A/N This chapter has been written for almost six months now. But when I was going to add it, I found another story with exactly the same premise. So I decided to trash it. Until now that is. I figured that it was too much fun to write to let it go to waste, and will add it anyway. There will be a lot of headcanon about the Q Continuum since nothing was really said about it on the show.
Day 1
The bridge crew members had seated themselves around a sleek black table as they pondered the situation at hand. Q. The bothersome Q had been an ongoing annoyance on the Enterprise. Due to this, meetings discussing the matter had been frequent, and hardly ever dull. And this one was certainly no different. Picard started. "Q is back with a more elaborate trick than ever. As you saw he is now claiming to be human." He finished, and started to lean into the table, waiting for a response.
"I stood by as Dr. Crusher gave him a full examination." Answered Worf. He continued, "Every test showed him to be completely human."
"Yes but this is Q. He could have interfered." Picard responded deep in thought.
"There was no interference from what I could see."
Troi joined the conversation with a weary look. "I believe he may be telling the truth." The others immediately gave her their full attention. She sensed both curiosity, and disbelief, "For starters, in all of his other visits, I couldn't sense anything from him. He felt foreign to me. But now I can sense his state of mind just like any other crew member." Riker spoke up.
"Is there anyway he could fake that?"
"I doubt it." Troi said before continuing, "But that's not what convinced me. It was what I sensed. I sensed fear, anger, and confusion. He felt human." The table was silent for a moment as they processed this new information.
"Didn't he say that it was a punishment?" Riker pointed out.
"You have a point number one. Q has divulged so little concerning the continuum that their laws and customs are unknown to us. We have no data to go on."
"Sir, If I am correct and he truly is human, what do we do with him? He knows nothing about being human! He knows as much about our laws and customs as we do his. Would he stay on the Enterprise?" Troi said her voice laced with concern. Picard replied with a tired, resigned, long suffering sigh.
"I am going to leave him in his cell for the next few hours. If there are no escape attempts, tricks, or any signs of his powers at all, I will give him his own quarters, and he will learn here starting as an ensign." Everyone but Troi stared at the captain as if he was insane.
"Sir you can't be serious!" Worf said dumbfounded upon hearing his plan.
"Captain do you really think this is the best idea?" Said Riker agreeing with the Klingon.
"I don't like the sound of it either. But if Q is telling the truth it would go against everything we stand for to abandon him in an unfamiliar world as a species he doesn't understand." Picard stood up and continued. "Although his word is has been less than reliable, I'm going to go talk to him and inform him of this plan. Meeting dismissed." With that the table was abandoned as everyone left their chair. As Picard was about to leave the room he was approached by Worf.
"Captain, do you wish for me to accompany you?''
"It's probably for the best if I do this alone. Besides I haven't heard of any trouble from his guard." Picard replied. Worf nodded and continued on leaving the captain to his thoughts. He began towards the detention cells hoping he had made the right call. And as much as he'd hate to admit it, Q's story was becoming more, and more plausible. His mind kept returning to what Q said earlier. That it was a punishment. He simply hoped that whatever Q had to say would be useful as he approached the door containing his cell
Day 1 The Holding Cell
"I'm sitting on the sad excuse for a bench that has been supplied by my cell. Yes, a cell. Me. A once all powerful immortal Q. And now here I sit as a pitiful, limited, and utterly stupid...human. Even just thinking the word makes me cringe. But do I truly hate them? No. It is not their fault that their species is so frighteningly underdeveloped. Now that I think about it there truly isn't a species that I hate. There are some annoying, a few arrogant-refusing to accept help. And even a fair few who have evolved so...grotesquely, that they are beyond the help of even a Q! The Borg would be a true example of this. But what about humans?
Humans, have thankfully grown better than that. While most races have tried to kill me, good old Picard seemed to at least hold in his rage. I feel that this ship would be the only place I could go where I wouldn't be immediately executed. They would be much more enjoyable if not for their rather miniscule life expectancy. Most will barely even reach over century of life! A mere blink of an eye to a Q!" Q had stayed deep in thought for the majority of his stay.
All of this in combination with his severe lack of any trustworthy allies left the now man with a sensation that was almost never felt by a Q. Fear. Why would a god like creature that could bend space and time at will feel fear? The only time when a Q ever feared for his "never-ending" life was when one declared war on the other. But even then the Q were smart enough to never allow such a universally destructive event to occur...most of the time anyway. It was just one of the many emotions that he was now stuck feeling in excess.
On the other side of the force field stood a guard tasked specifically to keep a watch on the cell's resident. While only a handful of passengers believed Q's story, the bridge crew had the strongest doubts. In an uncharacteristic loss of composure Picard refused to speak with him any further. Insisting that it was all an elaborate joke. But with the time of his arrival nearing 15 hours, there have been no escape attempts. No strange occurrences. And most suspiciously no snark remarks or comebacks. In fact few words even left the man's mouth. Although the evidence was strongly supporting his plea, it failed to have any effect on the intense fear of the security officer guarding the cell.
"Am I even going to get a chance to speak to Picard!" Q spoke up with an impatient tone. The trembling officer quickly turned to face the agitated man.
"I don't know. I haven't been given any orders beyond guarding…" He responded with all the courage and confidence of an unarmed human about to get into a fist fight with a Klingon.
Q sat there wearing an almost defeated expression. He was starting to feel...odd. He found himself blinking more often along with his eyes watering. He was tempted to get up and pace around his cell only to find that something was discouraging him. He had felt the urge to lay down on the cell bed for reasons unknown to him. After accepting that the Captain wasn't coming anytime soon, he gave into the urge and experimentally lowered himself onto the bed. After a few minutes passed in that position his eyelids felt heavier as he struggled to keep them open. He was filled with a sense of panic as his eyes finally closed completely unknowingly succumbing to the human activity called sleep.
A sense of relief had come over the guard as he looked over his shoulder to find Q asleep. He hadn't decided if he had bought the Q's story or not. Much of the crew has already been told of the demigod's antics and were warned to avoid him at all costs. But unlike most of the enterprise he had seen Q first hand on multiple occasions, and it didn't take a genius to tell that something was wrong. Different. He had seen Q. This wasn't Q. Even if he had wholeheartedly accepted his story he couldn't prove it. So little was known of the Q Continuum and their rules that it was anybody's guess. He stood there blankly staring into the darkness as these thoughts took over his mind as he changed shifts.
30 minutes later.
Q finally regained consciousness as he sat up instantly
With a fearful look on his face. The guard had been startled by this and jumped back instinctively putting his hand on his phaser.
Q looked at the new guard for a moment before speaking."What happened? I briefly lost consciousness. How long has it been?...!" The man had started shouting questions at the guard.
"Was he joking? Did he really not know what sleeping was? Was it possible that he passed out?" The guard thought unsure of how to respond.
"Well?!...Did you do something to me?!"
He kept his hand on his phaser as he replied. Afraid of Q's reaction. "You fell asleep." This simply earned him a look of confusion. Not thinking the guard blurted out the question on his mind. "Don't you Q sleep?"
He backed up in fear as Q stood up from his bed and marched up to the force field only to yell, "What do I have to do to convince you I'm human?!"
Before the guard could say anything Picard walked in. The old guard in tow.
After a moment Picard turned to face the new guard.
"Cadets you may wait outside, I wish to speak with him alone. You will stay on guard until further orders"
"Understood"
Q's POV
Picard stood in place and sighed before finally making his way toward the force field. When he actually arrived he studied me for almost a minute before asking the million dollar question.
"What do you want Q? What sort of game are you playing this time? You show up on my bridge, and try to convince me that you don't have your powers. What's going on!?"
I sighed knowing he wasn't going to believe me. He, along with the rest of his species knew nothing of the Q Continuum. Including our-their rules. The members of the enterprise bridge crew are some of the only humans who can say that they have seen a Q. "I'm human."
"I don't know what you're trying to pull here but cut it out!" Maybe I should have chosen Vulcan.
"I was kicked out of the continuum." Klingon wouldn't have been a bad choice either.
"You're lying" You're really starting to get on my nerves Picard
"Why do you immediately believe that I'm lying!"
"Because every time you've shown up on MY ship, you caused irreparable damage! Putting us in situations that have cost the lives of crew members, destroying entire sections of the ship! You-" I cut him off in a bout of rage. This idiot just wouldn't listen! And I snapped.
"The continuum banished me after upsetting a few petty little races!They stripped me of my powers, Stole my immortality, and left me to die! The only luxury I was given was the ability to choose the place I'd be dumped, and the species that I'd die as!" I yelled as loud as I could. I stood there gasping for the air that I now needed, as I waited for him to have the audacity to accuse me of lying.
There was a moment of complete silence as he stood with his mouth slightly agape. Before he could respond the first guard entered with his hand resting on his phaser.
"Sir, i-is everything alright?" Just wonderful the cowardly lion returns!
After a moment Picard turned to face his failure of a guard.
"Everything's fine, return to your station."
The idiot walked out the door without a word.
"Q...you're not lying are you."
"Look me in the eye Picard!" He slowly turned around and locked his eyes on mine.
"No Picard! N.O.! Do you know how much I wish I was lying!?" His expression tried to revert to it's usual Starfleet poker-face, and failed.
"Q if you really are telling the truth...why did you come here?"
"What do you mean?"
"Q every time you have come into my ship you nearly destroy it, and everyone in it. You threw us to the Borg! What makes you think that I'd help you?"
I had an unexplainable feeling in my gut, as my body began the slight trembling It had before I went to that abyss dimension. I've lost my powers, I'm basically homeless, and the only one whom I thought that I could call a friend has left me as the Q did. I never thought that I would be in such a position. But it looks like my only chance may be to beg...If I ever regain my powers the Continuum will pay for this.
"Q look-" Here goes nothing.
"I only chose here because I knew that you wouldn't immediately kill me! No other species would have allowed me to live long enough to explain!" This is humiliating. He seems to at least be listening.
"How do you expect me to help you? I didn't think it was possible that you could be turned human. We can't fight for your powers back. We had virtually no power over you when you were a Q! We're talking about a race that can defeat the Borg with a simple thought. What I'm trying to say, is what help could I provide?" I've yet to find a race capable of defeating the Q.
"I'm not asking for you to fight. I don't know how to be human."
"Are you saying that you want to stay on the enterprise?" Took you long enough.
"Well?"
"If this is all just an elaborate prank-" He's starting to get angry again. At least it looks like he's suppressing some of it. He stood there without finishing his threat. He sighed yet again and calmed himself.
"Fine Q. You win." He went silent as if deep in thought " You will be provided with your own private quarters. You will work as an ensign with the possibility of being promoted. But any evidence that your powers are still intact, any at all, and everything is off! Do you understand?"
He actually believed me. He's actually helping me! I don't believe it.
"You will stay where you are until everything is set. After which a security officer will escort you to your new quarters." He stared at me for a minute as if he was contemplating something.
"Welcome to the USS Enterprise Q"
