Summoned, I take the place that has been prepared for me.

My thoughts from the other thread:

He spent the entire episode of peacefully resisting but refusing to harm another sentient being, even to free himself. He values life to such an extent that he won’t take it unless there is no other option, and he had all the time in the world to attempt to escape.

But Fajo changes the equation when he not only murders someone in cold blood, but makes clear that he will do it again and again if that’s what it takes to get what he wants out of Data. In this situation, Data unemotionally, logically determines that the only moral course of action is to kill him. Not in the heat of the moment, not in immediate self defense, just gunning him down where he stands because he cannot be allowed to continue.

It’s a chilling moment, and I love it. I just wish they hadn’t felt the need to insert that line about the weapon going off by accident. It comes across as a lie, and I think it undermines the episode a little.

My understanding is that it was executive meddling. Apparently there was some disagreement about that scene and a producer insisted that Data wouldn’t kill someone like that, which sounds good in a vacuum but in context makes no sense. Data’s intentions are pretty clear right before he gets transported out, it’s hard to reconcile his actions leading up to the transport with the idea that he wasn’t willing to pull the trigger.

And it’s not like Data never kills people. He carries a phaser for a reason, it’s part of the job. He doesn’t like it (emotion chip shenanigans aside) but he will do what is necessary.

Which, to bring it back around, is part of why this is such an intense scene. A logical being guided by a moral framework that values life looked upon this man and determined that his death was necessary.

So, did Data lie?

Obviously the way he words his statement is vague enough that you can say it isn’t a lie. But even so, I don’t think you can take it at face value. He was clearly getting ready to fire, and the episode had made it abundantly clear why he needed to do it, why he was justified in doing it. It’s a strange point for the script to get hung up on, because the difference between being interrupted before he can pull the trigger vs being interrupted as he is pulling the trigger is pretty much irrelevant.

While I’m fairly certain the original intent behind putting the line in the episode is to gloss over the fact that Data was going to kill someone, I don’t think that’s how it comes across. The performances in the scene make it clear that Data is not just flatly denying that he was firing the weapon, nor do Riker and O’Brien take it as a clear statement of fact.

While I’d rather they never put the line in to begin with, we got the episode that we got. And my interpretation would be that what occurred during transport wasn’t a weapon malfunction,* but rather a change in the moral calculus. Fajo had to be stopped, and the only way Data could do that was to kill him while he had the chance. As soon as the Enterprise arrived and beamed him out, that all changed. Fajo would be captured and face trial, and Data would face him in the cell without hostility.

Riker asked about the weapon discharge with some concern. He and O’Brien don’t know what happened, they don’t have the context for the situation. Data knows they can’t fully understand what happened based on a simple verbal exchange. I think you could almost take his reply as dismissive, a rejection of the line of thinking that’s behind the question. Data will make a full report when the time comes, no need to talk through it all there, and no point in covering it in inadequate detail.

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* I would hope that weapons don’t just go off at random during transport. Given how often people beam up and down while wearing a holstered weapon that can potentially vaporize someone, I’d imagine that would cause some pretty nasty situations.