Star Trek: 10 Times The Federation Was The Bad Guy

Starfleet Academy wasn't shy about exploring the fallout after The Burn. One such falling ember was the story of Caleb Mir and his mother, Anisha.

Stuck on an outpost with little more than each other, the mother and son would watch the stars and dream of the journey they might one day take. But in reality, Anisha wasn't even sure where their next meal was coming from. She made a deal with the devil...or more precisely, the unstable marauder, Braka...to get her hands on some food.

It led to an attack on a Federation supply ship, piloted by a kindly officer who was on his final run before retirement. Anyone who's ever watched an action movie knows where this is going. Yes, Braka killed the pilot, and both he and Anisha were arrested and tried.

Future Academy Chancellor Nahla Ake presided, sentencing Anisha to a rehabilitation camp...separating her from her young son (who, for some unfathomable reason, was present for the entire proceeding). Even as a kid, Caleb was too clever for his own good, and he was a ward of the Federation for about five minutes before he managed to run away, leading to a young life full of hardship.

Now, this is a tricky one, because there's no doubt that Anisha involved herself in a crime that went horribly wrong. On the other hand, separating a single mother from her son over a crime committed out of sheer desperation doesn't seem like a particularly enlightened approach.

This may have been a symptom of Starfleet under strain, but Nahla regretted her part in the story so much that she resigned. And when Admiral Vance assures her that she'd had no choice in the sentencing because Starfleet had made no exceptions, Nahla points out that separating children from their parents isn't exceptional...it's reprehensible.