The Klingon war may be over but its legacy lives on. In "Shuttle to Kenfori" ("Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" season 3, episode 3), a treaty-defying away mission runs into a Klingon with a serious vendetta against the Enterprise's very own Dr. Joseph M'Benga.
It turns out that the moss-fueled zombies at an abandoned scientific facility are the least of the crew's worries, as the vengeful Bytha looks to restore her family's honor by killing M'Benga. Their shared history proves to be much more complex than initially meets the eye — as we explain below.
SET PHASERS TO CAUTION! SPOILERS AHEAD IF YOU'RE YET TO WATCH "SHUTTLE TO KENFORI"
Why does the Enterprise take a detour to the planet of Kenfori?
It's the one place they're likely to find the rare Chimera Blossom. Spock (Ethan Peck) and Dr. M'Benga (Babs Olusanmokun) believe that the flower's unique properties are the only way to save Captain Marie Batel (Melanie Scrofano) from the life-threatening Gorn DNA that's been attacking her body since she was infected in the season 2 finale "Hegemony."
Unfortunately, Kenfori is located in a no-fly zone, so paying the planet a visit means violating multiple treaties with the Klingon Empire. Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) therefore decides to lead the off-the-books mission to the planet's surface himself, with just M'Benga for company.
Why is Kenfori restricted?
It's the site of an old Federation science facility that specialized in improving crop longevity on the final frontier. The Klingons invaded during their war with the Federation, but both sides agreed to abandon their claims on the territory once the conflict was over.
Unfortunately, there's no hyperbole in the "Go back or die" message being broadcast by a Klingon communications beacon in orbit. After landing their shuttle, Pike and M'Benga are soon attacked by the re-animated corpses of deceased humans and Klingons, all of whom have an unhealthy appetite for flesh. They don't register as life signs, so it feels totally reasonable when Pike describes them as "For serious lack of a better word… zombies."
These zombies were an unintended side-effect of the Federation scientists' experiments. They'd used the Chimera Blossom to fuse DNA from an incredibly hardy perennial moss with their crops, in theory allowing them to feed vast quantities of colonists. But, after the Klingons invaded, everyone on the base was exposed to mutant moss genomes which gave them a rampant appetite for proliferation.
If Kenfori is out of bounds, why do the Klingons turn up at the exact same time as the Enterprise?
It's safe to say it's no coincidence. Instead, a Klingon named Bytha (Christine Horn) has used a Viridium tracker to follow M'Benga to the planet's surface — much like the one Spock placed on Captain James T. Kirk in "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country." She'd previously hired someone to place the device on (or more accurately in) the Enterprise's chief medical officer: "When a R'ongovian offers you a drink, never eat the olives," she says.
What's Bytha's beef with Dr. M'Benga?
Although M'Benga says he's "killed too many Klingons to recognize which house she's from," Bytha knows all about him. She's the daughter of Dak'Rah, champion of House Rah'Ul, and she has a bone to pick with M'Benga for assassinating her father.
However, this isn't your standard "Princess Bride"-style case of "you killed my father, prepare to die." Bytha had serious issues with her dad, a former general in the Klingon war machine. She regards him as a traitor, a war criminal, and a "lapdog to the Federation," and welcomed his death. But the traditions of the Klingon blood feud — as experienced by Worf during "The Next Generation" — mean that Dak'Rah's perceived sins have led to the discommendation of her entire family. "I had to grovel just to charter a ship here," she points out.
She had intended to kill her father herself, but believes that M'Benga's actions denied her that opportunity. Now Bytha intends to defeat M'Benga in a fight to the death to restore honor to her house.
Did Dr. M'Benga really assassinate her father?
Dak'Rah (Robert Wisdom) came on board the Enterprise in season 2's episode "Under the Cloak of War," having defected to the Federation. But, having served in the bloody war with the Klingon Empire — and experienced the brutality of Dak'Rah's forces firsthand — M'Benga refused to accept that this particular leopard had changed his spots.
When Dak'Rah came to Sickbay to persuade M'Benga to join him in a display of unity, M'Benga reminded him that he gave the order that "anyone not a Klingon soldier is the enemy." He also reprimanded the Klingon for claiming he'd killed his own warlords at J'Gal. Dak'Rah had used the story to ingratiate himself with the Federation, even though it was actually M'Benga who was responsible for those deaths.
The two men eventually came to blows, with Dak'Rah ultimately killed by a Klingon blade in M'Benga's possession. How the fight actually unfolded remains unclear, however, as it took place behind frosted glass. Nurse Chapel (Jess Bush), who fought alongside M'Benga during the war, witnessed the end of the scuffle, and told Pike that she'd heard her friend telling Dak'Rah he "didn't want to be involved with a war criminal." Pike subsequently asked M'Benga if he'd started the fight: "I didn't start the fight," he replied. "But I'm glad he's dead."
In "Shuttle to Kenfori," Pike still believes that M'Benga acted in self-defense. Yet the story changes slightly when Bytha has a knife to Pike's throat and asks M'Benga outright if he assassinated her father. Here he confirms that "his blood is on my hands."
What are the repercussions of M'Benga's confession?
It clearly helps having friends in high places (namely Captain Pike) because, as it stands, M'Benga will face no punishment for killing Dak'Rah.
Pike reasons that because the mission to Kenfori was off the books, there will be no report and that, in his eyes, M'Benga simply told a story to save his commanding officer's life when there was a knife to his throat. "You're not a monster, Joseph. Just a man. And my friend."
New episodes of "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" debut on Paramount+ on Thursdays.
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