O'Brien is a chief petty officer not an ensign. That would be the reason everybody calls him "Chief". It's pretty idiotic that he's outranked by Nog, but there you are.
100% dope, much-appreciated & one of the better if not best Star Trek audiobooks ever. Well-written, well-narrated & featuring high production values, Emissary is DS9 in apex-mode. Noted several potential idiosyncrasies i.e. Quark's Place being "Quark's Casino" and so on. I have theories (early version of script etc.) but do tell. Thanks for this, JT M!
Whether Kira's earrings are regulation or not isn't any of Sisko's business since she isn't a member of Starfleet. You can tell that from her rank, which is major. It isn't a Starfleet rank.
It's awful right from the first few paragraphs. "He knew little of the Borg". As if a lieutenant commander wouldn't have been briefed thoroughly on the Borg since Starfleet knew they were coming for years before that. Worst episode ever!