The Defiant leads a mission into the Gamma Quadrant and meets the Founders.
After the Jem'Hadar's show of force, Sisko returns from Earth with the USS Defiant, a heavily armed prototype first designed to fight the Borg and now fitted with a Romulan cloaking device. A Romulan sub-commander comes aboard to oversee the cloak, along with Lieutenant Commander Michael Eddington of Starfleet Security, whose arrival annoys Odo. The crew sets out to find the Founders and seek peaceful terms with the Dominion.
Odo feels drawn to the Omarion Nebula. O'Brien and Dax are captured at a Dominion relay station, and Jem'Hadar ships then board and disable the Defiant. Odo escapes with an injured Kira in a shuttle, lands on a rogue planet in the nebula, and is welcomed home by a group of shapeshifters.