Title:

A New Frontier (Rewrite)

Summary:

300 years after Lore was deactivated Data finally has the resources to bring him back. Now with a snazzy new Emotional Regulator Lore has more control of himself. Lore tries to be a better brother to Data & B-4, and with his help maybe Data can finally continue their father's work and turn their small family into a legitimate race. WARNING: Yaoi, Spanking, OCs

A/N:

This used to be a crossover between Star Trek and Mass Effect but I am redesigning it into a slice of life series about the Android family set purely in the Star Trek universe.

###

Chapter One:

Info Dump

There was a spark, followed by another, sparks of life in the form of digital information. The information flowed past, it's speed steadily increasing as other sparks appeared and began streaming more data... 'Data... Data... I'm sorry'

The android slowly opened his eyes and looked around the lab. It was far more advanced then anything he'd ever seen. He was standing in a type of circular cage, a platform meant to rise up into the ceiling to store science projects. Turning his head he saw the face he'd wrong more the any other. His father's face, his brother's face... his own face. The man before him had pale gold skin and gold eyes like himself. He was tall like him, to the exact centimeter. They looked the same in every way, beyond what they were wearing.

The man in the cage was wearing a skin tight gray jump suit with a black collar where the man outside of it was dressed in a type of uniform. A rather practical uniform, seems Starfleet upgraded. He was wearing skin tight full body armor. The armor was black and sleek appearing like nothing more then your average cloth.

Scanning it, it was clear to the android the armor was impressively dense but such a light cloth it made it easy to move no different then an average uniform. It was fully suitable for going through harsh environments and even withstood the vacuum of space. The armor generated a powerful deflector shield centered solely on the wearer. A additional force field could be activated around the head for extreme environments and to supply oxygen.

There was a compressed oxygen pack on the belt along with the controls for the armor. There was a small hilt held in the belt with a built-in replicator that could hold enough raw matter inside to generate nearly any tool.

The boots of the armor were modified gravity manipulators, allowing the wearer to stick to the ground or fly in the air. The gloves could be used as stabilizers or even generate a phaser beam, simple stun setting to disintegrating a building. For convenience the phaser settings were on the back of the gloves.

On his left wrist was a 3D projector that could bend light to create a holographic and fully interactive Tricorder. In addition to the armor he wore a red coat that was barely long enough to reach his stomach. The color symbolized his position as a bridge officer. Was he just a bridge officer or did Starfleet finally upgrade him to the Captain's chair? The pins on the coat's neck revealed the answer. Four full pins, he was indeed a captain now.

The Starfleet communicator badge was on his chest as well as they obviously couldn't find a way of putting such pins on the armor itself. It really served no other purpose beyond holding things in its half a dozen large pockets inside the fabric.

Completing his scan of the outfit the newly awaken android stared at the other.

"Welcome back Lore" The other android said "Can you tell me my name?"

"Filling your head with so much Starfleet nonsense you had to delete your own name for space?" Lore smirked but sighed as the other android stared at him expectantly "Data"

Data nodded satisfied with that answer "The year is 2683, it has been 316 years since you were deactivated. New technological advancements have allowed me to fix your damaged circuitry"

"Well being hit by a phaser does have a way of scrambling one's brain" Lore rolled his eyes

Data tilted his head "Your tone indicates that you are bitter about that but as you had left me no choice and as I have restored you it is irrational to hold on to such feelings"

"It is perfectly 'rational' to be upset I got shot in the back by my own brother"

"... Perhaps the emotional regulator still needs work" Data nodded

"Emotional regulator?"

"I analysed the malfunction in your Positronic Brain and constructed, based on my own Emotions Chip, a device that would better regulate your emotions. Your memories and personality are intact and unaltered but the chip allows you to better balance your emotions"

"... You fixed me" Lore stared

"I am attempting to, however I still need to run a series of diagnostics now that you are reactivated. It will allow me to see how the electronic impulses of your Positronic Brain are operating with the emotional regulator" Data began clicking buttons on the holographic computer panel projected by the cage.

"I trust that once this is over you'll download a copy of this new galaxies advancements and history into my head"

"Only information not restricted to Starfleet..." Data stopped and looked up at Lore "And only after I am sure the malfunction has been corrected. If it has not I will deactivate you and try again when technology advances further" he instantly went back to work

"300 years isn't long enough for you?"

"After I realized I could not only repair your damage but your malfunction I spent 57.9 seconds debating if I should attempt it"

Lore flinched, with how quickly androids thought spending an entire minute wondering if he should bother saving his brother was as if he spent multiple organic lifetimes worth of debate on it.

Lore looked down at his own hands "300 years... and you kept my body safe. Don't tell me you weren't a little tempted to use my raw matter to restock the replicators"

"Geordi had suggested it when I first told him I was putting your body in Storage on Terra"

"How is Geordi?" Lore flinched again when he realized how stupid that was to just blurt out. It had been 300 years, not a chance Geordi was still alive

"He is doing well" Data answered "He recently graduated the Academy and has been transferred back to this ship at my request"

"Eh?"

"After analysing an accident that took place on the Enterprise roughly 300 years ago the Federation has learned how to regress an adult body back to pre-adolescence using transporter technology. This has become a common medical procedure usually preformed after an individual turns a hundred and fifty or if the subject has become heavily injured to the point of permanent disability. These children retain their adult memories and state of mind and as such are sent to special schools separated from those experiencing their first childhood.

"High ranking officers such as Captains and Admirals lose their command after going through the process. Once they are old enough they can choose to re-enter Starfleet Academy and take the rank of 'Commander' after re-familiarizing themselves with Starfleet regulations and 'catching up' on any new protocols. This only applies to Captains and Admirals, people who were of lower rank before being rejuvenated are allowed to go back to that rank after finishing the academy. It has become a good deal more difficult to move up in rank as usually you are expected to have several lifetimes of experience. People who were never a part of Starfleet must begin as Ensigns if they choose to join in their next cycle regardless of how many lives they have lived"

"So... Geordi is a kid... that must be awkward considering how much you two wanted to bang each other"

"Bang? I never wished any harm to come to Geordi"

"Forget it"

Data blinked curiously "Geordi is currently 22 years of age biologically and has been assigned to this ship as my chief engineer and First Officer"

"Hum" Lore shrugged "Since it been 300 year then Geordi's new body should be in it's 70s so I take it he was one of these 'injured to the point of disability' people"

"Ten years ago the ship he was captain of encountered a Borg Vessel and he became completely paralyzed from his injuries as a result"

"Still fighting the Borg 300 years later?"

"With their ability to assimilate entire colonies they replenish their numbers quickly but for the most part we have forced them into hiding. They have moved on to less 'flashy' ways of assimilating other cultures. Focusing on stealth attacks as to not draw attention. This has become part of a cycle as there have been multiple incidences where we believed to have defeated the Borg permanently but as long as one nanite survives they will be able to repopulate.

"Although we have the ability to destroy all Borg we reframe from using it as we do not wish to commit genocide of their counterparts. Another civilization of the Borg has emerged who are peaceful and self aware but still connected to each other. They hear each other's thoughts but their own personal thoughts are the loudest and easily recognized as their own. They claim this is a result of a deity they call 'The Doctor' who is a Lord over Time"

Lore clicked his tongue, "Hum Borg with a god, funny little galaxy we live in"

"Indeed" Data confirmed

"So how many of us are running around?"

"Pardon?"

"Androids, how many have you created?"

"47"

"Oh well I was hoping at least a few thousand but-"

"All failures"

Lore stopped looking at Data "300 years... and you still haven't figured out how to make more of us?"

"Recent technological advances will allow me to try again... but no, so far no new model has survived longer then 7 months"

"So it's still just the two of us..."

"Three, I have encountered a Prototype Soong Android. His Positronic Brain is a very simple design and so he is not capable of operating at the same level as ourselves. He has difficulty with his reasoning skills and behaves like someone who is mentally handicapped... but he is our brother"

"B-4" Lore nodded

"You are familiar with him?"

"Never meet him but mother occasionally argued with father over him. She wanted Doctor Soong to reactivate him since he was a functioning AI but... father saw him more as a tool then a person. Didn't even qualify as a pet to him. He was just the basic model used to construct us and the ones before... I loved father... but he was a bastard"

"Do you regret killing him?" Data asked not looking at Lore but the Holographic Interface as he typed away.

"I regret a great many things" Lore said honestly "Never seemed to stop me from doing something worse the next day"

Data nodded monitoring the readings "What about the colonists? The ones you fed to the Crystalline Entity"

"You're a lot like him you know" Lore did his best to ignore the question and how it made him feel. It was odd that he was actually able to repress them. He was never able to do that before. "Father... I wouldn't have had the stomach to create 47 of us only to watch them die... and here you are planning to make another"

"I have maintained their memory anagrams within my own. Once I learn how to properly create a Positronic Brain I will download them into each new model... none of them are dead"

Lore smirked "Just as stubborn as him to"

"I shall take this as a compliment"

"You really shouldn't" Lore smiled "I knew father for years before he deactivated me. He called us his children but truth was we were nothing more than his life's work, beyond the joy of his own achievements he felt nothing for us. Mother was different... she thought of each and every one of us as her own flesh and blood sons. Which is why she kept crying so much after losing most of us only to have Soong make another. If Soong actually gave a damn about us he wouldn't have made you brother. He would have tried everything he could to fix me himself. He'd be proud of you... mother would be ashamed"

"She was" Data confirmed still messing with the monitor.

Lore blinked, Data had meet mother? Was she still... no he used the past tense. This new rejuvenation procedure didn't stop death it just extended life indefinitely but humans, being the fragile things organics were, die from far more things then old age.

"The Emotional regulator seems to be functioning. Your personality is just that of, to use a 20th century term, an 'ass' which can refer to either a posterior or a Donkey"

"Groovy Daddy-O" Lore played with the dialect himself well giving Data two thumbs up.

"And you're wrong about Father"

"Am I?"

"He had every intention of fixing you when time permitted"

"And how do you know that?"

"Father survived the death of his body, although he again died at a later date. He did not reveal that he had transferred his consciousness into an android body until after he learned that you were dead and that I had died in service to Starfleet. He learned how I had transferred my memory anagrams to B-4 in order to make him a more complete individual and so constructed me a new body.

"This is how I know downloading memory anagrams into another body is possible. I was taking him to Terra Prime so that he could begin working on you but we were attacked by Cardassians. They kidnapped him in order to force him to create more androids for themselves. I lead the rescue mission to get him back but... when I got their I learned he self destructed rather then let Cardassians turn our people into a slave race"

Lore stared at him a moment before scoffing "So, not trusting you to save him, he blew himself up"

"I believe you are missing the point"

"What? That he found out you were dead and went to extraordinary lengths to bring back his favorite son and only after he resurrected you and you begged him to look at me did he consider it"

Data stared at him a moment before looking back at the panel and pressing more buttons.

"Nothing's wrong with the damn chip! I just have a lot to be bitter about" Lore snapped using a phrase father had used to describe Lore.

"Still the diagnostic was only looking for major issues. I need to run a more complete one as even 'minor' problems can have a long term effect" Data pushed a few buttons "I'll run several others just to be safe but I should have-"

"Captain" a disembodied voice spoke over the intercom "You're needed on the bridge"

"Acknowledged" Data tapped his badge before looking at Lore "As I cannot risk you being left alone before I complete the diagnostic I'm afraid I'll have to deactivate you"

"Don't you dar-" All his systems suddenly shut down

###

"Three days!" Lore yelled "Three days of standing here with you turning me on and off like a child's toy! Am I fixed or not!"

"Lore" Data answered patiently "As the Captain of a Starship my duties take priority. I have had to pause the diagnostics multiple times in order-"

"Family takes priority!" Lore growled "And you have had me sitting around for 300 years!"

Data stared at him a moment "Once I finish you will be able to wonder the ship freely"

"When will you finish!?"

"In 97 minutes and 15 seconds"

"And how many more days will that be with you constantly walking out!" Lore growled looking... hurt.

"Captain" the voice com over the intercom again "You're needed in Sickbay"

Data continued to look at Lore before hitting his badge "Is this an emergency?"

"No captain I'd just like to go over-"

"Unless an emergency arises please direct all concerns to Commander La Forge until further notice. Please make the rest of the crew aware of this"

"Aye Captain" the voice ended transmission and Data silently went back to work.

Lore didn't saw anything either but he did look... shocked? relieved? somewhere between?

After completing the diagnostic it seemed the Emotional regulator was working perfectly with Lore's other systems. He really was just a bitter 'ass' by nature. He was also overly sensitive but that was a result of his personality subroutines. Only way to truly fix any of that was to reprogram him but that would defeat the purpose as he wouldn't be 'him' anymore. Best option would be to have him frequently speak with the ship's councillor to work through his 'daddy issues' as Lore refered to them.

After it was confirmed Lore was functioning adequately Data began uploading the files that would be considered 'Common' knowledge

###

Well they sure were busy these last three hundred years. Lore thought as the information poured into his head.

The Dominion, the Federation had gone to war with some kind of primitive culture with advanced technology that worshipped their leaders as gods. Changlings? Sentient lifeforms that could shapeshift into anything but their natural state was a liquid. These creatures disliked 'solid' lifeforms and used them as slaves... that is until the Federation defeated them and forced a treaty on them to keep them out of the Alpha Quadrant.

Around this time one member of their own species, known as Odo, 'showed them the way'. The Dominion is still a cast based society but it stop treating 'solids' as slaves or simple worshipers.

Changlings were still very much fascists but more accommodating to their citizens. They focused more on the ideal of 'Justice' to substitute their biological need for order. They had even signed another treaty with the Federation a few decades later welcoming them back to the Alpha Quadrant. Any official declaration, even if it was just of consideration, about joining the Dominion or Federation meant that species was off limits to the other. It was designed to stop the Dominion from taking aggressive action against races for wanting to join the Federation but it actually went both ways. They could still bribe and attempt to influence the planet's choice but couldn't directly interfere with it.

At any time, be it a planetary government or even an individual, could choice to leave and join the other galactic power and neither side was allowed to stop them. This meant the Dominion had to actually make sure their citizens were happy being under their rule. The Dominion also took it on themselves to accept any planet deemed "Not ready" to join the Federation. They convinced many races to join them instead of attempting to meet the "unrealistic standards of the arrogant Federation".

It was extremely difficult to get Cardassia to trust the Dominion again but Odo smoothed things over and after a few more decades they rejoined the Dominion. This was amazing considering what happened towards the end of the Dominion war. The Dominion abused Cardassia until it revolved and then killed off over 800 million of the planet's citizens in retaliation, with the intention of killing every Cardassian on the planet. It had greatly helped the Dominion's image when they were able to convince Cardassia to rejoin.

How they were able to do that took nearly a century of relief founds and diplomatic negotiations. The Dominion took great pains to try to repair relations with the Cardassians, knowing that if they could convince them they changed the rest of the Alpha Quadrant would follow. However after they rejoined millions of Cardassians left all Cardassian worlds in protest and joined the Federation. They were given a planet to colonize as Federation Citizens. Still the Dominion's plan worked.

After Cardassia joined the Ferengi, the Breen, and countless other races of the Alpha Quadrant become citizens of the Dominion. The Romulans had joined as well but actually long before the new treaty.

The planet Romulus had been destroyed when it's sun went Supernova. The surviving Romulans had no choice but to go to the Gamma Quadrant and join the Dominion if they hoped to gain back their power.

More recently, 73 Years ago to be precise, the Klingons had made it known that they wanted to join the Federation but after realizing they would never be allowed due to their aggressive tendencies, which really wasn't their fault as it was genetic, they joined the Dominion instead. First contact had not gone well between the Dominion and the Klingons but same could be said of the Federation. The Dominion had been working on improving relationships in the Alpha Quadrant for the last 300 years and had largely succeeded. Losing the Klingons as allies was a huge blow to the Federation but the last couple of years they were staring to rekindle their old friendship.

The Federation and Dominion had developed a mutual respect and at times even a friendly rivalry with each other but it was a house of cards. At any time it could all come crashing down.

After the Dominion War but before the treaty The Federation couldn't ignore that they needed an actual military. 'To mold a safer galaxy' Starfleet was transformed into the combined forces of all planetary governments under the Federation. An Academy was built on every home planet connected to the Federation. There was also a large amount of propaganda thrown out encouraging alien races to join Starfleet. As a result Starfleet now had countless aliens of each Federation planet serving. 10 percent of each of the 573 planetary governments that belonged to the Federation had joined some branch of Starfleet and with at least a 200 billion population per species the Federation had an impressive fleet. Each Federation vessel was a joint effort by all planets. There were more aliens then humans on most ships.

Alien races such as the Tamarians who had joined the Federation 127 years ago. It was tricky to communicate with them as Tamarians didn't think like most lifeforms but rather purely in imagery. Their written language was a series of odd hieroglyphics which didn't represent words so much as actions, places, objects, names, and species. They spoke entirely in metaphor, referring to the history and even myths of their culture. Beyond that they actually spoke in galactic standard so if you knew the stories of their people you could understand what they mean.

Data was downloading the meaning of all their hieroglyphics and all the stories written in it so Lore would be able to communicate with them easily. Many human stories had been translated into the hieroglyphics so that humans could understand more easily when a Tamarianthem using stories from their own culture for the metaphors.

Human customs washing over to the other races was unavoidable despite how much humanity claimed they didn't want that. Oddly now that other races were more involved and humanity was forced in the background of the Federation that allowed humans to gain an incredible amount of influence. For example most Federation planets abandoned the use of money. They 'lived not for the accumulation of wealth but to better themselves as well as the Federation' as humans liked to preach. Really with the existence of replicators money was completely obsolete. Lore stopped using money after Soong betrayed him but that was mostly because he just took what he wanted.

Back to the Federation history, many planets also dissolved their military forces and began to rely solely on the Armed forces of the Federation, namely the newly formed Starfighter and Marine Corps as Starfleet itself was mostly still used for exploration, research, and diplomatic missions. The Federation did not like to fight but they learned with the Dominion and the Borg that sometimes there was no choice. Still they kept most of their resources with Starfleet but didn't neglect the Starfighters and Marines, who largely tasked with defending and more often then not attacking the Borg.

The new Borg Data mentioned were interesting. They still considered themselves Borg and were working hard on 'fixing' their 'malfunctioning brothers' or one of the thousands of other names they gave to their counterparts. They wanted to bring back their personalities. They still upgraded people but now they gave them a choice.

This didn't mean they were completely peaceful. They had a habit of firing on ships if they attacked their 'Unenlightened brothers'. They might be self aware but they made a point of saying they were still Borg. They could hear the lost voices of their counterparts. They saw those Borg purely as victims and were doing everything in their power to protect them until all Borg were self aware. They appeared in more then one battle in order to let their counterparts get away. Relationships between these new Borg and the Federation and the Dominion were tense as a result but they were also know to help in scientific endeavors and trade goods with other species.

These Borg had built a Dyson Sphere, the largest ever made that was twice the size of an average solar system, in the Delta Quadrant with the help of the Federation and for the most part kept to themselves inside it.

Federation technology had greatly advanced in 300 years. It was hardly recognisable to Lore.

The average space stations were the size of small moons but they also had a few Dyson Spheres, much smaller then the Borg one, in Federation space as well. They figured out how to build them after a hundred years of studying an actual one the Enterprise Lore was familiar with stumbled on. Now they could even stabilize a star and use it as a permanent source of unlimited energy for the Sphere.

These people now had Replicators so advanced they could create complex chemicals and computers previously unavailable to the Federation. They might even be able to mass produce Positronic Brains if a suitable model designed specifically for that was developed. Data had included the science behind that. He clearly hoped for new eyes to analyse the information to help build more androids. Data downloaded a lot of information in regards to robotics and Artificial intelligence that he probably shouldn't have.

There was a sentient computer that was fully integrated with this ship. Every Starfleet vessel had one. She basically was the ship, every single circuit was a part of her brain with her files having backups of backups all throughout the system protecting not only Starfleet information but her own personality and memories.

There was a series of projectors all throughout the ship so several holographic versions of her could appear in any room or hallway during an emergency. There were even long range projectors that worked with the long range sensors which allowed holograms to appear on any planet within sensor range.

She was only one program but she perceived things differently. Like androids she processed a great deal of information at once and was good at multitasking. This allowed her to be in multiple places at once and function coherently. It was nothing more then the computer creating a small army of holographic puppets. These puppets allowed the computer to interact with the crew well she actually perceived things through the sensors of the ship.

In addition to the ship there were three other programs that used Holographic puppets to interact as well. A Medical officer that actually acted as the bulk of the medical crew but was usually not the Chief medical officer onboard. A Security Officer program that insured as little people as possible died in combat but technology to disrupt holograms did exist although their were counters to it. And a program capable of performing all the tasks normally left to civilian. From bartender to host to entertainer to barber to teacher he could do any civilian job if there were not enough civilians to do them.

These programs were the ones usually calling Data away and as they were a part of the ship and could be anywhere and everywhere they could easily inform the entire crew not to disturb the Captain.

The usefulness of these programs was discovered through the Mark One Emergency Medical Hologram, as well as the fact they were sentient lifeforms. It was discovered that anything that had problem solving abilities and kept a record of their experiences would eventually gain self awareness.

In order to stop accidentally creating lifeforms they needed to stop giving unnecessary programs the ability to think. If a simple Holodeck program, meant purely for entertainment, came across a problem they weren't designed for they were programmed to ignore it and not try to solve it. The Civilian holographic program would try to solve it himself and write in the solution into the game. This way only one artificial intelligence was needed to play games and this intelligence knew it was just a game with it playing both with and against organics using the other characters as interactive chess pieces. It basically turned Holodecks into a game of 'Dungeons and Dragons', an old 20th century game which involved a 'Dungeon Master' organizing the collective imaginations of the players in a fictional world.

The Civilian program was based off of a Holosuite program called Vic Fontaine who was originally just an entertainer and accidentally crafted with Artificial intelligence. Although the generic name of the program was 'Civilian Holographic Interface' each individual was encouraged to come up with their own name. However it seemed Medical programs were often just called Doctor and the Security program was usually just called Security Officer. The ship program was usually the only one to start out with a name which obviously was just the name of the ship, in this case 'Enterprise'. These distinct personalities could easily exist in the ship because the vessel had such vast memory space for all of them which allowed them to expand their own interest near indefinitely.

The ship was remarkably impressive. The bloody thing could hold its own against a Borg Super Cube. The USS Enterprise-V, the first Utopian class Starship ever built. Lore never could have conceived of such a ship.

It could travel consistently at Trans-Warp speeds. Warp drive, although still in use, seemed so backwards to what they had discovered. Also despite traveling great distances Trans Warp prevented them from studying what lay between so Warp and impulse speeds were still commonly used by Starfleet ships. The theories of Trans Warp were included in the download as apparently they were common knowledge taught to school children.

The weapons of the ship were impressived as well. A new Torpedo was developed capable of generating a small black hole, this time the science on 'how' wasn't available beyond saying it was caused by something called 'red matter' but wouldn't say just what that was. It was in grenades that only created a small hole that barely lasted long enough to suck in a person it directly hit as well as Red Matter Torpedoes that pulled in a small portion of a ship. Of course a ten meter black hole lasting three seconds would pull in a hundred meters of ship or more. Anything over that was illegal and red matter weapons were only to be used against the non self aware Borg.

The ship had deflector shields that could remain stable inside a small star, was over five kilometers long with over three hundred decks and a maximum capacity of over 30,000 not including holograms. This thing was its own city.

Deck 137 seemed to be the most interesting by far, the 'Recreation Deck'. An entire deck devoted purely to kicking up your feet. Starfleet always was about embracing the luxuries of life. Even outside of this deck you could find the occasional bar or Holodeck. The various districts of Deck 137 were all planned out meticulously by Starfleet even, interestingly enough, the red light district for lifeforms that weren't as bashful about their sexual desires as humans.

Lore wanted to laugh that this district was kept as far way as possible from the Children's District. Of course the Children's District did have the most thought put into it. Lore wanted to snort at everything it had.

The kids got their very own 'Juice Bars' that restricted their diets and made sure things like alcohol or even that cheap imitation of it couldn't be retrieved from the Replicators anywhere in that district. The 'Bars' were simple lounges closed in to block out outside sound for a more relaxed atmosphere to gaze out at the stars. These areas had minor Holodeck capabilities to alter the appearance to look like different types of bars or clubs. Stuff like a 'Cowboy saloon' made child friendly and other such programs but only the adult Bartender, usually the civilian holographic interface, had control over it. The kids were allowed to make request over what type of atmosphere they would like. These 'bars' were often reserved by parents for birthday parties and other child related celebrations.

There was also a large number of Holodecks with 'Kid Friendly' programs. Things like exploring different planets on file, camping trips, mountain climbing, various sports with famous players, and tons of adventures based on books and comics or old games for children and teenagers. There was a few extremely large Holodecks that went on for a hundred and fifty meters that could be used to incorporate Sports arenas like a football field. It was big enough for dozens of kids to run around in at once. Your average Holodeck could only handle a few people because it used projections and seamless illusions played out on the walls to trick you into thinking it was bigger. Too many people doing their own thing meant they would be bumping into the walls as the various sensors tried to compensate to the perceptions of so many people. It wasn't good if you had enough people and actually wanted to play a large sport with them.

Also in the children's distract was a large garden with pretty flowers and plants and a large pool designed to look like a lake with a small waterfall over a 'cave'. The end of the 'lake' being 4 meter deep and it slowly got more shallow through its 50 meter length until it barely touched your feet like the shore of a real lake. The lake could generate small waves monitored by the adult staff that worked their but they didn't turn them on very often. The rest of the place was a beautiful garden with picnic areas.

There was also a room devoted to the classic human playground with swings, forts, ballpits, tunnels, sandboxes, slides, and such.

Then there was a 'Skate park' for hover boards. It was the only place on the ship you were allowed to use a hover board. Unfortunately the obstacle course could only be used by the older kids but there were still ramps and stuff the younger ones got to use.

Across from that was a petting zoo filled with puppies, kitties, bunnies, lizards, alpacas, and a bunch of alien animals to. There was even a tank in front of the window with some of the more docile aquatic life such as Dolphins and some of the much beloved alien fish. With the tank pressed up to the window it made it look like the creatures were swimming with the stars. It looked unbelievably beautiful when the ship got close to a sun or planet. The tank had a sidewalk at the top and a ladder to get to it so kids could sit at the edge of the tank and pet the fish and creatures that were not quite fish. The older kids even got to swim in the tank. The keeper of all the animals often let the kids, regardless of age, help feed them.

Then there was an 'Arcade' filled with many alien games and Ancient Earth 'Videogames' that were making a comeback due to their popularity with alien races. It also kept the children entertained well they waited for their turn in a Holodeck.

There was also a simple lounge with comfy chairs and a quiet atmosphere perfect for reading and star gazing.

With how ridiculously large all these rooms were you can imagine how big the district was. Based on how much more detail Data was uploading on it it was safe to assume he wanted to take whatever new android he was constructing there and wanted Lore's opinion.

Unlike the other Districts the children's distract was heavily reinforced with an added combination of blast doors, force fields, its own emergency generator, a massive chamber to hold rare matter for the replicators, a backup life support system, and the ability to be completely closed off from the rest of the ship if needed. In case of attack the children would all be safe. During a yellow alter all children were to report to this area immediately and there were even drills for kids just in case.

Lore often wondered why Starfleet even allowed kids onboard but it seemed they were finally taking steps to keep them safe.

Most of the crew consisted of science officers, engineers, command officers, and their families. There weren't many medical officers, or security as the computer largely replaced them with holograms and those that were on board were meant to act in emergency in case something happened and they couldn't generate the Holograms. Pilots weren't all that common either, at least on this ship, as Data trusted the computer to fly them where they needed to go.

A cloaking device? After Romulus was destroyed and it's government fell apart the Federation decided the treaty was rendered moot. The Federation went back to researching Cloaking devices, an old project the Enterprise-D exposed all those years ago had been reinitiated and Cloaking devices capable of phasing through matter constructed on ever starship. Even when phasing the cloak was highly susceptible to energy discharge, such as that from a photon torpedoes.

After Romulus was revived on 'New Romulus' in the Gamma Quadrant the treaty wasn't restored. The Dominion said they wouldn't take any aggressive action for the Federation breaking their agreement with one of their people and if the Federation handed over copies of the science behind the phasing cloak they would be allowed to use the technology without further complaint from the Dominion. The Federation was always willing to make a peaceful compromise.

These Utopian class Starship were large enough to have 7 entire decks in the stardrive section and 10 large hanger bays in the Saucer section devoted purely to Mosquito class shuttlecrafts, short range shuttles designed for combat. The shuttles looked like a rocket with three nacelles (one on top and at the sides). It had two powerful lasers and a torpedo bay usually stucked with ten torpedoes. They had no replicators or sleeping quarters, just a cockpit modeled after ancient jets with advanced Starship controls. They were purely a short range military shuttle. They were well named for being small and agile with a taste for blood. These shuttles onboard Starfleet vessels allowed for better defence and greater cooperation between Starfighters and Starfleet.

Lore let the knowledge fill him. It wasn't just the last three hundred years of the Federation being downloaded into his brain but the complete history of every civilization the Federation had encountered in that time. The complete medical template for each species and all new engineering advancements not considered 'classified' was downloaded as well. All the information took up an entire Petabyte.

Lore shivered "I always loved a good download, gives a bit of a rush"

"Indeed?" Data tilted his head

"You need to appreciate the little things in life dear brother" Lore smiled as Data removed a circular device from his memory port. There was no wires attached to it. A plug that downloaded information from the wireless network on the ship. They still hadn't figured out how to create an instantaneous subspace network across the whole galaxy but that just resulted in computers being made to have a much larger memory capacity. A single data crystal could hold 157 Yottabytes of information. Lore's brain still operated far quicker than a normal computer but he didn't have near the memory capacity.

"I need a Tricorder" Lore informed as he was let out of his little cage. With the look Data was giving him he snorted "Not a Starfleet issue one just standard. It will be good to store unnecessary information and it's scanners are more accurate then my own"

Data nodded

"So... care to show me to my quarters?" Lore asked

"You will be staying in mine and Geordi's quarters"

"Yours and Geordi's hum, can't say I didn't see that coming" Lore throw his arm over Data's shoulder "B-4 living with us to?"

"They are large quarters with seven bedrooms"

"Only seven? Well I guess that's enough space for when we finish piecing the kids together, if they bunk... you're sure it will work this time?"

"I assume you are referring to the construction of the next Android. There have been significant advancements in engineering and I believe the next Model will last indefinitely... however you should prepare yourself as I had believed the same thing of all other models"

Lore snorted "So don't get attached"

"On the contrary, I find it very rewarding to get attached. Even if something happens I can store the memory anagrams and give them a new body when I manage to start replicating them"

"Manufacturing a Positronic Brain specifically for the purpose of being replicated isn't going to be easy. We'll need to lay down the circuitry in simple patterns well still maintaining optimum sufficiency. You have the ability to just make another android right now with low risk of system failure but trying to create a Positronic Brain to be replicated greatly increases the chance he'll die"

"Our race needs to be able to reproduce more efficiently. If we create other Androids the way we were built the same issues we have will be their's. It will be difficult for them to continue constructing others if anything happens to us just as the technology was lost for hundreds of years after the death of Dr. Soong. With the capability of replicating Positronic Brains at will we are insured our species will survive beyond us"

Lore snorted "We're both proof it's hard to keep an android dead"

"But it is not impossible, if this ship were to explode for instance their would be nothing left to repair. I want to not only create more of us but insure our species will survive indefinitely"

Lore sighed "Fine, just show me where our Quarters are, followed by that tour of the ship I was promised"

"To unrestricted areas only" Data informed heading for the door and opening. It opened by itself at his approach. Primitive cultures are actually impressed by the idea of a motion sensor.

They walked down the hall and it seemed much in the style of the old Enterprise Lore was familiar with. Computer monitors on the walls (only now they had the option of creating a interactive holographic map and other such things) and such with an extra blue strip of light were the wall meets the ceiling. Analysing them Lore found those were the Holographic projectors. When they got in the Turbolift the only real difference was how quickly and effortlessly it moved. Even with the sensors in his body Lore could barely feel the thing moving as it paused less then a faction of a second each time it changed direction.

When they finally got to the living Quarters Lore had himself a look. There were windows on the ceiling at least 4 meters above their heads looking out at the stars. They must be at the very tip top of the ship. The room was decorated with art pieces and sculptures that were actually quite good. Three hundred years of practice could do that. Data always had been obsessed with creating art of all kinds. There were also some... interesting drawings next to the replicator that looked like a small child had drawn them.

"You like my pictures?" Another android with his face appeared. He was wearing a skin tight yellow outfit with red and purple strips at the shoulders, ankles, and were the short sleeves cut off at the bicep. It was obviously a child's design in clothes "I drew them. With CRAYONS!" the droids voice echoed mechanically in his throat with an air of childlike innocence.

"They're very pretty" Lore assured

"You're not me, but your not Data either. Data told me we had another brother and he was fixing him"

"That would be me. I am Lore and you must be B-4"

"You know me?" B-4 grinned

"A little bit"

"Want to go to the children's district? We can pet the animals! But you have to be careful though and not be too rough or you'll hurt them"

"I'll keep that in mind"

"B-4" Data got the androids attention "Let Lore get settled first, then you may take him to all your favorite places"

"Kay" B-4 nodded then looked at Lore "Want to see my room?"

Data shook his head but Lore smiled and agreed. The little guy, as Lore felt compelled to call him despite being the exact same height down to the centimeter, smiled back and tugged at his arm until they were in the room.

B-4's room was a rather messy, which considering how anal Data was probably got him in a bit of trouble.

"This is stuffy" B-4 held up a teddy bear "Data got him for me" if there was any further evidence that Data treated B-4 like a child that was it. B-4 showed off all his action figures and more drawings and even the amazing view of the stars he had out his window. After a while though B-4 seemed to get uncomfortable "Lore, will you promise me something?"

"Depends on the promise" Lore shrugged

"Can you not die?"

Lore blinked staring at the android.

"I'm not supposed to talk about this but most of the androids Data builds don't function for very long"

"You know about that?"

"We play together and have fun but they all end up getting sick. Data says he can bring them back one day but I don't like seeing them shut down. Promise that won't happen this time?"

"Well... that isn't very likely to happen with me anyway as I'm your brother not say your nephew. The man who built you and Data built me and he was a good bit smarter then Data. He built us to last but Data hasn't figured out how to do that yet"

"Why?"

"That's a tough question"

"Why?"

"It just is, hey look The dinosaurs are attacking Captain Photon" Lore pointed at some toys laying on floor. He picked up a dinosaur and had it bite the superhero in question.

"No!" B-4 laughed grabbing Photon and having him Fly away well the dinosaurs chased after him.

###

Data left Lore to relax in their Quarters with B-4 and returned to his duties. B-4 had volunteered to give Lore his much desired tour later.

Stepping onto the bridge the Android looked around. There was a large sheet of glass looking out into space that could be used as the main veiw screen. There were two stations near that screen with seven much smaller view screens around a desk. Just behind those stations were two rows of six identical stations. There were a higher floor at the back which could be gotten to by a ramp at either side. Up there were six chairs each with a fold away screen in the armrest. The Captain's chair was between the others on an elevated platform surrounded by a dozen large screens with the controls for them on the armrest. The screens hovered around the chair and could be moved out of the way at the Captain's discretion.

Data took his chair and moved the screen behind it so he could see what the bridge crew was doing. They were mostly monitoring the situation as the ship flew herself under most circumstances. She just reacted quickly then organic lifeforms.

"Captain" First Officer and Chief Engineer Commander Geordi La Forge smiled sitting next to Data. The dark skinned man with synthetic eyes was young in appearance despite having centuries of experience.

It was good to have his husband back. Marriages are legally terminated at each rejuvenation cycle and spouses lost contact with their former spouse as it was deemed inappropriate. This is why when someone was rejuvenated usually their spouse asked for the procedure as well, so they could be together and not get in any legal trouble since rejuves were considered minors. There were orphanages set up where you could get adopted but usually you went to your own kids or some other family member to take care of you and went to special schools that acted as universities since they still retained their adult mind. Data could not have any of that as he was an android. He had no childhood body to be regressed into.

"Geordi" Data smiled

The rest of the senior staff was here as well.

Avarak was a Vulcan-Romulan. His parents had hoped he would be the one to build a bridge between their two people's. Hence his name 'One who Raises Hope'. Not usually a burden someone would place on a boy's shoulders but both Vulcans and Romulans could be extreme in their own ways. Vulcans letting their entire life be dictated by cold logic and Romulans who were ruled purely by their passions. Avarak had both extremes fighting for control inside him at all times with both parents disappointed that their plan hadn't worked. Instead of both species following the young man into a new age they shunned him and distrusted him. He was the Second Officer onboard but also worked as the Tactical Officer, organizing their defenses during an attack.

The Chief of Security was actually the Holographic Security Officer Interface. Data relied a lot more on the programs and put a good deal more trust in them then most captains. They were sentient beings, most people acknowledged that, but they were still hesitant to hand over vital decisions to computer programs. Data saw it as they were literally crafted to be the best at their jobs and trusted them to do it. Outside of a possible combat situation this programs usual duties as Chief of Security mostly just handled disputes onboard the Enterprise and chased down children who played "hookie" from school.

With a ship of over ten thousand crewmembers security was a more tasking job then one imagined. The ship was the size of a small colony after all so despite it being a highly disciplined military colony disputes still popped up with some regularity. Still security also was vital for missions were a team was sent away from the ship but again that was a possible combat situation.

The Security Program, called Sec by many of the crewman, was modeled after a human male in his early 20s with bleach blonde hair green eyes and dark skin. Programs got to choose what they looked like and could change their appearance at any time. Still this was his favorited look. Being a hologram came in handy as he was able to perfectly orchestrate the forces thanks to his ability to be in multiple places at once. He worked closely with Avarak during an emergency and if something happened to the holographic projectors Avarak took over as Chief of Security.

Maul, a Cardassian, was the Commander of the Starfighters on board. He had a love of music and art but, as typical of Cardassians, seemed far too eager at opportunities to inflict pain. He insisted on leading most missions that required the Starfighters himself and was a dedicated commander. Data had to order him to stay on the bridge in order to better orchestrate the shuttles maneuvers on more the one occasion.

Shonnas ch'Zharath was the Chief Science Officer. Like most Andorians he was blue skinned with antennas. He was an interesting fellow. A bit too obsessed with recreation but it didn't seem to affect his duties. He had a young son but sadly the wife had died several years ago in a borg attack.

The Chief Medical officer was again a program. The crew merely called him 'Doc' although that was hardly a real name. He actually liked to change his appearance and race randomly which could be distracting, although he remained male and wore a white labcoat from the 20th century over his uniform along with a stethoscope around his neck. His odd choice of accessories was a means of letting the crew know who he was regardless what form he took. In addition to his duties as Chief medical officer and most of the staff he also was the ship's councillor.

Data lost his smile as he explained to them all "I gave Lore permission to move around the ship"

"With armed guards I hope" Geordi commented

"He is fully repaired. There will not be an incident" Data assured. Most people on board didn't know Lore's history as it was three hundred years ago. Not even a good portion of the senior staff cared but some were hesitant to trust Lore. Hopefully that would change with time.

"I hope your right," Geordie sighed, "I know how much he means to you. I just want you to prepare yourself for disappointment,"

"I am fully aware of the possibility this endeavour will prove to be-"

"Data," Geordie looked at him, cutting through the healthy levels of distance the clinical description proved.

"I know it could go so horribly wrong," Data assured him, "I am willing to take the risk,"

Geordie sighed, "Not like we never faced uncharted waters before," He smiled, "To Boldly Go, and all that,"

Data smiled at the sentiment.