Stephen James Carver

Commander Riker: [Riker's about to turn down a ship of his own to command for the third time and he doesn't even know why] What am I still doing here? Deanna, I pushed myself hard to get this far. I... I sacrificed a lot. I always said I wanted my own command and yet... something's holding me back. Is it wrong for me to want to stay?

Counselor Deanna Troi: [a typical psychologist's response - answering a question with a question] What do you think?

Commander Riker: [musing it over] Maybe I'm just afraid of the big chair?

Counselor Deanna Troi: I don't think so.

Commander Riker: [he doesn't think so either] The Captain says Shelby reminds him of the way that I used to be... and he's right. She comes in here full of drive and ambition... impatient... taking risks. I look at her and I wonder what happened to those things in me. I liked those things about me. I've lost something.

Counselor Deanna Troi: You mean you're older... more experienced...

[chooses her next words with care]

Counselor Deanna Troi: ... a little more... seasoned.

Commander Riker: [but not careful enough for Riker's taste] Seasoned? That's a horrible thing to say to a man.

Counselor Deanna Troi: I don't think you've lost a thing, and I think you've gained more than you realise. You're much more comfortable with yourself than you used to be.

Commander Riker: [she may have hit on something there] Maybe that's the problem? I'm too comfortable here.

Counselor Deanna Troi: I'm not sure I know what that means. You're happy here... happier than I've ever known you to be. So, it comes down to a simple question... what do you want Will Riker?

[what indeed?]

Dr Beverly Crusher: [Picard, Riker, Crusher, LaForge and Troi have all gathered in the Observation Lounge to discuss Amanda Rogers, an intern aboard the Enterprise who mysteriously contained a warp core breach with sheer force of will] She's a little shaken up, but she's gonna be fine.

Commander William Riker: You said she was adopted. Could she be an alien?

Dr Beverly Crusher: She's human. There's nothing more unusual about her. Not that my instruments can detect.

Capt. Picard: Commander, have you been able to determine the cause of the warp breach?

Lt Commander Geordi LaForge: No, Sir. Everything was normal and then suddenly it's like the laws of physics went right out the window.

Q: [Q materialises in one of the empty chairs wearing his usual Starfleet uniform] And why shouldn't they? They're so inconvenient.

Capt. Picard: [a collective air of dismay suddenly descends on the room] Q!

Q: Mon Capitan.

Capt. Picard: Are you responsible for this incident in Engineering?

Q: [surprisingly upfront about it] Of course. I needed to find out if what I suspected about the girl were true.

Capt. Picard: That being?

Q: That she's a Q.

Counselor Deanna Troi: Amanda's a Q?

Dr Beverly Crusher: How is that possible? Her, her parents... her biological parents were human.

Q: Well, not exactly. They had assumed human form in order to visit Earth, I suppose for... for amusement. But in vulgar human fashion they proceeded to conceive a child...

[he winks at Beverly who looks thoroughly insulted]

Q: ... and then like mawkish humans they became attached to it. What is it about these squirming little infants that you find so appealing?

Dr Beverly Crusher: I'm sure that's beyond your comprehension, Q.

Q: I desperately hope so.

Counselor Deanna Troi: What happened to Amanda's parents?

Q: They died in an accident.

[that gets Picard's attention but keeps it to himself for now]

Q: None of us knew whether she had inherited the capacities of the Q but recently they've begun to emerge and er... as an expert in humanity... I was sent to investigate.

Commander William Riker: You? An expert in humanity?

Q: Not a very challenging field of study, I grant you.

Lt Commander Geordi LaForge: Are you saying you created a core breach just to test this girl?

Q: Uh huh.

Counselor Deanna Troi: What would have happened if she couldn't stop it?

Q: Then I would have known she wasn't a Q.

Dr Beverly Crusher: And now that you know - what do you intend to do?

Q: Instruct her. If this child does not learn how to control her power she may accidentally destroy herself... or all of you... or perhaps your entire galaxy?

Capt. Picard: I find it hard to believe that you're here to do us a favour.

Q: You're quite right. I wouldn't. But there are those in the Continuum...

[raises his eyes skyward]

Q: ... who have an over exaggerated sense of responsibility. They think that we need to take precautions to keep the little dear from running amok.

Dr Beverly Crusher: And once you've taught her... then you'll go away?

Q: And leave her here? Of course not. She'll come back to the Continuum where she belongs.

Dr Beverly Crusher: Wait a minute! You, you can't just come in here and take her away from everything she's ever known!

Q: [laughs that off] I assure you I can.

Dr Beverly Crusher: She has plans for herself. She wants to have a career and a family.

Q: I'm rescuing her from that miserable existence.

Dr Beverly Crusher: That miserable existence is all she's known for the last eighteen years. You have no right to take her away from it!

Q: [bored with the turn this conversation has taken] Mon Capitan, I really think that we need to speak privately.

[Q transports them both to Picard's Ready Room]

Q: Well, there, that's better. Crusher gets more shrill with each passing year.