On Saturday, December 17, 1994 at 11:27:46 PM UTC-5, ANDREW GALBRAITH wrote:   
   > Choi T. Kwok (choi@interport.net) wrote:   
   >   
   >   
   > : How's this: O'Brien was the Transporter Chief who was "responsible"   
   > : for the creation of the 2nd Riker.  However, Riker2 (He uses his   
   > : middle name, Thomas, I believe) was busted to Lieutenant since you   
   > : couldn't have two Commander Rikers.  Riker2 probably blames O'Brien   
   > : for his troubles.   
   >   
   > : (Pardon me if I've made any mistakes.)   
   >   
   > : -Choi   
   >   
   > I believe this has been said previously...   
   >   
   > The episode "The Wounded" establishes that Miles O'Brien served with a   
   > Captain Ben Maxwell previous to his time on the Enterprise--time that   
   > would have overlapped with the Potemkin-transporter accident that   
   > resulted in the dual Rikers from "Second Chances"...   
   >   
   > --Headbanger   
   > --   
      
   Tom Riker was created 2361, while there's no mention of WHEN Miles O'Brien   
   served on the Phoenix under Captain Maxwell, to indicate that O'Brien was not   
   on the Potemkin at the time, so O'Brien could obviously have served on both   
   ships at different times.   
   In "Second Chances," the dialogue simply states that the Potemkin's unnamed   
   "transporter-chief," rather than simply the attendant officer, created the   
   emergency transporter-bypass that duplicated Riker, so this could easily have   
   been O'Brien.   
   Likewise, if Riker wanted to get rid of O'Brien, he could have just said   
   something more convincing than to be a dick, which would have been   
   out-of-character for Riker and O'Brien suspect that something was up.   
   Rather, it makes far more sense that O'Brien had something to do with the   
   mishap that left Riker marooned on the planet for 8 years.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)