Star Trek: 10 Starfleet Decisions With The Most Devastating Consequences
1. Abandoning The Romulan Relief Mission
This decision certainly qualifies as one of those situations where everybody loses. The impending supernova of the Romulan star was a certainty, so Starfleet pledged to help their once sworn enemies in the escape and relocation plan. This resulted in the promotion of Jean-Luc Picard to Admiral, along with the reassignment of much of Starfleet's resources to building an escape force.
This didn't sit well with many of the member worlds of the Federation, who felt that prioritizing an enemy's need over the needs of allies flew in the face of the Federation charter. Long before the synthetic workforce began their assault on Mars, several allied worlds threatened to secede from the Federation. Once the Zhat Vash managed to reprogram the synths, causing the uprising, Starfleet cut their losses.
The relief effort was abandoned and Romulus and Remus were destroyed. This transformed the once-mighty Romulan Star Empire into a refugee force, seeking anywhere and everywhere that they could to find a new home. One such home was the Artefact, a reclaimed Borg Cube, though that only opened the door for more tragedy.