PROLOGUE

                Q was shocked by the surprise he felt. After all, he and his fellow continuum-mates were all-knowing and all-seeing ... until now.

                The force of the energy invading -- yes INVADING -- the Q-Continuum caught all Q by surprise.

                The energy force probed their consciousness leaving other Q helpless in its wake.

                Qs ... helpless?!

                This Q, the most important in his own mind, found some satisfaction at first in finding his companions caught off guard. They, after all, had the audacity to once take away his powers, after he played some minor pranks on Picard and his lackeys.

                He had presently returned to the continuum after jostling with Vash, the interesting human female who had miraculously found her way back from the Gamma Quadrant, where Q tossed her, thanks to another group of Starfleet minions on the flatly named space station Deep Space Nine.

                At his arrival in the continuum, Q was overwhelmed by this energy. No longer amused, he realized its predatory powers presented a threat to him.

                It was probing consciousness looking for weakness, it had locked onto Q's mind, on his thoughts of moments ago, of humans.

                Q struggled, focusing his powers against the invader's. To no avail...except for an image.

                An image of intent.

                Conquer ...everything.

                Then he felt something else, something familiar, something which gave him hope and confidence.

                It was the Q, his brothers and sisters!

                The ones who had been subdued found a way to channel their powers to him, the returnee. All the power of the Q now resided in him.

                The invaders hesitated a moment, caught off guard by this new defense.

                Then Q grappled with the creatures, probed them back,looking for weakness... and found none, except...

                ...It was there and suddenly gone.

                The creature fought back, focusing on what it had learned from Q. What it apparently perceived as a weakness... humans.

                Humans and their homeworld, Earth.

                This meant something to Q, strike at it and the Q itself would be easy to stop.

                'Ridiculous,' Q thought to the attacker. 'Humans mean nothing...'

                But it was too late. The attacker had found Earth, Q saw the image of the small blue world, not just now but in all moments. The planet Earth throughout time.

                Suddenly Q knew the creatures' intentions, and in the mili-second the creature was occupied, Q focused all his new-found power, all the power of the Q on one word, one image, one starship. "Enterprise."

                In the next millisecond, the creature erased the planet Earth from all of time.