Coppelius Crisis and the End of the Synth Ban

In 2399 Jean-Luc Picard came out of retirement to protect Soji, a synthetic woman created from one of Data's positronic neurons and hunted by the Zhat Vash. His search led to Coppelius, a hidden world where a community of androids had lived in secret since the synth ban. Behind them, Commodore Oh was leading a large Romulan fleet to wipe them out.

Convinced that organic life would never accept them, the synth Sutra persuaded Soji to build a beacon calling a powerful alliance of ancient synthetic beings, who could destroy organic civilisations. Picard placed La Sirena in the path of the Romulan fleet and tried to convince Soji to choose another way. A Starfleet fleet under Captain William Riker then arrived to protect the planet.

Soji shut down the beacon, and the Romulans withdrew. Picard's long-hidden brain disease killed him, but his consciousness was transferred into a new synthetic body. The Federation soon lifted its ban on synthetic life.