Ardra (impersonator)
Ardra was a con artist who impersonated the mythic Ventaxian figure of Ardra.
In 2367, this con artist learned of the Ardra and the lore surrounding her return. The impostor revealed herself to the Ventaxians, fooling them into believing that she was their deity, by using technology to mimic various phenomena believed to herald Ardra's return. When Captain Picard came to the planet to help Acost Jared, the Ventaxian leader, Ardra suddenly appeared before them.
Back on board the USS Enterprise, the senior staff discussed who or what Ardra was, even suggesting that she was Q, or another member of the Q Continuum.
Ardra, as Picard's ideal woman.
Having found her initial contact with Picard attractive, as she described his as "forceful", Ardra would later materialized in Picard's quarters and tried to seduce him in order to stop the investigation. When he refused her initial advances, she changed into a more Victorian appearance, to what she described as Picard's "ideal woman...prim and proper and chaste, until I succumb to your charms," then quickly assumed Troi's form to tempt him, with a "professional woman, perhaps one in a Starfleet uniform," but when that too failed, she beamed him down to Ventax in his pajamas, disabled the transporters, and then made the Enterprise appear to "vanish."
In order for Picard to finally reveal Ardra for who she really was, he requested a hearing, with Data as the arbitrator, so as to assist Geordi La Forge in pinpointing Ardra's base of operations.
During a court case Ardra continued to use her "powers" to prove to the court that she was indeed "real", while Picard focused on disproving her existence, by pointing out that all of the changes on Ventax were gradual, civil changes.
In the meantime, La Forge discovered the imposter's starship in orbit, and assisted Picard in exposing her ruse by eliminating the source of her abilities.
During the trial, Picard revealed the source of Ardra's "powers" to be the result of "a prearranged program on her ship's computer: a fairly ingenious combination of force field projection, holography, and transporter effects," adding "Ardra controls her magic literally by the blink of an eye, centuries old technology -- an implant that allows her eye movements to choose and activate each illusion."
Picard further revealed that "her crew had admitted that [Ardra] had used 23 aliases in that sector alone to deceive innocent people in petty schemes for years."
As a result of Picard's testimony, Ardra was taken under arrest by the Ventaxians. (TNG: "Devil's Due")
- The impostor Ardra was played by Marta Dubois.