So the Zhat Vash were willing to doom their own people by stopping the Fed rescue in order to get the Feds to stop doing synth research.
Well, we know that Nedar, operating under the alias of Oh, had infiltrated Starfleet and ascended to a high level by 2385. Most likely Nedar had infiltrated Starfleet some time in the 2360s -- I would hypothesize, in fact, that the Zhat Vash decided to infiltrate Starfleet after the warbird that made contact with the
Enterprise-D in 2364 during TNG S1's "The Neutral Zone" brought back video footage of their call with the
Enterprise and they noticed an android on the bridge. So more likely than not, the Zhat Vash were had been looking for an opportunity to do something that would frighten the Federation into abandoning synth research for decades, and they decided to take the opportunity to do so when synth labor usage
and humanoid personnel assignments to Utopia Planitia vastly increased as a result of the rescue armada building project.
I don't think the Zhat Vash were
trying to get the Federation to abandon the rescue effort, but it was a cost they were willing to pay in the name of preventing synth research from duplicating Soong's success in creating sentient androids like Data. Remember, Zhat Vash leadership are essentially driven by an irrational compulsion as a result of exposure to the Admonition.
So the Zhat Vash were pretty selfless, about their own kind (Romulans) and way more concerned about life being preserved in our galaxy, yes?
Absolutely! In their own way, the Zhat Vash
are selfless. Of course, in their own way, the Zhat Vash are also deeply tyrannical and abusive; sharing their fears about the existence of the Admonition-Makers publicly and advocating for peaceful and egalitarian relations with synthetic sentients would be a more effective way of preventing the Admonition-Makers from being summoned, but they're too invested in the broader Romulan culture of fear and secrecy to consider that possibility.
Well the "Stratsphere" is on fire.. so.. is the rest below that fine? Did they have to evacuate Millions??
Well, the atmosphere on Mars is not breathable, so most likely the vast majority of Martians live in pressurized environments that are hermetically sealed. If that is the case, they would likely be protected from the atmospheric ignition unless the sealing mechanisms are not capable of withstanding the fire temperatures. I would hypothesize that the death toll on Mars was relatively low because the oldest domes would have been the ones that couldn't withstand the temperatures; newer domes, or perhaps those reinforced with forcefields, would be able to withstand the fires. So you have a situation where it might be truly apocalyptic if you're living in a city under an older dome or a dome without forcefield reinforcements, but where you're pretty much okay if you're in another city; most cities could remain untouched, but the ones that aren't would essentially be destroyed entirely.
Do HATE when shows/books/etc. just say something important then give NO backstory, or any story at all to explain what happened, and what is happening now. Ugh..
This is a level of detail that really isn't relevant to the story PIC is telling. The Mars Attack to PIC is essentially like 9/11 to a modern political drama. Modern political dramas may incorporate 9/11 into their backstory, but they're not gonna spend a lot of time going into the exact casualty figures or how many survived or how long it took to rescue people from Ground Zero or how many firefighters died of lung cancer later, unless it's relevant to the plot.
I would be really interested in seeing the story of the Mars Attack expanded upon myself, but it's really not important to PIC.
Part of the issue I've always felt is the fact that the TNG Romulans were North Korean based versus China as they were originally intended. As such, they should be falling apart rather than a powerful empire.
I mean, they kind of
are falling apart if you think about it. We know from TNG's "Unification, Parts I & II" that there's an active Romulan dissident movement amongst the civilian population that the governmental elites fear, including a Vulcan Reunification movement within the larger dissident movement. A major Romulan flag officer tried to defect to the Federation in 2366 (TNG: "The Defector"). In 2371, Tal Shiar allied itself with the Obsidian Order and launched a massive pre-emptive assault on the Founders of the Dominion, only to find its fleet and personnel decimated or captured as a result of Founder infiltration (DS9: "The Die is Cast"). The Tal Shiar survives, but it's not even able to hijack a single Federation starship in 2374 (VOY: "Message in a Bottle"), and then it turns out that the Chair of the Tal Shiar is a Section 31 mole who arranged to get an important Romulan senator executed (DS9: "Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges"). The Romulan Imperial Fleet in 2373 offers to join the Federation/Klingon expedition to prevent the Dominion fleet from attacking the Bajor system, but their entire fleet is only narrowly saved from being wiped out -- a
major intelligence failure for the surviving Tal Shiar (DS9: "By Inferno's Light"). The Star Empire under Praetor Neral (DS9: "Inter Arma") signs a neutrality agreement with the Dominion and then finally joins the UFP/Klingon Alliance, only to lose a shiton of ships at the Second Battle of Chin'toka (DS9: "The Changing Face of Evil"). Four years later, the Star Empire has yet
another new Praetor in Hiren and he's already probably re-ignited the semi-permanent cold war with the Federation, there's a Reman rebellion underway, and then the fucking Remans manage to assassinate the Praetor and the entire Imperial Senate by allying with a militant wing of the Imperial Fleet (NEM). Then there's a new
Reman Praetor (sort-of) -- but no sooner does this happy asshole install himself into power does he run off and get his dumbass killed in a pre-emptive genocide attempt that even his Imperial Fleet allies turn against him to protect (NEM).
Sounds like an empire that's falling apart to me, even
before the supernova!
