, Archived version, fanart by lgbtqiads9; with discussion of Keiko/Miles by lgbtqiads9, @milesobriensrolledupsleeves, and xenobotanist, 2023
Archives
- Works tagged 'Keiko O'Brien' at Archive of Our Own
- Works tagged 'Keiko O.' at fanfiction.net (DS9 only)
Meta
- Intimacy & Sex on Deep Space Nine -- essay by Wendy A.F.G. Stengel that deals with the canonical sidelining of Keiko & Miles' marriage by Miles' developing friendship with Julian
- Keiko O’Brien - Building Communities in Space -- meta post by cosmic_llin that discusses Keiko's role and strengths
- Cosmic-Llin and The Valkyrie Directive chat about Keiko O’Brien -- discussion by The Valkyrie Directive and cosmic_llin that covers several aspects of her character and reception in fandom
Reference
- ^ Brenda S. Antrim 'Netchatter', in Multi-Species Medicine #18