Obrist was a Krenim officer and second-in-command of the Krenim weapon ship under the command of Annorax.
He had a brother, whom he had not seen since he joined Annorax in his mission to restore the Krenim Imperium two centuries ago. Obrist celebrated the birthdays of his brother, parents, and closest friends for a century, until he realized that as a consequence of their isolation from the timeline, those people were either dead or had never existed in the first place. (VOY: "Year of Hell, Part II")
In 2374, Obrist tried to convince Annorax to dismantle the weapon ship after they achieved a 98% restoration with the erasure of the Zahl. Annorax refused, deepening Obrist's disillusionment towards their mission. (VOY: "Year of Hell")
After Annorax abducted Chakotay and Tom Paris from the USS Voyager, Obrist formed a friendship with Paris and told him about the crew's discontent. Obrist agreed to help Paris send a message to Voyager, in order to plan an attack. After the battle began, Obrist took the ship's temporal core offline, rendering the weapons ship vulnerable to conventional weapons, and transported Chakotay and Paris off the ship. Obrist was returned to his old life when the original timeline was restored after the weapons ship erased itself from history. (VOY: "Year of Hell, Part II")
Obrist was played by actor John Loprieno.
He filmed his scenes for "Year of Hell" on Friday 15 August 1997 on Paramount Stage 9 and his uniform was later sold off on the It's A Wrap! sale and auction on eBay. [1](X) For "Year of Hell, Part II", Loprieno filmed his scenes between Friday 22 August 1997 and Wednesday 27 August 1997 on Paramount Stage 9 and 16.
His name is derived from oberst, a German word meaning 'colonel'.