Q goes shopping with Janeway and Icheb comes up with an idea on how Q can use his powers purposefully.
Starfleet's Problem
There were few things more boring than being followed by two stone-faced security officers. And they were officers, Q was very excited to realize he warranted not one, but two lieutenants.
"Do they really have to follow us everywhere?" Q whined as Janeway led him into a third boutique. The first two had been tedious – things like sheets, and dishware – and there was only so much joy one could get picking out obnoxiously colored coffee cups only for them to be vetoed.
Janeway chuckled at him as he dragged his feet behind her, "This store might have something for you, you wanted to get some clothes right?"
She gestured towards the racks of plain clothes. Every single one in a neutral tone – black, grey, brown, beige. Q blanched at the muted reds, unsure how anyone could make a vibrant color so… boring. Even the patterned jackets were entirely neutral in tone!
"I thought humans were all about individuality and expression!" Q pouted dramatically as he held up one of the shirts that Janeway herself had just taken into a dressing room.
"Not a fan of anything here I'm guessing?" Janeway quirked a brow as she exited the dressing room. Grey shirt, black pants, and a red jacket.
"No." Q scrunched up his face at her selections, gesturing wildly, "You might as well be wearing your uniform!" She grinned at him.
"What can I say?" She grabbed his chin in an affectionate manner, "Captain is just my personality." Q grinned and she patted his cheek, "We can go somewhere else for your clothes. What are you thinking?"
With a shrug, Q leaned on one of the racks of clothing, "Something less boring?"
One of the security officers snorted by the door. Janeway turned to look at him, eyes narrowed. They cleared their throat as Q began to laugh.
"See! Even they know you need to include more color in your life Aunt Kathy," Q reached for one of the patterned jackets. It had all her colors still, but they were at least in fun shapes. "What about this? It's slightly less boring."
Janeway sighed and took the jacket. She switched it out for her red one and puckered her lips, "Not bad." She looked in a mirror, turning. "I'll take it." She placed it and the red one on the counter, along with a few more grey and black pieces.
Q rolled his eyes at her. He leaned against the counter, half his body folded over the top as Janeway discussed having her things delivered to her residence via beaming or messenger. It was an extra charge for beaming.
"You have debriefs after this," Q deadpanned, rolling so he was now laying back against the counter and looking at the ceiling, "And I for one will not be lounging around the place when I have a whole planet to explore!"
"Beaming it is then," Janeway nodded to the shopkeeper, who was eyeing Q with slight disdain. She turned to the security personnel next, "And you two, I trust you'll keep him from leaving the city hmm?"
"They'll try!" Q sang before either lieutenant could respond. Janeway sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. Q stood up, rolling his neck before grinning at Janeway, "Don't worry Aunt Kathy, I'm only joking." He shrugged, "Unless I can convince Icheb to help me steal a shuttle pod again."
Janeway narrowed her eyes on him, "You really are bored aren't you?" He nodded smugly, "Well, just imagine how much more bored you'll be if I let Starfleet lock you in an observation room like they wanted to do last night?"
Q frowned, shoulders falling, "That's mean, Aunt Kathy."
"You promised to be on your best behavior," Janeway pointed a finger at him, bopping his nose, "I expect you to honor that." He nodded mutely and she led him from the store.
The security officers followed behind at a respectful distance as they weaved through the early morning crowds towards another store. This one had an overly stylized sign and their main lights were dimmed low. Colorful neon lights ran along the ground like a rainbow.
"Now," Janeway rested her hands on her hips, "If you can't find something you like in here, I'll be shocked." Q wandered the aisles with one brow quirked up and the other eye wide. "I'm told this store is quite popular with your Earth equivalent peers."
"Are you saying this place is for teenagers?" Q drawled as he paused before a wall of t-shirts. He pointed at one, grinning, "Because I bet Lieutenant Paris would love that one."
Janeway looked up at it, shaking her head, "I don't know that you've disproven my point, but that shirt certainly fits your personality." An hour later when Q arrived at Starfleet Academy, he got just as many confused stares for his shirt as he did the security officers flanking him.
"Icheb!" Q called out as soon as he caught sight of the former borg. Icheb's head popped up, eyes scrunching up as Q approached.
"Does your shirt say… 'Starfleet's Problem' on it?" Icheb tilted his head, the pad in his hand long forgotten as he looked over the graphic tshirt. The words were superimposed over a Starfleet Emblem and it was all set over what appeared to Icheb to be a poor imitation of a nebula.
"Aunt Kathy thought it was appropriate," Q grinned.
Icheb glanced over his shoulder at the two security officers. His eyes flickered from one to the other. His brow quirked up, "It would appear that she is correct."
"I figured I'd join you for class," Q asked, folding his arms behind his head as he fell in to step with Icheb, "If you don't mind." Icheb inclined his head.
"Are you feeling better today?" Icheb looked back at his pad, but he did not scroll down. Q rolled his eyes. "If you were fine, Captain Janeway would not have felt it necessary to take you to Starfleet Medical."
Q groaned, "You know about that?" Icheb looked at Q out of the corner of his eyes. "Fine, fine, it's just some weird Q stuff. I'm sort of… figuring it out as I go along."
Immediately, Icheb's head came up again, eyes narrowed, "Figuring it out?" He tilted his head, "That implies that you are not aware of the cause and have no current solutions."
"Don't be so negative!" Q shoved Icheb playfully, barely moving the other teen at all.
"As you are often overly optimistic," Icheb drawled, "I find it useful to remind you of reality. Often." Q huffed. Behind them, one of the security officers snickered.
-.-.-
Three classes, and most of the day down the drain, Q was barely keeping his eyes open as Icheb schlepped all across campus. Diplomacy. Ethics. Xenolingistic Considerations for First Contacts.
"Are all of your courses so boring?" Q whined, forehead pressed firmly into Icheb's shoulder as he slouched against his friend.
Icheb continued reading his pad without even a flick of his eye in Q's direction.
A thought hit Q and he sat up. They were sitting in the mess hall, neither of them touching any of the food they'd grabbed from the line. Q turned in his seat to look at his security detail, "Did either of you have to take these classes? Are they required or something?"
"No," the one who kept snickering at Q's pain pipped up. They looked sidelong at Icheb, "Your friend here has one of the toughest course loads I've ever seen."
"I only have four classes today," Icheb droned, narrowing his eyes on his pad.
Q smirked, "And how many do you have tomorrow?"
"3." Icheb set his pad down, straightening in his seat. He reached for the protein bar on his tray, "Most of my classes are only twice a week, so I am able to take considerably more than I had expected."
The snickering returned and the other security officer cleared their throat roughly, obviously hiding some sort of laugh. Q turned back to Icheb, pushing his face deep into his personal bubble, "I better not have to listen to your Kirk presentation again."
"I completed all of my history courses while on Voyager," Icheb huffed, biting into his protein bar with considerable force. Q grabbed one of the fruit from his own tray and began to eat.
At the table behind them, the security officers whispered amongst themselves. Both Q and Icheb pretended they couldn't hear the two debating about which of them was odder.
"My next class is one you'll enjoy," Icheb said as he rose from the table. Q followed him. "Chief O'Brien has very thorough and if I recall correctly you enjoyed your Engineering rotation with Lieutenant Torres the most."
"Is Chief O'Brien going to let me play with a warp core?" Q perked up, nearly skipping as they left the mess hall. Icheb pinned him with a sharp look, "That's a no."
Icheb shook his head, "It is an Engineering Diagnostic course. We look at all manner of things, so… he might. Today is the lab section."
They were not, in fact, playing with warp cores that day. As Icheb settled in to his usual seat, Chief O'Brien was placing holographic projector chips on each table. Q pouted as he took the chair beside Icheb.
"Brought a friend have you Icheb?" O'Brien asked as he came around to his side of the room. He handed them both their chips, "I don't remember having any new enrollees."
"Aunt Kathy thinks I'll cause 'less problems' if I'm suitably entertained here at the academy," Q leaned back in his chair, sardonic grin in place as he draped his arms over the back of the chairs beside him.
Icheb ignored his arm and looked at the chief, "Q is visiting Captain Janeway." They both watched O'Brien's face pale and his eyes narrow on Q.
"Oh yeah!" Q stood up quickly and leaned over his desk, "You were at Deep Space 9 when my dad went there!" O'Brien's eyes widened. "Do you happen to have video of your captain punching him? The reports I read were very dry and didn't really do it for me."
By this time, most of the class had filtered in and were staring at Q as he waited with an expectant smile for O'Brien to stop cursing under his breath.
"Seriously, I would pay whatever archaic currency I have to if I got to see my dad sucker punched." Q grinned, shrugging as he plopped back into his seat, "You might have noticed my dad's a jerk."
"Might?" O'Brien snorted, shaking his head, "I'll check my records, kid." Q whooped as O'Brien departed to finish passing around the chips.
The lab was a simple repair, one that Icheb had done several times on Voyager and one that they both finished quickly. Q glanced around the class as Icheb ducked his head over a pad. No one else had finished yet.
"What do we do now?" Q whispered, shifting closer to Icheb. His eyes darted around the room as he watched Icheb fidget in his seat, "Are we not suppose to be done yet?"
"My understanding is that it is socially inappropriate to finish too early," Icheb whispered back, eyes rising from his pad to look at Q. He took in the furrowed brow and scrunched up nose with a sigh, "I usually just read so that no one notices."
Q glanced around again. They'd been getting glares since before either of them had finished. One of the less subtle students was even grumbling about borgs in the backrow. Q scowled, "I think they noticed."
"Yes…" Icheb's throat bobbed, "That doesn't usually bode well."
With very little understanding of Earth culture and only Icheb's obvious discomfort to go off of, Q attempted to sit quietly until the lab finished. Luckily, O'Brien walked past their area. He noticed Q almost vibrating out of his chair.
"You boys finished?" O'Brien quirked a brow, swiping Icheb's chip from the table before either could respond. He looked over it, smiled, "Nice work. I see you even upgraded the connectors, never a bad habit to get into – never know if you'll have time to upgrade things later." He looked at Q's next, "Well, you certainly follow instructions better than your old man."
Icheb snorted and Q elbowed him as O'Brien's eyes flickered up from the chip. Q plastered on a grin. O'Brien took both chips back over to his desk, scanning them and marking something on his pad.
"Since you've finished the lab, you're welcome to go," O'Brien gestured towards the door, smiling as Icheb's shoulders visibly loosened and Q actually jumped over the desk. They were out the door quicker than a Ferengi that'd spotted latinum.
O'Brien looked over the room, noted the students who scowled at Icheb as he left. He also noticed Q spinning around right before he left the door, certainly taking in the animosity aimed at the brunali.
"Focus on your work!" O'Brien shouted, making half the room jump for various reasons. He narrowed his eyes on those who grumbled under their breath. He really needed to talk to Starfleet about adding 'classroom cooperation' to the grading rubric.
-.-.-
"So…" Q drew out the word, waiting until Icheb had set his pads down on the desk in his room. "Your classmates don't like you do they?" They'd chosen to return to Icheb's residence rather than risk another recreational activity. It had the added benefit of allowing them to leave the security detail in the hallway.
Icheb's throat bobbed and Q narrowed his eyes on it. "I believe there is some nervousness, about my borg implants."
"And jealousy about your genius intellect," Q added on, plopped backwards on Icheb's bed as the other teen took a seat on the edge.
"Yes," Icheb sighed, brows lowering as he breathed through his nose, "I have yet to crack the apparent social code that my classmates adhere to. I only discover I have violated a rule after the fact and it's making it difficult to fully integrate into the culture."
Q shifted around so that he was leaning against the wall, facing Icheb, "Sounds to me like they're not letting you integrate." Icheb shrugged.
"I would prefer to discuss another matter." Icheb moved to sit beside Q at the top of the bed, "You have not yet told me about your condition."
"I was hoping you'd forgotten about that," Q groused, pout forming on his face.
Icheb merely raised a brow, turning his body to face sideways so he could look directly at Q, "I do not forget things."
"Let me dream, huh?" Q huffed, shoulders sagging. It took him less than half an our to explain the situation, to recap his evening at Starfleet Medical. Icheb listened aptly, brows furrowing further every second. "So… I guess to sum it up, my powers are all over the place and refuse to sit still?"
"They are *your* powers, so that's not entirely surprising," Icheb smirked and Q double over with laughter. Their shoulders knocked together as Q settled back. Icheb tilted his head, "Is there anything I can do to help you?"
Q shook his head, "I don't even know how I can help me yet." Icheb nodded. With a sigh, Q glanced around the room. He spotted the regeneration alcove in the far corner, "You still have to regenerate? You said on Voyager you were… 'transitioning to a sleep-based regeneration system.'"
"I still have to regenerate in the alcove every two days or so," Icheb frowned, "I've found sleeping is still very difficult for me."
"Why? Do you have bad dreams or something?" Q blinked and scooted closer to Icheb.
Icheb shook his head, "No. Well… Maybe. It's very hard to tell." He scrunched up his nose, "I have found that recently my dreams are very much the same as may waking life. Going to class, trying to understand Earth. It is not particularly… restful."
"Oh," Q's forehead wrinkled, "Is regeneration the same? Like, are your dreams bad during the regeneration cycle bad too?"
"I don't dream during my regeneration cycle," Icheb admitted, he nodded towards the alcove, "It is more… restful though. I find I am able to order my thoughts during the regeneration cycle in a way that I am not when I sleep."
"Order your thoughts?" Q spoke slowly, enunciating each word as he tried to understand.
"When I am awake, I think quite a lot of things, often many things at once –"
"All of them nerdy I'm sure," Q butt in.
Icheb swatted his shoulder, "During sleep, my thoughts simply continue, sometimes getting louder actually. But during the regeneration cycle, I can put order to the chaos. Sort things out."
"Huh," Q drew his legs up, resting his arms on his knees, "When I sleep, it's more like that. Like the regeneration cycle. I'm just… floating. Waiting to wake up I guess."
"Do you not find that pleasant?" Icheb asked as he looked at the frown on Q's face.
Q just shrugged, "Not really. It just is. I only sleep when I'm like this anyway." He gestured at his human body, "Even when the continuum made me human, I still didn't dream."
"Hmm…" Icheb's head tilted to the side, his eyes narrowing.
"What?" Q raised an eyebrow, "That's your 'I have an idea' hum."
Iceb rolled his eyes, "I do have an idea." Q laughed. "But I am unsure if it'll work." He turned to face Q, "You said your powers are essentially answer your questions before you ask them right? They're responding to what you want."
"Yes…" Q's tone lowered. Icheb grinned at him and Q leaned closer, "What are you thinking, Itchy?"
"I'm thinking," Icheb drawled, "That you could make yourself capable of dreaming, Q-Ball. You just have to want to, right before you go to sleep."
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