Star Trek: 10 Characters Who Got Away With Murder

Data never killed anyone, except in self-defence or in the defence of others — like that time he throttled a Borg drone — but he did once, quite literally, get away with murder. Only with a Heisenberg compensator can such a statement be as measurably accurate.

"I would not participate in murder," Data insisted in The Most Toys. The android had been kidnapped, confined, and humiliated, forced to become part of the sadistic Kivas Fajo's ill-gotten collection of rare things. (Is that a Dalí? Meh. Oooh, a bubble-gum-scented baseball card!) Throughout the episode, Fajo goaded Data into performing for him and guest, even threatening to kill captive aide Varria with a Varon-T disruptor — a weapon that made death by thalaron radiation look like an almost pleasant way to go.

It is the Varon-T that gets Data the murder/not-murder charge. After an escape attempt towards the end of the episode, Data had the disruptor pointed at Fajo, at first insisting that the conman collector surrender himself to the authorities. However, the arrogant Fajo continued to taunt Data, until the latter moved to fire. At that very instant, Data was beamed away by the Enterprise, but we know from O'Brien that the Varon-T weapon had discharged. In other words, Data had already killed Fajo, but at the very last nanosecond, in a manner only sci-fi can provide, he was also prevented from doing so.

What this really is, then, is the strangest case of attempted murder (no doubt with mitigating circumstances). Data got away with that too, of course, but that is really rather the point. Only the magic of matter-energy conversion can let us ponder the nature of Data's actions without the consequences. "Perhaps something occurred during transport, Commander," Data concludes. Did he just lie to cover for himself as well? Of course not. He's just an android, after all.