Q2
Episode 165
Part G

 

In Sickbay, Icheb lies critically ill and unconscious on the primary biobed in the surgical bay. An anxious Icheb looks on. The Doctor reports to Janeway: "His cells are being necrotised by some form of omicron radiation, but I can't treat his injuries without knowing more about the weapon that caused them."

Suddenly there is a Q-flash and Q appears. "Is this a bad time?" Janeway orders Q2: "Tell him." Q2 to his father: "Icheb stole a shuttle from Voyager. I tried to stop him but he kidnapped me and he started a fight with another ship." Janeway corrects Q2's lies: "He stole the shuttle and he attacked the other vessel." Q: "Is that true, son?"

Q2: "Please, Q, just save him." Q: "Don't be absurd." Q2: "You're not going to help him?"

Q: "Like Aunt Kathy said, you're never going to learn anything if you don't face the consequences of your actions. If your little playmate has to die to teach you a lesson, so be it." He vanishes.

Q2: "I know you can hear me, Q! Come back! Q!"

Janeway: "You're wasting your time." Q2: "He's the only one who can save Icheb." Janeway: "No, he isn't. You're going back to that ship you attacked, you're going to apologise for what you did, and you're going to plead with them for the information we need to save Icheb."

Q2: "Look at what they did to him. If I go back, they'll do the same to me."

Doctor: "What do you care? By this time tomorrow you'll be an amoeba." Q2: "Well, I'd rather be an amoeba than a corpse!" Janeway, surmises the real emotions underlying Q2's bluster: "That would be easier, wouldn't it - no expectations to live up to, no one to disappoint." Q2 confesses: "I'm a failure as a Q and a human. If I'm a single-celled organism, at least I can't hurt anybody."

Janeway: "Why did you come back here?" Q2: "To escape the Chokuzan." Janeway: "You could've used your technology to take you anywhere but you came back here, to us. Why?" Q2: "I probably hit the wrong control." Finally, he stops lying and admits: "Icheb is the only friend I've ever had. I brought him back here because I thought you could save him." Accusingly: "Obviously I was mistaken." Janeway: "The only mistake you made was running away. You have a chance to do the right thing now. Don't waste it."

Janeway is with Q2 in the Delta Flyer. They have retraced the route Q2 had taken earlier, and have found the Chokuzan ship again, and are in audo-visual communication.

Q2 to the Chozukan captain: "The attack on your vessel was entirely my fault. Icheb had nothing to do with it, but he's the one who's dying. I take full responsibility for what happened. I'll do anything you ask. Just help my friend." Janeway supports Q2. "My crew and I will repair any damage he did to your ship." Chozukan captain, on viewscreen, to Janeway: "Are you the adult responsible for this child?" Janeway: "I suppose I am."

Chozukan captain, on viewscreen: "We'll accept his apology and give you the information you need to save his accomplice, but you will be punished for their crime." Q2 protests: "She didn't have anything to do with it." Chozukan captain, on viewscreen: "In our culture, adults are accountable for the actions of their children." Q2: "I attacked your ship. I should be punished for it, not her." Chozukan captain, on viewscreen: "You don't even know what the punishment is. It might be torture, or even execution." Q2: "I don't care, if it means saving my friend."

Chozukan captain, on viewscreen: "Well done, Junior." He laughs. "I'm proud of you." There is a Q-flash....

It is Q on the viewscreen. "Surprise!"

There is another Q-flash and Q appears with Janeway and Q2 in the Delta Flyer.

He laughs. "I wish you could see the look on your faces. Oh, wait. You can!" He conjures up mirrors in their hands. Crossly Janeway sees her face and lets her hand fall, ignoring the mirror.

Q2: "We don't have time for your games. We need to find the real people I attacked."

Q: "You just did. I was the Chokuzan you fired on." Janeway: "What kind of horrible joke-" Q: "Not a joke, a test. I knew the pathetic little exercises you had him performing would not impress the Continuum, so, when he escaped your clutches I devised a real test."

Q to Q2: "It was touch and go there for a moment, but you passed with flying colours." Janeway: "What about Icheb?" Q: "Your Doctor will discover he's made a miraculous recovery. Now then, if we're all finished here it's Judgement Day for Junior."

There is a Q-flash and all three appear in Voyager's Messhall which is totally empty except for the judgement tribunal comprising three Qs who sit on a dais robed in Q-court robes.

Q: "We're ready, Your Honour."

Judge: "In the case of the Continuum versus Q, we the Continuum find that Q has not made sufficient progress to warrant the reinstatement of his powers."

Q: "Objection. What about my test?" Judge, tiredly: "What about it?"

Q: "Q was willing to sacrifice himself to save his friend. Surely that counts for something? Judge: "It was Q who endangered the boy's life in the first place. However, in deference to the aforementioned act of contrition, the defendant will not be transformed into an Oprelian amoeba. Instead, he will suffer the next worst fate - remaining human."

She lets her gavel strike. "Court is adjourned."

The tribunal disappears in a Q-flash.

Q: "This is an outrage! They can't do this to me!" He immediately vanishes.

Janeway tries to comfort Q2.