Lieutenant Watley was a female Human Starfleet officer who lived during the mid-23rd century. During the 2260s, she served aboard both the USS Lexington and USS Enterprise; during her latter assignment, she was assigned to the sciences division.
In 2268, Watley transferred from the Lexington to the Enterprise, where she encountered the temporally-displaced Doctor Julian Bashir and Chief Miles O'Brien, who were posing as Enterprise crewmembers while attempting to apprehend the Klingon criminal Arne Darvin. Meeting the pair in a turbolift, Watley flirted with Bashir, with whom she shared a mutual attraction, even informing him of the time of her scheduled physical.
When Bashir learned of Watley's name, he began to suspect that he was experiencing a predestination paradox, in that his great-grandmother's name was Watley, and nobody had ever met his great-grandfather. Informing O'Brien of his suspicion that he was destined to fall in love with Watley and become his own ancestor, Bashir was rebuffed by O'Brien, who felt that he was simply attempting to justify his attraction to her. Bashir's suspicions turned out to be unfounded, however, in that his failure to pursue a relationship with Watley resulted in no known alterations to the timeline, much less his non-existence. (DS9: "Trials and Tribble-ations")
Appendices
Background information
Watley was played by actress Deirdre L. Imershein.
Casting Watley proved difficult as the actresses who auditioned failed to convince the producers. René Echevarria approached his friend Deirdre Imershein who agreed to the part. (The Magic of Tribbles: The Making of Trials and Tribble-ations)
According to the biography written for the video game Star Trek: Starship Creator, Watley's parents are named Kimberly and Jonathan Watley. She has a sister named Christine.
The Department of Temporal Investigations novel Forgotten History gives her the actress' first name and a sister, Elaine (β), who also served on the Enterprise during that time period.
External link
- Dierdre Watley at Memory Beta, the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
