Series :
• Star Trek.
• Halo.
• Mass Effect.
Subplot :
USS Emissary.
Summary :
Based on "The Last Spartan" by "DinoJake". Takes place during ME2 300 years after TNG. The Federation has finally unlocked how to traverse the distance between galaxies. Data commands the Starship Carrier "Emissary" the small fleet it holds. Maybe this wasn't the best time to reactive Lore.
CHAPTER .
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 then 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.
In addition to the armor, he wore a White coat that was barely long enough to reach his stomach. It was even designed to close. It was purely cosmetic to give the Armor a more balanced look.
It had a few pockets inside, and a Starfleet badge on the left peck. The pins, to show rank, were pinned on the coat's collar. As of course the armor was too dense for them to be pinned to that.
Still his jacket sleeves were denoted by gold trim, complimented by a... familiar insignia. Then a solid white braid, was going down the shirt, and a separate gold strip going down the coat under the braid. The same Insignia was embroidered on his shoulders, a eight pointed star.
he wasn't a common officer, not even a captain. He was an Admiral. Sure the lowest ranking an Admiral could have, but still an Admiral. A "Rear Admiral" to be exact.
Completing his scan of the outfit, the newly awaken android stared at the other.
"Welcome back Lore," said the android Admiral. "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 2,675, it has been 308 years since you were deactivated. You are onboard the USS Emissary. A Starship Carrier, Utopian Class."
Like that was supposed to mean anything to Lore. As far as he knew, the Federation didn't have Starship Carriers. Data continued, oblivious to Lore's confusion, "New technological advancements have allowed me to fix your damaged circuitry."
Lore chose to ignore the ship class and focus on the important things. "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 era's 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?" Lore smirked, teasingly.
Data didn't look up from the Console, merely continued typing. Eventually he said, while still looking down, "After I realized I could not only repair your damage, but your malfunction, I spent 57.821 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 dozens of 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 promoted to Commodore. He was transferred to this ship at my request."
"Eh?"
Data explained, "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 led to 'Rejuve Pods' which implement the scientific principles in a safer, more controlled, environment.
"It is now a common medical procedure, usually preformed after an individual turns 150, or if the subject has become heavily injured, to the point of permanent disability.
"These children retain their adult memories, but their brain chemistry causes them to mentally regress. Which can have additional psychological effects on the mind. As a result they need to be handled differently then first time children, but are still children.
"They are sent to schools specially designed to handle their education, as well as psychological traumas.
"They are allowed to reenlist at a Starfleet Academy when they turn 16, without having to go through application processes again, but it is necessary to go over remedial courses, and any changes to Starfleet protocols, and training with new technologies.
"Once they graduate Starfleet Academy, they are given back their old rank... usually, sometimes exemplary acts which lead to the need for Rejuvenation will result in a promotion... but their are easier ways to get promoted." was that... a joke? The way Data hesitated and his expectant look suggested it was.
Data still wasn't funny, but he could now make jokes intentionally. Lore congratulated him by cracking a smile, which made Data smile... which made Lore's chest ache.
"Anyway," Data Continued. "As a result of the Rejuve Pods, it has become a good deal more difficult to move up in rank, as usually you are expected to have at least 2 lifetimes of experience, just to be promoted to Captain. To be promoted to third officer, requires 1 lifetime, but it's possible to be promoted again to 2nd or even 1st Officer, in that lifetime.
"Populations have also skyrocketed, but thanks to advancements in Terraforming, artificial environments, and Dyson's Sphere technology. We have been able to keep up with demand. Without compromising our morals, against Terraforming worlds that could develop life.
"Our biggest help has been the ability to create artificial atmospheres, which keep the planet warm and creates light. That has allowed us to Terraform previously impossible to Terraform planets."
"So..." Lore tried to get Data to backtrack. The guy was just rambling, as he tends to do, "Geordi is a kid?... that must be awkward, considering how much you two wanted to bang each other." Lore chuckled.
However, Data looked confused, "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 years, 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. The Rejuve process fixed those injuries. Geordi said he would rather do that then have spinal implants, which would have to be removed the next time he was Rejuvenated anyway."
"Still fighting the Borg 300 years later?" Lore thought he caught mentions of Borg in that rant.
"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, only for them to reemerge at a later date. As long as one nanite survives they will be able to repopulate themselves.
"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, "Hmmm, Borg with a god, funny little galaxy we live in."
"Indeed," Data confirmed.
Not a moment later, Lore asked. "So how many of us are running around?" Lore switch to the important questions. Data would ramble for hours, about stuff Lore could learn from a simple download.
"Pardon?"
"Androids, how many have you created?"
"41,"
"Oh well I was hoping for at least a few thousand but-"
"All failures."
Lore stopped dead. Just staring 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 severely mentally handicapped... but he is our brother all the same."
"B-4," Lore nodded.
"You are familiar with him?"
"Never met 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..."
Lore spoke wistfully, "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 41 of us only to watch all of them die... and here you are planning to make another."
"I have maintained their memory anagrams in a virtual reality matrix. 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 is, 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 met 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.
A few moments passed in silence, before Data informed. "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, while giving Data two thumbs up.
Data insisted. "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, not 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 led 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 the overly sensitive android.
"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 of the ship, "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 Admiral 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 wander the ship freely."
"When will you finish!?"
"In approximately 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 came over the intercom again "You're needed in Sickbay."
Data continued to look at Lore, before hitting the badge on his chest. "Is this an emergency?"
"No captain the Doctor just wants to go over-"
"Unless an emergency arises, please direct all concerns to Commodore 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 say 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 simply over-sensitive, but that was a result of his personality subroutines. Only way to truly fix 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.
