The Federation attempts to retake the station.
Sisko decides the Federation must retake the station and begins assembling a fleet, while Martok and Worf go to win over the Klingon High Council. On the occupied station, Rom is sentenced to death for trying to stop the destruction of the minefield guarding the wormhole, and neither Weyoun nor Dukat will show mercy despite pleas from Kira and Ziyal.
Odo, drawn in by the Female Changeling, has lost interest in the resistance. When Damar lets slip to Quark that the minefield will fall within days, Jake smuggles a warning to his father. Sisko realizes he cannot wait and leads the roughly six hundred ships he has against a Dominion and Cardassian fleet about twice that size. The story concludes in the next episode.