Q-Continuum Side Deck – This side deck is made up of cards identified by the Q-icon. (show below)
These special cards come into play only via this side deck. Q-Continuum cards represent actions of Q or one of the other Q entities.
You can have as many Q-icon cards in your side deck as you like, even duplicates. The side deck is activated during the doorway seed phase by a Q- Flash doorway seeded face up on top of the side deck. Q-icon cards consist of "Q-Dilemmas", "Q-Events", and "Q-Interupts", as well as a "Q-Dilemma/Event" and even a "Q-Artifact"! Although the Q-Continuum cards in your side deck are interrupts, events etc., it is helpful to think of them as dilemmas which your opponent will face.
Seed more Q-Flash doorways like dilemmas under any mission (no more than one per mission) to cause your opponent to face the cards in your Q-Continuum. (Additional Q-Flash doorways may be stocked in your draw deck or Q’s Tent for nullifying Q-icon cards or for seeding during the game using the objective Beware of Q.)
When your opponent encounters a Q-Flash under a mission, his crew or Away Team must collectively face a number of cards from your Q-Continuum side deck equal to the number of personnel present. (See dual-icon mission.) Draw and resolve Q- icon cards one at a time. If the same Q- icon card occurs more than once during a given Q-Flash, discard any duplicates without drawing more cards to replace them. (However, if you encounter one copy of a Q-icon dilemma seeded under a mission using Beware of Q, and another copy during a Q-Flash at the same mission, both cards have their effect.) When you have finished resolving the required number of cards, discard the Q-Flash doorway.
A Q-Continuum card that contains the phrase “until any Q-Flash” has its effect only until the next Q -Flash card is played from a hand or encountered by any crew or Away Team, then is discarded. Q-Continuum cards are subject to the appropriate nullifying cards unless otherwise specified (e.g., Amanda Rogers nullifies Q-Continuum interrupts)
Your used Q-icon cards from your side deck do not go to your discard pile if you have a Q-Continuum side deck. Instead, whenever one of them is discarded or otherwise leaves the table, place it face up underneath your side deck. When your side deck runs out of facedown Q-icon cards, shuffle the face-up cards and place them face down again underneath your seeded Q-Flash doorway. (Q-icon cards that come into play from any source other than your Q-Continuum side deck, such as Q-icon dilemmas seeded under a mission with Beware of Q, are discarded normally after use, even if you also have a side deck.)
If an entire crew or Away Team is killed, captured, relocated, or otherwise unable to continue a Q-Flash, do not draw any remaining Q-icon cards. Unless otherwise specified, a Q-icon dilemma encountered during a Q-Flash does not “stop” a crew or Away Team that cannot meet its requirements.
You never encounter your own Q-Continuum side deck. If you encounter a Q-Flash, regardless of who seeded it, you encounter your opponent’s Q-Continuum. If your opponent does not have a Q- Continuum side deck (or if its doorway is closed), discard that Q-Flash.
The short version: a Q-flash creates the side deck. Then, additional Q-Flash cards are seeded like Dilemmas. When a Q-Flash (seeded like a Dilemma) is encountered, that players faces a number of cards from their opponent's Q-Continuum Side Deck.