Joseph M'Benga's History
Doctor Joseph M'Benga was a male Human Starfleet officer and physician who lived during the mid-23rd century.
Joseph M'Benga was born on December 29, 2223 in Nakuru, Kenya on Earth to Wangera and Gichinga M'Benga. He had a brother, Nicolas and two sisters, Nyawira and Sikudhani. M'Benga conducted his medical internship on Vulcan, an experience that made him particularly skilled in treating members of that species. During all of his time studying Vulcan medicine, M'Benga never had an opportunity to deal with a katric transfer. M'Benga had a relationship with a woman named Debra. In 2248, she bore a daughter, Rukiya.
At some point prior to 2259, M'Benga served aboard the USS Cuyahoga and a Sombra-class starship. At another point he served as a Starfleet special forces operative, known as "the Ghost", with the most confirmed hand-to-hand kills. He also developed the combat drug known as Protocol 12. During the Klingon War of 2256–57, Commander M'Benga served on the front lines. He was stationed on J'Gal and was present at the Battle of ChaKana and the Battle of J'Gal. By this time, he considered himself "just a doctor" and initially refused to take part in further special operations.
After witnessing the death of special forces commanding officer Va'Al Trask and his people, M'Benga took Trask's captured d'k tahg off his body and used it to attempt Trask's mission personally. He succeeded in killing General Gra'val, Commander Kiff and Captain Ruh'lis, but failed to assassinate General Dak'Rah who commanded the Klingon forces and gave the order to indiscriminately slaughter civilians on J'Gal.
By 2259, he was assigned to the USS Enterprise as chief medical officer under Captain Christopher Pike, with Nurse Christine Chapel as part of his staff. After his daughter Rukiya developed cygnokemia, he secretly kept her in the transporter buffer of the USS Enterprise so she could stay in stasis. Sometimes, he brought her out to read her a book. One favorite was The Kingdom of Elysian by Benny Russell.
As the Enterprise was surveying the Jonisian Nebula, M'Benga found himself and the rest of the crew in a surrealistic recreation of The Kingdom of Elysian, which was lifted from Rukiya's mind by a sentient non-corporeal lifeform. M'Benga himself took on the form of King Ridley, with him and Hemmer being the only people aware of their real identities. Eventually, Rukiya and M'Benga decided she would be better off staying with the alien entity, named Debra by Rukiya, as pure consciousness rather than risk time running out while M'Benga searched for a cure.
Later that year, now Ambassador Dak'Rah boarded the Enterprise, having taken credit for the deaths of his three generals in the Battle of J'Gal, becoming known as the Butcher of J'Gal for it. M'Benga was haunted by memories of his actions taken during the battle and the shame that it brought him. M'Benga eventually confronted Dak'Rah who claimed remorse for his actions before supposedly attacking M'Benga who killed Dak'Rah, apparently in self-defense, with the same d'k tahg that he had killed Dak'Rah's generals with years before. Analysis by the Enterprise computer found the blood of all of the Klingon warlords killed by the Butcher of J'Gal still on it along with both Dak'Rah's and M'Benga's fingerprints. With Nurse Christine Chapel backing up M'Benga's story of self-defense, Pike was sure that he would be cleared of any possible wrongdoing, but M'Benga continued to be haunted by his actions.
By the 2260s, M'Benga had stepped down as chief medical officer and served as a general physician. After Doctor Leonard McCoy became CMO he continued to serve under Captain James T. Kirk, where, in the event of McCoy's absence, he served as the ranking medical officer.
In 2268, M'Benga treated Commander Spock for a serious gunshot wound he was inflicted with on Neural. He had to slap Spock violently to bring him out of his Vulcan healing state.
Later that year, Dr. M'Benga supervised his colleague Dr. Sanchez with an autopsy of Ensign Wyatt, who had died after Losira merely touched him. M'Benga reported that Wyatt's entire body had suffered cellular disruption: the touch had "blasted" every cell in his body from the inside out. In reply to Spock's inquiry regarding the incident, M'Benga explained that Sanchez had found that no known disease-causing organism had been responsible for the death.
He later reported that engineering Technician John B. Watkins had also died from a similar cellular disruption.
