'Where's Pakistan? asked Beverley Crusher.

'And what's Cricket?' quiered Riker.

Picard smiled and suggested that they ignore some of Q's wilder ramblines and to concentrate on the task in hand, which would be tricky enough and he did not trust Q's guidance. Claires suggestion that Q was surely a friend was met with some derision. 'What makes you so sure of that?' Picard replied. They where given a briefing by Data. He had done a quick analysis and was able to give a summary of the political situation of the Borg home world at the time.

It was just recovering from a long and bloody war with its powerful neighbour planet. Although a treaty was signed the world was unstable. The Government had a tenuous grip on power lead by one President Richard Acquataine. It was a democracy but an imperfect one. Vested interest had more control than they should and frankly for a planetary President he showed more interest in his scientific mutations than his political aims.

One of his scientific mutations was Borg prototypes. The President was also a bit of a collector. 'Which is a fine characteristic for one whom invents the Borg,' said Riker. They debated what to do next. It just happened that they were near the scientific complex where the Borg where been created. Q's doing no doubt. With their advanced technology there was a good chance of breaking in. Also the President was in the vicinity, naturally enough with his interest in the experiment. 'Unnaturally obsessive. Makes you wonder why and how he ever became President,' said Riker.

'Ah,' said Data, 'I can explain that. According to my infobank it was a compromise between...'

'I was talking in a collegially,' said Riker hurriedly.

'If you say so!'

'Though I also wonder if meeting this President is such an advantage,'

'We might need to influence him,' argued Picard. But just as they debated a way of breading into the weapons complex there was a great noise and inrush of people. Many thousands protesting against the President. Claire could see that they were protesting that the President had been too soft. That was a correct thought. Many on the planet thought that the treaty which put a stop to the bloody conflict with the neighbouring world was far too generous to their enemies. Many believed this to be a betrayal and demanded tougher terms or the war re-started. The President was of the opposite party. But his political enemies were gaining influence. The riot became bloody and violent. Many of the protestors were trying to reach the President. The team from the Enterprise were seperated. In one direction went Riker, Claire, Worf and Data. In another went Picard, Gerodi and Crusher.

It did take a while, but once the smoke cleared, Picard and Crusher realized that they were on their own. Night fell. Picard decided that under the cover of darkness was a good time to break in. Beverly suggested using the Tri-Quarter to contact the others. But sadly as Crusher attempted to do so there was just too much interference to communicate verbally. Beverly did succeed in sending a Text through to Riker. A rather hurried one with a bad use of English.

'You Doctors are all the same,' chuckled Picard. But the upshot was that there was no contact with the others. So, the two decided that the others could look after themselves. 'Rikard is a good enough leader,' he said with his usual faint praise. The reason was that Picard had spotted the fence which guarded the research complex. Now was a good time to break in which they did using their tri-quarters. Though at one point they had to duck as some small but vicious looking creatures, the planets guard dogs passed closely. But with a bit of a sniff, the dogs departed. Then a creature appeared. A man-sized one. Thin and robot-like. It turned an looked to were Picard was. A Borg.

In the meantime, Riker, Claire and Worf were been taken by the crowd. But Riker was more interested in talking to the crowd members. It was a depressing conversation even if some of it was useful. People were denouncing the President as a peacenick and many were saying anti-democratic things.

They frequented a bar to find information. Q had provided them with credit in the planets currency. And the ability to communicate in the local language. He could do a lot, could Q. But Claire was not impressed with the bar. Her drink was weak and largely full of water and the place was unkempt. A world away from the places she was used to at home which could be spartan but were always homely. But the patrons did not seem unduly worried, happy with their cheap alcohol. Claire was little impressed by the company either. Most of the talk was of violence and hatred toward their neighboring world. Most were for starting another war even as someone suggested that the cost would be terrible and violent and not worth it, this was shorted down and the speaker threatened. The speaker had to back away quietly. As things were getting ugly in the bar Claire suggested it was wise to look elsewhere. But after leaving they were followed by some security. The Security were for some strange reason suspicious of Data. Data and Riker went to look at something, when one shot was fired at the Robot. Data fell to the ground and was carried away by the blue-uniformed security.

'I wonder why they found Data suspicious,' said Claire.

'Possibly it was his artificial look. It might look out of place here,' suggested Riker. 'And speaking of Data,' he said anxiously, 'this could be a major security breech for the Federation Some of the information he has, should the Breslen's find it could make them stronger, rather than weaker. It might in fact make them unstoppable. '

'A far cry from destroying them, that can't be what Q wanted,' said Claire.