Star Trek: 10 Disturbing Side Character Backstories

Luther Sloan was an agent of Section 31 who appeared in Deep Space Nine a number of times. Section 31, the Federation's unofficial secret intelligence agency, attracted a number of mentally scarred people, and Sloan was no exception.

Sloan played an important role in releasing the morphogenic virus into the changeling population. When Doctor Bashir learned about this genocide plot in the episode Extreme Measures, he lured Sloan to the station to force the cure from him. Entering his mind using an advanced neural interface, Bashir was able to explore Sloan's memories, secrets, and insecurities.

It was in this simulated construction of Sloan's mind where we learned that he left his family on Earth to join Section 31, and rarely ever saw them again. We also found out that he was kept awake most nights filled with regret over the various crimes he has committed for the sake of the Federation. It's possible that Sloan made up this backstory as a way to stall for time while Bashir searched his mind for a cure, but he was unable to lie about the cure, so it's likely that the memories of his family were at least based on reality.

Sloan killed himself in an attempt to keep the cure from Bashir, but Bashir was fortunately able to find it before Sloan died.