Star Trek: 10 Starfleet Decisions With The Most Devastating Consequences
8. Failing To Brief Their Crews On Flagged Worlds
When Captain Kirk revived the occupants of the SS Botany Bay, the supervillain Khan Noonian Singh proceeded to take control of the USS Enterprise. Thankfully, Kirk and the crew were able to overcome the madman and his genetically engineered compatriots. Rather than fling them in the brig, they were offered a new life on Ceti Alpha V. As the Enterprise zoomed away, Kirk mused how interesting it would be to visit the world in fifteen years or so, to see what had become of them.
Someone really should have followed up on that.
Almost exactly fifteen years later, Captain Terrell and the USS Reliant entered the Ceti Alpha system, completely unprepared for what was about to befall them. First, no one in Starfleet had noticed that Ceti Alpha VI had exploded mere months after Khan's crew were marooned on the sister world. This transformed V into a barren wasteland. Dozens of Khan's crew, including Marla McGivers, his wife, were killed. This drove the madman into a murderous rage.
The crew of the Reliant was overcome, Terrell and Pavel Chekov were coerced into helping Khan, and the secrets of the Genesis Project fell into his hands. What followed was, arguably, the greatest loss that Kirk ever faced in his life.