Soji Asha

Soji Asha was a female sentient android and twin sister of Dahj Asha who lived in the late 24th and early 25th centuries. ()
==History==
===Creation===
Soji was created by Bruce Maddox and Altan Soong on Coppelius circa 2396. The two men had salvaged the memories and a single positronic neuron of the late Lieutenant Commander Data and used these to create new sentient synths through fractal neuronic cloning. This process always produced a pair of androids, essentially twins, and Soji and her sister Dahj were one of these pairs. Soji and Dahj were created as mostly-flesh-and-blood synthetics, combining Human bodily functions with higher levels of deployable strength, speed, and agility. Unlike their siblings, however, Soji and Dahj did not have the typical golden skin and yellow eyes marking a Soong-type android. Instead, they were made to look fully Human. The illusion was sophisticated enough that the two were able to live among organics undetected for several years. ()
Soji and Dahj, in addition to the earlier pair of Jana and Sutra, shared their appearance with a painting by Data, called . () The painting itself was evidently based on the appearance of Kore Soong and her sisters, genetically engineered Humans created by Adam Soong in the 20th and 21st century. () 
===Fabricated identity===
Soji only spent a short time on Coppelius after her creation, before Maddox took her and Dahj away. Maddox wanted to discover the truth behind the Attack on Mars and subsequent ban on synthetics. He hoped to obtain this information by sending the two women undercover, with Dahj working in Boston and later the Daystrom Institute, and Soji working at the Borg Reclamation Project on the , a derelict Borg cube. To make their cover perfect, Maddox created extremely elaborate false identities for Soji and Dahj. He programmed them to forget they were synths and made them believe their fully Human cover stories instead.
According to her fabricated identity, Soji grew up in Seattle with her twin sister Dahj and their parents. Her father was a xenobotanist and their house was full of orchids, including a species their father created and named after Soji's sister: Orchidaceae Dahj oncidium. ()
Maddox created many journals, photos, and mementos spanning Soji's supposed childhood and adolescence. The photos showed Soji at different ages, often joined by her sister, her mother, or a number of different friends. A stuffed doll named Squoodgy and a child's The Adventures of Flotter lunchbox were also matched to these memories. ()
Soji believed she had a doctorate in anthropology, going by "Dr. Asha". According to Soji, she left Seattle on May 12 2396 aboard the Ellison to travel to the Beta Quadrant. However, her name was not on the passenger manifest. ()
In 2399 at the Romulan Reclamation Site, Soji worked closely with Hugh, the director of the Borg Reclamation Project. Ostensibly, her research at the Artifact was about investigating and establishing a "shared narrative framework" for the xBs, which would help them better understand and process their collective trauma. She was particularly interested in Ramdha, a Romulan xB who had been the foremost expert on ancient Romulan myth before her assimilation. Soji's day-to-day work included assisting the Romulans during the reclamation of former Borg drones by removing their Borg implants. () 
While on the Artifact, Soji collected information about the Borg and the Romulans without consciously realizing she was doing it. She learned about the Borg transwarp network, as well the fact that Ramdha's ship, the Shaenor, was the last ship assimilated by the Borg cube before its submatrix collapse. Maddox had ensured Soji would be unaware of the fact she was surreptitiously accessing the Artifact's systems. When Hugh asked her how she had seen Ramdha's Romulan dossier, a file he had no access to, Soji explained: "I just sort of asked to see it. Usually I find that if I ask people for help, they're happy to give it." ()
===Return to Coppelius===
Soji continued working on the Artifact until 2399. While there, she met Narek, a Romulan Tal Shiar agent, and quickly entered into an intimate relationship with him. She was unaware that he had been recruited by his sister Narissa to work for the Zhat Vash, part of a clandestine operation to discover the whereabouts of other synths like Soji and her sister. ()
Narek's plan was to gain Soji's trust and slowly make her question her reality, until she did or remembered something that would allow the Zhat Vash to locate her homeworld. To this end, Narek flirted and slept with Soji, and occasionally revealed unsettling details to her. For example, he told Soji her name had not been on the passenger manifest of the Ellison, and that her nightly calls with her mother always lasted exactly seventy seconds. ()
While at first, Soji got angry that Narek was accusing her of being a liar, eventually, she started to realize that her perception of reality was distorted. Once her suspicions got strong enough, Soji tried calling her mother, but realized that, as usual when they were on a holo-call, she couldn't stay awake, and that her "mother" was behaving very strangely. When Soji woke up again, she started scanning the mementos and possessions she had brought to the Artifact, only to discover that all of them had been created approximately thirty-seven months before. ()
Desperate, Soji turned to Narek for help. He suggested she try a Romulan meditation technique usually forbidden for outsiders, the Zhal Makh. Through it, he hoped to help Soji access a recurring dream she had been having about a moment from her childhood. Narek claimed it would help Soji understand what was happening to her, but in reality he hoped the dream held the key to finding Soji's home. As she walked through the path of the Zhal Makh, Soji recalled some details of her dream that gave Narek the information he needed to identify her planet of origin. She also saw a vision of herself, lying on a workbench, except she was a wooden doll and her faceless father was working on her lifeless body.
When Soji asked Narek what the dream meant, he told her it meant she was "not real." He left the meditation chamber, locked Soji inside before she knew what was happening, and flooded the chamber with radioactive mist. Finally, Soji's synth nature began activating, as it had in Dahj when her life was threatened. Soji punched through the floor of the chamber and fled from the Romulan guards.
On her flight, she ran into Hugh, who was helping Jean-Luc Picard track Soji down. Picard told Soji he knew her father (meaning Data) and had tried but failed to help her sister. Now, he was trying to help Soji. While hesitant at first, Soji went along with Picard, and Hugh took them to the Borg Cube's queencell, which contained a spatial trajector. Picard decided they should use the spatial trajector to flee to Nepenthe. Soji hesitated once more, but eventually decided to trust Picard, when the Romulan guards started closing in. () 
Arriving on Nepenthe, Soji and Picard met Kestra Troi-Riker, the daughter of Deanna Troi and William T. Riker. Picard told Kestra that Soji was Data's daughter, leading Kestra to ask Soji "So you're an android?" This was the first moment Soji truly realized her identity, and that all her memories were lies. Picard then informed her that her sister had, in fact, been real, but she had died a short while ago. Over the next few days, Soji and Picard stayed with the Troi-Rikers and Soji slowly began to trust Picard. Finally, she asked him for help to find her home, and they left together on La Sirena. ()
On the ship, Soji got to know Picard better and learned about Data from him. She also learned that Dr. Agnes Jurati, who had been a colleague of Maddox's, had killed Maddox and was likely under orders to kill Soji, too. Soji confronted Jurati, but Jurati assured Soji she would never harm her, now they had met. Soji sat down with Jurati, Picard, Cristóbal Rios, and Raffi Musiker to piece together the events surrounding the synth ban, the Attack on Mars, and the Zhat Vash conspiracy. Soji realized she had given Narek, and by extension the Zhat Vash, the key to finding and destroying her people. Frustrated, she tried to hijack La Sirena to get to her homeworld. Rios regained control of his ship, but when Soji pleaded with him, he agreed to take her home. ()
After travelling through a Borg transwarp conduit to overtake the Romulan Armada, La Sirena arrived at and crashed on the planet Coppelius. Soji and the others travelled on foot to the Artefact, which had been restored to a functioning Borg Cube and piloted through the transwarp network by Seven of Nine, but then also crashed on the planet. There, Soji learned about Hugh's death. Afterwards, they traveled to Coppelius Station where Soji met the other androids and Altan Inigo Soong. Soji and the others told the Coppelius Androids about the Romulan Armada headed towards them, bent on their destruction. Picard offered to use La Sirena to send them all to safety, but Soji sided with Sutra and the other androids who wanted to stay. Sutra had learned that there was an extra-galactic species of synthetic life, ready to defend any synths who might contact them by wiping out anyone who might pose a threat – which in effect meant wiping out all organic life. Soji agreed with Sutra that this was the only way to protect their people. ()
Soji helped with the construction of the beacon meant to signal the Alliance of synthetic life. While constructing the beacon, Soji was momentarily distracted by Narek, who had returned; she caught a molecular solvent grenade designed to destroy the beacon and threw the grenade away. She later was convinced by Picard to stand down from the beacon's construction and willingly destroyed it. ()
===After the ban===
After the ban on synthetics was lifted, Soji decided not to remain on Coppelius. She set out on La Sirena with Rios and the others when they left the planet, telling Picard "I think I'm just more cut out for wandering." ()
A short while later, she embarked on a diplomatic tour around the Federation with Dr. Jurati. Their aim was to foster goodwill towards the synths and counter the negative image formed towards them after the Attack on Mars. In early 2401, this tour had taken them to Raritan IV for diplomatic meetings with the Deltans there. After receiving a message from Rios, Jurati had to cut her tour short and beamed aboard the after saying goodbye to Soji. ()
==Personal life==
===Interests===
Soji liked to eat French fries dipped in peppermint ice cream, a food also enjoyed by Jana, one of the other pair of androids modelled Data's painting. ()
In her room on the Artifact, Soji had an easel and a lot of painting supplies. On her walls, she had many paintings, presumably done herself, including ones inspired by American Indian art from the Pacific Northwest, her alleged home. ()
Soji possessed a necklace, identical to one owned by Dahj, which showed two interlocking silver circles. Soji believed it had been given to her by her father, but it was actually the symbol for fractal neuronic cloning. ()
===Relationships===
While she was working on the Artifact, Soji told Narek "I'm a trusting person, Narek. That's my default.". She immediately took Dr. Naáshala Kunamadéstifee, a new arrival to the Reclamation project, under her wing, and was on very good terms with Hugh. ()
Her romantic relationship with Narek developed equally quickly. Though she found his secretive manner a challenge to her trusting default, the two went from their first meeting to sleeping together in a very short while. Soji confided in Narek when she could not make sense of her nascent android abilities, and Narek kept pushing her towards feeling more and more unstable, while simultaneously presenting himself as her ally and support. The two shared drinks and romantic stolen moments, but Narek often undercut them in an effort to push Soji towards realizing her true nature. Raffi Musiker later called the relationship "abusive". ()
After discovering the truth about her nature and being nearly killed by Narek, Soji became more guarded and less trusting. Still, when she fled to Nepenthe with Picard, she quickly grew close to Kestra Troi-Riker, and even learned to trust Picard and began valuing his advice. ()
Despite some tense moments, Soji also quickly became friendly with her travel companions on La Sirena. For example, Rios soon affectionately referred to her as hija, and promised to take her home, even though she had just tried to steal his ship. ()
Soji grew especially close to Dr. Jurati. Although Jurati had been ordered to kill Soji, by the time the two met, she was already doubting her orders. Jurati assured Soji that now the two had met, she would never go through with her orders, and Soji believed her. During the goodwill tour the two embarked on shortly after the synth ban was lifted, Soji supported Jurati in her relationship troubles with Rios. Soji was supposed to make sure Jurati would not drunk-hail Rios after the two had broken up. ()
==Physiology==
Dr. Jurati described the goal she and Maddox were working towards as "the Grand Slam. Sentient synthetics that appear Human inside and out." Soji and Dahj were the culmination of this research, being the only two of the Coppelius synths who were made to look completely Human, rather than sharing their siblings' golden skin and yellow eyes. ()
However, Soji's physical and mental abilities went far beyond those of ordinary Humans. She had increased speed, strength, and agility, and was easily able to hack various computer systems. ()
== Appendices ==
=== Appearances ===
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** (Season 1)
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** (Season 2)
=== Background information ===
Soji was played by Isa Briones.
In the run-up to the release of Star Trek: Picard, promotional materials and interviews only ever mentioned that Briones would be playing Dahj Asha. The existence of Soji was left as a surprise reveal for the end of the first episode.
Terry Matalas confirmed in an interview that a scene was initially planned for season 3 where Soji would meet with Data, revived through Daystrom Android M-5-10, but that it was one of various planned elements for the season that had to be cut. 
It was never clarified if Soji (and Dahj) already had the surname "Asha" before embarking on the infiltration mission with Bruce Maddox.
=== External link ===
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