Data
PERSONNEL FILE: FEDERATION
NAME: Data
RANK: Lieutenant Commander
BORN: 2335
PLACE OF BIRTH: Omicron Theta
ORIGIN: Android
ASSIGNMENT: U.S.S. Enterprise-E
LAST SHIP: U.S.S. Enterprise-D
ACADEMY CLASS: 2345
BIOGRAPHICAL DETAILS: A humanoid android so sophisticated that he was regarded as a sentient life-form with full civil rights. Data was a Starfleet officer who served as operations manager under the command of Captain Jean-Luc Picard aboard the Starship Enterprise-D and later, aboard the Starship Enterprise-E. Data was built around 2335 by the reclusive scientist Noonien Soong and his wife, Juliana Soong, at the Omicron Theta colony. Data was actually the fifth positronic android constructed by Soong; the first three were unsuccessful. The fourth, the first to become functional, was known as Lore. SEE: Soong-type android. Lore exhibited dangerous behavior, forcing Soong to disassemble him. Soong thereafter pursued the idea of building an android free of emotions. Soong hoped this new android would not exhibit the cruelty shown by Lore. Juliana had wanted Data to have a female form, but Noonien, as before, created Data in his own image. Following his activation, Data was much like a baby, though he was made in the form of a full-grown adult. Data had difficulty learning basic social skills, and "social niceties" had to be built into his programming. SEE: modesty subroutine. In addition, a creative capacity was also programmed into Data by Mrs. Soong, who reasoned that without emotions, the android would need another way to express himself. After this initial period, Data was thought unsuccessful and was deactivated. He was programmed with the logs and journals of the Omicron Theta colonists in an effort to help Data function better in human society. Unfortunately, before Data could be reactivated, the Crystalline Entity attacked the colony, and Soong and his wife, Juliana, were forced to abandon their work. Fearing that when reactivated, Data might behave as Lore did, Juliana made Dr. Soong leave Data at the colony site. Data remained in a dormant condition underground, where he was discovered in 2338 by the crew of the Starship Tripoli. Data subsequently joined the Starfleet and eventually became operations manager aboard the Enterprise-D.
FORM AND FUNCTION: Data was based on a sophisticated positronic brain developed by Soong, from concepts first postulated in the 20th century by Dr. Isaac Asimov. Data's body closely mimicked humanoid form, and contained approximately 24.6 kilograms of tripolymer composites, 11.8 kilograms of molybdenum-cobalt alloys, and 1.3 kilograms of bioplast sheeting. His upper spinal support was polyalloy, while his skull was composed of cortenide and duranium. Soong went to extraordinary lengths to create a naturalistic human appearance in Data. He gave Data a functional respiration system, although its purpose was primarily for thermal regulation. (Data was in fact capable of functioning for extended periods in a vacuum.) He gave Data a pulse and a circulatory system that distributed biochemical lubricants and regulated microhydraulic power throughout Data's body. Data's hair was even capable of growth at a controllable rate. Data did not require food; he occasionally ingested a semi-organic nutrient suspension in a silicon-based liquid medium. Although Data's systems were primarily mechanical, cybernetic, and positronic, sufficient biological components were present to allow him to become infected by the Psi 2000 virus in 2364. While under the influence of the inhibition-stripping effects of that disease, Data became intimate with Enterprise-D security chief Tasha Yar. Data's basic programming included a strong inhibition against harming living beings, but he nevertheless had the ability to use deadly force to protect others.
DATA IN STARFLEET: Prior to his assignment to the Enterprise-D, Data served aboard the U.S.S. Trieste. During this tour-of-duty, the Trieste once fell through a wormhole. Aboard the Enterprise-D, Data served as operations manager, and was in charge of coordinating the many departments aboard the ship. In 2366, Commander Data was seriously injured trying to save Q from an attack by gaseous creatures called the Calamarain. In gratitude, Q gave Data the gift of allowing Data to experience human laughter for a brief time. Data served as father of the bride for the wedding of Miles O'Brien and Keiko Ishikawa in 2367, and found it necessary to learn to dance to fulfill this ceremonial function. Data's first opportunity to command a starship came during the Federation blockade during the Klingon civil war of 2368. Data was assigned temporary command of the Starship Sutherland in Picard's armada. As an android, Data encountered a small amount of prejudice among his human crew, but was nevertheless able to lead effectively. In late 2368, when bizarre evidence was found suggesting that he had died some 500 years ago, Data traveled back in time to old San Francisco. The evidence was Data's severed head, unearthed from beneath the city of San Francisco, where it had been buried for five centuries. Traveling back in time to the year 1893, Data uncovered a plot by aliens from the planet Devidia II who were using the cholera plague of the time to conceal their murder of humans. While attempting to stop the Devidians, Data's head was severed, and his body was sent forward in time, back to 2368. Aboard the Enterprise-D, Geordi La Forge was successful in reattaching Data's head to his body. Following the destruction of the Enterprise-D in 2371, Data accepted an assignment the following year to the sixth Enterprise, also under the command of Captain Jean-Luc Picard.
DATA AND LORE: Upon returning to the Omicron Theta colony site in 2364, Data participated in the discovery and activation of his android brother, Lore. Physically identical to Data, Lore had radically different personality programming, and attempted to commandeer the Enterprise-D before he was beamed into space. Although Noonien Soong was believed to have died at Omicron Theta, he was discovered to have escaped the colony when, in 2367, he remotely gained control of Data, commanding his creation to visit him in his new secret laboratory. There, Soong attempted to install a new chip in Data's positronic brain that would have given Data the ability to experience human emotions. Unfortunately, Lore also responded to Soong's call, and stole the emotion chip from Soong's lab. Dr. Soong died shortly thereafter. Data began to experience emotions in 2369 when Lore secretly bombarded Data with signals that triggered negative emotions in his positronic brain. Lore used these negative emotions to guide Data into joining him and the Borg against the Federation. When Data realized that Lore was manipulating him and harming the Borg, he was forced to deactivate Lore. Data kept Soong's emotion chip, but was reluctant to install it for fear of causing further harm to his friends.
