Star Trek: Every Chief Engineer Ranked
5. B'Elanna Torres
B'Elanna Torres was one of the engineers who faced the greatest difficulties in the course of her work, stranded across the galaxy in the Delta Quadrant by the Caretaker. Initially, she was not at all happy with Captain Janeway for her decision, though she quickly adapted and became part of the crew.
She beat out Lt. Carey (literally) for the position of Chief Engineer. Both officers were highly talented, yet B'Elanna displayed a knack for thinking that Carey just didn't possess. She was able to get the ship out of more than one sticky situation by using tricks she had picked up along the way in the Maquis.
While she may not have been the most welcoming and friendly Chief Engineer of them all, she was one of the most savvy, working in highly unusual situations to get the job completed. She faced strange challenges - being split into two halves, being abducted by a machine race, engaging with a sentient missile - along the way, proving herself adept and dependable.
Janeway began to think so highly of her that she had begun to forget about Torres' Maquis past, until this was brought home to her by their first communication with Starfleet. Torres, for her turn, had never forgotten where she came from - she simply knew that she was no longer in that place, though she was deeply traumatized by the news of the Maquis' destruction by the Dominion.
With a Klingon temper, one would do well not to get on her bad side!