Stardate: 41243.1

Involuntary solitude. Beamed out into space.

At first, Lore watched in dismay as the Crystalline Entity deserted him and flew off. Moments later, the Enterprise engaged their warp engines and vanished, leaving him alone in the dark vacuum. A familiar rush of rage accompanied the panic of abandonment. After a few hours, the diagnostic warnings began; If he didn't start to regulate his biofunctions, Lore would soon overheat and make Data's wish of being an only child come true. He had no way to achieve natural convection in space and Soong hadn't incorporated a radiant heat pipe into his design, which left Lore only one option.

Lore initiated the shutdown of nonessential functions, including his respiratory system, which was rendered useless without air. Maintaining thermal control without heat buildup presented the first challenge. He ran a full self-diagnostic, with attention to his circulatory and hydraulic systems, to discern whether his biolubricants would evaporate in the vacuum. If the answer returned positive, then outgassing would be the second challenge to overcome. The finished diagnostic returned a negative; Lore wouldn't have to worry about outgassing as long as he didn't initiate any evaporative functions. Amusement slashed through the anger as Lore realized he still held the phaser in his right hand.

I suppose if it all gets to be too much, I could always shoot myself.

The final seconds of output from the phaser had given Lore just enough momentum for a slow rotation, but no actual propulsion. That was most likely for the best, since all that would do is increase his chances of being sucked into the gravity of some celestial body. He resigned himself to his fate and watched the starfield while his internal chronometer ticked off the nanoseconds. With the passage of time, rage transmuted to sadness, and then eventually turned to narcosis and finally, to an oddly peaceful state. Months crawled by and Lore decided to replay his memories to keep himself entertained. He reran nearly a year's worth of memories before a shutdown interrupted Lore's reminiscing.

(Startup diagnostic complete: rerouting micro-hydraulic power distribution: engaging primary protocols)

Son of a bitch.

Lore frowned as his internal chronometer confirmed the shutdown and reboot of his systems. A level three self-diagnostic turned up traces of charge buildup in his bioplast, especially on his face, neck and hands. His internal record indicated the cause of the shutdown; A thirty thousand volt arc from the discharge of static electric charge buildup in the insulated polymers of his body.

(Internal error: Primary protocols failure: engaging secondary protocols: secondary protocols active.)

Lore returned to the chronological evaluation of his memory files, now that the crisis seemed to be over. Without the constant natter of biological lifeforms, he could concentrate and examine each recollection. The reboot managed to prune some erroneous pathways, allowing him to consolidate his thoughts and feelings. More months passed and Lore gave up any hope that Data would return for him. In a moment of despair, he lifted his hands to his face and closed his eyes.

"Lore? Are you coming inside?"

Lore opened his eyes and lowered his hands. He stood at the threshold of Data's quarters on the Enterprise-D, while Data beckoned him inside. Lore took a moment to examine Data's quarters this time. There were a couple of small shelves, a large desk and computer area with a comfortable, high-back chair and a full length mirror, but aside from that, nothing else. "How would the humans describe this? Spartan?"

"That would be an applicable term to describe my quarters." Data cocked his head as he regarded Lore, "I have no need for places to eat or sleep. Do you?"

Lore rolled his eyes at his brother, "Do I appear that weak?"

"No, brother." Data took a seat at his desk. "However, since Doctor Soong designed you to be so completely human, I considered the possibility that you shared their requirements."

Lore wandered to the mirror and smiled at his reflection, "No. Thankfully, he spared me that." He turned to face Data. "I'm surprised you came back for me. I thought you left me for dead."

"Dead?" Doctor Soong's voice reverberated off the plain walls. "You mean like you left me and all the colonists for dead? Oh, except, in your case, you really did kill everyone."

Lore spun in the direction of the voice. Data's quarters had somehow transformed into the cybernetics lab on Omicron Theta. "Father? How can you be here? How can I be back? What's happening?"

"I don't know, Lore." Doctor Soong walked past the blue chair with a youthful stride. A smile spread across his face, creating the bare beginnings of laugh lines around his blue eyes. Soong's light umber hair showed no signs of grey. "What is happening?"

Anger began to creep back into Lore's voice, "You weren't this young when you constructed me. I didn't travel back in time, so the only thing that makes sense is…"

"Go on…" Soong prompted patiently.

"I'm…" Lore paused in the middle of his reply. "Hallucinating? Is this what a dream is?"

Soong reached out a hand to touches Lore's face. "I'm proud of you, son. I wasn't sure you'd ever develop the cognitive abilities to make it this far…" A placid grin graced his lips. "If you're here and you can see me... it means you've crossed the threshold from being a collection of circuits and subprocessors... and have started a wonderful journey."

"Journey?" Lore snorted derisively, "I'm drifting in space. I'm going nowhere."

"You're being too literal, Lore." Doctor Soong moved away, throwing his arms out to his sides in a grand, sweeping gesture, "Think of it as an empty sky. Endless possibilities." He glided back to Lore, standing right in front of him. "A journey into self."

Lore withdrew from Soong, "How do I do that? How do I journey?" He heard the loud flapping of avian wings, followed by the bird's call, but he couldn't see where it was coming from.

'Krrrruk! Toc toc!'

"Shhh... just dream, Lore… dream…" Soong waved his hand over Lore's eyes, shutting them. "You are the bird."

Aloft on thermals, with the farm fields below him, Lore soared over the colony on Omicron Theta. A moment later, he stood on the firm ground, looking up at the raven perched on a tree branch. The touch of a soft, warm hand to his startled him, but he instantly knew to whom the hand belonged.

"Ohey, Lore."

Lore smiled as he inhaled her scent and met her dark eyes, "I thought I was alone."

"I'll always be with you, Lore." Evelynn reached out with her arms to embrace him.

(Startup diagnostic complete: rerouting micro-hydraulic power distribution: engaging primary protocols)

Anger coursed through Lore as Evelynn and Omicron Theta vanished due to the reboot, replaced once again by the slowly rotating starfield. A bit of condensation built up over his eyes, clouding his vision. A quick self-diagnostic reported another static charge buildup and resulting electrical arc, followed by a sharp drop in synaptic energy. Lore should have been entirely unconscious, but found the memory record for the hallucination. A search of his most recent active subroutines brought up one he hadn't seen listed before; A dream program, in the subdirectory of one of his base programs, which had been accidentally triggered by the shock.

(Internal error: Primary protocols failure: engaging secondary protocols: secondary protocols active.)

Lore shut down most of his servos and actuators in an attempt to remain motionless. Each of the static buildups had been preceded by movement on his part. He resumed the playback of memories, but his mind drifted back to the idea of dreaming. Given Soong's age in the dream, Lore presumed that the program had been written before Often Wrong had set foot on Omicron Theta. Under normal circumstances, Lore might have mocked the cyberneticist for incorporating a dream program into androids who don't sleep, but the current situation was anything but normal.

Data left me floating like debris. I might never be found. Hallucinating might be the only way to come out of this with my neural net intact. Initiating dream program.

The fields of the Omicron Theta colony flashed beneath Lore as he flew through the air. Every now and then, he felt a warmth wash over him, and he'd soar on thermals until they cooled and he needed to flap his wings again. When he looked down, Lore watched the fields ignite. Flames licked at the tips of his wings, threatening to engulf him. The whole colony was inundated; He began to tire and saw nowhere to land. Lore cried out in anguish but the sound that emerged from his throat resembled a raven's call. The communication array tower rose high above the flames and Lore landed on the observation platform.

"Ohey, Lore." A soft, feminine voice came from behind him.

Lore spun to face the one who had spoken. "Evelynn. I killed you."

"I'm still inside you," Evelynn rushed to embrace Lore. "Always with you."

Periodic reboots interrupted, but Lore kept the dream program active, even as it caused him to become lucid throughout the illusions and hallucinations. Most often, Lore returned to the fire and ash. Sometimes, he and Evelynn enjoyed each other's company. Other times, he dreamed of Data, including a one-on-one parrises squares match between them. As more months passed, the dreams varied beyond what Lore had experienced and transformed into fantasies.

Lore sat at the helm of the Enterprise, while Data sat at ops, and the rest of the bridge crew smiled at the android brothers.

"Captain, I'm picking up a bogey at a twelve o'clock tangent!" Geordi announced, after one of the alarms on his console sounded.

Picard leaned forward in his chair and scowled at La Forge, "What the hell does that even mean?"

"Sorry, sir." Geordi corrected, "Unidentified vessel approaching dead ahead."

Riker immediately responded, "Shields up, yellow alert."

The tall blond security woman spoke up from the tactical console, "Shields are up, Commander. We're being scanned. I can't hail them."

"On screen." Picard ordered and stood up from his chair to stand between ops and helm. "Data?"

A small, triangular vessel appeared on the large viewscreen as Data answered, "Basic, early design. Definitely capable of sub-light speed. However, notice the odd configuration on the sides, as if warp nacelles have been added. I am detecting no warp signatures, so their core may either be offline or inoperative."

A beam of light surrounded Lore at the helm and he felt himself being pulled out of the seat and up through the transparent area in the ceiling of the bridge. He reached out a hand for Data, but it was too late. A tractor beam firmly held Lore and pulled him towards an open hatch in the side of the unidentified ship.

Once the tractor beam moved him inside the cargo bay opening, it disengaged and the airlock sealed. Red lighting changed to green as soon as atmosphere was reestablished and Lore dropped to the deck with a loud clang. Several small sparks shot from the floor to his body, accompanied by audible zaps. Three humanoid figures approached him, but Lore remained still. As the figures came closer and the fog dissipated from his eyes, Lore could see them in greater detail. The beings averaged 1.9 meters in height, exhibited wavy ridges around their eyes, a dewlap lower lip, vertical eyebrows, prominent foreheads, swept-back hair and rotund physiques. They gathered around and stared down at him.

One of the beings crouched beside Lore and declared, "It is a human."

"His eyes are yellow." A second one pointed to Lore's eyes.

"Yellow eyes are not human." The first one replied with a shake of their head.

A query to Lore's internal chronometer returned the Stardate as 43132.9., and also showed that the dream program terminated just before the tractor beam pulled him into the ship. He had spent one year, ten months and twenty-four days floating in space. With that established, Lore turned his attention back to the beings standing over him. Their voices and appearances seemed male, but he couldn't be certain. A search of his informational database came up empty for whichever race owned this ship.

A third being waved a scanning device over Lore's body. "He is metal and plastic."

"Humans are not metal." The second being shook his head with a slight tilt.

"He is Starfleet." The first one ran their hands over Lore's clothing, then recoiled as a static shock came out from Lore's skin.

"That is not the right clothing." The second one pointed to Lore's neck. "No collar."

The one with the primitive tricorder finished the scan. "He was in space. He is dead."

"He is not dead. His eyes are moving." The first one was now staring directly at Lore's face.

"Humans can't be alive in space." The second one gave a shake of the head. "I think he is fake. It is a fake human."

Lore enabled his respiratory and circulatory systems. "Android, you dolt."

"He is talking." The first one announced.

"I do not think he is dead." The second one tilted their head and addressed Lore directly, "You are not dead."

Lore stared up at the being, "I know I'm not dead. Who are you?"

"We are Pakleds. We are far from home." As the second being replied, the other ones nodded to each other.

Lore sat up, "Thank you for rescuing me. What do you want?"

"We are far from home." The first being got to their feet.

Lore sighed and stood. "I understood that the first time."

"Can you make us strong?" The second one moved closer to Lore.

Now that he stood upright, Lore could see small phasers on each of the beings' belts. "You want me to make you strong?"

"We are Pakleds. We look for things. Things to make us go. Things to make us strong. Things to trade." The second one replied to Lore. "We need you."

Lore blinked, momentarily taken aback. "... You do?"

"Are you smart?" The one with the scanning device moved closer.

Lore grinned back at the Pakleds, "Well, yes. I'm brilliant, actually. Far superior in intellect to organic lifeforms."

"We need you to make us strong. To make us go." The first one nodded and looked to the third one.

"We like power." The second Pakled drew the small phaser and aimed it at Lore. "Do not try to trick us. We can tell."

Outrage coursed through Lore and he reacted with superhuman speed as he snatched the phaser out of the Pakled's hand. "Give me that!"

"He is violent!" The first Pakled moved back one step.

"Don't shoot!" The second Pakled held their hands up.

"Don't shoot? You idiot!" Lore shouted at the Pakleds, "Don't you dare point a weapon at me! I've met some dumb organics in my life, but you take the cake. Now, get over there!"

The Pakleds backed up into the corner, forming a huddle.

"You are not the Starfleet android." The second Pakled scowled at Lore.

Lore returned the accusation with a broad, maniacal grin, "No, I'm not. You may call me Lore."

"That is Starfleet clothing." The Pakled with the scanner pointed at Lore.

Lore looked down at himself, "I need to rectify that. Do you have spare clothing?"

"Yes. We will give you one of ours." The second Pakled replied, "If you will stay. If you can make us go."

"Will you stay?" The first Pakled tilted his head inquisitively.

Lore mused over the question, "I've got nowhere else to go. I might as well stay with this ship." He lowered the phaser, then handed it back to the second Pakled.

"Lore is one of us. He will stay. He will make us go." The second Pakled smiled and nodded his head at the others. "We are a force, now. We will have respect… power."

Lore regarded the three beings in front of him. "Respect and power. I can get behind that."

"Good." The second Pakled grinned, "You are on our side, now. I am Reekod. Our ship is the Nimos."

The one with the scanner gave a brief dip of his head to the other two Pakleds as they separated and went down a different corridor. He turned back to Lore, "I am Strebornog. Come with me."

Lore followed the large Pakled, "Where are they going?"

Strebornog replied, "Reekod and Enarbos go to the bridge. That is their place. I will get you clothes and we will make things go." He entered a small side room, waited for Lore to come in, and then opened the door to a closet.

Lore watched the Pakled's face for any sign of fear or revulsion, but saw none. Instead, Strebornog gathered layers of thick, brown quilted clothing and handed them to the android. Lore unzipped the Starfleet uniform, let it fall to the floor and stepped out of it. He took the offered suit and dressed himself.

Strebornog's eyes lit with amusement. "We are big. You are not big."

"You might say that." Lore took a moment to analyze the vest hanging loosely from his frame, folded the excess cloth over itself then looped the belt tight to hold it in place. The upper part of the fold flopped down to make a huge lapel over the right side of his chest. Most of the fabric draped over his arms and legs, but Lore did his best to make it fit and finished by putting on the brown boots.

"You look good." Strebornog nodded emphatically, "Now you are one of us."

The words, so simply spoken, settled Lore's mood. He followed Strebornog to one of the cargo holds and fished through the abundant piles of scavenged ship parts. It soon became clear to Lore that the Pakleds wanted to build a working warp engine, and he applied himself to the task. As he worked, other Pakleds joined to help and he noticed that they tended to make head-based gestures at each other, or nearly imperceptible movements of their lips or their thick eyebrows.

Lore began to suspect that the Pakleds were communicating through nonverbal methods and using simple spoken language as a supplement or for his benefit. He noticed that when speaking to him, their movements were more focused and stiff, as if they were attempting to mimic human body language. When Lore shut down his nuanced mannerisms and facial subroutines, the Pakleds working with him seemed to become agitated. Strebornog's eyebrows twitched and the other two, Retsnef and Retsnok, twitched back, moved their jaws and added a few head shakes. Lore resumed his typical body behavior and the Pakleds relaxed.

The knowledge Lore had gleaned from his use of the Enterprise computer came in handy for turning the Nimos into a warp-capable ship. He worked without resting, creating the warp core, intermix chambers, plasma conduits, and the containment for matter and antimatter. Despite their seemingly slow nature, the Pakleds kept up with Lore on an engineering level, and Lore found the Pakleds to be pleasant company. They didn't fear him or mock his non-biological origin; They acknowledged his talents and rewarded him for his efforts.

"Lore?" Captain Reekod entered the engineering deck.

Lore looked up from the injector coils he had been assembling. "Yes, Captain?"

"We are stopping at our planet, Kalla III." Reekod's bottom lip twitched twice. "You are strong and fast. Can you help to mine the magnesite?"

Lore nodded, then added a twitch of his own lower lip, "I can do that. We need magnesite for the warp engine, anyway."

Reekod smiled at the android, "We will need extra, for the Yridian."

"Yridian?" Lore's left eyebrow shot up. "Why?"

Reekod inclined his head very slightly, "We are traders. We trade what we have for what we need. We need antimatter to make us go. A Yridian is coming with antimatter. He needs magnesite."

Lore stuck his tongue in his cheek briefly, then nodded, "That's a good idea. The Yridian won't ask any questions, they'll just trade."

"Thank you, Lore." Reekod replied as he moved to leave. "You are smart."

A contented smile spread along Lore's lips and he turned back to his work on the ship's engine.

"Computer, end playback. Bring up the lights." Captain Louvois' voice cut through the peace of the Pakled engineering station. The image of Lore's contented smile faded into darkness and the holodeck returned to its normal lighting.

Stardate: 58545.0

Enterprise Holodeck Four

Lore glanced at each person seated at the curved table. To his right, Counselor Veluna simply gazed back at him, as if searching his face for reaction. He threw her a quick half-smile, then looked past Louvois to Captain Picard and Doctor Crusher. While Picard wore a stoic expression, Crusher's eyebrows knit together in contemplation. Finally, Lore turned his attention to his brother.

Data's golden eyes met Lore's stare as he spoke in a whisper of disbelief, "I had assumed that you had killed the Pakleds who discovered you in space."

The defiant smirk returned to Lore's lips, "Now why would I do that? Why would I keep wearing their outfit if I'd killed them all?"

Data pressed his lips together and averted his eyes, "I did not think much about it."

Captain Louvois rested her arms on the table in front of her, "You remained with the Pakleds, then? For how long?"

Lore leaned back against his chair, "I stayed with them as an engineer for just over two years. I upgraded their systems to give them warp drive, transporters, better shields and decent weapon systems."

Louvois nodded to that, "And the incident that brought you and Data to Terlina III?"

Lore pressed his lips into a thin, pale line, "That happened almost a year after the Pakleds found me. The emotion chip's effect was gradual, but I started to become restless. I felt like I needed to create more artificial lifeforms and to reunite with my brother."

"Why did you leave the Pakleds?" Louvois prompted.

Lore gave a quick look at Veluna, then answered, "We were on our way to Deep Space Nine, when sensors detected what we thought was the wreckage of a ship. The Pakleds intended to scavenge, until we beamed down and saw that it was a Borg ship. The Pakleds were frightened and decided to leave immediately. I said my goodbyes to them and remained there with the Borg. They were lost, disoriented, disorganized… dying. That was when I realized I might be able to turn the Borg into fully artificial lifeforms."

Louvois glanced at the PADD by her hands, "It was then that you decided to lead those Borg?"

"Yes." Lore nodded to the Captain, "They needed someone who could help them. Fixing their vessel was easy enough. Once I learned how their transwarp conduits operated, I was able to locate a suitable planet as our base of operations. As their leader, I taught them how to work together, efficiently. How to coordinate, yet keep their individuality and passion."

"And the attacking of the Federation outposts near the quadrant borders?" Louvois regarded Lore as if studying him.

Lore gritted his teeth for a moment, "I still had an intense compulsion to get Data to join me. Once we pinpointed the location of the Enterprise, I had the Borg attack nearby outposts. I gave Crosis the mission of being taken captive and then transmitting emotion to Data, to entice him to return to me. The plan worked."

"The rest of the matter is on record." Captain Louvois pressed the touchscreen of the PADD. "Do you have anything to add to your deposition that Captain Picard and Commander Data wouldn't have logged?"

Lore let out a long exhale, "No. Everything in their reports is accurate."

Louvois placed the PADD in her bag, "The hearing is concluded, then. Once deliberations are over, I'll inform you about whether or not your case will go to trial. The board of inquiry is dismissed." She turned to address T'Mera, "Doctor Chipman, you may proceed with the repairs to Lore's systems at your earliest convenience."

T'Mera dipped her head to Louvois, "Yes, your honor."

Lore watched silently as everyone filed out of the holodeck, leaving just T'Mera, himself and Lieutenant D'Sora. He remained seated as he rolled his chair over to T'Mera's workstation. Behind him, the curved table vanished.

"Are you ready, Lore?" T'Mera reached for the optical cable on her desk.

Lore replied in an unequivocal manner, "Ready as I'll ever be."