 The episode featured the third appearance of de Lancie as Q after " Encounter at Farpoint " and " Hide and Q " , the latter of which had been written by Hurley under a pseudonym . Lycia Naff was introduced as Ensign Sonia Gomez , who was intended to be a recurring character in the same manner as Chief Miles O 'Brien played by Colm Meaney ( who also appeared in this episode ) . However , Naff only made one further appearance as Gomez , in the following episode , although the character later appeared in the Starfleet Corps of Engineers series of novellas . 
