=/\=
As the shuttle flew out of the flexure, a gleeful Q informed Icheb, "Welcome to the Clevari system." He rose from the pilot's seat and approached the shield barrier to address Icheb face-to-face. "What would you like to do first? Take a dip with the mermaids of Golos Prime? Challenge the Warrior Goddess of Fekdar to a grappling contest?" From the way Junior wiggled his fingers when he said the word "grappling," Icheb suspected he had more on his mind than a simple wrestling match.
"What I WANT is to return to Voyager," Icheb stated firmly.
"Forget that dreary ship, with its rules and regulations. We can do anything we want here."
Icheb earnestly replied, "Go back to Voyager. Apologize to the captain. She'll help you."
"It's too late. She said one more violation and I'd be thrown off her ship. I'm pretty sure this qualifies." Q's tirade was interrupted by loud beeping, coming from the pilot's station.
"What's wrong?" Icheb asked.
"There's a vessel approaching," Q said, as a huge ship maneuvered itself into position over the Delta Flyer.
The image of an alien, every facial plane as sharply edged as a crystal, appeared in the Flyer's viewscreen. "You're trespassing in Chokuzan space," the alien announced.
Activating the outgoing communication function he'd shut off before they left Voyager and making a stab at innocence, Q replied contritely, "We were just leaving."
"Our laws require that you be incarcerated, pending an investigation," the alien stated severely.
"How long will that take?"
The alien ignored Q's query. "Disengage you're engines and prepare to be boarded." The viewscreen went blank. Further talk was apparently not an option.
"We should do as he says," Icheb advised.
"Why? Just because he has a bigger ship?"
"Because Captain Janeway has taught us to respect the laws of other cultures," Icheb replied.
Gruffly, Q said, "I should have known better than to bring you along." Ignoring Icheb's plea, he fired on the Chokuzan vessel and wheeled the Flyer away, speeding towards the flexure.
"You're going to get us killed!" Icheb warned.
"Did you expect me to surrender? He might have locked us up for years!"
"You don't know that," Icheb reasoned. Any chance he might be able to change Q's mind was ruined when the Flyer was hit by weapons fire originating from the Chokuzan vessel.
"There's no time for debate! I need you at Tactical." Q quickly removed the shield barrier, freeing Icheb. Clearly, Q did need help. Icheb slid into the Tactical station seat.
"Shields are down to 30%," Icheb announced. After another volley shook the shuttle, Icheb corrected himself: "16%." The cabin of the Delta Flyer began to fill with acrid smoke.
Q's response was not comforting to Icheb. "I'm opening another Flexure. We'll go to the Zozek system. The girls aren't as attractive, but we have to make some compromises."
The Chokuzan vessel continued firing on the Flyer as Q steered the shuttle into the Flexure.
The air around Icheb was suddenly filled with tendrils of energy. Vaguely, he was aware it was coming from the Tactical station. As Icheb's body hit the floor, he heard Q cry out, "Icheb!"
Icheb's cranial implants blazed with heat. His thoughts were scrambled. He couldn't hear or see or think anything other than this must be what death felt like. And then he knew no more.
=/\=
Apparently he wasn't dead, or at least, he didn't seem to be dead. Icheb could feel a surface beneath him. He heard people. The captain. Q. And another voice, one he didn't recognize. Icheb couldn't open his eyes, or speak, or even move his little finger, but he could hear them shouting something. Gradually, the words began to make a glimmer of sense.
"Is this a bad time?" the stranger asked.
"Tell him!" the captain growled.
Q began to speak. "Icheb stole a shuttle from Voyager. I tried to stop him, but he kidnapped me! And he started a fight with another ship!"
Wait. That wasn't right. Icheb tried to speak but still couldn't. He wished he had his cortical node so he could contact Seven and tell her it wasn't that way; but if he still had his node, she wouldn't be here. She'd be dead. That wouldn't be good.
But then he heard the captain speak up for Icheb. "HE stole the shuttle, and HE attacked the other vessel." Icheb could tell she was accusing Q, not Icheb.
"Is that true, son?" the stranger asked. So, this other voice must belong to Q's father, Q. How confusing, Icheb thought. If everyone was Q, how could they tell one from the other?
His thoughts were interrupted by the Q he knew. "Please, Q. Just save him."
"Don't be absurd," the other Q answered.
"You're not going to help him?"
"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."
As a red light flashed briefly through his closed lids, Icheb decided he didn't like this other Q. Even though his friend had turned him into an immobile, half-dead hunk of flesh, Borg implants, and circuitry, if this is the way his father treated Q, he could understand why he had had so much trouble adjusting to life on Voyager. This other Q would let Icheb finish dying just to teach his son a lesson? What kind of father did something like that? What a jerk!
"I know you can hear me, Q! Come back! Q!" Q - his Q - Q-Ball called out.
The voice Icheb thought must be Q's father's was silent. That red light - that must be when he flashed away, the way the Q were said to do. Icheb heard the captain say, "You're wasting your time." Oh, no! Was the captain giving up on him now?
"He's the only one who can save Icheb!" Q exclaimed.
"No, he isn't. You're going to go back to that ship you attacked. You're going to apologize for what you did, and you're going to plead with them for the information we need to save Icheb."
"Look at what they did to Icheb! If I go back, they'll do the same to me."
"What do you care? Tomorrow, you'll be an amoeba." So, the Doctor must be here, too. That was his vocal subroutine speaking.
"Well, I'd rather be an amoeba than a corpse!" Q exclaimed.
A calmer-sounding Captain Janeway said smoothly, "That would be easier, wouldn't it? No expectations to live up to. No one to disappoint."
When he heard Q's reply, the voice came from somewhere just above Icheb. Of course. Icheb must be on a biobed in Sickbay. "I'm a failure as a Q and a human. If I'm a single-celled organism, at least I can't hurt anybody."
"Why did you come back here?" the captain asked.
"To escape the Chokuzan," Q answered, but the voice didn't sound as sure of itself as usual.
The captain confronted him again. "You could have used your technology to take you anywhere, but you came back here to us. Why?"
"I probably hit the wrong control," Q said. Icheb couldn't help but feel disappointed at this glib answer. He thought Q was his friend. But after a moment, Q spoke again, and this time, his voice was filled with remorse. "Icheb is the only friend I've ever had. I brought him back here because I thought you could save him." After a pause, he added, "Obviously, I was mistaken!"
Icheb heard the Doctor's "hrrmph!" That last comment must have been directed towards him.
"The only mistake you made was running away. You have a chance to do the right thing now. Don't waste it," the captain insisted.
Q didn't answer. Icheb wished he could see them, but, of course, his eyes were still sealed shut, and he couldn't move. He was barely able to breathe. All he could do was lie there as he began to hear the voice of Seven, shouting imprecations at Q. He didn't know where she'd been earlier. He was sure he would had heard her if she'd been in Sickbay before.
Icheb was very tired of all the drama. He really didn't want to die, but he didn't want to hear any more screaming, either. And then the screaming faded away.
=/\=