Number One’s Strange New Worlds Trial Won’t Fix A Big Starfleet Problem

Star Trek canon has already established that Una's trial in Strange New Worlds won't lead to sweeping changes in Starfleet's attitude to augments.

Taylor CunninghamJune 7, 2023

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Whatever the verdict in the upcoming trial of Number One (Rebecca Romijn) in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2, it won’t overturn a major Starfleet prejudice that continues long into the 24th century. Strange New Worlds season 1 ended with the arrest of Una Chin-Riley for failing to disclose her genetic augmentations and Illyrian heritage. The Strange New Worlds season 2 trailer revealed that Una will eventually return to the Enterprise, which means that she’ll escape both a prison sentence and dismissal from Starfleet. How Una wins her case remains to be seen, but Star Trek canon has established that, sadly, the verdict doesn’t lead to sweeping societal changes.

The ban on genetic modifications was introduced with the intention of avoiding the rise of another Khan Noonien-Singh in the wake of the devastating Eugenics War. However, this ban is effectively a form of prejudice that is hard to square with Starfleet and the Federation’s egalitarian ethos. Canonically, Una Chin-Riley may be the first augment to fall foul of Starfleet’s stringent restrictions, but she won’t be the last. Dr. Julian Bashir (Alexander Siddig) and Dal L’Rel (Brett Gray) were also exemplary Starfleet officers, whose genetic enhancements barred them from entry into the institution. It’s a stark reminder that Una’s trial is the first step in a very long road that stretches as far as Star Trek: Prodigy.

Number One’s Trial Is Only The First Step In Fixing A Big Starfleet Problem

Regardless of how Number One wins her trial in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2, it’s known that she’s an exception, rather than a new rule. The ban on genetic enhancements was still in place a century later when Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

revealed that Julian Bashir was an augment. A few years later, Dal L’Rel’s heroism in saving Starfleet from the Vau N’kat and their Living Construct counted for nothing when his origins as an augment were discovered. It’s interesting to ponder why the augment ban is still firmly in place a century after the First Officer of the Federation’s flagship was discovered to be genetically enhanced.

It’s likely that the rediscovery of Khan Noonien-Singh in Star Trek: The Original Series considerably set back progress for how Starfleet perceived augments. Up until the discovery of the S.S. Botany Bay Khan was a monster from history, whose shadow could have diminished over time. Una’s role on the USS Enterprise and her Starfleet record would have done a lot to eclipse these negative attitudes toward augments. However, faced with Khan’s attempted hijack of the Enterprise, and his theft of the Genesis Device, Starfleet likely decided that it was wise to keep the ban in place.

DS9’s Doctor Bashir Could Reveal How Number One Stays In Starfleet

When Doctor Julian Bashir was discovered to be genetically enhanced in the DS9 episode “Doctor Bashir, I Presume”, he too was faced with dismissal from Starfleet. The sacrifice of Julian’s father kept Bashir aboard Deep Space Nine. It was revealed that Julian’s parents conducted the illegal enhancements because he was behind the other kids at school. As a child, Julian couldn’t have legally consented to the augmentations, which could be what exonerates Una in Strange New Worlds

season 2.

As an Illyrian, genetic enhancements are part of Una’s culture, so she would have inherited many of her augmentations from her parents. As genetic enhancement is part of the Illyrian culture in Star Trek, it’s also probable that Una couldn’t be blamed for the augmentations authorized by her parents, or made possible by her cultural background. This loophole may provide a way out of Una’s predicament, placing her back where she belongs for the rest of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2.