Or maybe he got a desk job at the academy?
Data's previous assignments
- Thread starter JirinPanthosa
- Start date
Or maybe he got a desk job at the academy?
Watching 
What is known about Data's past existence?
"Encounter at Farpoint":
"Datalore":
If Data was in the Starfleet class of '78, graduating sometime between '78.00 and '78.99, and was found 26 years, 26.00 to 26.99 years, before "Datalore", the date of "Datalore" could be as late as '04.00 to '05.98 of the century after Data graduated in '78. If Data graduated from the Academy immediately after being found.
So if Data was at the Academy for four years (4.00 to 4.99 years) and graduated between '78.00 and '78.99, he entered the Academy sometime between '73.01 and '74.99. If this was immediately after Data was discovered on Omicron Theta, "Datalore" would be sometime between '99.01 of the century when data graduated and '01.98 of the century after Data graduated.
If Data was commissioned an ensign sometime between '78.00 and '78.99, and was an ensign for three years, 3.00 to 3.99 years, he was promoted to lieutenant junior grade about '81.00 to '82.98, and was in the lieutenant grades for ten or twelve years, or for 10.00 to 12.99 years, and thus until about '91.00 to '95.97. If Data was promoted to lieutenant commander immediately before "Encounter at Farpoint", "Encounter at Farpoint" would be about '91.00 to '95.97 in the century when Data graduated.
Thus the first season episodes "Encounter at Farpoint" and "Datalore" should happen sometime between '91.00 in the century in which Data graduated and '01.98 of the century after Data graduated.
In "The Neutral Zone" Ralph Offenhouse, revived after centuries of death, asked what year it was:
Since it is mathematically impossible to make any time in the period 2364.00 to 2364.99 be less that 26.00 years before or after the possible date ranges of "Encounter at Farpoint" and "Datalore" - the difference could be centuries - "The Neutral Zone" is in effect a mathematical proof that Star Trek characters do not always use the same calendars when giving dates, and therefor at least some Star Trek dates in are given in other calendar(s) and not in our Gregorian calendar. After 16 May 1988 any Star Trek chronology that assumed that dates were always given in the Gregorian calendar was doomed to be at least partially inaccurate.
In "Redemption Part 2":
If Data's 26 years (26.00 to 26.99 years) of Starfleet service count from when Data entered Starfeet academy between '73.01 and '74.99, "Redemption Part 2" would be between '99.01 in the century when Data graduated and '01.98 in the century after Data graduated. This would make "Encounter at Farpoint" a relatively short time after Data was promoted to lieutenant commander.
If Data's 26 years (26.00 to 26.99 years) of Starfleet service count from when Data graduated from Starfeet academy and was commissioned between '78.00 and '78.99, "Redemption Part 2" would be between '04.00 and '05.98 in the century after Data graduated. This would make "Encounter at Farpoint" a relatively long time after Data was promoted to lieutenant commander.
Thus it is uncertain how much time elapsed between Data being commissioned a lieutenant commander and "Encounter at Farpoint".
As Data told Lore, he spent: "ten or twelve [years] on varied space duty in the lieutenant grades". Thus he apparently spent 10 to 12 years on space assignments, on starships and other starfleet ships, starbases and other starfleet installations, etc. I don't know if Data would count being assigned to a civilized planet as space duty because it was on a different planet than Earth.
In "Clues":
The second wormhole Data passed through would presumably be in "The Price".
And it is uncertain whether Data and the Trieste passed through a wormhole while Data was an ensign, or a lieutenant, or a lieutenant commander. Since it is named after a human city and an Earth Bathyscaphe the Trieste should have had a mostly Earth human crew. As far as we know Data could have served on the Trieste for twenty days or for twenty years.
And that is all I remember about Data's career in Starfleet before "Encounter at Farpoint".
My best theory about why Data seemed so ignorant of human behavior at first in TNG is that despite the Starfleet ships and space stations and starbases seen in most Star Trek movies and episodes having mostly human crews, there are also a lot of ships and bases with crews that are mostly of other species. And Data has mostly been assigned to ships and stations with nonhuman crews who mostly have far different emotions than humans.
Since Data can survive in environments that humans can't, maybe he has often been sent to exotic environments to show the strange aliens who live there - specifically the ones preparing for Starfleet or diplomatic careers - what human and nearly human Starfleet members look like, so they can be used to meeting humans relatively closely - though with one party or the other wearing environmental suits - in their future careers without being grossed out.
And since Data was ignorant of emotional behavior at first, perhaps Data was assigned to serve with the least emotional beings at first, perhaps starting with intelligent computers if any survived Captain Kirk, and then going on to Bynars, and then perhaps Vulcans, and only then being assigned to serve with more emotional beings like Tellarites, Andorians, or humans, instead of plunging him into contact with highly emotional beings like humans at first.
"Encounter at Farpoint":
"Datalore":
If Data was in the Starfleet class of '78, graduating sometime between '78.00 and '78.99, and was found 26 years, 26.00 to 26.99 years, before "Datalore", the date of "Datalore" could be as late as '04.00 to '05.98 of the century after Data graduated in '78. If Data graduated from the Academy immediately after being found.
So if Data was at the Academy for four years (4.00 to 4.99 years) and graduated between '78.00 and '78.99, he entered the Academy sometime between '73.01 and '74.99. If this was immediately after Data was discovered on Omicron Theta, "Datalore" would be sometime between '99.01 of the century when data graduated and '01.98 of the century after Data graduated.
If Data was commissioned an ensign sometime between '78.00 and '78.99, and was an ensign for three years, 3.00 to 3.99 years, he was promoted to lieutenant junior grade about '81.00 to '82.98, and was in the lieutenant grades for ten or twelve years, or for 10.00 to 12.99 years, and thus until about '91.00 to '95.97. If Data was promoted to lieutenant commander immediately before "Encounter at Farpoint", "Encounter at Farpoint" would be about '91.00 to '95.97 in the century when Data graduated.
Thus the first season episodes "Encounter at Farpoint" and "Datalore" should happen sometime between '91.00 in the century in which Data graduated and '01.98 of the century after Data graduated.
In "The Neutral Zone" Ralph Offenhouse, revived after centuries of death, asked what year it was:
Since it is mathematically impossible to make any time in the period 2364.00 to 2364.99 be less that 26.00 years before or after the possible date ranges of "Encounter at Farpoint" and "Datalore" - the difference could be centuries - "The Neutral Zone" is in effect a mathematical proof that Star Trek characters do not always use the same calendars when giving dates, and therefor at least some Star Trek dates in are given in other calendar(s) and not in our Gregorian calendar. After 16 May 1988 any Star Trek chronology that assumed that dates were always given in the Gregorian calendar was doomed to be at least partially inaccurate.
In "Redemption Part 2":
If Data's 26 years (26.00 to 26.99 years) of Starfleet service count from when Data entered Starfeet academy between '73.01 and '74.99, "Redemption Part 2" would be between '99.01 in the century when Data graduated and '01.98 in the century after Data graduated. This would make "Encounter at Farpoint" a relatively short time after Data was promoted to lieutenant commander.
If Data's 26 years (26.00 to 26.99 years) of Starfleet service count from when Data graduated from Starfeet academy and was commissioned between '78.00 and '78.99, "Redemption Part 2" would be between '04.00 and '05.98 in the century after Data graduated. This would make "Encounter at Farpoint" a relatively long time after Data was promoted to lieutenant commander.
Thus it is uncertain how much time elapsed between Data being commissioned a lieutenant commander and "Encounter at Farpoint".
As Data told Lore, he spent: "ten or twelve [years] on varied space duty in the lieutenant grades". Thus he apparently spent 10 to 12 years on space assignments, on starships and other starfleet ships, starbases and other starfleet installations, etc. I don't know if Data would count being assigned to a civilized planet as space duty because it was on a different planet than Earth.
In "Clues":
The second wormhole Data passed through would presumably be in "The Price".
And it is uncertain whether Data and the Trieste passed through a wormhole while Data was an ensign, or a lieutenant, or a lieutenant commander. Since it is named after a human city and an Earth Bathyscaphe the Trieste should have had a mostly Earth human crew. As far as we know Data could have served on the Trieste for twenty days or for twenty years.
And that is all I remember about Data's career in Starfleet before "Encounter at Farpoint".
My best theory about why Data seemed so ignorant of human behavior at first in TNG is that despite the Starfleet ships and space stations and starbases seen in most Star Trek movies and episodes having mostly human crews, there are also a lot of ships and bases with crews that are mostly of other species. And Data has mostly been assigned to ships and stations with nonhuman crews who mostly have far different emotions than humans.
Since Data can survive in environments that humans can't, maybe he has often been sent to exotic environments to show the strange aliens who live there - specifically the ones preparing for Starfleet or diplomatic careers - what human and nearly human Starfleet members look like, so they can be used to meeting humans relatively closely - though with one party or the other wearing environmental suits - in their future careers without being grossed out.
And since Data was ignorant of emotional behavior at first, perhaps Data was assigned to serve with the least emotional beings at first, perhaps starting with intelligent computers if any survived Captain Kirk, and then going on to Bynars, and then perhaps Vulcans, and only then being assigned to serve with more emotional beings like Tellarites, Andorians, or humans, instead of plunging him into contact with highly emotional beings like humans at first.
