Data

Lieutenant Commander Data was a Soong-type android who served as second officer aboard the USS Enterprise-D and the USS Enterprise-E.

Specification
Data was constructed by Dr. Noonien Soong, like the majority of Dr Soongs works Data was modelled after Soong's own likeness and mimicked the human form in impressive detail with the ability to grow hair and a cardiovascular like system which produced a pulse and breathing, but rather than pumping blood, distributed biochemical lubricants and regulated microhydraulic power and temperatures throughout Data's body (TNG episode: Birthright).

Data was composed of 24.6 kilograms of tripolymer composites, 11.8 kilograms of molybdenum-cobalt alloys and 1.3 kilograms of bioplast sheeting (TNG episode: "The Most Toys"). Data was built with an ultimate storage capacity of eight hundred quadrillion bits (approximately 100 petabytes) and a total linear computational speed rated at sixty trillion operations per second. (TNG episode: "The Measure of a Man")

Despire his impressive abilities and specification Data always desired to become more human but often struggled to master various aspects of humanity, such as emotion, humour and contractions. As part of his quest to become more human Data kept a pet cat; Spot.

Data did finally gain emotions when he installed an emotion chip created by Dr Soong (TNG movie/novelization: Generations).

Ancestry and Family
The dream of creating an android like Data dates back to as early as the 22nd century when Dr Arik Soong having failed in improving humanity by means of genetic modification decided to begin development of a cybernetic lifeform (Enterprise episode: The Augments). He was apparently unsuccessful in the completion of this task, it was not until Arik Soong's descendent Noonien Soong, under the tutelage of Ira Graves (Data's "grandfather") and with the assistance of Juliana Tainer (Dats's "mother") that a fully formed android was created (TNG episodes: The Schizoid Man and Inheritance). Prior to Data, Dr. Soong created at least two other androids, Data's brothers Lore and B-4, both were considered faulty and were deactivated in favour of the more advanced Data (TNG episode: Datalore and movie/novelization: Nemesis).

Despite his quite extensive ancestry Data may consider his crewmates aboard the starships Enterprise more of a family and had a particularly strong bond with his friend Geordi La Forge.

In 2366 Data created a new android, his daughter Lal, in her short life Lal successfully achieved a far greater level of human emotion than Data had yet managed and she remained in his thoughts for many years following her death (TNG episode: The Offspring).

Discovery and early life
Data was constructed by Dr. Noonien Soong, and first activated in 2335 at the Omicron Theta colony on planet Kiron III. Unlike his "older brother," Lore, he was not given emotions, and at first was very childlike. In 2336, his early memories were wiped and replaced with the logs and journals of the colonists. Shortly after, the colony was attacked by a Crystalline Entity and Data was left deactivated on a rock shelf. (TNG episode: "Inheritance"; game Starship Creator and TNG novelization Encounter at Farpoint). He was discovered on February 2nd, 2338 by the crew of the USS Tripoli and reactivated, becoming familiar with Starfleet Data entered Starfleet Academy in 2341. After graduating with honors in exobiology and probability mechanics, Data served at various outposts in seclusion. He remained an ensign for three years and twelve years as a lieutenant before being promoted to Lieutenant Commander in 2360 (TNG episodes: Datalore and Clues), after a mission with Captain Jean-Luc Picard aboard the USS Portia. He subsequently served aboard the USS Trieste. (TNG novel The Buried Age) By 2365 Data had earned the Starfleet Command Decoration for Gallantry, Medal of Honor with clusters, Legion of Honor, and the Star Cross (TNG episode: The Measure of a Man)

The Enterprise-D
In 2364 Data joined the crew of the USS Enterprise-D as operations manager, chief science officer and second officer.

On stardate 41590.8 Data was part of an away team to the planet Tigan, after discovering a planetary conspiracy the team were attacked by Tigan security forces. Tasha Yar and Will Riker were taken into captivity whilst Data was taken to Tigan facility where one of the Tigan conspirators, Edic, attempted to reprogram Data's positronic brain to erase his findings and report back to the Enterprise with only a positive experience on the planet. Fortunately Data's mind proved to resilient for this tampering and the attempt was unsuccessful. Data was freed from the Tigans when Edic rebelled against his fellow conspirator Kadec, seeing the error of his ways. The experience left Data contemplative, his memory so perfect, maybe that could be the key to him learning to be Human. (TNG comic: History Lesson)

In late 2368, Data traveled through a Devidian portal to 1893. An away team from the Enterprise followed him and brought him back to his own time. However, he left his head behind, which stayed in San Francisco for nearly five hundred years before being reconnected to his body shortly after his recovery by his crewmates. (TNG episode: "Time's Arrow")

The Enterprise-E
Following the Enterprise-D's destruction Data alongside the majority of Captain Picard's crew transferred to the new Sovereign class Enterprise-E.

Assignments away from the Enterprise
Given Data's impressive abilities and usefulness to Starfleet it was not uncommon for him to be called to serve on other missions away from the Enterprise from time to time. In 2375 Data joined a duck-blind mission on the planet Ba'ku and was largely responsible for revealing a Starfleet/Son'a plot to remove the Ba'ku from their planet (TNG movie/novelization: Insurrection).

In 2377 Data served as technical advisor during the development of the highly experimental USS Incursion. He joined the Incursion's crew in the shakedown cruise testing the Incursion's holographic systems and subsequently found himself in the midst of the Warden plot to take over the galaxy. During the crisis he was recalled to Earth to help decode warden transmissions and was almost assassinated by Warden agents, fortunately he was rescued by the Incursion's crew and rejoined the vessel to help bring down the Wardens (Game: Away Team).

Turbulent Times
In 2378 Data had his emotion chip forcible removed following an incident at the Rashnar Battle site (Star Trek: The Next Generation miniseries: A Time to...).

In 2379 he commanded the Bravo team mission to infiltrate the nadion-pulse cannon firebase located in the Solasook Peninsula on Tezwa. The mission was successful after Data was able to interface with the base computers allowing him to send false signals forcing the crew to abandon the base. It was on this mission that Commander Riker was kidnapped and held captive for one month. During Riker's captivity, Data served as acting first officer of the Enterprise. It was Lieutenant Vale's belief that Data went without any rest for this entire one-month period. (TNG novels: A Time to Kill and A Time to Heal)

After Riker's return, he approached Captain Picard about taking crew of the Enterprise with him to the USS Titan. Picard was fine with this except that Riker was not allowed to take Data as Picard felt that he had earned his chance to become first officer of the Enterprise. (TNG novel: A Time for War, A Time for Peace)

In 2379 Data sacrificed himself to rescue Captain Picard and destroy the warbird Scimitar thereby preventing the deaths of the Enterprise-E's crew (TNG movie/novelization: Nemesis)

Alternate realities
In an alternate timeline where Data did not die, he ascended to the rank of commodore and was the commanding officer of the USS Enterprise-F's 2,023 crewmembers. ("Imzadi I")


 * Data is one of few prominent Star Trek characters to not have an established mirror universe counterpart, although his absence is usually at least partially explained through accounts of the mirror counterpart of $𝜇$.

Related Articles

 * Children of Soong