Star Trek: 10 Starfleet Officers Who Betrayed The Federation
8. Michael Burnham
Michael Burnham has a checkered history in Starfleet, to put it mildly. She has a history of acting in the moment, as she sees fit. This is not the trait of a career officer and has on several occasions landed her in deep water. In fact, in her introduction, she quickly commits an act of mutiny against her captain.
Burnham's long road to hell is paved almost exclusively with good intentions. She implored Georgiou to fire first on the Klingons, believing that this show of strength would save the ship. She spoke to her adopted father, Sarek, who described a situation where the Vulcans had fired first - leading to a shaky peace between the two races.
However, Burnham was unable to see her plan through. Though she stunned Georgiou, the rest of the bridge crew stood against her. Right or wrong, in the final hours of the USS Shenzhou's life, Burnham spent her time in a holding cell. She survived the Battle of the Binary Stars, but was sentenced by a tribunal for her mutiny, branded a traitor and a mutineer.