Picard's eyebrows crawl further up his brow, and despite the circumstances Deanna's remark about Q does win a small smile from him, wry though it may be. It is a very apt description.
"Yes. Shouldn't I be?" he answers, with an open-palmed gesture. He said it earlier — Q has shown himself to be unpredictable in the past when they have made efforts to upset his schemes, threatening more life, upping the stakes. To the officers, that kind of danger comes part and parcel with taking their vows; however, their guests made no such vows, neither have they come from backgrounds suited to such life or death decisions. Gambling with their lives would be unconscionable. "This crew has been exposed to things beyond our time, our universe; we have come to understand that certain things we once thought impossible are not universally so, and during that period of understanding each other we have made mistakes and missteps."
He pauses, considering her final question seriously before answering. That is what is weighing heaviest on his mind. "Ever since the arrival of Khan Noonien Singh, I have been considering the records of our Eugenics Wars more carefully. What we did then, what the Federation has continued to do on into this century ... some of our guests display unimaginable powers. Strength, gifts, willfulness. Here, they have been ... contained. We are able to co-mingle and work together on this ship, as you yourself brought out earlier. But were someone to take a special interest in them, to question or detain them ... "
no subject
"Yes. Shouldn't I be?" he answers, with an open-palmed gesture. He said it earlier — Q has shown himself to be unpredictable in the past when they have made efforts to upset his schemes, threatening more life, upping the stakes. To the officers, that kind of danger comes part and parcel with taking their vows; however, their guests made no such vows, neither have they come from backgrounds suited to such life or death decisions. Gambling with their lives would be unconscionable. "This crew has been exposed to things beyond our time, our universe; we have come to understand that certain things we once thought impossible are not universally so, and during that period of understanding each other we have made mistakes and missteps."
He pauses, considering her final question seriously before answering. That is what is weighing heaviest on his mind. "Ever since the arrival of Khan Noonien Singh, I have been considering the records of our Eugenics Wars more carefully. What we did then, what the Federation has continued to do on into this century ... some of our guests display unimaginable powers. Strength, gifts, willfulness. Here, they have been ... contained. We are able to co-mingle and work together on this ship, as you yourself brought out earlier. But were someone to take a special interest in them, to question or detain them ... "