10 Star Trek Assassinations That Changed Everything
2. Dahj Asha
Star Trek: Picard kicked off with the assassination of Dahj Asha, Data's 'daughter'. More specifically, a failed attempt drives her into the orbit of Jean-Luc, which in turn encourages the retired Admiral to come back to active duty.
Narissa, a Romulan agent infiltrating Starfleet, orders the android's death as part of her dogged mission to stop the Admonition from happening. This prophecied doom for all organic life had been shared with members of the Zhat Vash for generations - blinding them to any other course of action than simply wiping out all artificial intelligence.
In a case of self-fulfilling prophecy though, Dahj's horrific death inspires Picard to dig deeper, leading him to discover her twin - Soji, as well as the work that Bruce Maddox and Altan Soong had been doing, eventually forcing a stand-off between the Zhat Vash and Starfleet over the skies of Coppelius.
While to some, this may seem like a case of the snake eating its own tail, there is little doubt that as tragic as Dahj's death was, it inadvertently led to the overturn of the ban on synthetics. She surely would have preferred a choice in proceedings, but Dahj Asha became a martyr in death.