Lieutenant Commander Data was an android, the first and only such being to ever enter Starfleet. Data was created sometime during the 2330s and 'died' in 2379, sacrificing himself to save the 800 men and women aboard the Enterprise.

Data always sought to become more Human in his behavior, often with unfortunate results. His attempts at humor were not successful, nor were his attempts at romance and love. He maintained a relationship with Jenna D'Sora, but it did not last long. Besides humor and romance, Data also had trouble using contractions in regular speech, although this was part of his programming by Dr. Soong.

During his stay aboard the Enterprise-D, Data kept a cat as his pet, whom he named Spot. Spot was quite fussy in her relationships: besides Data, she only enjoyed the company of Reginald Barclay. In 2371, Spot survived the destruction of the Enterprise. Data, newly with emotions as a result of his emotion chip, cried tears of joy over Spot's survival.

He began using this emotion chip in 2371, one year after he acquired it from his brother Lore. At first, he had some difficulties adjusting to the onslaught of emotions, as simple a thing as scanning for lifeforms on a planet caused him great pleasure. He eventually learned to control the feelings. After the initial adjustment period, he was able to turn the chip on and off, and later to remove it completely.

Data served as operations officer and second officer on board the USS Enterprise-D from 2364 until the vessel's destruction in 2371. Since he did not require sleep, he routinely stood night watch on the bridge. His quarters were located on deck 2, room 3653. He frequently participated in many of the away missions undertaken. His speed of thought and great strength made him an important asset to the ship, and the fact that he was unaffected by disease, radiation or mind control was vital on more than one occasion.

Android rights

Data was a major influence in the quest to recognize the sentience of androids. In 2365 following an order by Commander Bruce Maddox to submit to an untested procedure that Maddox believed would grant him a greater understanding of the technology behind Data's positronic brain. Data studied Maddox's proposal and found it to be flawed. Eventually it was ruled that Data was not the property of Starfleet and could choose whether to acquiesce to Maddox's requests. Data did so as a volunteer assured now of his rights.