  The second quantum revolution brings with it the promise of a quantum
internet. As the first quantum network hardware prototypes near completion new
challenges emerge. A functional network is more than just the physical
hardware, yet work on scalable quantum network systems is in its infancy. In
this paper we present a quantum network protocol designed to enable end-to-end
quantum communication in the face of the new fundamental and technical
challenges brought by quantum mechanics. We develop a quantum data plane
protocol that enables end-to-end quantum communication and can serve as a
building block for more complex services. One of the key challenges in
near-term quantum technology is decoherence -- the gradual decay of quantum
information -- which imposes extremely stringent limits on storage times. Our
protocol is designed to be efficient in the face of short quantum memory
lifetimes. We demonstrate this using a simulator for quantum networks and show
that the protocol is able to deliver its service even in the face of
significant losses due to decoherence. Finally, we conclude by showing that the
protocol remains functional on the extremely resource limited hardware that is
being developed today underlining the timeliness of this work.
