Lore made a lunge towards Data and Picard, but an invisible barrier seemed to hold him back. Picard whipped out his phaser and leveled it at the unwelcome android. Q tsked at this.
"Oh, no need to worry, Jean Luc. I made it so that he will be completely unable to hurt you or any of your crew," he said, smiling. He made his way over to Lore, robes billowing around him. Q placed his hands on the android's shoulders as Lore stood completely still.
"He's perfectly harmless now!" Q crowed. Lore looked as though he had already come up with a trillion ways he could murder the judge. He tried to say something but no sound came out. A billion new ways to kill Q flitted through his eyes.
"Why did you bring him here? We had dealt with him already," Picard said, glancing from Lore to Q. The being looked hurt, and put a hand to his chest.
"I thought you would appreciate my gesture of generosity, Jean Luc! It took me quite a while to find Lore, and even longer to capture him!" he exclaimed.
This was likely untrue, as Q was almost completely omnipotent and omniscient, but he had always been a drama queen.
"If you don't want him, I could destroy him instead?" Q suggested, trailing a gloved hand on Lore's face. Lore's face twitched.
"No!" Data cried out, uttering his second word since the start of this conversation. Picard looked at him in surprise.
"Data, he tried to kill you and Wesley," the captain said, "for heaven's sake, he tried to kill all of us!"
Lore opened his mouth again to say something, but still no sound came out. Q waved his hand and Lore blinked.
"I also shot your dear Dr. Crusher," the android added helpfully, now able to speak.
"Exactly," Picard said, nodding, "why would you want to save him? We could be rid of him for good!" Data looked conflicted, and it seemed as though he was having trouble coming up with a response. Everyone waited with bated breath as the Lieutenant Commander warred with himself.
Finally, he said, "Lore is my brother and I still love him. He has done wrong to the Enterprise, but I believe he deserves a chance to change." Q nodded once.
"I couldn't have put it better myself!" he said, and clapped his hands.
"Well! On that note, I believe it is my time to leave! I bid you adieu, mon capitaine!"
With a swish of his robes that was more for dramatics than anything, Q disappeared.
"Wait-" Picard uttered, but Q was already long gone. The alarms started blaring, and Picard groaned. Another lovely parting gift from the man of the hour. He swore, one day, he was going to kill that smug Q.