Did anyone actually see Data die? Yes we seen him fire a weapon at the Reman weapon and then the Reman ship exploded, but what happened in the few seconds before the explosion?
Could Data have been beamed away by lets say the Borg? Not the normal Borg, but the "free" borg. After all the battles and countless ships assimilated, I am sure the Borg learned how to use a cloaking device? Here is what I think happened....
1. Data fires his phaser.
2. The "free" Borg transport Data to their cloaked sphere and retreat through a transwarp conduit.
3. The ships explodes and everyone assumes Data was destroyed with it.
Explanation
The "free" Borg, having separated from the collective have come to realise that Data is their saviour and that he can show them how to establish themselves as a separate species from the Borg collective.
What happens next?
The Borg collective launches an all-out attack on the "free" Borg destroying anything and anyone who gets in their way. The "free" Borg retreat to the alpha quadrant and seek help from the Federation. Picard sets of to meet the "free" Borg and is surprised to find Data alive and the apparant leader of the "free" Borg. Whats more interesting though, the "free" Borg have completed what the Borg Queen started in First Contact by giving Data skin to help him bridge the gap between cybernetic beings and humanoids.
Data has changed his goals from to becoming more human, to establishing a "free" Borg society to co-exsist with other species. The crew are glad to see him back, but hell breaks loose when the Borg collective shows up and attacks the Enterprise and the "free" Borg. Who should turn up to save the day? Captain Riker and a few other federation and Romulan ships show and the Borg collective are soon beat, I guess Janeways weapon mods still pack a punch.
It goes on from there, the Borg come and a full scale battle ensues across the quadrant. We see battles which include alot of species that include the Klingons, Romulans, the Breen and even the Dominion.
This next section is taken from a possible storyline I read before the release of First Contact. It sounded good so I think I'll use it.
The Borg have the alpha quadrant cornered and the only hope is for the Borg to be taken out once and for all. Data says he can get close to the Borg queen and destroy her, but at the cost of his own life and that of the "free" Borg. Leuxanna Troi, who has found out she is dying, says she could take the Borg Queens place and make all Borg "free".
ALL ships, all species attack the Borg with a large force attacking Unimatrix zero-1 through a transwarp conduit, to seize control of the Borg Queen. It is a battle to end all battles, but is not enough to breach the Borg defences, that is until Species 8472 turn up and prop up the attack on the Borg. The Enterprise makes its way to the Borg queens chamber, where the crew have to defend Leuxanna Troi while she Enters the Borg Queens mind to seize control from her.
Its done, and Troi is now the new Borg Queen and sets the Borg free. Data Leads the "free" Borg to a planet which they will claim as their own. Troi has sacrificed herself by freeing the Borg and dies in Deannas arms. A new peace is established throughout the galaxy, and everyone lives in peace, ahhhh thats nice.
Theres a helluva lot of details to fill in, but I'll think about them when someone approaches me to help make this film.
oh....one last thing
STAR TREK : END OF DAYS (working title)