Three months into a losing war, Sisko's crew takes a captured Jem'Hadar ship behind enemy lines to destroy a ketracel-white depot.
Three months after the station fell, the Federation and Klingon alliance is losing the Dominion War badly. Sisko and his senior officers are sent in a captured Jem'Hadar warship deep into Cardassian territory to destroy the Dominion's main store of ketracel-white. Garak takes over navigation when the Jem'Hadar eyepiece gives Sisko headaches, and the ship is mistakenly attacked by the USS Centaur.
They destroy the depot, but the ship's warp drive is damaged, leaving them stranded far from home. On the occupied station, Dukat and Weyoun quarrel over the minefield blocking the wormhole, Weyoun suppresses Jake's news reports, and Kira persuades Odo to use his standing with the Vorta to win back his deputies and a seat on the station's ruling council.