Sisko goes after a rogue Maquis leader with a vendetta.
Sisko finally corners Michael Eddington, his former security chief turned Maquis leader, but Eddington disables the Defiant with sabotage he left in its computer and escapes. While the ship is repaired, Starfleet hands the hunt to Captain Sanders of the Malinche. Eddington then strikes Cardassian colonies with a weapon that makes their worlds uninhabitable for Cardassians, and Sisko takes the half-repaired Defiant out after him.
Eddington taunts Sisko with Les Miserables, casting him as the obsessed Javert, lures him to false coordinates and ambushes the Malinche. Realizing Eddington sees himself as the hero, Sisko plays the villain and poisons the atmosphere of a Maquis colony, threatening to do the same to every Maquis colony. Eddington surrenders to stop him. The fifth-season episode tests the limits of Sisko's principles in the long Maquis conflict.