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Captain Janeway is caught by
surprise when she is paid a visit by Q and his son, Q ("Q2").
She last saw the young Q as an infant four years ago, but he
already looks and acts like an adolescent, and his father wants
to leave him on Voyager to learn about humanity. The crew
quickly learns that the boy is trouble, being as bored and
out-of-control as any teenager but with omnipotent powers. Q2
throws a party around the warp core, he makes Seven of Nine's
clothes disappear, and he gives the computer a rebellious
personality. Neelix is shocked to find him initiating a war
between two cultures, and when he tries to talk him into using
his powers more constructively, Q2 takes his vocal chords away.
Then Q2 lures three Borg Cubes to attack Voyager, putting the
crew in danger.
The father Q then shows up,
sets things back to normal and speaks privately with Janeway. He
tells her that his son was supposed to inspire peace and
compassion, but instead has brought chaos to the universe, so
the Continuum is hounding him to straighten the boy out. He was
hoping that Janeway's "Starfleet ideals" would rub off on him,
but she tells Q to act more like a parent and spend time with
him. Q loves the idea, kisses her on the lips and disappears.
Minutes later, Q appears again in Janeway's bubble bath, telling
her he just spent years with his son smothering him with
attention, and things have only gotten worse. Janeway tells Q
that he needs to make his son understand that there are
consequences to his actions. In response, Q turns his son into
an Oprelian amoeba, and when he restores him, tells the boy he
will be sentenced by the Continuum to an eternity as an amoeba
unless he becomes an upstanding citizen of the cosmos. He gives
Q2 one week to change his ways, and strips him of his powers.
 Forced into playing "mommy" to the now-mortal boy, Janeway
assigns Q2 quarters and devises a strict curriculum for him with
crewmates as his instructors. For instance, Chakotay runs a
diplomacy scenario on the holodeck where Q2 is instructed to
settle a mining dispute among several races. But when Chakotay
leaves the room, Q2 alters the aliens' personalities to assure
speedy success. He is also assigned to write a historical essay
on the Q Continuum, but Q2 manipulates Icheb into writing it for
him. Janeway tells Q2 that she knows he's been cheating, and
orders him to his room to wait for his father to return. Not
wanting to live as an amoeba, Q2 explains that it's not easy to
live up to his father's expectations and tells her she's his
only hope. Janeway agrees to give him one more chance.
Janeway and the Voyager crew become impressed with Q2's
determination to improve himself. Janeway is also pleased with
Q2's new essay on the Q Continuum. She rewards Q2 by allowing
him to go with Icheb on his piloting lesson with Lt. Paris.
After helping Icheb navigate the Delta Flyer through an asteroid
field, Paris lets Q2 take a "turn at the wheel." Q2's
nervousness gives way to a sense of adventure, and he and Icheb
become friends. Meanwhile, Q returns to Voyager to check up on
his son's progress. Janeway has Q2 read his essay to his father,
but Q is not at all impressed, hurting his son's feelings. When
Q2 leaves the room, Q tells Janeway that the boy needs to
demonstrate nothing less than exemplary "Q-ness." Janeway prods
him to explain what that is, but he just says he knows it when
he sees it, and an essay is not it, and disappears. Janeway
visits Q2 to console him, telling him that if the Continuum
won't take him back, she'll ask them to let him stay on Voyager
as a human. But Q2 doesn't want to be human — he wants to be a
Q, like his father.
Later, Q2 convinces Icheb to help him repair an ion imbalance on
the Delta Flyer to surprise Paris. After making the repair, Q2
launches the Flyer without permission, telling Icheb he knows
how to open a spatial flexure to another system. Icheb strongly
objects, but Q2 wants to hide from his father. He breaks free of
Voyager and jumps through the rift to the Clevari system. The
Flyer is met by a Chokuzan ship, whose commander accuses them of
trespassing and demands their surrender. Q2 fires on the ship
and tries to escape into another flexure, but the Chokuzans fire
back, and a bolt of energy knocks Icheb out. Q2 returns to
Voyager to bring Icheb to Sickbay, but the Doctor can't treat
him unless he knows more about the weapon that struck him. Q
shows up again, and Q2 pleads with him to save his friend's
life, but Q refuses, telling the boy he has to face the
consequences of his actions.
 To save Icheb, Q2 agrees to return with Janeway to the ship that
he attacked. Q2 apologizes to the ship's commander and asks for
his help, but when the commander threatens to hold Janeway
accountable for the boy's actions, Q2 objects and insists on
accepting punishment, even if it's torture or execution. The
Chokuzan commander laughs and reveals himself to be Q in
disguise. All along the Chokuzan incident was a test, which Q2
passed with flying colors. After Q assures Janeway that Icheb
will make a miraculous recovery, the two Q's and Janeway appear
before a tribunal of Q-Judges. Although Q argues that his son
was willing to sacrifice himself to save another, the judges
rule that Q2 has not made sufficient progress and must suffer
the fate of staying human. Q is outraged, and disappears with
the judges. Q2 dejectedly returns to Voyager, where he asks if
he can stay and continue his training, feeling he still has a
lot to prove to Janeway. But Q comes back and explains that he
told the judges he wouldn't stay in the Continuum without his
son, and claims they "begged" him not to leave. In fact, Q2's
powers have already been restored. Q2 fills Janeway's ready room
with flowers to thank her, and leaves on Q's promise to be a
better father. Q reveals to Janeway that he had to agree to one
minor condition—eternal custody of the child. In thanks, Q gives
Janeway data on a shortcut home, but he won't take Voyager all
the way because it would be a bad example for his son. |
