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A Tale of Two(?) Soongs

No, this is not about Khan and Soong being related.

This is about the possibility of Arik Soong and Noonien Soong, Data's creator, being the same person.

Soong mentions that he is calling the area the Klingons call Klach D'Kel Brakt "The Briar Patch" yet in "Star Trek: Insurrection" Dougherty makes it clear that "they're calling this whole area the Briar Patch" as if it was a new name.

But... who was on the mission with Dougherty at the time? Data. Could Soong have programmed Data with a desire to visit this region of space at some point which might have prompted the Starfleet mission there to begin with when Data told them about it? Why else was Data on the mission? He was programmed by Soong with a knowledge of the name and location to be visited at a certain point in time, just like Odo's drive to visit the Omarian Nebula and Data and Lore's drive to visit their dying Father. Data named it the Briar Patch just because he knew it in his mind somehow. Data just didn't know Starfleet would end up betraying the Bak'u.

The Bak'u were well acquainted with positronic brain systems, something that so far only Dr. Soong has been able to successfully create that we know of.

Arik Soong looks exactly like Noonien Soong, more so then any great-grandfather I've ever seen. Of course, this is standard operating procedure in Trek, but that doesn't make it any more plausible.

Arik Soong was not said to have or shown to have any offspring. He could have had some later I know, but it's just one more thing in favor of this, considering Noonien is supposed to be his descendent according to Berman (but not according to any canon dialogue).

It makes the cheesy line about creating artificial lifeforms a lot less cheesy if this is the guy who actually does it.

He said it would take generations to figure out how to do it and that he might not even live to see it's creation. Well, what better way to survive then on the Fountain of Youth planet?

Soong escapes Starfleet custody, as he was said to do on a regular basis, returns to the hiding place he originally picked out in the Briar Patch, and is lucky enough to stumble upon a planet where he can live long enough to see his dreams come to fruition.

But the Bak'u refute technology, so eventually after a century or so of theorizing while on Bak'u, in 2250 he has to leave to go to actually build his masterpiece.

He changes his name to Noonien (based on his ancestor Khan Noonien Singh, from which the bastardization of his last name derives) on the of chance that his name might still be in the Starfleet databanks so much later. After touring the Federation briefly to find out the state of the galaxy and get his hands on the technology he needs to build his androids, he settles on the second planet mentioned to be in the Briar Patch.

He bases his androids body parts on the technology present in many of the TOS androids seen throughout the series of which a few of them he acquired through Harcourt Mudd. He finds them adequate as templates for the tech in the body, but lacking in cognative learning ability. He sets out to design the positronic brain.

He builds several failed prototypes before his first partial success, who he named B-4.

But he is forced to leave when the planet (and his research and prototypes) - which is between the Romulan and Klingon borders - is invaded by the Romulans in 2270. The Romulans are later kicked off by Kor and the Klingon fleet at the Battle of Klach D'Kel Brakt in 2271, but the Romulans escape with B-4. He is studied but is unable to be duplicated, so after a while he is simply dumped in a Romulan military warehouse for safe keeping until Shinzon's Romulan spies find him 100 years later after he seizes power.

Soong travels to the science colony at Omicron Theta, where he continues his life's work until finally creating Lore and Data many decades later.

He programs Data with the desire to visit the Briar Patch and the people who gave him sanctuary and long life, in hopes that they can share the planet with the rest of the Federation in peace and to pay back the debts he feels he owes to society. Unfortunately Starfleet abuses that trust and tries to steal the planet from the people instead of peacefully coexisting their and leaving them there area of non-technology.

(Theory by Bond, James Bond)



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