8 Reasons Reading 'The Last Best Hope' Is Essential To Understand Star Trek Picard
6. Which Federation Worlds Were Against The Rescue Operation?
There are a smaller number of planets within the Federation who began to resent Starfleet for what they saw as the preferential treatment that Romulus was receiving. This was not simply a case of a one and done rescue mission - the entire resources of Starfleet were poured into this mission, leaving many of the smaller worlds in the cold.
Olivia Quest represented several of these worlds in the Federation council. For years, she was a careful critic, expressing her opinion on the situation without coming out too strongly against what was essentially the greatest humanitarian mission the Federation had ever embarked on. Then, delays in the mission dominated even more of Starfleet's time.
A divide grew between these smaller worlds and the so-called 'Big Four' planets - Andor, Tellar, Vulcan and Earth. This imbalance led to further political strife and several of these smaller worlds decided to band together and threaten secession. There were additional worlds that gave their support to this group, pledging allegiance should they withdraw from the Federation.
Faced with this, Quest met with Clancy and Bordson to talk through these concerns. Though initially these worlds were not taken all that seriously but when the Synths attacked Mars and the rescue fleet was destroyed, their concerns became a lot more relevant. Was Starfleet now going to be tasked with rebuilding and pulling other worlds and resources together? The line was drawn and to save the Federation from falling apart, the decision was made before Picard ever stepped into the room.