Fields wrote some of the most acclaimed episodes of both series including "The Inner Light" for The Next Generation along with "Duet" and "In the Pale Moonlight" for Deep Space Nine.
Before becoming a screenwriter Fields worked as a lawyer while writing short stories in his free time, eventually two law clients told him of a new show seeking writers, namely The Man from U.N.C.L.E., which set his Hollywood career in motion.
[2] In a Twitter thread honoring Fields after his death fellow Star Trek screenwriter Robert Hewitt Wolfe relayed an unconfirmed story that Fields had lied about his age to join the US Marine Corps at 16 during the Korean War fighting at the Battle of Inchon after which he was captured and spent several months as a POW before being released because of his age.
Over the next three and half decades he would write for shows such as The Rat Patrol, McCloud, The Six Million Dollar Man, Executive Suite, The Eddie Capra Mysteries, Knight Rider, Jake and the Fatman, and Xena: Warrior Princess.
His death was announced by Star Trek: Deep Space Nine showrunner Ira Steven Behr via Twitter.