Plot summary
Captain Benjamin Sisko decides to retake Deep Space Nine in order to bolster sagging Federation morale. He plans a large force in order to do so but it will take some time to assemble. The Klingon general Martok and his first officer Worf are sent to convince the Klingon High Council to send ships to join the attack.
On Deep Space Nine, the Ferengi technician Rom is sentenced to execution for attempting to foil the Dominion's plan to destroy the minefield blocking the wormhole. The minefield is the only thing keeping Dominion reinforcements from arriving from the Gamma Quadrant. Major Kira Nerys, the Bajoran liaison officer secretly leading the resistance against Dominion occupation, pleads for mercy for Rom with Weyoun, the station's Dominion administrator, but to no avail. Kira persuades Tora Ziyal, the daughter of Cardassian commander Dukat, to ask her father to show mercy, but he too is adamant, which distresses her belief that her father was a man of peace. Security officer Odo is no help; he is seduced by an offer to return to his people, the shapeshifting Founders of the Dominion, and has lost interest in station affairs.
Cardassian officer Damar lets slip to the bartender Quark that the minefield will be eliminated in about a week. Quark passes this intelligence to Kira's resistance, and Sisko's son Jake, who remained on the station when the Dominion seized control of it, is able to sneak a message to his father alerting him to the minefield's impending destruction. Dukat tries through Damar to get his daughter to be by his side for what seems to be impending success, but the attempt leads to Kira punching Damar out when Ziyal refuses.
Sisko realizes he must take the station now, though his fleet is nowhere near large enough. With a fleet consisting of 600 vessels, Sisko arrives near Deep Space Nine facing a Cardassian-Dominion fleet of 1254 ships. He turns to his crew and says "There's an old saying: ' Fortune favours the bold '. I guess we're about to find out," as the operation begins.
Credits
Adapted from Wikipedia contributors, Favor the Bold. Paragraphs and formatting adjusted; illustrations, reference markers, block quotations and non-story material omitted.