Qi was hiding beneath a computer console. She was deafened by the huge bangs and explosions, which affirmed what she already knew; her mother's Freedom faction were losing the battle.

There was a Uncivil war in progress between the Q, who wanted to maintain the 'status quo', and a sect called the Freedom faction, who wanted to study other species in the Galaxy; then use that knowledge to help them improve and evolve. When they heard the agenda of the Freedom faction, the traditional members of the continuum were horrified. It is difficult to believe that such a highly evolved species still settled their differences using weapons to kill each other. However their weapons weren't just powerful, they had the ability to bring immortality to an end.

Qi was with her mother and the other members of the cell hiding in a roadhouse, under attack by the Traditional Q army.

Quinn, the leader of the cell, shouted, "We can't stay here much longer, I believe the General will lose patience soon and detonate a Pink Grenade."

"I agree Sir, we'll look for a safe exit and retreat," said Qat, who was Qi's mother.

Qat heard a whistling sound overhead and raced back to her daughter to shield her. The was an ear drum piercing explosion and everything blew outwards through the windows, into the desert around the building. It was a successful strike, most of the Freedom Faction were destroyed.

Quinn regained consciousness slowly. The first thing he checked was that he was all in one piece, he knew how destructive the grenades could be. Then he went looking for survivors; the Roadhouse was virtually undamaged but all of his cell were dead with substantial damage to their bodies.

He stood absolutely still for a moment because he was certain that he heard a faint cry. He started to scan the room more carefully. He could see Qat was dead but something was lying underneath her. He gently moved his Lieutenant's body aside. Qi was still alive, thanks to her mother's sacrifice but the lower half of her body had been destroyed. Quinn waved his hands and a stasis pod appeared in front of him. He opened the chamber and gently lifted Qi's poor battered body into the receptacle and switched it on. The grenade blast ended the war therefore Quinn had to disappear quickly but he couldn't abandon Qi, especially after her mother's sacrifice and loyal service.

He waved his hands in the air and they were transported to a jungle environment near a mountain pass. Quinn created a small cave and partially concealed the entrance so nobody would find Qi by accident. He touched the battery of the stasis pod to make sure it was full and checked that it was in good working order. He hoped that someone would find her and help her to live. He couldn't take her with him because he knew that the Q would come after him. While he evaded capture they knew that his faction would keep spreading his ideals and recruit more members.

The planet, that Quinn chose to leave the stasis pod on, had experienced centuries of warfare. Their initial conflict started over the ownership of a piece of land, both sides claimed the land was theirs. It escalated quickly; over time other grievances began to surface. Eventually the War ended with a catastrophic nuclear missile exchange.

Over many centuries the planet began to recover but the humanoid lifeforms weren't so lucky. When they began to breed, their babies were born with deformed or missing limbs. The scientists started to work on fusing organic and cybernetic implants to help the babies live normal lives. After many centuries of experimentation they were successful. The major problem they solved was the rejection of cybernetic implants by the organic tissue. They programmed nanoprobes, which were injected into the bloodstream. These nanoprobes attached themselves to the red blood cells in order to spread themselves throughout the body. The programming counteracted the body's immune system's response to reject the alien tissue.

Now, they were experts in the field of Cybernetic implants, especially fusing the implants with organic matter.

Quinn had to alert someone on the planet that he had left a badly injured 'humanoid female' in the cave without alerting them to the fact that she was Q. He waited outside one of the research facilities, hoping to ask one of the scientists if they would help Qi, he would present her case as a challenge. He knew that they had never attempted such a radical reconstruction. The door opened.

"Night Alianna, try to get a good night's sleep and we will re-examine the problem tomorrow."

"Goodnight Pavel, I will try to get in earlier tomorrow to scan all the data to see if I missed something - sweet dreams!"

As she started her walk to the accommodation block, Quinn stepped in front of her. She tried to scream but he was too quick, he already had his hand over her mouth.

"I mean you no harm, I have a badly injured niece who needs your help. Will you allow me to take you to her. You can examine her injuries and tell me honestly if you can help her. If you can't help us, I will leave you outside your room in the dormitory, then disappear."

Alianna regained her composure, then smacked Quinn across the face.

"That was for scaring me, you could have asked politely and I would have agreed. After all, I am a doctor and we have sworn an oath to help those in need. You didn't have to resort to extreme measures."

Quinn looked straight at her stunned and surprised, which was very strange for a Q, who had seen and heard everything.

"My apologies Madam, I am being pursued by a race of powerful entities. If they capture us, we will be exterminated," Quinn tried to warn her subtly that her life would be in danger if she helped them.

Despite knowing the danger she agreed to examine Qi. Quinn decided to walk back to the cave as he didn't want to use his powers in front of her until she had given him Qi's prognosis. They walked about two miles to reach the entrance to the Q made cave.

The Doctor was visibly shocked when she opened the stasis pod to examine Qi's injuries.

"Who, in the name of the Gods, inflicted these injuries on the poor child,"

she said switching from sorrow to anger.

Quinn felt guilty and ashamed. "She is a casualty of war. Her mother sacrificed her existence to save her, can you help her please!"

"She definitely isn't humanoid! How did she survive with such catastrophic injuries - she should be dead."

Quinn liked her straight talking and lack of artifice so he decided to trust her.

"My niece and I are from the Q Continuum. We are a highly evolved species, to the point where we have achieved immortality and omnipotence. Simply, Qi is very difficult to kill unless she is directly exposed to one of our weapons.

Arianna was faced with a dilemma. As a scientist. the challenge of saving this child was very tempting. As a doctor she had to consider the well being of her patient, would she be prolonging her suffering?

She looked at Quinn, he seemed to be genuinely concerned and most importantly she didn't believe he was lying.

"I'll do what I can on one condition, if my efforts aren't successful, I have your permission to turn the machine off and let her pass away peacefully."

Quinn was overjoyed, he could leave Qi quite happily with this Doctor, knowing she was going to receive the best care.

"I agree Doctor and thank you. I must leave soon before the entities arrive, who are intent on killing me." Quinn waved his hand and took all three of them back to the medical complex.

"You don't know how much this means to me madam, I only wish I could stay and get to know you properly." He kissed her hand and disappeared; Arianna knew she would never see him again.

She checked the stasis pod and power supply to make sure they were functioning properly then she walked back to her room rehearsing what she would tell her boss tomorrow.

The Head Director of the Scientific Research Complex marched into the laboratory, "Pavel. could you ask Arianna to come and see me, as soon as she arrives please,"

"Yes Sir, I'll let her know." Pavel wondered what Arianna had been upto.

About thirty minutes later, she raced into the laboratory apologising for being late! Pavel decided to tease her for a few minutes,

"What have you been upto Arri, his lizardship wants to see you urgently."

"For the God's sake, he must have found her already, I thought I might get the chance to explain first." Arianna said crossly.

"Tell Oncle Pavel all about it!"

Arianna told him everything from when she left work, the night before to checking the stasis pod after Quinn left.

"Wow, can I see her now?"

"I'll show you after I have my chat to the Director."