Stardate 42523.7: Starfleet Commander Bruce Maddox intends to disassemble Data to create copies of him. Picard seeks the advice of local Judge Advocate General officer Phillippa Louvois. She tells him that Data's only option is to resign his commission, which Data does. Maddox, however, refers to regulations that Data is not an individual who may decide for himself, but is Starfleet property. Picard challenges the ruling. Louvois has to arrange a hearing quickly, and due to the lack of legal staff she assigns Riker to the position of the prosecutor. Riker is aware that in case he refused the judgment would be aically against Data, and so he does his best to prove that Data is only a machine. Picard, on the other hand, successfully argues that Data could be sentient indeed and that Starfleet must decide in his favor; otherwise they would endorse an army of slaves.

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