AN: So... I have no idea where this idea came from, it just kept knocking about in my head until I gave in and wrote it down. If anyone actually likes it enough to want more please let me know and I will expand on this idea.
Disclaimer: If you recognize it then you know I don't own it.
From the desk of: Dr. Julian Bashir
Subject: Q
The Startfleet SOP when dealing with Q- which states that all must shun this entity as much as it is possible to do- is very strict and severe, and it does not seem in keeping with the ethical bylaws that were once the foundation of this institution, to wit: To seek out new life.
Q is a life form- one we do not fully understand, true, but it is one never-the-less.
It is my belief that biased opinions made in the heat of the moment have skewed the overall perception of Q, and I have set this short essay- after reviewing all records available concerning Q, within the bounds of the Federation and without, as well as speaking with several individuals that have had firsthand contact with the entity(see attached notes and interviews)- to hopefully shed some much needed light on the mistreatment we have given to a being that has, according to every report that I have been able to lay hands on, only ever tried to expand our knowledge and perception of the universe around us.
From what I can gather the Q are much like the computer techs of reality, and reality- or what we, physical beings, perceive as reality- is in actuality something akin to the Q's holo-deck. Just like a holo-program that is confronted by an engineer rewriting the program or servicing the emitters if I see Q performing one of it's 'acts' I do not understand what is really going on because I do not have the proper base programing to do so, and so I act in the same fashion as any other creation or creature would act when its reality is challenged: I go on the offensive.
It is with this outlook that I say that we, Starfleet as a whole, have not given Q the benefit of attempted understanding that we should have. It is clear that Q is an entity of great power, yes, but what no-one seems willing to acknowledge is the fact that it is also an entity of great restraint and compassion.
Let us go back to the holo-deck scenario for a moment and I will try to explain my reasoning:
If you were to enter a holo-program and, say, not like the color of the sky, the texture of the ground or the even the holo-people that are programed into it then you could easily call up the base program and make changes until you feel comfortable with your surroundings; even if that entails changing everything to the point of it being an entirely different program than the one you began with.
Q can do the same thing with our universe and yet- and this is the important part- IT DOESN'T.
We see Q- at least the Q that chooses to interact with us as itself rather than in the shadows where we would never be able to tell that it was there (and this is of course assuming that we are indeed interacting with the same Q each time and not different ones that choose to put on the same form and personality like we would a costume)-as a trickster, a judge, and an irritant; but what we fail to see is its restraint.
We lash out at Q, we hurl unfounded accusations and ignorance at it and yet it does not simply open our programing up and change us until we accept it for what it is: Q, a being of supreme power that could force us to worship it yet doesn't.
Q lets us keep our freewill, no matter how much easier it would be for it if it simply took it away. Q accepts us for the ignorant and abusive creatures that we are, and therein lies its compassion.
It is my belief that if we simple attempted to interact with Q as if it were just another entity, an entity that we can not begin to understand but can at least accept, then we may very well gain its' friendship rather than its curiosity and condescension.
So? What do you think?
Interesting. And you say almost everyone in Starfleet has already read it?
Yes, and quite a few other worlds and races as well. A great number of debates concerning us have started up because of this one single doctor's short missive, there are even a few races that have reviled us as devils for millennia that are now giving us new thought.
Oh, dear, I hope he doesn't let the fame go to his head.
Are you going to go put this human, this Dr. Bashir, on trial like you did Picard?
I don't think so, I believe this will require a far different approach.
Just try not to drag the rest of the continuum into it like all those other times.
I make no promises.
Of course you don't.