Regarding Lothar (Updated)
Lothar had always been one of the more unusual members of the
USS Murgatroid's crew, particularly in his role as the ship's counsellor. He was highly irrational, extremely violent … and, for reasons unknown at the time (one would think his personal file would have contained some mention of it), he was able to survive unassisted outside the ship in the vacuum of space. Doctor
Mib Khan was unable to provide any explanation for this phenomenon, because every time he tried to give Lothar a medical examination, Lothar killed him. Still, rumors that Lothar was some form of android or mechanoid were quashed when he, along with the rest of the crew, had his gender temporarily reversed by Khan's retrovirus while on
Starbase 668. (His response to this was, of course, more violence.)
Eventually, Doctor Khan was able to examine Lothar when he had some form of breakdown, and found some unusual devices and anomalies inside him. We discovered that he was the result of a (presumably failed) secret Starfleet experiment (codename GWIII - Great Warrior, project prototype III). When that project was cancelled and disavowed, Lothar was exiled to the Murgatroid … Starfleet's "dumping ground". Lothar awoke, stole Surak's Razor, and crashed into the Starfleet Command headquarters building on Earth. We later learned that he had been summoned by Admiral Janeway, who planned to upgrade and duplicate his systems, as well as place him completely under her control. She failed in that last task, as he broke free before she could activate his restraining program. Eventually, I was also captured and tortured by Janeway. After I discovered that she was actually an imposter from a " mirror universe", Lothar and I escaped.
Janeway's upgrades to Lothar's implants made him even more powerful. He was able to walk through walls by grasping and disintegrating them in front of him (he called it " hugging the walls", and appeared to accomplish it by dispersing the molecules with an unfocused short-range transporter field lacking a heisenberg compensator). During our escape, he also "hugged" a couple of starships to get us out of the Sol system. His upgraded internal gravity generators had further enhanced his strength, and were also what he used to make short "jumps" in space (as long as he was within close range of a ship or asteroid upon which to focus his gravity field). The upgrades also restored some mental stability and memories which he had previously lacked.
However, while we were in hiding (before we regrouped with the Murgatroid to overcome the
Janeway-analog), a weakness of Lothar's was revealed: a deliberate dependence upon alcohol to remain conscious and functioning. We had never noticed this vulnerability before, as the Murgatroid was always well supplied with alcohol - we had even drained an entire nebula of alcohol to keep ourselves stocked up. However, outside of the Murgatroid (and some other, less law-abiding places like Starbase 668), alcohol was harder to come by (Synthehol, though readily available, did not suit Lothar's needs). As long as we continue to " booze Lothar" (in
Ifix's words), he continues to function - although
"Evil" Janeway did discover a way to exploit his vulnerability. I have never needed to duplicate that maneuver; but neither have I forgotten it.