Stories tagged with: Q de Gras

This part of Q de Gras is nothing more than the introduction, the table of contents (sans page numbers) and some interesting notes.

In Chapter 9, Jeremy has his “Vibrations Technique” procedure, or “Vibroniques” in Sick Bay the morning after his big performance.

In chapter 8, Jer, beginning to show signs of his illness but still strong, crosses a big item off his bucket list: He gives a magical performance in Ten-Forward. The show is broadcast all over the ship. In addition to Jer’s magic, Bo and members of the Enterprise crew perform several musical numbers culminating with a parody tribute from the crew for U.

After discussions with Riker then Picard, U begins planning a show in Ten-Forward for Jer to demonstrate his prestidigital prowess. He also begins working with Geordi and Chief O’Brien in Engineering to help find a way to communicate with Jer’s protozoan infection in hopes of persuading them to depart Jer’s body and inhabit another animal from their home planet that Picard had held in stasis.

Q de Gras
In Ten-Forward, Jer and U share some important things with each other. U shares some details about what he was that ultimately caused him to be incarcerated. Jer discussed his illness and that, while he does want to be cured, his deepest desire is to be with his parents again; both of them were among the 12 killed on the Enterprise’s previous mission. After their discussion, U and Jer begin to assemble Jer’s bucket list, and Guinan, having watched U and Jer interacting, learns that U may not be so bad after all.

Q de Gras is comprised of 12 chapters, but the chapters are divided into 4 groups of chapters, called “acts.” Act 1, chapters 1-4, was called “Q d’État.” Act II, comprised of chapters 5-8, is called “U Phemisms.”

While we learn more about Jeremy–he prefers “Jer,” he is an artist and a skilled magician–we also see U and Bo becoming friends. We learn that U is more strongly tied to his Q powers and his prison than he had known, and we see Jer and Bo meet during one of Worf’s Mok’ Bara classes.

In Q de Gras chapter 3, Guinan meets U and she is instantly suspicious, but as U is currently without his Q powers, she calms down but remains cautious. U asks Picard to put him to work, so Picard finally suggests that he work with Lt. Costello to help him decipher the enigmatic language of the Calliphlox. Lt. Costello is a pianist and a linguist. His name, Abbot Costello, was adopted from the aliens from the movie “Arrival,” as they also had some language deciphering to do. His character was inspired by the musicians who worked as breakers of the Japanese codes just prior to the US entry into WWII. As his name evokes the comedy of a famous duo, I have given Lt. Costello something of a comedic touch, but it was inspired more by Victor Borge than by Abbot and Costello.

In Chapter 2, Picard and the Crew of the Enterprise debate the idea of inviting this new Q entity aboard. Additionally, we learn that there is one more person aboard the Enterprise who is infected with the same sentient illness that killed 12 members of the crew only weeks before.