Commander Data
Rank: Commander
Position: First Officer
Age: 34
Hair: Black and combed straight back in a very plain, unattractive hairstyle
Eyes: Yellow
Height: Almost six foot
Weight: One hundred kilograms
Birthplace: Omicron Theta
Starfleet History
2341: Attended Starfleet Academy
2345: Graduated Starfleet Academy
2346: Ensign
2349: Lieutenant (JG)
2355: Lieutenant
2360: Promoted to Lieutenant Comamnder and assigned to USS Trieste as Science Officer
2364: Assigned to USS Enterprise-D as Second Officer and Ops Chief
2371: Promoted to Commander and named First Officer of the USS Enterprise-D
Personal History
As his name would suggest, Data is an android. Actually he prefers the term, 'artificial lifeform'. Data is an extremely sophisticated positronic model (only two such models exist in the
twenty-fourth century, both created by the same human cybernetisist: Dr. Noonien Soong and his then wife: Juliana Soong on the human inhabited science colony: Omicron Theta.) He had been deactivated on Omicron Theta after an attack by the Crystalline Entity on October 29th, 2336, and was found and reactivated by Starfleet personnel two years later on February 2nd, 2338. The accumulated knowledge of the 411 colonists was downloaded into his positronic brain. The still deactivated android was found several
years later on the then dead planet by a Federation starship: the USS Tripoli. Automatically he reactivated at their approach.
The crew of the Tripoli convinced him to apply to join Starfleet Academy, which he did and his application was approved three years later after he was forced to undergo countless tests and the initial
application was challenged on the grounds that he was not a sentient being.
In 2360, while assigned to Starbase G-6 in the Betazoid sector as a file clerk Lieutenant Data was recruited by Captain Picard to assist him with a mission to recover the Manraloth people. During the course of the mission Data under his intiative was doing safety tests on the Galaxy class ship. When the tests turned disastrous Data researched it. Finding that the Monraloth woman who being called Ariel planted a virus into the Portia to transmit to starfleet to destroy the Galaxy class vessels Data brought this to Picard's attention. While the original mission did not go as planned Data was promoted to Lieutenant Commander for going above and beyond the call of duty. Admiral Quinn promised Data a place on one of the Galaxy class ships. Taking Picard's advice to show iniative regarding his career he requested a science officer post while he awaited the launch of the Galaxy class.
Data was seduced by and had a sexual encounter with Tasha Yar in the episode "The Naked Now", as a result of polywater intoxication (the Tsiolkovsky virus). Data implicitly agreed not to discuss the incident with anyone, a commitment he was later forced to break after he challenged Commander Maddux's belief that he was property. A couple of months later he discovers his amoral brother Lore, and learns he was not the first android constructed by their "father," Dr Noonien Soong. Lore impersonates Data and attempts to betray the Enterprise to the Crystalline Entity, a spaceborne creature which absorbs life forms for sustenance and was responsible for the destruction of the colony on Omicron Theta. Eventually Lore is exposed, and Data is forced to fight him in order to prevent the destruction of the ship. At the climax of a short but intense android-on-android action, Data beams Lore into space by means of a cargo transporter pad, leaving him to drift. He was turned off by the descendants of the Ghandi crew and sent on the Ghandi drive section towards the Romulan neutral zone in an attempt to get him out of the way for a parasitic takeover of Starfleet Command.
In 2365, Data is faced with the biggest test of his life when Commander Maddox claiming he was property and not an individual. He challenged this and is legally declared an autonomous individual, as opposed to Starfleet property (like "a toaster"). His storage capacity is stated as "800 quadrillion bits" or 88.817842 petabytes or 93,132,257.5 gigabytes, and his processing speed is stated as "60 trillion operations per second" or 60 teraflops. He is not named a full sentient being, merely a free officer, but this is enough for him to be able to choose not to get disassembled as a test subject for his positronic brain by Commander Maddox. During the struggle for his rights, when it appears he will be forced to undergo the dangerous experiment, Data attempts unsuccessfully to resign from Starfleet.
Data attempted to reproduce in the year 2366 by creating an android daughter, Lal, from his own neural net matrix. She dies by the end of the episode, because of an emotional overload in the face of having to be taken away from Data on the order of Starfleet. Data transfers her memories in their entirety into his own.
In 2367 Data finally is united with his creator Dr. Soong (also portrayed by Brent Spiner), after the Doctor activates his homing device, forcing Data to unwittingly steal the Enterprise to get to his lab. There he meets again with Lore (who was believed dead), and watches him steal the emotion chip made by Soong and meant for Data. Following Lore's escape after having injured their father while Data was incapacitated, Data is recovered by an Away Team. Data is then able to say farewell to Dr. Soong, calling him father for the first and last time.
In 2368, Data assumes his first command as captain of the Sutherland during an engagement with the Romulans, where he is met by a prejudiced first officer. The first officer thinks Data to be an incapable officer for commanding a Starship, due to being an android. Data overcomes this prejudice by exposing the enemy tactics through his daring and superior thinking.
Data experiences dreaming for the first time, in 2368, which was generated by a plasma shock to his system, during which he sees his younger father again, telling him, 'to be as free as a bird'. But would not be the last time he dreams. About a year later he experiences equally surreal nightmares which enable him to eliminate a life-threatening parasite from the ship.
In 2370 he unintentionally reunites with Lore and experiences aggressive and "pleasurable" emotions, produced by Lore tapping into the stolen emotion chip to corrupt his ethical program. Under the influence of these purely "negative" emotions, Data is persuaded to "destroy the Federation" and made to cause harm to his friends. Eventually, after facing Lore's command to kill Captain Picard, Data regains his sense of right and wrong fast as his ethical programming is restored by a kedion pulse. Data's refusal prompts Lore to try to kill him, which Data stops during an ensuing short fight. To stop his escape, Data is forced to fire on Lore. Data then deactivates Lore who states, "Without me, you will never feel emotions again". Later that year he meets Dr Juliana Tainer, who believes herself to be Data's mother. However, she is eventually revealed to be another "Soong-type" android created by his father on the death of his real wife, and Data finds it hard not to tell her, a difficulty made worse by his desire to find another of his kind. But after meeting with a holodeck version of Dr. Soong (produced by an interface chip in Dr Tainer's brain), he complies with Soong's wishes that she not be told, and bids her farewell. This episode also establishes that Data had been furnished with an "aging program", like hers.
In 2371 Data finally installs the still-damaged emotion chip he retrieved from Lore, and experiences the fuller scope of emotions: joy,humor, crippling fear in the face of danger, and overwhelming guilt at his sudden failure to save his friend Geordi. This causes the chip to overload and fuse into his neural net. He eventually was able to gain control of emotions.
As a Starfleet officer, Data is bound by the Federation's principal law: The Prime Directive... which prohibits him from interfering in the natural development of other, less technologically advanced
societies. It's a law that he takes very seriously.
Throughout his Starfleet career Data has proven himself an exemplary officer and has earned several commendations and awards including the Starfleet Command Decoration for Valor; Starfleet Command Decoration for Gallantry; Medal of Honor, with Clusters; Legion of Honor and The Starcross. He served for three years at the rank of ensign, then ten-twelve in the lieutenant grades, before
receiving the rank of Lieutenant Commander and serving as Second Officer (third in command) aboard the Enterprise-D. In 2371 when Captain Picard was promoted to Admiral the android has receieved a promotion to full commander and taken the role of First Officer under the command of Captain William T. Riker.
