BOB

BOB (or Beguiler Operator B) was a cybernetically enhanced and the second Ferengi operative of Beguiler Operators, special counselor and occasional bartender aboard the USS Phoenix-X in the late 24th century. (Star Trek: Phoenix-X)

History

Sometime from the mid to late 24th century, BOB was part of a program called the "Beguiler Operators", where a group of Ferengi were cybernetically modified by Professor Gast to enhance their dealing and bargaining abilities. Each Ferengi Beguiler Operator member was alphabetically named with a letter appended to the ancronym "BO", with BOB being the second on that list. BOB described the program as "terrible" and "torturous". ("Devil's Leftovers", "Celestial Dynamics", "Archaeological Anarchy")

The Beguiler Operator program was generally not accepted as effective, except for BOB who was the most successful, rich and best swindler and money-maker of them all. Even after owning his own moon, he became disenfranchised and eventually decided to leave the life of money-making behind, adopting a failure-Ferengi persona to get away. ("Devil's Leftovers")

Sometime before 2374, BOB took a ship into the Gamma Quadrant and sold a small amount of Ketracel-white to a lost contingent, presumably working with the Dominion in some capacity. In doing this, he began to question his place as an officer in the Ferengi Alliance. He was later no longer with the Alliance, with the Alliance letting him go with the hopes he would learn his lesson and come back.

During a job hunt, BOB was denied a place at Quark's bar on Deep Space 9, where Quark knew about his Beguiler origins. In response to this rejection, BOB used his powers of convincing to sleep with the entire staff. ("Homespun")

U.S.S. Phoenix-X

In 2374, BOB was working aboard the Phoenix-X in an unofficial capacity to help provide the crew with intelligence on the Jem'Hadar. BOB was on the Bridge of the Phoenix-X when it came under attack by the Borg. He confirmed that Ensign Rob and Lieutenant Wang were dead from the initial attack. ("Jello Cubes", "Homespun", "Devil's Leftovers, Part III")

When Deep Space 9 was miraculously and accidentally knocked into the Bajoran wormhole, BOB was on the Bridge reporting on it until he was told to leave after getting into a fight with Captain Daniel. In a Captain's log, Daniel described BOB as "getting on (his) nerves". BOB continued to assist in efforts to reverse Deep Space 9 out of its predicament, sharing a difficult working relationship with Captain Daniel. ("Deep Space Not So Much")

BOB was verbal about his opinion that they should not abandon orders to save the USS Voyager from the Delta Quadrant when the Phoenix-X received orders to do so. Consequentially, the disagreement led to a bet between Daniel and BOB that he could stay on the ship and assist with missions without needing to make any latinum. BOB was on the Bridge and reported sighting Voyager on sensors after it somehow finally made it back to the Alpha Quadrant. The entire situation was quickly reversed by Q. ("Find Voyager? No Problem")

Soon after, when Starfleet picked up intelligence on a deal between the Jem'Hadar and a group of Ferengi, to happen on Flortarios III, in which the Jem'Hadar would receive Starfleet weapons, Admiral Cloud convicted BOB as a spy who was feeding information to the Jem'Hadar about a Starfleet mission to intercept this trade. After this reveal, BOB was immediately taken to the Brig of the Phoenix-X. In reality, BOB was working with Cloud and Daniel in order to play as the spy during the trade. When the trade happened, BOB assisted in take-down efforts and was there when the actual spy, Damon Smith, revealed himself. Unfortunately, BOB, Night and Daniel were then captured by the Jem'Hadar and kept in an underground base. There, BOB suggested Daniel use his status as a god to the Jem'Hadar to assist in their escape. Succeeding in this, the group were able to get away, steal intelligence information, and return to the Phoenix-X. ("Flortarios III")

For a rescue mission to retrieve Captain Daniel and Commander Night Gotens, who had previously been captured and taken hostage by Gul Meloneus, on his Cardassian ship, BOB was assigned to weapons control aboard the Phoenix-X. ("Missed the Mishap")

When the Federation came under threat of the Second Maquis, BOB was assigned to a team which was to ensure everyone on the ship had a hand-held weapon. ("Cookies")

Following a crash land of the Phoenix-X, on a planet in the Gamma Quadrant, BOB took part of Beta Group in an effort to push through the jungles and find the lost sections of the ship. ("Crash Bandicoots")

After an attempt to transwarp away from the planet and home, the Phoenix-X and a Dominion ship became trapped in a purple energy cloud in space. BOB assisted in efforts to capture Jem'Hadar and Vorta prisoners by beaming over to the Dominion ship. Meanwhile, BOB felt that his usefulness aboard the Phoenix-X was coming to an end, as his knowledge of the Jem'Hadar was going out-of-date. During his "soul-searching" he applied for a job at Quark's, but was rejected. Having thought about it for a while, he then asked the Captain if he could stay on the ship, with the intention of taking Starfleet courses. After he was granted permission and had joined teams in assisting a seemingly overly-technical escape plan for the ship, he began to hesitate on his intentions to join Starfleet. ("The Cloud Aloft")

When the Phoenix-X returned to Deep Space 9, BOB went to Quark's Bar, much to Quark's dismay, and began drinking and gambling as a way to relax and divert from his precarious placement. Before departing the station for Flortarios III, Daniel had a drunk BOB transported back to the Phoenix-X.

Later, after being lured to Ruvio's bar on Flortarios III by GuiMon Zonk, Admiral Theseus, on the USS Dropzone, negotiated a deal with BOB to have him serve as a special counselor to the Captain of the Phoenix-X, during the Dominion War. BOB's previous help in incriminating Damon Smith played into the support. His only caveat now being he be recommissioned with the Ferengi Alliance in order to make the exchange program official. He would later claim he tricked Theseus into letting him stay on board. ("Homespun", "Devil's Leftovers, Part III")

In 2375, BOB supported ship operations and helm positions when the humans of the Phoenix-X were incapacitated by the Gelomira. ("Bio Level 4")

In 2377, BOB was spying on the crew of the Phoenix-X under the command of a higher power. ("False Management")

In 2379, under the regulations of the Ferengi Alliance, BOB kept himself secluded in his quarters for days, retaking the Ferengi Bar Exam. He remained secluded when the Phoenix-X, joined by a time-displaced future version of himself, contended with the USS Atlantis-R in the Tilonian system. ("Celestial Dynamics")

In 2392, the crew learned of BOB's past as a Beguiler Operator and the existence of other Ferengi from his grouping with naming conventions like BOC, BOD, BOE, and so on. They figured out that BOB was faking his failure and hiding his success and enlisted him into helping them get stolen Bajoran goods back from Ardra's crew. After getting them to the enemy, BOB was only partially successful in getting everything back. He would later define his lesson as him not being as good as he used to be. ("Devil's Leftovers")

Travels Abroad

Later, in 2392, BOB left the Phoenix-X to search for his creator to find more answers about his creation. Sometime before 2400, he learned his creator was dead some years prior. His information broker, Keppler, was able to share that all the Bequilers had hidden cybernetic implants. BOB was also told about an impending temporal incursion by Sayjan and that it would happen in the Tilonian system. ("Celestial Dynamics")

Temporal Displacement

In 2400, after BOB returned to the Phoenix-X, he reported the information about Sayjan, giving the Phoenix-X an opportunity to confront Sayjan. When Sayjan, aboard the USS Atlantis, initiated time-related functions, they became caught in BOB's implants and, when the Atlantis time-jumped, it unintentionally pulled BOB with it to the year 2379. ("Celestial Dynamics")

• In 2379, the time-displaced BOB warned the crew of the Phoenix-X of Sayjan's intentions and, after surveying Admiral Kathryn Janeway and Commander Worf, he realized his creator was still alive. Captializing on the opportunity, he contacted the creator of the Beguiler Operators only to be disappointed in discovering that it was Doctor Gast. After beaming Sayjan off the Atlantis-R, along with the ship, BOB was pulled into the future year of 2404.

• In 2404, BOB once again joined the crew of the Phoenix-X in attempting to stop the Atlantis-R from becoming an Omni Nest for Admiral William Theseus. When the Atlantis-R's transformation was malformed into a molecular reversion field/ion storm, BOB was sent back to the year 2393.

• In 2393, Commander Night Seifer ordered BOB to stay displaced in order to avoid further time travel disasters. ("Celestial Dynamics")

Temporal Displacement onwards on the U.S.S. Phoenix-X

In 2393, now anchored to this year, BOB was denied a passing request to return to the future before a system malfunction caused Briggs, Veker and Whui to be temporarily trapped in Cetacean Ops. ("Cetacean Observations")

Later, BOB philosophized about the Universe with Commander Seifer in the Conference room just before the Dracon was to make a Warp 10 test jump. (All at Once")

During an interdimensional conflict with the Hiss, BOB sampled the Unreliable's Andorian cider which was so strong that he required Doctor Xyrenia to medically recover his cognitive awareness. ("Convergencies")

When the Phoenix-X joined the Jade Fox at Covalesence in search for the Ancient Breen Amakun, he rediscovered his co-Beguiler BOK as part of their crew. In an unsuccessful attempt at connecting with BOK during the artifact hunt, BOB failed at unlocking the Breen door and learned BOK held no appreciation for his own past and the time in the Beguiler Operator program. ("Archaeological Anarchy")

In 2400, having finally synced to the year he previously left, this time-displaced BOB left the Phoenix-X, again, for reasons unclear to the crew, but the leaving coincided with his past, non-displaced BOB-version, who was previously abroad seeking answers to his creator, to momentarily return to the Phoenix-X and begin the time-displacement events all over again. ("Celestial Dynamics")

Post-Phoenix-X

By 2404, BOB was retired to Risa, where he hunted archaeologist-adventurers. ("Celestial Dynamics")

Appendices

Ferengi Beguiler Operators
BOB • BOG • BOK

Background information

• BOB was named after Bob from the TV series ReBoot. [1]
• BOB's name is spelled in all caps in all his appearances in Star Trek: Phoenix-X.

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