Daniels (Star Trek) - Soval

Soval, is the Vulcan ambassador to Earth in the 22nd century. His main assignment appears to be advising Earth's Starfleet Command.

Jonathan Archer, Captain of the Starship Enterprise, is not particularly fond of the Ambassador as he appears to play a major role in the Vulcan discouragement of Earth's deep space program. He objects to Archer's command of the Enterprise. Soval places T'Pol on board the Enterprise, though she becomes one of Archer's most trusted officers.

Soval continues his criticism of Enterprise's mission, particularly after the crew, along with a group of Andorian commandos led by Commander Shran, discover a listening post beneath the Vulcan sanctuary of P'Jem which is being used to spy on the Andorians. Soval reluctantly agrees to work with Archer when they are dispatched to mediate a dispute over a planetoid claimed by both the Vulcans and Andorians. The situation is jeopardized early on when their shuttle is shot down while en route to meeting with Shran. Archer is able to defend the Ambassador and discover that Andorian soldiers acting against Shran's order are responsible. After initial talks between Soval and Shran prove promising, Soval concedes that Archer's service has been useful.

After a Xindi attack on Earth kills seven million humans, Archer claims that a mysterious figure from the future who was allied with the Suliban gave him information on the rationale for the attack, and more vitally, the name of the alien race responsible for the attack. Soval is skeptical of this claim, and discourages Enterprise from entering The Delphic Expanse, the mysterious region of space the Xindi call home.

Soval comes to appreciate Archer's efforts in saving Earth, and his attitude toward humans warms considerably after the man in charge of Starfleet Command, Admiral Forrest, sacrifices himself to save the Ambassador during a bombing inside the Earth Embassy on Vulcan ("The Forge").

It is subsequently revealed that Soval developed a deep affinity and even affection for humans and that his earlier actions were more to protect them than to hinder them. Nonetheless, after Archer and his crew help to prevent a war between Vulcan and Andoria and expose corruption within the Vulcan High Command ("Kir'Shara"), Soval agrees with the decision for Vulcan to stop looking over Earth's shoulder in space exploration matters.

Soval represents Vulcan at initial talks held in 2155 aimed at forging an alliance of worlds including Earth, Vulcan, Andoria and the Tellarite homeworld, an organization that, in 2161, will become the United Federation of Planets. Although Soval initially opposed Jonathan Archer's mission, when Archer gives a key speech at the start of the 2155 summit, it is Soval who leads the applause.

Soval is capable of performing mind melds, an act considered taboo amongst Vulcans of the 22nd Century. In order to extract information about the bombing of Earth's embassy on Vulcan, Soval conducts a mind-meld between himself and an ailing human MACO security guard at the embassy who witnessed the attack. This mind-meld is considered to be the first between a Vulcan and a human.

After the confession of his mind-melding abilities, Soval is forced to resign from the Vulcan High Command. He consequently joins the Enterprise crew to prevent a Vulcan preemptive strike based on falsified information against Andoria.

In the Mirror Universe, Soval's counterpart is an enlisted crewman in Starfleet, serving as a science officer aboard the ISS Avenger. This version of Soval attempts to start a rebellion against the Terran Empire, but is killed when the Avenger is destroyed by the mirror Jonathan Archer.