A Bajoran terrorist seeks asylum on the station while Kira's old comrades test her loyalties.
The station takes in Tahna Los, a Bajoran militant fleeing a Cardassian ship, and Sisko grants him asylum at the request of Kira, who fought beside him in the resistance. Odo soon sees Tahna meeting with the Klingon Duras sisters, Lursa and B'Etor, and the exiled Cardassian tailor Garak, in his first appearance, helps Bashir work out that Tahna is assembling a bomb using bilitrium bought from the sisters.
Kira, torn between old loyalties and her new post, goes along on Tahna's runabout as part of a sting. Tahna's real goal is to collapse the wormhole so that neither the Federation nor Cardassia will care about Bajor. Kira steers the runabout into the wormhole, ejects the device so that it explodes harmlessly on the far side, and Tahna finally surrenders.