I rewatched the stng episode recently. Ah the days when star trek had to rely on scripts and talented theatre actors to make an espisode work.
I'd like to think that the writer René Echevarria had read some of the star trek novels that portrayed the Romulans as a sophisticated society totally disinterested in anything that happened outside of their twin home worlds, and only interested in an empire to the extent that it preserved their way of life. (the federation started the romulan war).
However the episode is apprently a straight rip off, of the Hunt for Red October which had recently been released. In fact female Romulan captain who hits so hard... the part was written for a man.
Also scenes where the crew showed they were determined to stand by their captain were cut because they wouldn't give SAG cards to the actors.