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During an attempt to beam up a
comet sample, the crew inadvertently brings aboard a member of
the Q Continuum, who was imprisoned inside the comet. The
escaped Q expresses his gratitude at being rescued, then bids
the crew farewell. Unfortunately, his attempt to disappear has
made all the male members of Voyager disappear instead. Janeway
orders him to return her crew. Instead, the well-known Q, who
has bedeviled the officers of the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-D
for years, appears.
Q tells Janeway that the
escaped Q ("Q2") has been locked up for the past 300 years due
to his repeated suicide attempts. The freed Q2 demands asylum
and attempts to press the point by haphazardly tossing the ship
around the universe in an attempt to lose the other Q. Janeway
calls a halt to the dangerous game of hide-and-seek and agrees
to hold a hearing to consider the request for asylum. The terms
are set: if the Captain rules in the Continuum's favor, the
escaped prisoner must return to confinement. If she doesn't, Q2
will be granted mortality so he can fulfill his death wish.
Q2 asks Tuvok to represent him at the hearing, where he explains
he wants to end the tedium of immortality. Q counters by
explaining that Q2's suicide could have unpredictable
consequences for the Continuum, which has never known anything
but immortality. A courtroom drama ensues when Q2 calls himself
to the stand along with other witnesses, including the
Enterprise's William Riker, whose lives were profoundly changed
by Q2's influence.
Q tries to sway Janeway's ruling by promising to send the crew
back to Earth if the decision is in his favor. Determined to
render a just verdict, Janeway, Tuvok and the two Qs visit a
manifestation of the Q Continuum to see what life is like there.
Afterwards, the Captain announces that she'll reveal her
decision the next day. In the morning, she grants Q2's request
for asylum, and urges him to explore the mysteries of mortal
life. But within hours, the now-human Q2 has committed suicide,
using a rare poison that the other Q confesses he secured for
his friend.
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