Containment: Worf's Verdict on Q
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Worf confronts Q with distrust, ordering him to remain silent or leave, establishing immediate tension between them.
Q, now human, uses sarcasm to challenge Worf's logic, questioning why he would allow himself to be imprisoned if he still had his powers.
Worf dismisses Q's argument, citing his history of deception, reinforcing his mistrust.
Q mocks Worf's intelligence, comparing him to the 'boy who cried wolf,' escalating their verbal sparring.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Coldly resolute — outwardly controlled and implacable, driven by suspicion and the need to protect the crew rather than any personal vindictiveness.
Worf physically ushers Q into the detention cell, issues a blunt warning to be silent, then gives the command to the ship's computer to activate the forcefield before leaving the space; he enforces procedure over pity.
- • Secure the ship and crew by containing a potential threat.
- • Prevent further deception or manipulation by Q through enforced boundaries.
- • Maintain order and assert command protocol in a volatile situation.
- • Q's past behavior establishes a pattern that cannot be trusted.
- • Institutional procedure and physical containment are the only reliable answers to an unpredictable, powerful antagonist.
- • Mercy now would risk crew safety and set a dangerous precedent.
Wounded pride thinly veiled by sarcasm — performing superiority while secretly alarmed and frustrated by genuine impotence and loss of control.
Q alternates between mocking deflection and wounded incredulity: he taunts the crew with rhetorical questions, attempts to test the activated barrier, complains about confinement, and verbally lashes out as his apparent omnipotence proves irrelevant to the new situation.
- • Assess the limits of his current mortality by testing the forcefield.
- • Regain freedom and/or restore his former status and power.
- • Provoke doubt or sympathy in his captors to undermine their resolve.
- • His historical omnipotence should alter how others treat him.
- • Taunting and intellectual superiority can unbalance less confident opponents.
- • Containment is temporary if he can manipulate reactions or reveal hypocrisy.
Neutral and procedural — no emotion, only execution of orders and maintenance of ship safety protocols.
The shipboard computer receives Worf's terse command and dutifully energizes the detention cell's forcefield, producing the rim of lights that physically divides the room and enforces containment protocol.
- • Execute the captain/security officer's command promptly and accurately.
- • Maintain shipboard safety systems within standard operating procedures.
- • Commands from authorized officers should be executed without delay.
- • Active forcefield is an appropriate technical response to a security risk.
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
The Forcefield Rim of Lights is energized on Worf's order, creating a visible circumferential barrier that divides the cell. It functions as both a practical containment device preventing passage or disappearance and a theatrical indicator of Q's humiliation and new limits.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
The High-Security Detention Cell provides the physical and symbolic stage for the confrontation: its cold metal walls, clinical lighting, and integrated security systems enable Worf to convert suspicion into containment and force Q's cosmic problem into a localized, enforceable issue.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
No narrative connections mapped yet
This event is currently isolated in the narrative graph
Part of Larger Arcs
Key Dialogue
"WORF: Be quiet or disappear back where you came from."
"Q: I can't disappear any more than you can win a beauty contest. If I ask a very simple question, do you think you can grasp it without troubling your intellect too much... ready? If I still had powers, would I permit you to lock me away?"
"WORF: You have fooled us too often, Q."