Alva

Alva functions as the missing sister whose disappearance propels Slade Bender into desperate, transactional action. Referenced repeatedly but never present, she anchors the episode’s initial moral and narrative urgency: Slade hires Dixon Hill (Picard’s Holodeck persona) and offers payment to recover her. Alva’s absence converts a private loss into a public pursuit, raising stakes and triggering an assassination attempt that pivots the plot into lethal urgency.