[3rd POV]
"So, my good friend, what exactly do you wish to learn from me? I'm quite the knowledgeable fellow, and a good teacher, but I would prefer if you could be a bit more specific about what you need help with" The Doctor asked as he sat across from Picard at one of the seating areas.
"Hmm, tell me, Doctor, have you ever encountered an entity that you simply cannot defeat, cannot outrun, and cannot outsmart?" Picard questioned the man in return. The Doctor listening couldn't help but let out a small laugh at his words.
"Of course, Picard. There are countless entities back in my home universe that are simply too strong for me to reasonably defeat. Now, there are of course several entities of immense power that follow rules, and they can be defeated. But those that follow no rules? That has nigh-omnipotent power? They are not defeatable, not even by me" The Doctor replied, remembering some of the less than fun entities he had run into in the past.
Sure, he could outsmart foes like the Toymaker, or similar entities that followed rules. But entities like the Guardians of Time? Or the Eternals?
He would not stand even the tiniest bit of a chance against them. He had never even properly met them, only heard of them.
Or if he had met them in the past, he wasn't about to talk about it.
Even uttering their names could prove disastrous.
"Am I right to assume that you are dealing with an entity similar to that?" The Doctor asked, guessing the obvious. He wondered what sort of entity existed there that was such an issue for them. From what little he had learned about their universe, it seemed that they were far weaker than his own universe.
At least, their universe didn't have even remotely the same level of threats as his own, and the worst they had seemed to be the very entity that captain Picard was talking about right now. That and a couple of alien races.
"You guess correctly. The species in question is...utterly impossible for us to combat. More than that, they are incredibly chaotic in nature, and seem to enjoy playing with us. They also have the ability to warp reality to their will, so there is little that we can accomplish against them" Data was the one who ended up responding to his question.
"Hmm, and what is the name of this entity?"
"Q. A man that had come out of nowhere and all but kidnapped several members of the Enterprise. Taken in to judge us for crimes that atrocities that the human race had comitted hundreds of years ago. We had to defend ourselves as if we were in the court of law" Picard replied, making the Doctor chuckle.
"Sounds similar to a few entities I've met. But most that are like that have rules that they follow. Like this one...problematic fellow called the "Toymaker" who was immensely skilled at games, and was bascially their personification. The only way to make him leave or stop whatever he was doing, was by defeating him in a game" The Doctor explained.
"How did you defeat such an entity? And why would an entity of such power follow such rules?" Worf surprisingly was the one to ask this, seemingly truly curious about the response.
"Trickery mostly, that is the best way to go about it, well, that and outsmarting them. And the entity in question followed the rule because he had no other choice. The concept of games and following the rules of the game was connected to him on a conceptual level. Meaning if he broke a rule, he would be going against his very being. Which is simply impossible" The Doctor explained to the large gruff looking man.
Worf grunted at that, not liking the mention of trickery very much, but he had to agree that it was likely the only way that something of such a level of power could be defeated. Only someone like Wanda could defeat them in direct combat.
And none of them were even remotely like Wanda. They were probably less than the atom at the bottom of her shoe.
While someone like the Toymaker would be more like a small ant beneath her shoe.
"...That is rather unfortunate then, as the Q does not seem to follow such rules. Trickery means...very little to the entity, and he is the one that seems to be doing all the tricking. Is there truly no way to defeat him?" Picard asked, sighing in defeat upon hearing the Doctors explanation.
Wanda couldn't help but comment as she walked by to put some of her new books away.
"Has he actually harmed you and your people at all?" Wanda said, knowing that the Q never really hurts the crew, well...mostly. The first interaction with the Borg did end in like 18 dead, but they literally asked for it.
Q used it as a teaching moment, showing them that they were absolutely nothing in comparison to what the Borg could compare to. The Borg was a deadly race that was easily the strongest race in the Star Trek universe, not counting the nigh-omnipotent ones or the ones that are on a higher dimension of course.
They are simply that strong, thanks to their nature. They were also really really hard to defeat permanently, and kind of reminded Wanda of the Cybermen a little bit.
They were not on that level though, the Cybermen were insanely powerful in their peak. And could compare to even the Daleks in certain (very few) areas.
"...He has harmed us mentally, at the very least. And he has threatened to harm not just us, but the entire human race. Surely you do not mean for us to trust in such an entity?" Picard asked, staring at the woman like she was crazy.
"I'm not saying you should trust him, but I think you should also not look at it like they're some evil mastermind. You must know that they could have chosen to off your species regardless, but abided by the rules of the court, meaning that they have some sort of moral compass, however warped it may be" Wanda replied, as he went silent again.
She was not lying. The entity could have very easily wiped them all out like it was nothing, and he could have ignored their words and did it either way. But he actually followed through on his word.
Meaning she was indeed correct in the statement that he had some sort of moral compass.
That in itself was strange, knowing an entity like that had an actual moral compass.
Weird.
But considering entities like Wanda existed, and that there was other kind beings out there, Picard supposed that it made some sort of sense. It wasn't like they had to be evil just because they had nigh-omnipotent power.
"Sounds like you need to try your best to understand him more, and ensure that he has no reason to harm you or your people" The Doctor said, agreeing with Wanda.
From the sounds of it, the entity that was harassing them wasn't actually too awful. He was not even remotely as bad as some of the ones that the Doctor
"How can we understand an entity that exists on a different plane than us? It is quite literally impossible to ever truly understand what it is thinking" Data replied, tilting his head in confusion.
"You don't have to understand him perfectly, Data. But you should at least try to understand him a bit. At least enough to have proper conversations with him that do not devolve into arguments and potentially something worse" The Doctor was the one that said this, as he agreed that understanding the Q was obviously not possible.
"...I suppose that makes sense. However, I must ask, how are we to learn more about the entity if they simply randomly appear?" Data asked.
"We wait until they appear again" Picard replied before Wanda or The Doctor could, deciding that they'd need to talk to the rest of the crew once they got back, to ensure that this went well.
If they could genuinely befriend the Q then that could be monumentally helpful to the Starfleet, if the entity was actually willing to aid them in the slightest. And even without their aid, it would still ensure that the Q would not harm their species.
That was good enough for Picard.
And soon, the group began to devolve into conversations about the Doctors travels, while Wanda walked away to get back to work, one thought on her mind.
'Perhaps it is time to connect to a new universe'
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That's the end of the chapter!
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