Season 5

1. Apocalypse Rising

Having learned from security chief Odo that a Changeling has taken Gowron's form and is now in control of the Klingon Empire, Captain Benjamin Sisko is ordered by Starfleet Command to expose the impostor. He, Odo, Miles O'Brien, and Worf must infiltrate Ty'Gokor, the headquarters of the Klingon military, disguised as Klingon candidates for the "Order of the Bat'leth". They are given four devices which, when activated, will emit radiation which will force any nearby Changeling to revert to its gelatinous state. Gul Dukat escorts them to Ty'Gokor in his captured Klingon Bird of Prey.

The four arrive at the Hall of Warriors, where the all-night party before the induction ceremony has already begun, and try to blend in. When General Martok, second in command to Gowron, arrives, the four scramble to set up their radiation emitters. Gowron arrives and begins issuing the awards. When Sisko is called to receive his award, he attempts to activate the emitters, but is knocked to the floor by Martok, who has finally recognized them and has them thrown in a security cell.

Once they are alone, Martok confides to Sisko that he too believes that Gowron is an impostor. With the emitters destroyed, the only way to expose Gowron is to kill him. Martok releases Sisko and his group and leads them back to the Hall of Warriors. Worf challenges Gowron to a one-on-one duel. Martok wonders why Sisko does not shoot Gowron outright. Odo observes that Gowron chose to fight Worf in single combat, thus showing Klingon honor, while Changelings do not care for honor; he concludes that the Changeling is not Gowron, but Martok. Just when Worf is about to kill Gowron, Odo reveals the false Martok to the crowd, and the Klingons open fire, quickly destroying the Changeling.

Gowron realizes that Odo was fed false intelligence that Gowron was the Changeling, which would have led to Gowron's assassination by the Federation, allowing the fake Martok, and therefore the Dominion, to gain full control of the Klingon Empire. Gowron agrees to a ceasefire in the war between the Klingons and the Federation, and Sisko and his men are returned safely back to DS9.

2. The Ship

An away-team of Deep Space Nine crew, led by Captain Benjamin Sisko, are conducting a mineral survey on an uninhabited Gamma Quadrant planet, while their runabout awaits them in orbit. A Dominion warship crashes near their location; investigating, they find the crew dead. Sisko contacts DS9 to have the USS Defiant come tow the ship back to the station so that it can be studied.

Another Dominion ship arrives, destroys the runabout and its crew, and transports a number of Jem'Hadar soldiers to the surface along with their Vorta supervisor, Kilana. The soldiers fire on the away team, killing one and wounding Muñiz, an assistant to chief engineer O'Brien. Sisko's crew flees into the crashed ship for protection. Muñiz begins slowly bleeding to death as a result of his injury.

Kilana meets with Sisko, offering to return the away team safely to DS9 if they yield the ship. Meanwhile, a Jem'Hadar transports onto the crashed ship and attacks the team; Muñiz, though weakened, is able to shoot the Jem'Hadar. Kilana and Sisko immediately return to their ships. Sisko deduces that there is something valuable aboard that they are unwilling to risk damaging in a direct attack. He rejects a new offer from Kilana to allow Sisko to keep the ship if he permits the Jem'Hadar to retrieve an item from it.

O'Brien tries to assure a now delirious Muñiz that he will live, but Lt. Cmdr. Worf asserts that Muñiz should be prepared for death. Tempers flare and a fight almost breaks out. Sisko sternly orders the crew to pull themselves together. O'Brien's attempt to bring the ship's engines online fails, and Muñiz dies.

The ship's precious cargo finally reveals itself: a dying Changeling, one of the Founders of the Dominion whom the Jem'Hadar and Vorta revere as gods. After it dies, Kilana transports to the vessel. She explains that her Jem'Hadar have committed suicide for allowing the death of a Founder, and that she has no further means to prevent Starfleet from salvaging the ship. Sisko allows her to collect some of the Changeling's remains before she leaves.

The Defiant eventually arrives and tows the ship back to DS9. O'Brien and Worf hold a vigil over Muñiz's casket. Sisko tries to write a report for Starfleet, but keeps lingering on the five crewmen who died on the mission. Despite knowing the ship's recovery could save thousands of lives, Sisko still feels they deserved more than to die on an isolated planet so far from home.

3. Looking for par'Mach in All the Wrong Places

Grilka (Mary Kay Adams), the Klingon ex-wife of Quark (Armin Shimerman) from a "marriage of convenience" (see " The House of Quark "), arrives at Deep Space Nine to seek financial advice from Quark. Worf (Michael Dorn) is immediately attracted to her, but is told by her adviser, Tumek, that Worf's dishonor precludes her from mating with him. Quark wishes to pursue Grilka romantically, but is ignorant of Klingon mating rituals, so he asks Jadzia Dax (Terry Farrell) for help. Worf, eager to prove himself capable of courting a Klingon woman, joins Dax in coaching Quark to win Grilka's affections. Through diligent efforts to learn Klingon culture, Quark is successful with Grilka; her bodyguard, Thopok (Phil Morris), becomes outraged at the unconventional relationship and challenges Quark to a duel.

Unskilled at combat, Quark stands to either lose Grilka or be killed. Worf helps him using a device that enables him to control Quark's body movements from an adjacent room to help Quark defend himself in the duel. Although the device temporarily malfunctions, he defeats the bodyguard. The scene concludes with Grilka and Quark alone and enamored with one another. Worf opines to Jadzia that Quark is unworthy of such a great Klingon woman and she counters that Worf's interest in Grilka is superficial, and there are better options awaiting him. Since Worf still fails to notice her hints, Dax initiates an aggressive romantic encounter. Worf is surprised but responds. In the final scene, both couples are in the infirmary; Doctor Julian Bashir (Alexander Siddig) deduces the source of their injuries. Dax and Worf decide to begin a relationship.

In a subplot, Miles O'Brien (Colm Meaney) is faced with the increasingly uncomfortable situation of Major Kira Nerys (Nana Visitor) carrying his baby and living with him and his wife, Keiko (Rosalind Chao) (see "Body Parts"). Miles and Kira begin to feel attracted to each other, but try to avoid growing closer; Kira decides to take a trip to Bajor for a few days only for Keiko to insist that Miles accompany her on her retreat. As the runabout is about to depart, Kira reveals that their destination is in a highly romantic setting, which prompts Miles to back out of the trip.

4....Nor the Battle to the Strong

Jake Sisko is returning from a medical conference with Dr. Julian Bashir. Although Jake intended to write an article about Bashir, he cannot find anything interesting in the latter's description of the conference. They receive a distress call from a Federation colony which has just been attacked by the Klingons in violation of a ceasefire agreement. Seeing the potential for a gripping story, Jake persuades Bashir to take him along.

Jake has trouble handling the chaotic emergency room situation at the hospital, particularly triage. One of the patients, a Starfleet soldier, claims to have been shot in the foot by the Klingons, but Bashir discovers that the wound was self-inflicted, intended to get him out of the fighting. Jake is disgusted by the man's cowardice.

Everyone expects the Klingons will overrun the settlement within days if no reinforcements arrive. On Deep Space Nine, Jake's father, Captain Benjamin Sisko, takes command of the starship Defiant to come to aid the colony after the ship intended to deliver those troops is destroyed in transit.

When the power goes out as a result of a Klingon attack, Jake and Bashir attempt to retrieve a portable generator from their runabout. The two come under enemy fire, and a terrified Jake abandons Bashir and runs for cover. He encounters a mortally wounded Starfleet soldier and tries desperately to help him, but the dying man accuses Jake of merely trying to atone for his cowardice. By the time Jake returns to the hospital, Bashir has returned with the generator but has sustained injuries as a result of the fighting.

Jake claims that he became disoriented and was knocked unconscious, and Bashir blames himself for putting Jake in danger. Jake speaks with the soldier who wounded himself, and the two commiserate over the terror of battle. Jake has an angry outburst over the calm demeanor and dark humor exhibited by the staff, but refuses to tell Bashir what is bothering him.

The Klingons storm the hospital, forcing the staff to evacuate the patients. Pinned down by disruptor fire, Jake picks up a dropped phaser rifle and fires blindly into the air. His shots cause a cave-in that knocks him unconscious; when he wakes up, his father and Bashir are standing over him. He has suffered only a few bruises, and the cave-in delayed the Klingons long enough for all the patients to be evacuated safely. The Klingons have withdrawn from the area, and the ceasefire has been reinstated.

Although Jake is considered a hero for his actions, he writes the truth in his article, concluding that the line between courage and cowardice is much thinner than he originally believed. He gives one copy to Bashir and another to his father, who tells Jake how proud he is.

5. The Assignment

Keiko O'Brien returns to Deep Space Nine from a trip to Bajor and tells her husband Miles that she is not actually Keiko but an entity possessing her body. She proves this to Miles by stopping her heart for a few seconds. Miles is given a list of modifications to make to the station, but isn't told what the entity's ultimate goal is. The entity makes it clear it is willing to kill Keiko as well as their daughter Molly if he tries to tell anyone. Miles infers that the entity is probably a Pah-wraith from Bajoran legends; but this doesn't help him devise a way to stop it. When he tries to alert others to what's going on, the Pah-wraith anticipates this and makes Keiko fall from a balcony. Keiko is just injured, but the entity manages to secure Miles's silence.

Being under a strict time limit, Miles enlists night-shift technician Rom to assist him with the modifications, instructing Rom to tell no one about what he is doing. Science officer Jadzia Dax spots the modifications, and, suspecting sabotage, alerts the Operations staff; Miles is forced to implicate Rom to divert suspicion from himself.

Rom is incarcerated but refuses to divulge anything about what he was doing and why. He insists that he will only speak to Miles. Rom has determined that the modifications they are making will fire a beam that will kill the Prophets. Rom and Miles are able to piece together what is going on: the Pah-wraiths are the Prophets' natural enemies, and the one possessing Keiko is using her to kill them all at once.

Security chief Odo is still suspicious, however, and confronts Miles while he is performing the last modifications. Miles knocks him unconscious, finishes the modifications, and calls "Keiko" to tell her to meet him at a runabout so he can take her to the wormhole. However, Miles actually fires the beam at the runabout, killing the Pah-wraith and leaving Keiko uninjured.

O'Brien rewards Rom for his hard work and help by promoting him to the day shift. Miles and Keiko later talk about the experience. Keiko believes the Pah-wraith would never have left either of them alive, and both are relieved their ordeal is over.

6. Trials and Tribble-ations

Agents from the Department of Temporal Investigations (DTI) arrive at Deep Space Nine to question Sisko about an incident involving the Defiant. The ship was sent to Cardassia to retrieve the sacred Bajoran Orb of Time, stolen during the occupation. On their way back to Bajor the ship takes on a passenger, a human trader named Barry Waddle. Suddenly, the ship finds itself more than one hundred years in the past and approximately 200 light years away from its previous location, near Deep Space Station K7 and the USS Enterprise. They discover that the hitchhiker is actually Arne Darvin, a former Klingon agent disguised as a human who was caught by Captain Kirk on K7 after poisoning a shipment of grain.

Fearing that Darvin used the Orb of Time to alter the past to prevent his capture, the crew dress in period uniforms and investigate the Enterprise and K7. The ship and station are infested with tribbles, small furry creatures that reproduce rapidly. They attempt to interact with history as little as possible while searching for Darvin, but Dr. Bashir, Chief O'Brien, Worf and Odo get involved in a bar brawl between the Enterprise crew and a number of Klingons on shore leave. During the brawl, Worf and Odo spot Darvin and bring him back to the Defiant. There, Darvin gloats that he has planted a bomb in a tribble to kill Kirk.

Captain Sisko and Lieutenant Commander Dax infiltrate the Enterprise bridge to scan for the bomb, and confirm it is not on the Enterprise. The rapid breeding of the tribbles makes searching for the bomb on K7 impractical, so they shadow Kirk. They overhear him discussing the tribble infestation, and deduce that the bomb is in the grain storage compartments. They enter the compartments and scan the tribbles, many of which are dead from eating the poisoned grain. Captain Kirk opens the compartment and is covered in falling tribbles. Dax and Sisko find the bomb among the tribbles still in the compartment and the Defiant transports it into space, where it harmlessly explodes. The crew of the Defiant use the Bajoran Orb to return to their time, but not before Sisko takes an opportunity to meet Kirk in person.

The DTI agents, expressing optimism that the crew's actions have not seriously altered history, let Sisko off with just a warning. Once they are gone, Odo summons Sisko to DS9' s Promenade, which is now covered in tribbles, much to the annoyance of Quark.

7. Let He Who is Without Sin...

Worf 's relationship with Jadzia Dax hits a rough spot, and he plans to discuss his feelings during their vacation on Risa. They arrive — along with Dax's friends Julian Bashir, Quark, and Leeta — at the beautiful, climate controlled "Pleasure Planet", and Worf meets Arandis, the social director of the Tembiti Lagoon resort. He is dismayed to learn that Arandis is a former lover of Curzon Dax, Jadzia's predecessor as host of the Dax symbiont, whose memories Jadzia shares.

Worf is approached by Pascal Fullerton, leader of the New Essentialists, a group bent on "restoring the moral and cultural traditions of the Federation ". Worf attends the group's rally, where Fullerton warns that Risa's focus on pleasure indicates that the citizens of the Federation have become weak, and will be defenseless if an enemy attacks. Later that night, a group of Essentialists vandalize the Risian Solarium. Dax realizes that the attack is just a stunt to convince vacationers that they are vulnerable.

That evening, Worf accuses Dax of not taking their relationship seriously. The next day, Worf sees Dax with Arandis and is overcome with jealousy. He tells Fullerton that he knows how to drive the guests from Risa. Soon afterwards, a powerful storm moves in without warning, putting an end to the resort's outdoor activities. Fullerton and Worf reveal that Worf has rigged an uplink device to sabotage the planetary weather grid; Risa will experience a rainy climate for the next few days. Many guests are furious, and some leave the resort. Worf is satisfied, but Fullerton decides to go one step further.

Dax accuses Worf of destroying Risa because he does not trust her. He reluctantly reveals that his restrained attitude results from a childhood incident during a school soccer game, in which he accidentally killed a human schoolmate. Ever since, Worf has felt obligated to hold back his emotions for fear that he might hurt someone else. Dax begins to understand, but the moment is interrupted when an earthquake shakes Risa. Rushing to Fullerton's headquarters, they find that he is using the uplink to cause the quake and drive the vacationers off the planet. Worf intimidates Fullerton into handing over the uplink and stops the tremors, reminding Fullerton that trust is another core value of the Federation. Once the weather grid is back online and the pleasant climate is restored, Worf and Dax get ready to enjoy the remainder of their vacation.

Meanwhile, Bashir and Leeta end their romantic relationship via a Bajoran custom called the "Rite of Separation", and Leeta announces that she is attracted to Quark's brother Rom.

8. Things Past

While returning in a runabout from a conference on Bajor, Sisko, Odo, Dax and Garak encounter an unknown spatial anomaly. When the runabout arrives at Deep Space Nine, all four are discovered to be in a comatose state.

Meanwhile, the four find themselves years in the past, on Terok Nor (as DS9 was then called) during the Cardassian occupation of Bajor. They appear to have taken the identities of Bajorans. Odo, acting anxious and suspicious, reveals that the Bajorans whose lives they have assumed were executed for an attempt on Cardassian prefect Gul Dukat 's life, although they were innocent of the crime. Inconsistencies soon pop up: Thrax (Kurtwood Smith), Odo's predecessor as chief of security, is present, but Garak discovers that the current date is during the time when Odo was security chief.

They set about finding a way to escape the station and avoid execution, but when the assassination attempt is made, they are arrested as Odo predicted. Odo pleads with Thrax to conduct a thorough investigation, which will exonerate the Bajorans, but Thrax is implacable. Odo is eventually forced to accept the truth: it was himself, not Thrax, who had the Bajorans executed, although the evidence against them was largely circumstantial, as Dukat simply wanted to make an example of them. He admits that he cared more about the rule of law than justice, and he vowed never to do so again.

The four awaken in the infirmary, where Dr. Bashir reveals that the anomaly triggered a telepathic experience; Odo was thinking about his guilt over the executions at the time the runabout encountered the anomaly. In the final scene of the episode, Kira Nerys, the Bajoran first officer of Deep Space Nine and Odo's good friend, asks Odo if any other innocent people died on his watch; he replies that he can't be sure, but that he hopes not.

9. The Ascent

Odo is escorting Quark to a grand jury hearing so that he can testify against the criminal Orion Syndicate. Halfway to their destination, they discover that a bomb has been planted on their ship. An attempt to transport it away causes it to detonate, damaging the ship and forcing them to crash-land on a frozen, barely habitable planet.

Their communication system is damaged and they have very little food. As they face the prospect of death by either starvation or freezing, Quark has an idea: disconnect the ship's subspace transmitter and carry it to the top of a nearby mountain, where the atmosphere may be thin enough to let them send a signal for help.

Sharing one set of cold-weather gear between them, they begin hauling the heavy transmitter toward the mountain, bickering all the way. They are dismayed to find that the journey will take several days, rather than a few hours as they had originally estimated. As they reach the mountain and begin to climb, their disagreement deteriorates into a shoving match that sends them tumbling down the slope. Odo suffers a broken leg in the fall.

Quark tries to drag Odo up the mountain, but it soon proves to be too great an effort for him. Odo insists that Quark leave him behind and continue alone to the top, but Quark, exhausted and hungry, is ready to give up. After Odo tries to take the transmitter himself despite his injury, Quark is shamed into resuming his attempt. He does not return by nightfall; assuming that he has died without reaching the summit, Odo expects that he too will perish and begins to record a message intended for whoever finds his body.

Suddenly Odo and Quark are beamed to the starship Defiant; Quark did reach the peak and send a distress signal. As they recuperate in the infirmary, they offer each other an apology of sorts by confirming that they were sincere in their earlier declarations of mutual hatred, followed by mutual snickering.

Meanwhile, on the station, Nog returns from Starfleet Academy to begin a field study assignment. He moves in with Jake Sisko, but the two come into conflict as roommates. Nog's strictly disciplined lifestyle as a cadet conflicts with Jake's more relaxed attitudes towards life, cleanliness, and exercise. They eventually reconcile, thanks to the efforts of their fathers, Benjamin Sisko and Rom.

10. Rapture

When Sisko sees a painting depicting B'hala, Bajor 's legendary lost city, he is inspired to search for the sacred site. The painting depicts an obelisk that, according to legend, marked the city's coordinates. Sisko recreates the obelisk in a holosuite to try to determine what the hidden markings might be. A short circuit in the holosuite system briefly knocks him unconscious. Dr. Bashir tells Sisko his brain has been overloaded, and his senses will be enhanced for a few days; he warns him to return to the infirmary if he experiences any side effects. At dinner, Sisko absentmindedly cuts his fruit into shapes which he realizes are the missing markings from the obelisk.

Meanwhile, Sisko receives news that Bajor has been accepted into the Federation, and the signing ceremony will be held on Deep Space Nine.

Back in the holosuite, Sisko has a vision of B'hala, during which he briefly understands all of Bajor's history and can see its future. Soon, Kasidy Yates is released from prison, and Sisko tells her he has located B'hala and invites her to accompany him to Bajor to find it. On Bajor, Sisko is stricken with a painful headache, but he soon brings Kasidy to the ruins of B'hala.

The Bajorans regard Sisko's discovery as a miracle and, for the skeptics, confirmation that he truly is the Emissary. When Sisko gets home, he seems to have psychic powers; he has a vision of a swarm of locusts passing by Bajor and attacking Cardassia. Bashir determines that Sisko's headaches are life-threatening and asks to operate immediately. Sisko refuses, unwilling to put a stop to his visions. With Kai Winn 's help, he consults the mystical Orb of Prophecy.

The ceremony for Bajor's admittance to the Federation begins without Sisko. Sisko bursts in, weak and in pain, and warns that if Bajor joins the Federation now, it will be destroyed. The Bajorans vote to delay joining the Federation.

Sisko is rushed to the infirmary, where Bashir reports that he must operate immediately to save his life. Since Sisko himself refused the operation, his son Jake, as the next-of-kin, must decide his father's fate. Unwilling to let his father die, Jake permits the operation. Sisko awakens to anguish at the loss of his visions. Kasidy reminds him that while he has lost something very important to him, what he saved—his life with his son—is even more precious.

11. The Darkness and the Light

Kira is shocked and saddened when Latha Mabrin, a fellow former member of Kira's resistance cell, is murdered. Kira's shock turns to fear when she receives a message consisting of a picture of Latha and a garbled voice saying, "That's one." Kira interprets the message as a threat to all the former members of the cell, and frets that if she were not pregnant as a surrogate mother for Keiko and Miles O'Brien 's child she would be better able to protect her comrades.

Kira makes arrangements to transport resistance member Fala onto a runabout returning to Deep Space Nine for her protection; but the transport is sabotaged, and Fala is killed. Kira soon receives a message from the scrambled voice saying "That's two". Later, while working on the case with security chief Odo, Kira receives a "That's three" message displaying the face of Mobara, another member of the cell.

Furel and Lupaza, two more former comrades, come to Deep Space Nine, offering to hunt down the assassin for Kira. She prefers to handle her problem within the boundaries of the law, but allows Furel and Lupaza to stay with her in the O'Briens' quarters. During a staff meeting, Odo surmises that whoever is doing the killing most likely has a vendetta against Kira—and that she is also a likely target, and she notices that the recordings are a modification of her own voice. Soon Furel and Lupaza are killed by an explosion in the O'Brien quarters.

Kira steals a list of suspects from Odo's office and takes off to investigate. She soon arrives at the home of Silaran Prin, one of the suspects. Prin captures and immobilizes her, and explains his motivation.

Prin, a Cardassian civilian who was disfigured in a Resistance bombing, is punishing those responsible. He accuses Kira of killing indiscriminately, while he kills only the guilty. She counters that the Cardassians were a hostile alien race occupying Bajor, and even if he was a civilian he was indirectly aiding the occupation and therefore a legitimate target. Prin tells Kira that he will spare her baby, but kill her, and prepares to operate. Kira begs for a sedative, realizing that the herbs she has taken for her pregnancy render most sedatives ineffective. She pretends to fall asleep, then lunges at Silaran, attacking and killing him. When the Deep Space Nine crew arrives to rescue her, Prin is already dead, and Kira, shaken, only wants to go home.

12. The Begotten

Deep Space Nine's bartender Quark has come into possession of an infant Changeling and sells it to Odo. Odo begins trying to teach his "child" to shapeshift; he is displeased when Dr. Mora, the Bajoran scientist who "raised" Odo, arrives to help.

Dr. Mora and Odo immediately clash over how to best raise the Changeling. Odo, still angry at the invasive methods Dr. Mora employed with him, hopes to reach the infant through encouragement. Mora insists on probing and measuring the creature, to Odo's disgust. Unfortunately, Odo makes little progress using his own methods. Under pressure from Starfleet, Odo has no choice but to resort to Mora's methods.

Using Dr. Mora's equipment, Odo employs electric shocks to prod the changeling into holding several basic forms. Both are amazed when the creature imitates the shape of Odo's face. The moment brings Odo and Mora together—especially when Mora admits to Odo that his caring seems to have helped him form a connection with the baby. Mora's support helps Odo to finally forgive Mora for treating him more as a specimen than as a person. He invites Dr. Mora to celebrate their success with a glass of champagne, but the happy mood is shattered when Odo receives word that the creature is dying.

Dr. Bashir is unable to save the "child". Odo holds the dying creature in his hands, and, as it dies, the infant Changeling merges into Odo and restores his shapeshifting abilities.

Meanwhile, Major Kira goes into labor, and gives birth as a surrogate mother to Keiko and Miles O'Brien's baby, after having to hear the bickering of Shakaar, Kira's lover, and Miles (to the point where they are nearly kicked out of seeing Kira give birth). At the end of the episode, Kira tells Odo about her feelings of loss, after turning over the baby to his parents. Odo tells her he knows how she feels, and the two go for a walk together.

13. For the Uniform

Sisko encounters Michael Eddington, his former Starfleet Security Chief, who betrayed him and joined the Maquis. Obsessed with capturing the traitor, Sisko pursues him in his ship, the USS Defiant. But when Sisko gives the order to fire, the Defiant experiences a massive computer failure—caused by Eddington. He leaves Sisko angry and humiliated, and facing a long trip home.

The Defiant is towed back to Deep Space Nine by the starship Malinche, and Chief O'Brien begins the massive job of bringing the ship back on-line. Adding insult to injury, Sisko learns that Captain Sanders of the Malinche has been given the assignment to apprehend Eddington, since Starfleet has lost faith in Sisko's ability to do the job. But when he learns that Eddington is attacking Cardassian colonies with a weapon that renders planets uninhabitable to Cardassians, the Malinche is too far away to intercept him. Sisko sees his chance, and although the Defiant is not yet fully repaired, he and his crew take the ship back into space.

The ship lurches out of the station and soon encounters Eddington again. Eddington taunts Sisko by sending him a copy of the novel Les Misérables and comparing Sisko to the obsessive policeman Javert. The captain realizes too late that he was baited to false coordinates. As the crew sets off to find Eddington's real location, a distress call is received from the Malinche —Maquis forces have ambushed and disabled the starship.

Sisko determines Eddington's next planetary target, but is too late to stop him from releasing his weapon into the atmosphere. The Defiant chases after Eddington's fleeing ship, but Eddington cripples a transport vessel evacuating Cardassian civilians, forcing Sisko to break off his pursuit and rescue the helpless Cardassians.

Sisko realizes that Eddington sees himself as a noble hero and Sisko as the obsessed villain. In order to stop Eddington, Sisko decides he must do something truly villainous. He broadcasts a message to the Maquis, threatening to poison the atmosphere of one of their colony worlds with biological weapons in retaliation for their attacks. When Eddington calls his bluff, Sisko carries out the attack, and the Maquis scramble to evacuate. Sisko threatens to do the same to every Maquis colony in the Demilitarized Zone, and Eddington, realizing Sisko is serious, makes the "heroic" gesture of offering himself in exchange. Eddington is captured, and Sisko's vendetta is finally over.

14. In Purgatory's Shadow

When Deep Space Nine picks up a mysterious coded message from inside the Gamma Quadrant that appears to be Cardassian, exiled Cardassian spy Garak is asked to analyze it. He tells everyone that the message was a harmless report from years ago, but Dr. Bashir sees through his lie and catches him trying to sneak away on a ship. He reveals that the message is a distress call from his mentor Enabran Tain, who was believed to have been killed in an ill-fated Cardassian attack on the Dominion two years prior. Garak convinces Captain Sisko to allow him to travel to the Gamma Quadrant, accompanied by Lt. Cmdr. Worf, to search for Tain and other possible survivors from Dominion attacks.

Soon after entering Dominion space, their efforts to evade detection by passing through a nebula lead Garak and Worf to encounter a Dominion fleet hiding within the nebula; Worf realizes that the fleet must be assembled to invade the Alpha Quadrant. He sends a warning message to DS9 just before Jem'Hadar soldiers take him and Garak prisoner. Back on DS9, the crew receives Worf's message and realize the Dominion is coming. With reinforcements at least two days away and only disgraced Cardassian officer Dukat (on the station due to a confrontation with a Klingon battle cruiser) on hand to help out, Sisko sees only one choice—sealing the wormhole, trapping Worf and Garak on the other side if they cannot return before the operation is completed.

Worf and Garak are taken to a Dominion detention center. Tain is there, on his deathbed; instead of being thankful to Garak for coming, Tain chastises him for allowing himself to be taken prisoner. Also, among the fellow prisoners are the Klingon general Martok, and, to Garak and Worf's surprise, Dr. Julian Bashir —meaning that the Bashir back at DS9 is a Changeling impostor.

As his last request, Tain makes Garak promise to escape. Desperate for a kind word from his mentor before the old man passes on, Garak makes a request in return: that Tain acknowledge him as his son. Tain does so, and father and son share a memory before Tain dies peacefully. His mission complete, Garak is ready to find a way out.

On Deep Space Nine, the crew shoots a particle beam at the wormhole, intending to close it. However, the beam fails due to the emitter array having been sabotaged and the wormhole remains open, allowing a fleet of Dominion warships to begin pouring through.

15. By Inferno's Light

The Dominion fleet passes through the wormhole and flies off toward Cardassia. The Cardassian officer Gul Dukat joins them, announcing that the Dominion has accepted Cardassia as a member, with Dukat as its new leader.

At the Dominion internment camp where DS9 officers Worf and Dr. Bashir, the Cardassian former spy Garak, and the Klingon general Martok are being held, the inmates have built an illicit transmitter inside the prison walls. Garak crawls inside the walls to modify it to signal their runabout so they can escape, triggering his severe claustrophobia. Meanwhile, Worf is selected as an opponent for Jem'Hadar guards to practice hand-to-hand combat. Worf's refusal to surrender, defeating a series of Jem'Hadar opponents, inspires Garak to overcome his fears and continue working.

Dukat vows with the help of the Dominion that within five days he will remove and kill all Klingons and Maquis from within Cardassian space and also to destroy all who stand in the way of Cardassia becoming a major power in the Alpha Quadrant. As Klingon ships hastily retreat from their invasion of Cardassian space, Deep Space Nine's Captain Sisko persuades Klingon chancellor Gowron to reinstate the alliance between the Klingons and the Federation in order to fight the Dominion. Dukat contacts Sisko, warning that he intends to conquer Deep Space Nine for the Dominion. Sisko deploys the starship Defiant and three runabouts to fight the incoming Cardassian/Dominion fleet; they are joined by the Klingons and a Romulan fleet. Unknown to Sisko, a Changeling impersonating Bashir is at the helm of one of the runabouts.

Back at the internment camp, the Jem'Hadar come close to discovering Garak before being overpowered by the other prisoners. Meanwhile, Worf is fighting Ikat'ika, the Jem'Hadar commander. Worf refuses to yield; Ikat'ika, impressed by Worf's determination, yields the fight. The Vorta overseer, disgusted, orders Worf's and Ikat'ika's immediate execution. As the troops turn their phasers toward Worf, Garak manages to activate the transmitter, and the prisoners are beamed away to the runabout at the last second. There, Bashir sends an urgent message to DS9.

The Changeling Bashir's runabout is carrying a bomb intended to detonate inside the Bajoran sun, causing a supernova that will incinerate DS9, Bajor, and the combined Starfleet, Klingon, and Romulan forces. Receiving Bashir's message, Sisko orders that runabout destroyed. The Defiant takes the risky maneuver of engaging warp drive within the planetary system in order to pull the runabout away from the star where it explodes safely. No Cardassian/Dominion fleet arrives.

Garak, Worf, Bashir, and Martok return to the station and Sisko finalizes the peace treaty with Gowron. Martok is appointed to command the new permanent Klingon presence on DS9.

16. Doctor Bashir, I Presume

Hologram engineer Lewis Zimmerman comes to Deep Space Nine to use Dr. Bashir 's likeness as the template for a holographic program designed to provide medical treatment. To make the program as robust as possible, Zimmerman needs a personality profile on Julian. Against Julian's wishes, Zimmerman invites his estranged parents, Amsha and Richard Bashir, to the station to be interviewed. Julian implores his parents not to reveal to Zimmerman anything about a secret from his childhood.

Julian's parents go to the infirmary to try to assuage their son's fears, stating emphatically that they will not tell Zimmerman that they had Julian illegally genetically modified when he was a child. However, they are unaware that they are speaking to Zimmerman's new hologram rather than to their son. Zimmerman and Chief O'Brien overhear their words.

O'Brien informs Julian of what he heard. Julian confirms that he was genetically modified. He was a poor student, potentially had a learning disability, and was below average in height and weight. Shortly before his seventh birthday, his parents sent him to a clinic for a series of treatments that improved his physical and mental abilities. When he was fifteen, he learned what had been done to him and stopped using his birth name, Jules. His secret revealed, Julian sees no alternative but to resign from Starfleet, as their regulations bar genetically enhanced individuals from serving.

Julian accuses his parents of giving up on his original self, but they tell him that they put him through the treatments out of love for him and worry over seeing him struggle. Before he can tender his resignation, his parents tell Captain Sisko everything and make a deal with the Judge Advocate General of Starfleet. Richard will plead guilty to illegal genetic engineering and serve a two-year sentence at a minimum-security prison, while Julian will be allowed to retain his commission and medical license. Grateful for his father's sacrifice, Julian makes some peace with his parents before they depart for Earth.

Meanwhile, Zimmerman pursues the affections of Julian's ex-girlfriend Leeta, asking her to accompany him back to Jupiter Station. Shy Rom is too scared to say anything to convince her to stay, although Leeta would welcome any reason to stay with him. She is on the verge of leaving with Zimmerman when Rom tells her that he loves her. Touched, she remains on the station.

17. A Simple Investigation

In Quark's, Odo meets a beautiful woman named Arissa and is impressed by her powers of observation. Later, he is surprised when the same woman is arrested for trying to break into the station's computer. Odo questions her about the man she was waiting for in Quark's — an Idanian named Tauvid Rem. Arissa tells Odo that Tauvid has information about the daughter she gave up fifteen years before. Odo takes her to Tauvid's quarters, where they discover he has been killed.

Soon afterward, Odo catches Arissa retrieving a datacrystal Tauvid hid. She admits to Odo that she doesn't really have a daughter, and tells him that she came to meet Tauvid because she wants to escape working for the Orion Syndicate — a notorious criminal organization. Her boss, a man named Draim, probably had Tauvid killed to keep her from getting the unknown information contained in the crystal.

Odo hides Arissa in his quarters as he begins an investigation, while Dax and O'Brien attempt to access the heavily protected datacrystal. Arissa tells Odo how she began to work for Draim, only to want out when she learned the deadly consequences her assignments meant for others. Odo encourages her to testify against Draim and take back her life. That night, he returns to his quarters, where the two of them give in to their growing attraction to each other.

After spending a passionate night with Odo, Arissa sends a message to Draim proposing an exchange — the crystal for her life. Draim agrees, but instructs his hit men, Traidy and Sorm, to kill her after the crystal is retrieved. Meanwhile, an Idanian official arrives, informing Odo that Arissa is not who she appears to be, but actually an Idanian agent given a new identity in order to infiltrate Draim's organization. Even Arissa does not know this, since her memory has been erased. The crystal contains all of her real memories. The Idanian asks to be taken to Arissa, and Odo quickly complies — only to find both the woman and the crystal missing.

Arissa prepares to give Traidy the crystal in exchange for her life. But just as he and Sorm are to kill her, Odo and the Idanian save Arissa. Later, her memories and true appearance are restored. She and Odo then meet one last, painful time, after which Arissa returns to her married life — and Odo is left broken-hearted.

18. Business as Usual

As Quark ponders the large debts he has run up, his cousin Gaila arrives on the station and offers him a chance to pay them off by participating in an arms dealing scheme. Since Constable Odo will confiscate any actual weapons brought aboard Deep Space Nine, Quark will use the holosuites in his bar to simulate the weapons for potential customers. The merchandise will be supplied by Gaila's associate, the suavely sinister Hagath, and all transfers of cargo will occur off the station. Quark agrees to the deal, enticed by the prospects of settling his debts and even turning a profit. Hagath arranges for Quark's percentage of the proceeds to go immediately to his creditors until his debts are fully paid.

Quark is a natural at selling weapons and the scheme becomes quite profitable. The Bajoran government prevents Odo from arresting Quark, citing Hagath's sale of weapons to the Bajoran resistance during the Cardassian occupation. However, Quark soon finds himself ostracized by his friends, particularly Jadzia Dax, who is disgusted that Quark has sunk so low. Gaila warns Quark not to cross Hagath, bringing news that an associate who did so has been killed. The group's latest client is the Regent of Palamar, who wants to make a purchase that will kill millions of followers of his opponent, General Nassuc. Gaila and Hagath take the matter lightly, but Quark is horrified at the idea of being responsible for so much death.

Having now paid off his debts, Quark realizes he must find a way to escape with his life and avoid being part of a genocide program. He invites Nassuc to the station, on the pretense of supplying weapons to both sides, and arranges for Nassuc and the Regent to encounter each other in a cargo bay. A firefight ensues between the two leaders, and they pursue Gaila and Hagath off the station, believing the pair to be responsible for the double-cross. The Regent is later killed by Nassuc's forces, preventing his genocidal plan. Quark's friendship with Jadzia is renewed, but he ends up in debt once again when Captain Sisko makes him pay for the damage caused by the firefight.

Meanwhile, O'Brien has trouble caring for his new son Kirayoshi, who cries incessantly unless O'Brien holds him. He carries Yoshi around all day, even at work and while playing darts in the bar. The baby finally settles down when Worf holds him, allowing O'Brien to get some much-needed rest.

19. Ties of Blood and Water

Ghemor arrives on Deep Space Nine, having left Cardassia after his activities as a dissident became known. Kira hopes he will be the face of the resistance against the Dominion-controlled puppet government of Cardassia, but he tells her that he is dying. He wishes to participate in the ritual of shri-tal, a Cardassian tradition in which a dying person reveals their secrets to the rest of the family for use against their enemies. He chooses Kira to interview him, since he regards her as family. Captain Sisko (Avery Brooks) encourages her to participate, as Ghemor's information could greatly aid the Federation and Bajor. Kira is hesitant at first, remembering the injuries that her father suffered at the Cardassians' hands during the occupation of Bajor. However, she agrees to hear Ghemor's secrets and use them for good.

Gul Dukat (Marc Alaimo), the head of Cardassia's Dominion government, requests Ghemor's extradition to Cardassia, but Sisko brusquely rebuffs him, citing the Federation neither recognises his government's legitimacy nor has an extradition treaty with Cardassia. Refusing to take no for an answer, Dukat and his Dominion liaison Weyoun visit the station, intent on taking Ghemor with them. Dukat first offers to reunite Ghemor with his long-lost daughter, and then gives Kira information implying Ghemor participated in a massacre of Bajoran civilians during the Cardassian occupation. Finally, he delivers a bottle of poisoned liquor to Ghemor's quarters, but Sisko intercepts it.

Kira becomes furious at Ghemor for hiding his past from her and spends as little time caring for him as possible. However, she later learns from security chief Odo that Ghemor was only nineteen at the time of the massacre, an inexperienced foot soldier, and there is no evidence he killed anyone there. Kira recalls that when her own father was badly injured, she chose to participate in a counterattack rather than stay with him, and missed his death by minutes. Realizing that she is letting her own past bitterness taint her relationship with Ghemor, she returns to his bedside and stays until he dies.

Dukat insists Sisko release Ghemor's body to him so Ghemor can be granted a military funeral on Cardassia as part of Dukat's intentions to tell the public that Ghemor recanted his opposition to the Dominion on his deathbed. Sisko rejects the request and instead allows Kira to bury Ghemor on Bajor beside her father's grave.

20. Ferengi Love Songs

Depressed over his lot in life – especially being blacklisted by the Ferengi Commerce Authority – Quark returns to Ferenginar for some comfort from his mother, Ishka. Quark discovers that the Ferengi leader, Grand Nagus Zek, is romantically involved with Ishka and living in her house.

Zek demands Quark keep their affair a secret. Quark is thrilled that his mother is now the beloved of the most powerful man on the planet; however, Zek refuses to reinstate Quark's revoked business license, reminding Quark that it is up to the FCA. Quark returns to his room, where Liquidator Brunt, the FCA agent who revoked his license, confronts him. Brunt offers to restore Quark's business license if he breaks up Zek and Ishka. Quark agrees, and makes Zek doubt Ishka's motives in order to end their relationship. The plan works, and his mother is heartbroken. Brunt keeps his word and renews the business license.

Zek offers Quark the position of First Clerk. Quark happily accepts—and then discovers the Nagus is not the profit-making whiz he once was. By day's end, the Ferengi market exchange has experienced a drastic slide due to the Nagus's failing memory. A stunned Quark returns home, where Ishka reveals that she was more than Zek's lover – she was the power behind the throne, helping him make business decisions. Ishka realizes that Quark turned Zek against her, and may have destroyed the Ferengi economy in the process.

Brunt reveals that his plan was to disgrace Zek, allowing Brunt to become the new Grand Nagus. Quark feels guilty over what he has inadvertently done. The next day, Quark saves Zek by supplying him with enough brilliant advice to turn around the economic situation, but then reveals that the advice actually came from Ishka. After Quark admits to breaking them up, Zek and Ishka happily reunite. Brunt decides to let Quark keep his licence, only so he can see him fail again in the future. Ishka meanwhile, thanks Quark for his help by giving him his childhood action figurines that he previously thought were thrown out. A touched Quark thanks his mother, who says “ No, Thank you Quark!”

Back on Deep Space Nine, Quark's brother Rom finds his wedding plans derailed when his Bajoran fiancée Leeta refuses to sign a Ferengi prenuptial agreement that says she will give up all claim to money and properties. Rom eventually realizes Leeta is more important to him than money or Ferengi traditions and donates all his money to charity, and the wedding is back on.

21. Soldiers of the Empire

Martok receives a message from the Klingon government stating that he has been assigned to retrieve a missing Klingon vessel, the B'Moth, lost several days ago. The Klingon High Council assigns the General a ship of his own, the Rotarran, to accomplish the mission. He departs Deep Space Nine along with his newly appointed First Officer, Worf, who has signed on to the mission at Martok's request. Worf's lover Jadzia Dax, a devotee of Klingon culture, joins them as the ship's Science Officer. The Rotarran is Martok's first command since his escape from a Dominion prison camp, and he is dismayed to find that the crew's morale has been destroyed by a series of punishing losses at the hands of the Dominion's ruthless soldiers, the Jem'Hadar.

The morale situation is only made worse by Martok's overcautious nature and unwillingness to go into battle, and because of this he misses a chance for an easy victory. Dax, acting as a Klingon would, challenges Worf about the General's behavior, which Worf will hear none of. In the mess hall, Dax is forced to stun a Klingon officer with her phaser when a pair of officers get into violent argument, almost causing the death of one of them. After this, Dax angrily confronts Worf about it and tells him that he needs to deal with the General by challenging him for command.

The B'Moth, the missing Klingon vessel, is found just across the Cardassian border, but Martok, fearing that the Jem'Hadar left it behind as a trap, refuses to enter Cardassian territory to rescue it. Worf realizes Martok is paralyzed by fear. Reluctantly, he decides to challenge Martok for control of the ship. A knife fight ensues, during which Worf sees that Martok's fear is gone and allows him to win the fight. Worf sustains a nasty wound yet survives, putting Martok into a battle frenzy just as a Jem'Hadar ship approaches. The revitalized crew defeats the enemy, rescues the B'Moth, and returns to Deep Space Nine as victors for the first time. Martok is forever grateful to Worf for reminding him of his duty as a Klingon warrior, and offers him a place in the House of Martok.

22. Children of Time

The starship Defiant investigates a planet surrounded by an unusual energy barrier. They find the planet is inhabited by 8,000 descendants of the Defiant 's crew. The crew are told that tomorrow, when the Defiant tries to leave the planet, it will be thrown back in time. After the Defiant crashed on the planet 200 years ago, with no hope of contacting the Federation or repairing the ship, the stranded 48-person crew (including Dax, Sisko, O'Brien, Worf, and Dr. Bashir) remained and established a society. Unfortunately, the stranded Major Kira died a few weeks after the crash due to neural damage she incurred when the ship was passing through the energy barrier; Bashir did not have the medical equipment on the Defiant required to treat her.

In addition to their descendants, two members of the original crew of the Defiant still exist on the colony. The Changeling physiology of Odo has given him greater longevity than the rest (along with a more human appearance), while the Trill symbiont Dax continues to live on in a new host, Yedrin. Worf encounters the "Sons of Mogh", colonists who choose to live a Klingon lifestyle. The present-day Odo is trapped in his gelatinous form due to the fluctuations of the atmosphere, during which time the older Odo confesses that he has been in love with Kira since very early in their friendship.

The officers now realize they face a dilemma. If they use the Defiant to safely leave the planet, they will never have traveled back in time and the community on the planet will be erased from existence. But if they allow history to repeat itself by crashing in the past, they will never see their homes and loved ones, and Kira will die in a few weeks. Yedrin shows them a way out by using the quantum bubble to duplicate the ship and crew so that they can make both choices at once. But it turns out to be a trick, as he wants to survive; if they try it, they will just repeat the crash.

After much discussion, and joining in the community's planting festival, they choose to repeat the crash. The crew, however, survives, hypothesizing that Yedrin gave up his timeline for the crew. But Odo reveals to Kira that the older Odo loved Kira so much he would rather prevent her death than allow the 8,000 colonists to survive. He secretly changed their programmed flight plan so that they escape from the bubble—causing the colony to vanish from existence.

23. Blaze of Glory

Captain Benjamin Sisko receives a recording of an intercepted message: the few surviving Maquis terrorists who have not been wiped out by Cardassia's Dominion allies have launched a massive retaliatory missile strike against Cardassia. The missiles are believed to be equipped with cloaking devices, and unless they are stopped, Sisko fears the Dominion response will envelop the entire quadrant in all-out war. Sisko goes to the message's intended recipient: Michael Eddington, now in prison. Eddington refuses to tell Sisko how to stop the missiles; so Sisko takes Eddington with him to compel him to help.

Upon entering the Badlands, a dangerous region of space where the Maquis hid out, Eddington is still uncooperative. Sisko traps him into taking over the runabout's controls to evade two pursuing Dominion warships. Eddington finally agrees to help Sisko find the launch site to deactivate the missiles, but vows to kill him afterwards.

Meanwhile, in a side plot back on Deep Space Nine, cadet Nog earns the respect of the Klingon soldiers on the station by learning to stand up to them.

Sisko and Eddington arrive at Athos IV, a tiny, fog-bound planet where the launch site is hidden. Upon landing on the planet, they discover the facility is crawling with Jem'Hadar, the Dominion's soldiers, with many of the Maquis dead. Eddington is shocked and stunned: the Maquis had been on the verge of declaring their colonies an independent nation from both Starfleet and the Cardassians. Sisko admits that Starfleet let the Maquis down.

Sisko and Eddington fight their way to the command center, where Sisko is surprised to find a dozen Maquis prisoners, including Eddington's wife, Rebecca Sullivan. Eddington reveals that there are no missiles at all — Rebecca sent the message as a code to let Eddington know they had fallen back to Athos IV. Eddington knew he would need Sisko's help to evacuate them, and manipulated him in order to reach the location. Sisko is furious at being lied to, but relieved that all-out war is no longer imminent. He and Eddington fight off the Jem'Hadar while directing the prisoners toward the runabout, but Eddington is shot. Insisting Sisko and the others continue without him, Eddington stays behind to fend off the soldiers and is killed.

24. Empok Nor

Chief O'Brien needs to replace a failing component of Deep Space Nine' s machinery. The only way to obtain a replacement is by salvaging it from Empok Nor, an abandoned Cardassian space station built to the same design as Deep Space Nine. The salvage team consists of O'Brien, Cardassian ex-spy Garak, cadet Nog, engineers Pechetti and Boq'ta, and security officers Stolzoff and Amaro. As Cardassians routinely booby-trap abandoned facilities against non-Cardassian intruders, Garak is brought along to help disarm the security measures, and Garak uses the time to bring up O'Brien and his actions as a soldier on Setlik III against Cardassians.

On the abandoned station, the team discovers two empty and recently deactivated stasis tubes, and a third one with a dead Cardassian soldier, whose uniform marks him as a member of an elite and ruthless battalion. Suddenly, the away team's runabout detaches from the station and explodes, stranding them inside with no means to send for help and under threat from the two recently-awoken Cardassians. The team splits into groups to continue the salvage and attempt to establish communications.

The Cardassian soldiers methodically ambush and eliminate Pechetti and Stolzoff. Garak decides to go on the offensive and track down the enemy soldiers himself. He returns after killing one of them, and relays his discovery that the soldiers had been subjected to psychotropic drugs which amplify their natural xenophobic tendencies. The second soldier ambushes Boq'ta, but Garak emerges and kills him before he can kill Amaro, only to then stab Amaro himself.

O'Brien and Nog discover Amaro, who tells them what happened, before dying from his injuries. O'Brien realizes Garak has been affected by the same drug as the soldiers, and sets out to stop him. Garak captures Nog, using him to draw O'Brien out. O'Brien consents to lay down his weapons and face Garak in hand-to-hand combat, but disables him with his own trap, having rigged his phaser to explode.

The three are rescued after collecting the parts they needed. Back on DS9, O'Brien visits Garak in the infirmary. Garak expresses his sincere regret over his actions; O'Brien informs him there will be an inquest, but it will be made clear that Garak was not responsible for his actions. Garak remarks that he was lucky the phaser did not kill him, but O'Brien admits that he had intended for it to do just that.

25. In the Cards

The seeming inevitability of war with the Dominion has Deep Space Nine's command staff depressed, especially Captain Sisko. His son Jake learns that a 1951 Willie Mays rookie card will be for sale at an upcoming auction and decides to buy it as a gift to cheer up his baseball -loving father. Jake enlists Nog's help (and funds) to acquire the antique.

The oddball Dr. Elias Giger buys the lot that includes the card. Giger offers to give the card to Jake in exchange for a strange assortment of equipment—material to construct a "cellular regeneration and entertainment chamber", which Giger believes will grant immortality. Privately, the boys decide the man is crazy but agree to his offer, and obtain the required materials by doing various odd jobs for the station's senior officers, including Chief O'Brien, Dr. Bashir, Major Kira, and Lieutenant Commander Worf. To keep Jake's gift a surprise, they do not reveal the reason they want these items.

Meanwhile, Bajoran spiritual leader Kai Winn is considering a proposed non-aggression pact between Bajor and the Dominion. She is torn, not wishing to align Bajor with the Dominion, but not trusting the Federation to make Bajor's defense a priority in the event of war. Captain Sisko recommends that Winn stall for time before committing herself to a decision. The Dominion negotiator, Weyoun, has guest quarters above Giger's, and is wary of the odd noises emanating from downstairs.

Returning to Giger's quarters to deliver the requested equipment, Jake and Nog find the room empty with no sign of Giger. Jake confronts Winn and accuses her of kidnapping the doctor, earning a reprimand from Captain Sisko. Jake and Nog are unexpectedly beamed aboard Weyoun's ship: Weyoun, aware that the youths have been in contact with Giger, Winn, and the entirety of the station's senior staff, suspects they are up to something. Jake explains the scheme to obtain the card, but Weyoun seems incredulous, so Jake concocts a story that Willie Mays is a time-traveling saboteur he and Nog are investigating. Weyoun believes Jake's first story, deciding it was all innocent coincidence after all, and sends the boys away with the card.

Captain Sisko reflects on how his crew's moods have improved, over a montage illustrating how Jake and Nog's trades have helped them; the montage concludes with the captain hugging his son upon receiving the card.

26. Call to Arms

Upon learning that the Romulans and other major powers have signed non-aggression pacts with the Dominion, Starfleet Command orders Captain Benjamin Sisko to prevent further Dominion reinforcements from reaching Cardassia from their home territory in the Gamma Quadrant. DS9 crew members Jadzia Dax, Miles O'Brien, and Rom devise a plan to block the wormhole with a field of self-replicating, cloaked mines. The mines cannot be activated until they are entirely deployed, which will take some time to complete. Shortly after deployment begins, Dominion representative Weyoun declares that Deep Space Nine will be attacked unless the mines are removed.

Since Starfleet reinforcements are unavailable, Sisko asks the Klingon General Martok to patrol the border while the Defiant continues deployment. Sisko endorses the non-aggression pact offered to Bajor by the Dominion, in the hope that it will keep Bajor out of the coming war. Sisko officiates Rom's marriage to his fiancée Leeta before she and other Bajorans evacuate the station as a result of the non-aggression agreement.

Starfleet personnel remain to defend the station until the mines are completely deployed. Dominion forces attack and are met by DS9' s armaments and Martok's vessel, the Rotarran. After the minefield is activated, Sisko orders the Starfleet personnel to evacuate as well, surrendering DS9 to the Dominion. He announces that while the Dominion was occupied with DS9, a combined Starfleet/Klingon task force wiped out an important Dominion shipyard. During the evacuation, Dax and her lover Worf are assigned to separate ships, and agree to marry if they survive the war.

Captain Sisko's son Jake remains on DS9 to serve as a reporter for the Federation News Service while the station is occupied by the Dominion. Rom remains as well, acting as a spy for Starfleet while working at his brother Quark 's bar. Bajoran liaison officer Kira disables the station's systems by activating a pre-set computer program; and then she, Quark and security chief Odo welcome the Dominion occupiers, led by Weyoun and the Cardassian Gul Dukat, to the station. Dukat reclaims the station commander's office, where he finds the baseball Sisko left behind – a message to him that Sisko will return.

Sisko is upset to learn that Jake has remained behind, but cannot return to DS9 and jeopardize his crew for the sake of one man, even his own son. Soon, the Defiant and Rotarran join a massive armada of Starfleet and Klingon vessels.