10 Most Messed Up Deaths In Star Trek: Lower Decks

5. Killer AI In The Face

Star Trek Lower Decks USS Solvang
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Vice-Admiral Les Buenamigo is very much responsible for his own demise, to be clear from the outset. His ambition and his hubris resulted in not only his own death, but the deaths of many other officers and crew in Starfleet. He is yet another cautionary tale of putting too much trust in entirely automated ships, a lesson one would think had been well-learned by 2381.

His plan to implement the Texas-class ships into Starfleet was part of his long-term ambition to advance. Though he began the project as a lieutenant commander, by the time he'd reached Vice-Admiralty, he felt that he had hit the ceiling in terms of promotion. The Texas-class was then to be his legacy, though as things turned out, it wouldn't be a legacy he would particularly want.

He had been responsible for then-Cadet Rutherford's Vulcan implant, leading to a complete personality shift. Rutherford had been an errant and troubled young man and had designed an artificial intelligence program that Buenamigo would use, though as the future would show (in the form of Badgey), it was not suitable for autonomy. 

In 2381, Rutherford recognised his own work, corrupted and controlling the USS Aledo, but it was too late for Buenamigo. Fearing exposure by Captain Freeman and the USS Cerritos, he gave the Texas-class ships full freedom to control themselves, and ordered the destruction of the California-class ship. The Aledo instead turned its phasers on the Vice-Admiral, vaporising him and destroying his office aboard Douglas Station. 

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Writer. Reader. Host. I'm Seán, I live in Ireland and I'm the poster child for dangerous obsessions with Star Trek. Check me out on Twitter @seanferrick