Star Trek: Deep Space Nine planned a storyline involving super soldier drugs nearly 20 years before Dr. Joseph M’Benga (Babs Olusanmokun) and Nurse Christine Chapel (Jess Bush) used them in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2. It was revealed in SNW season 2 that Dr. M’Benga had developed a combat drug known as Protocol 12, which was used by Starfleet officers fighting in the Klingon War. The drug was a cocktail of adrenaline and pain inhibitors that made the user stronger, more aggressive, and more resistant to pain, all of which were valuable attributes when fighting in Star Trek: Discovery‘s Klingon War.

The existence of Protocol 12 was disavowed by M’Benga and Starfleet, but Star Trek: Strange New Worlds revealed that the USS Enterprise’s chief medical officer still had a supply of the drug. Both M’Benga and Chapel used Protocol 12 in Strange New Worlds‘ season 2 opener, when they had to fight their way through a group of Klingon and Federation conspirators. Nearly 20 years earlier, while breaking the story of the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode that would become “The Wire”, the writers’ room considered introducing a similar story about combat drugs involving one of DS9‘s regular characters.

Star Trek: DS9 Nearly Did Strange New World’s Super Soldier Drugs First

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 2, episode 22, “The Wire” revealed that Elim Garak (Andrew Robinson) had burnt out a pain-inhibiting implant in his brain, leading to disastrous results for his health. However, writer Robert Hewitt Wolfe’s original intention for the episode was to reveal that Major Kira Nerys (Nana Visitor) was suffering withdrawal from repeated use of combat drugs during the Cardassian Occupation of Bajor. As a story for a Star Trek episode, this pre-empted Dr. M’Benga’s Protocol 12 by about 19 years.

Eventually, it was decided that the revelations about Kira’s drug use and addiction were too major to not factor into future episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. It was also felt that Kira’s character would be tarnished by her reliance on combat stimulants. Instead, the episode became a key moment in the friendship between Garak and Dr. Julian Bashir (Alexander Siddig). As Garak was a recurring character with an enigmatic and sinister past, the revelations about his implant and addiction to pain inhibitors were a better fit. However, Kira’s own dark past would continue to influence future DS9 episodes.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ M’Benga And DS9’s Kira Have 1 Dark Thing In Common

Although Kira’s combat drugs storyline was dropped from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, she still has a dark connection to Dr. Joseph M’Benga. Both Kira and M’Benga have seen brutal conflict from the Bajoran Resistance to the Klingon War. However, many Starfleet officers have seen combat throughout the Star Trek timeline, meaning that these two tragic characters aren’t alone in their wartime experiences. What does connect Kira and M’Benga, however, is the fact that they have both committed murder.

In Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 2, episode 8, “Necessary Evil” it was revealed that Kira murdered a Bajoran collaborator aboard Terok Nor during the Occupation. Kira acted in self-defense, but her disdain for collaborators suggests that she may have done it regardless. Similarly, Dr. M’Benga murdered Ambassador Dak’Rah (Robert Wisdom) aboard the USS Enterprise in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2, episode 8, “Under the Cloak of War”, and claimed it was self-defense. However, despite Kira and M’Benga’s crimes, they are both Star Trek characters whose heroic acts far outweigh their villainous ones, going some way toward redeeming these complicated characters.