Star Trek: 10 Ways The Romulan Supernova Impacted The Multiverse
A super-secretive species and a super-destructive, galactic super-rarity. What could go wrong?
No time to stand on the bridge and clap for this one, there's a people to save… or not. Long before and after the sun of those who marched beneath the raptor's wings had exploded, its shockwaves were felt throughout the quadrants. For Starfleet and the Federation, the Romulan evacuation was an unprecedented feat, and one that ended in disaster. Is there life on Mars? Not anymore! For the Romulans (and the Remans), their homeworlds was reduced to dust.
We can't pretend to have wrapped brains or BRANES around the real world or real worlds' theories of parallel universes that fall under the collection of the 'multiverse'. There is currently no direct scientific evidence that alternate realms exist, and such proof might be permanently beyond our reach. That's never stopped Star Trek from exploring them, however, from all the way back as the antimatter universe of The Alternative Factor and the better known beards of Mirror, Mirror. Since, we've had subspace, trans-dimensional, and quantum realities, plus a few more. Then, of course, there was 'Kelvin'.
A brand-new timeline, three films, and over in the Prime, a gravitational shift, all of the contemporary series set in the 24th, 25th, and even 32nd, centuries (with the exception, for the moment, of Lower Decks) have been affected by the Romulan supernova to one degree or another. Quite simply, it was one of the most impactful events in the franchise's history. Sometimes, you have to put the 'Star' in Star Trek only to blow it away!
10. You're Gonna Need The Biggest Boat
Just how do you evacuate a planet, an entire civilisation, when there is so much blood in the water? Very old enemies, lots of new ships. 900 million Romulans, 10,000 warp-capable ferries (Wallenberg class), probably several round trips, and only about six years' advanced warning. A great galactic politico-logistical headache, and that was before the time travel!
Help of such large scale proportions must at least give pause for reflection. The Federation needed such a moment when a foe called to ask for the 24th century equivalent of Operation Dynamo, if you prefer Jean-Luc's historical analogy over his interviewer's. "Many felt there were better uses for our resources," the Federation News Network (FNN) reporter pointed out, after the fact.
As a direct consequence of the Romulan evacuation effort, and the damage to the fleet previously caused by the Vau N'Akat Living Construct, Starfleet was "already spread too thin" by 2384, as Admiral Jellico noted to Admiral Janeway in Ascension, Part I. The Voyager-A was out there, but they could hardly expect reinforcements. Federation member worlds were being kept afloat by A500 androids, and on Mars, the sharks were circling.