A rebel Q escapes imprisonment from inside a comet and demands asylum aboard the U.S.S. Voyager. Just as quickly, the well known Q arrives to force the escaped Q back to the continuum, the extra-dimensional domain in which their immortal kind exist. Meanwhile, the escaped Q proclaims that if Captain Janeway grants him sanctuary, he intends to commit suicide to end the tedium he has endured as an immortal being. Noting the dictates of Starfleet protocol, Janeway holds a hearing to consider the request for asylum. The tables are turned on Q as a Federation personnel preside over a trial in which he must defend the Q Continuum and the ever logical Tuvok acts as counsel for the escaped Q. A courtroom drama ensues when Q calls himself to the witness stand along with a varied group of other people including Commander William T. Riker, whose lives were profoundly changed by Q's influence.
