Beamed into Star Trek

Chapter 25: The falling moon

...2366...

...The Brig...10:59 AM...

Q sat on a bench with one side of his face cupped, leaning forward, and had his left hand on his knee. The name 'Bell' rung a faint reminder in his brain but it wasn't significant. Everyone called him 'Q'. It didn't make sense about who he is and why everyone seems to be mad at him! First he appeared naked and memory-less on the bridge. Then this fellow Picard demands him to put the moon back in place.

A mortal man can't exactly change a moon's orbit.

Picard came into the brig along with Data.

"Can we agree to stop calling me 'Q' like I am your worst enemy ever?" Q asked.

"No," Picard said. "And we are uncertain if you are who you say you are."

"I DON'T KNOW WHO I AM!" Q shouted, now standing up. "It is not helping with you treating me like this!"

"Captain, it seems someone deliberately injured Q," Data said.

"Oh, that Bell girl," Q said. "She's a piece of work."

"Ensign Bell is...back?" Picard repeated, startled.

"She never left, Captain," Data said.

Picard stepped forward.

"I remember things I shouldn't," Picard said. "Do you remember the Q collector?"

"A...what?" Q said.

"A floating lantern collecting entities like you," Picard said.

"A lantern...collecting..." Q repeated. "That is the most pathetic thing I ever heard. Entities can't be captured, Captain Picard, and I am certainly not one of them as you can see with my most beautiful scar."

"That is sarcasm well received," Data said.

Q tilted his head staring at the golden tinted android.

"You are a very interesting man," Q said.

"Android," Data corrected Q.

Q straightened his head.

"Very interesting calcula--.." Q stopped, as though a memory had returned. He raised his eyebrows. "Why an unusual machine."

"Q, since I was beside you...When it happened," Picard said. "And you explained to me I would be the only one to remember. I believe since it has happened before where things are getting undone by another culprit; yet I remain unaffected. Why is it that?"

"Because you are a very stubborn human being who happens to change reality to his desires," Q said.

"No, that is all you," Picard said. "You once told me I would make a passable Q."

Q paused.

"I recall saying that," Q said. "But I cannot have been a man of such power."

"Why?" Picard asked.

"Because I am powerless and I have no idea what is going on!" Q said, walking back and forth. "Drop me off, if you will, at the nearby star base and I can start a new life of my own probably in this...strange new era."

Data turned his head toward Picard.

"Captain?" Data asked.

"No," Picard said.

"No?" Q repeated, confused. "I just gave you a generous offer."

"We need all the help we can get to restore this moon back to its proper orbit," Picard said.

Q sighed.

"You are on a death mission, Mon capitaine," Q said. He looked even more confused. "Ooh. Where did I pick that up from?"

"What makes you say we are on a death mission?" Picard asked.

"Because of the way everyone is treating me, it makes me believe I may have a few enemies of my own who'll love to get a piece of me," Q said. "It is quite logical." His face darkened. "But not when it may cost lives. You might regret not sending me off to a star base by tomorrow."