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Q knew that this day would arrive. Time was running out for humanity, their favorite little pet project, or perhaps just his favorite little unruly pet.
If anyone had bothered to ask Q, they would have said that the whole idea of a species above the entire concept of time judging another as having run out of it was laughable and frankly a little insulting, since it was basically a form of lowering themselves to the standards of creatures so far below them that there was no scale in which to compare then. Comparing Q and humans would be like trying to present a size scale between an atom of hydrogen and the black hole humans called Ton 618, with absolutely nothing in between. Q could still do it, they could do anything, but it would be highly impractical and it would provide no information whatsoever.
Of course, no Q had bothered to ask Q for their opinion, which was in and of itself quite offensive, but they had more pressing concerns to care about than the blatant lack of respect they received from their peers, and this slight, as grave as it was, would have to be allowed to pass. And yet not exactly more pressing, at least, not in the sense that it was something that they should deal with immediately, or now.
Not that now meant all that much for a being outside of time. Another reason why this whole exercise of giving humanity time to develop and then deciding this time was over was ridiculous, since time, at least of a linear fashion, was non-existent and therefore entirely irrelevant.
Not being able to think outside of time was precisely the reason why humanity was doomed, considered too limited in their view of the universe to be of any real use, or to be allowed to roam freely around the galaxy. Or the quarter of the galaxy humans mostly limited themselves to.
If only they could teach humans to be different… Q wouldn’t put it past them to learn, if only someone showed them how. Humans did have something that passed as intelligence, and at least they were creative, even if they were still such limited beings.
Jean-Luc had shown that he had at least the potential to learn, when Q made him see why fixing the perceived errors of his past would have disastrous consequences for the man he grew to be. The person he was as an older captain couldn't be put in the way of the young cadet without change, and to do away with the brash cadet who would lose his heart over a bar fight would kill the collected captain who knew the consequences of his actions and thought them with care.
That hadn’t been too much of a test, only involving one decision in the past and its consequences for the present. In truth, it hadn’t been a test at all, Q simply couldn’t allow such an extraordinary man as Jean-Luc Picard to die in such a dull way, but they couldn’t just go around and save his life without making this into some sort of a game. Otherwise, before they knew it they would be orbiting Jean-Luc in all of their free time and doing things to make his life easier instead of pestering him for attention.
Not that Q would admit to wishing for Jean-Luc's attention to such a degree. They still had their, not exactly pride, Q were beyond such petty things as pride, but they were too important to care about pestering a human just because they wanted his attention. No human was that special, and no Q would lower themselves to that level.
Still, Jean-Luc had shown then that he could understand, with a little nudging, how time connected with itself, changing and growing and altering. Perhaps then all that Q had to do was give him another opportunity to see what was right in front of his eyes, this time with a slightly more complex causal connection that would force him to think non-linearly in a way a mere trip to the past couldn’t.
It wasn’t exactly following the rules, as they weren’t supposed to help out other species in their development in this way, but Q was never known as one to follow the rules, even when that meant risking punishment from the others, who still refused to understand them.
Although they wouldn’t admit as much, at least not to anyone else, especially not to any Q or human, there was a great potential in humanity, and they wanted to see where this was going to end.
It shouldn't be here and now, when they still had so much to grow, they could still move beyond their worst instincts and expansionist desires. They could still be better.
And well, maybe they weren’t ready to see Jean-Luc be punished for the sins of lesser humans, even if Jean-Luc was also part of the problem.
If there was one human who had the potential to be so much more than what humanity had limited itself to be, he knew that human was Jean-Luc, years of knowing each other proved as much.
Q would never admit to it in the continuum, as they already thought that Q was too close to humanity, and they would certainly never tell Jean-Luc that, as he would think it was another one of their games, but Q had a genuine fondness for Jean-Luc.
When they met, Q said that this was a trial, now that they were running out of time, perhaps it was time for the verdict, or at least a verdict, at any rate.
And if this was still a trial, then humanity deserved a chance at the closing arguments. If Jean-Luc could see past the limitations of the flawed perceptions of humanity, then there might be hope for their kind yet.
And humanity could never have a better choice of a champion than Jean-Luc, the best that humanity had to offer.