#Dahj and soji

[fractalcloning]

At some point during his calm account of current events, Dahj's posture shifted unconsciously from obstinate to afraid--arms crossed defiantly over her chest became a way to surreptitiously hold onto herself. Suspicious glowering became more worry than anger. Despite her insistence that she be allowed to go with Picard, that she be on hand to defend him, Dahj was terrified. To herself, she could admit wanting to trail along after him, because he seemed to know what he was doing, seemed stable and kind--but she really, really didn't want to fight anyone, death squad cultists or otherwise. Still--she was furious at being denied and was ready to let him know all about that when he gave her assurances about Picard's safety. They were sending three people down with him? Wait--

"Wait, you aren't going with him?" Dahj asked, her fury wholly undercut by surprise and confusion. "Aren't you like…I don't know…friends?"

From the way Picard had waxed nostalgic about him, it sounded like they were almost family. The old Admiral had pledged himself to her, come hell or high water, based on nothing else but his guess that they were related. The idea that Data would let Picard go into--what did the doctor call it? A den of iniquity? Without accompanying him--? Dahj couldn't quite wrap her head around that.

Then again, if his invitation to play games while they waited was any indication, his priority must have been making sure she didn't pull anything while Picard was away. The suspicion stung, however implied, but it made a sort of pragmatic sense to Dahj. He didn't know her. Why would he leave her on his ship unaccompanied?

Dahj was silent as she considered him but, weirdly, his caution made him more trustworthy and not less. She wouldn't trust herself either. After a long moment Dahj heaved a frustrated sigh and uncrossed her arms. She held up her hands up in a casual sort of mock surrender before dropping them to her sides.

"Fine," Dahj agreed and it pained her dearly to make that concession. There was a beat of silence after she capitulated and, because she couldn't abide people being incorrect, she had to add:

"I'm not--" She drew a deep breath and let it out through her nose, tried to let it carry the rest of her frustration and worry. It mostly worked. "I'm not dangerous, not usually anyway. I'm not really into…jeapordizing lives. I'm a grad student, was a grad student I guess, before the two death squads." Matching his previous inflection was a petty bit of sass but she felt it was not out of line.

"And I am spectacularly bad at chess," Dahj told him. "So we can play but don't expect a challenge."

A preliminary observation pertaining to Dahj's comportment informed him that the present circumstances still confounded her, and that she, regardless of his efforts to ensure her that he was a trustworthy and amicable individual, still administered a significant dose of scepticism and reservation. Perhaps if they could sequester themselves from external stimuli, they could establish a more comprehensive understanding of what motivated the other, become better acquainted with the other's personality... However, the android extrapolated that it might take a considerable amount of time before Dahj would be willing to discuss such matters with a perfect stranger.

For now, Data could do nothing but offer her his undivided attention, and he listened attentively, maintaining his equilibrium throughout the duration of her rampage of falsifications and anxiety. He did not interfere while she verbalised her concerns regarding the Captain. The latter received a minimal ascend of the android's light eyebrows — he sincerely doubted Picard required protection, he had survived many decades in interstellar space, and the crew that accompanied him, was sufficiently competent and could haul him through every situation that would arise.

Data remained irresponsive, contemplating the most adequate avenue to explain to her that they had, in all likelihood, already been transported down to the planet. And even if they had not departed the Warbird yet, he would still forestall her affiliating herself with the team in any way — there were simply too many risks involved. Besides, he had promised Picard to keep her safe, and he could only guarantee her safety when she was with him, on the cloaked Romulan Warbird.

'I understand your eagerness to accompany the Captain and your concern about his wellbeing during this mission however misplaced your concerns may be... In addition, the Zhat Vash regard you as a threat, presumably of the highest category seeing that they deployed a death squad and have assaulted you. Twice. Therefore, I cannot permit you to transport down to the surface — request denied,' he said pragmatically, his euphonious voice was gentle yet pertinacious. 'Perhaps I could placate your perturbed mind by informing you that this is not a solo mission — he is in the company of three competent individuals. I trust they will deliver him back to the ship, his physical integrity wholly conserved,' he reassured Dahj.

Then, his optical units traced the boundaries of the forcefield and he was of opinion that the initiation of the safety measure had been imperative in preventing her from running rampant on the ship, in search of Picard. However, he was cognisant that prolonging her incarceration would not accomplish anything — if anything, it would render her more suspicious of their intentions, and probably more antagonistic.

'I see no further reason to restrict you to the infirmary — we could relocate to the observation lounge, if you would like? However, I am afraid this change of scenes entails being in my presence, indefinitely. Alternatively, I could allocate you to your own personal quarters, but then, I would be obligated to lock the doors lest you break free and accidentally end up jeopardising the lives of everyone we have rescued these last several decades. I cannot allow that, I hope you understand,' Data said composedly, his eyes analysing her countenance inquisitively. 'Personally, I would be... thrilled to get to know you better. Perhaps we could play a game of poker, or three dimensional chess.'

[evviejo]

STAR TREK: PICARD // S1E1 Remembrance She came here to find safety. Like you and Zhaban. Like me. She deserved better from me. I owe it to her to find out who killed her and why. You ask too much of yourself. Oh. Sitting here, all these years... nursing my offended dignity... writing books of history people prefer to forget... I never asked anything of myself at all. No, Admiral. I haven't been living. I've been waiting to die.

[wipbigbang]

The 2025 WIP Big Bang & WIP Reverse Bang Are Open For Sign-Ups!

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FAQ

[the-lavender-clown]

Random Star Trek thought that pops into my head every once in a while.

I have the biggest bone to pick with ST Picard! Now I did enjoy the show but I have a lot of critiques for it too. My biggest one by far is how they made it so that Deanna and therefore probably other Betazoids and telepathic/empathic species can’t sense android’s at all. Like the amount of episodes that recons is something else!!

Remember how Deanna wasn’t there for Datalore? Most likely because she would have been able to sense the difference between Data and Lore. But maybe there was a real life reason for that like scheduling or whatever. Ok fine, then what about the episode where Ira Graves possesses Data’s body? Deanna could feel his ego suppressing Data’s (confirming that to at least some extent she can sense Data as well even if his presence might be so weak sometimes she doesn’t pick it up due to his lack of humanoid emotions). Then the episode Offspring. When Lal went to Deanna to tell her what was happening and how scared she was Deanna didn’t even hesitate to believe her and although I can’t remember the exact words of the conversation I’m pretty sure she said something like “you are scared” and was deeply concerned for Lal.

In conclusion, Data totally has an ego no matter how weak/different it is and therefore so does every other android and Deanna should have been able to sense Soji.

[whos-the-hottest-st-character]

Who is hotter? Soji/Dahj/Sutra/Kore or Detmer?

Round Two, Match Sixteen

[startrekwintergiftexchange]

The 2024 Star Trek Winter Gift Exchange is here!

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A: It’s a fanworks exchange for any fandom within the Star Trek universe, from The Original Series to Strange New Worlds!

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A: Nope! All types of fanworks are welcome :) Fics, art, edits, fanvids, playlists, moodboards, podfics, among other things! As long as you’re creating it, it’s welcome.

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If you have other questions, send an ask. And don’t forget to spread the word!

[defconprime]

Isa Briones as Dahj and Soji.

[raurquiz]

#happybirthday @TheIsaBriones #isabriones #actress #singer #Soji #Sutra #Dahj #jana #kore #startrekpicard #takers #BrownSoupThing #lonelyboy #americancrimestory #hamilton #grease #Hadestown #goosebumps #thepitt #startrek58 @TrekMovie @TrekCore @StarTrek @StarTrekOnPPlus

[wingsofhcpe]

Thinking about Rios being Dad to Soji and Elnor, and possibly Dahj from that one au with @talvenhenki we bounced around the other day due to an edit post, and I want to cry because he'd be so hesitant at first but then he'd realise Soji and especially Elnor trust him without hesitation, and that would kinda drive him to try even harder to be good at it, such as:

Calling Elnor "hijo" and Soji "hija" (which is already canon!).

Teaching them to play football. Soji may or may not know some of the basics already, but Elnor definitely doesn't. It's all new for him and he's so excited, keeps kicking a ball around all the time and asking Rios if he's doing it right.

Bringing Soji her favourite snacks from the replicator, then hearing she developed a liking for real tomatoes while on Nepenthe and making sure La Sirena is always stocked with those.

Teaching them Spanish (especially swear words. Raffi and Picard are Not amused, but Seven totally approves).

Asking Elnor to teach him basic swordfighting skills as a bonding activity.

Play-wrestling with both of them. More often than not he ends up on the floor under them. (Raffi teases him about this, but honestly, what's a regular human guy to do against a Synth and a Qowat Milat? And Raffi can't prove that he'd let them win anyway!)

In the Dahj lives AU, he helps make a very traumatised and distrustful Dahj feel more at home onboard La Sirena. He's one of the first, if not the first, crewmembers that Dahj starts to trust.

He's also the only one (bar Elnor) who can easily tell the twins apart!

[lonely-night]

imagine dahj, soji, naomi and mezoti team up it would be glorious

[ofaflower]

muse tags

[sshbpodcast]

Ten Forward 14: Picard Season 1

SPOILERS! Seriously, they are there from the off, so if you've not yet watched all of the first season of Star Trek: Picard and don't want to be spoiled, skip this episode! We'll be back next week with more DS9!

Otherwise, kick back and chill with your SSHB friends as we do a very broad, slightly meandering overview of the first season of the latest Trek series. This isn't a deep dive, more a high-view impressions recorded MERE DAYS after the season one finale. If that sounds like fun, come check it out and find out which of your stalwarts was VERY unimpressed. You might be surprised by which one it is!

Also this week: no Mandalorian spoilers, fallen empires, and Star Trek remembers Hispanics exist.

[whos-the-hottest-st-character]

Who is hotter? Soji/Dahj/Sutra/Kore or Soval?

Round one, fight thirty one

(Sticking ‘em together because it’s the same actress and the characters are pretty much the same)

[fractalcloning]

In the shadow of Ganmadan.

It was a little offensive, the clear sky and beautiful weather. It should be raining, thundering, like in her dreams--red and scary, foreboding--but it isn't. Jean Luc Picard died and it is...just another day. She knows that Alton Soong and Dr. Jurati are working on it, maping and copying his neural patterns into the golem Soong had reserved for himself. There's no guarantee it will work, that they can take the patterns off a dead man and expect them to function. He may not be restored at all, and Soji feels terribly lost. She has siblings here, dozens of them, but she's the odd one out. Not one of them can really comprehend what she's been through in the last few days. None of them can even start to relate. Dahj is gone. Her mother is an AI, a holo construct that was meant to keep her from breaking her cover. Narek is--somewhere outside. In a cell? The fact that she'd even consider talking to him only enhances her distress. She's all alone. Again. And the Romulan fleet is gone, but so is most of the Starfleet one. They are defenseless, completely out of orchids, and only Soji seems to recognize that the danger hasn't passed. That they aren't actually safe from anything. Another nudge to her bedrock could topple everything again, and again, and again and she chose to let the guarantee of safety go. She hates herself for giving that up, for shutting down the transmitter, and then hates herself in another way for even considering summoning the extra-galactic synthetics. Her life isn't worth every organic one. It's objectively true but so very hard to remember when the threat of death and destruction seems to hover over her like her own personal raincloud. So Soji sits, miserable and distraught, on the edge of Alton Soong's desk and tries not to think about it. Unfortunately the only distractions she has are the synthetics littered around the office. Alton Soong had been so proud, so excited to show her his prototypes. The golem, the next set of fractal clones, mice for Spot II to chase. Each one was meticulously designed and he loved them, truly. His crowning masterpiece was the reproduction of Data. It took up the center of the room and all Soji could do was stare. He looked peaceful, like he was sleeping and not just an empty, expertly sculpted husk in a stasis chamber. She was almost jealous, that he got to sleep so softly while she was vibrating with anxiety about the next calamity, the next loss, the next inevitable, crushing death. She runs both hands through her hair, tugging it to try and clear the maudline catastrophizing. It half works. "I wish I could have met you," Soji says to the stasis chamber and her arms drop back to her sides. "If half of what everyone said was true, you'd probably have something profound to say."

"Or...at least you might give me a hug."

She was tearing up, thinking of her Dad, the fake ghost in her dreams. He never existed but she had memories of him saying profound things. She recalled her mom trying to cheer her up--or Dahj, who may have actually done that before they were separated. Picard had even tried to comfort her, in his own way--and now she comes back to Narek again. The last man standing. God, her life was pathetic if the Tal'Shiar were her best choice for a hug. She wipes her eyes and tries to stop thinking again. It doesn't work any better this time. "Fuck," Soji says to the empty room. To the construct that is not her kind of father. It required a quantum computer to hold what they had of Data's neural patterns--if the code, the information, were any less she might have been able to boot him up, to talk to him through holograms like she did her mom, but even Soji understood that he was too complex for that. Data required a body and Soong had never completed the method to transfer-- "Wait--Agnes fixed it," Soji says, largely to herself, partly to the construct. Alton Soong had lamented how his masterpiece copy of Data would forever lie dormant. Because Bruce Maddox hadn't finished the work to make transfering consciousness possible. But Dr. Jurati had finished it. They were using it on Picard right now. Which meant-- Soji shot up from the side of the desk and all but darted to the stasis pod in the center of the room. Now, looking at the unoccupied copy, she saw something other than a hollow body--she could--she could put him back, right? If it were a copy of Data, he could work in this body? She immediately pulls up the controls on the stasis chamber and snatches a data slate off Soong's desk. Data was kept in the computer, he was the cornerstone of it, she should be able to just...run Jurati's protocols and put him into the duplicate, right? The tiny thread of hope that wrapped itself around her heart was as cutting as it was fragile, but Soji was desperate and so very alone. If she thought anything could work, anything at all, she couldn't have stopped herself from trying it.

[procrastinatorproject]

@lonely-night Currently a couple hundred words in the WIP folder, but I haven't looked at it in a few months I'm afraid.

Should really get back to it, huh? 😅

AGNES JURATI - STAR TREK: PICARD S1E10 Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2