Neela


Neela was a Bajoran female and a member of the Bajoran Militia during the late 24th century. 

In 2369, Neela served on the space station Deep Space 9 as an engineer under Operations Chief Miles O'Brien. As part of her duties, she once helped to repair Lieutenant Jadzia Dax's science station following a malfunction. ()

Neela became involved in a plot to kill Vedek Bareil Antos, ostensibly to ensure the succession of Vedek Winn after the departure of Kai Opaka. First, she planned an escape route to a runabout from the Promenade, and killed Ensign Aquino after he caught her doing so. She left him in an area to make it appear he had accidentally killed himself while fixing a power conduit. Second, she planted a bomb in the station's school during Winn's argument with Keiko O'Brien about her secular approach to teaching. This had the planned effect of convincing Bareil to come to the station, where she would kill him in public and flee.

When O'Brien and Odo found out about the escape route and secured the area, Neela went to Winn to express her second thoughts about the assassination. Winn told her Prophets sometimes ask for large sacrifices, and encouraged her to continue with the plan, knowing she would be caught. She agreed, and set out to complete the plan, however, Commander Benjamin Sisko and Chief O'Brien managed to discover Neela's intentions and stopped her before she could kill Bareil. Neela was subsequently taken into custody, but refused to implicate Winn. ()

Appendices

Background information 
Neela was played by actress Robin Christopher.

The script for "Duet" describes Neela as a Bajoran "engineering apprentice". It further gives the pronunciation of her name as "NEE-la".  In contrast, the script for "In the Hands of the Prophets" gives the pronunciation as "NEE-luh". She is also described as being, "in her early twenties, bright, pretty, and eager to please." 

Neela was originally supposed to appear in three episodes of the season, making her debut in  with the aim of making the audience believe she was to be a new recurring character so as not to make it obvious she was the villain. Unfortunately, the producers decided that the actress playing Anara in that episode wasn't the right type to be an assassin and so the role was recast as Neela. In the story treatment, Neela was to be killed to silence her. A leftover reference to Anara can still be seen in the final episode in the form of the computer code O'Brien and Dax break, which spells out "A-N-A-R-A". (; The Making of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, p. 302)

External links 
 
 

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Bajorans
Bajoran Militia personnel
Deep Space 9 personnel