It's business as usual on [=DS9=]. Kira invites Dax to dinner, but their conversation spirals into an argument over their taste in men. A Cardassian cargo crew is ready to disembark when a shifty Starfleet crewman fiddles with a control panel on the ship. As it begins to fly away, it suddenly explodes.

Investigating the circumstances, Dax detects some suspicious traces of marcassium, which is only found in Federation technology, but the crew can't find any specific evidence of sabotage. Even still, the station is visited by Commander Cal Hudson, the ranking officer in the [=Cardassian/Federation=] DMZ as well as an old friend of Sisko and Curzon Dax. He and Sisko chat about good times and bad before turning to the topic at hand. Hudson is pessimistic about the peace with Cardassia, complaining that the Federation gave away too much.

Meanwhile, a suspicious Vulcan woman named Sakonna talks to the saboteur who destroyed the ''Bok'Nor'', advising him to keep a low profile until they can get him off the station. This conversation is overheard by two aliens, who sedate and kidnap him in a corridor. In the interim, Sakonna heads for Quark's. She proposes an unspecified business transaction, and Quark is more than happy for the opportunity to mix business with pleasure.

In his quarters that night, Sisko gets a surprise visitor: [[Characters/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineGulDukat Gul Dukat]]. The shifty Cardassian knows the station like the back of his hand, making it a cinch to sneak in. He wants to assist Sisko in investigating this mysterious situation. The two head off in a runabout for the nearby colonies.

The ever-suspicious Sisko locks Dukat out of the runabout's controls, knowing that Cardassians have photographic memories and not wanting to leak Federation technology to the enemy. Scanners pick up two Cardassian ships attacking a Federation merchant ship. Despite Dukat doing everything from telling the Cardassian ships his security codes to threatening to destroy them, they don't respond.

A second Federation ship joins the fight, though its specs are different from anything Sisko is aware of. Before they can do anything, the Cardassian ships are destroyed.

Back on [=DS9=], Quark and Sakonna have a dinner to discuss her mysterious business offer. It turns out she wants weapons, and lots of them.

In the DMZ, things are heating up. Gul Evek and Hudson are tearing into each other over these incidents, each accusing the other of terrorist activities. Things don't get any better when Evek produces a confession from William Patrick Samuels, the man who destroyed the ''Bok'Nor''. Evek claims the man committed suicide shortly after confessing, bringing his body in as evidence. A colonist named Amaros leaps across the table to beat the gray off Gul Evek, but the two are broken up by Sisko and Dukat.

While Sakonna asks Quark to move up the date of the weapons shipment, O'Brien confirms the bomb that destroyed the ''Bok'Nor'' was of Federation origin. Sisko and Hudson discuss the situation, noting that the ''Bok'Nor'' was probably bringing weapons to Cardassian settlers. However, Sisko notes that Cardassians have previously [[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS02E02TheCircle tried to arm Bajoran separatists]], so something more complicated might be afoot.

As if in confirmation, Dukat gets abducted by Sakonna, Amaros and other collaborators. As the station crew investigate the kidnapping, Kira receives a communication from a group taking credit for the bombing and kidnapping. It calls itself [[TitleDrop the Maquis]]. Sisko heads off with Bashir and Kira to the coordinates they've tracked them to. Beaming down, they're confronted by several armed Maquis.

Among their ranks is none other than Cal Hudson. He greets his old friend, "I'm glad to see you had no trouble finding us, Ben. It seems that one disaster after another keeps bringing us back together again."

ToBeContinued...
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!!Tropes
* AttractiveBentGender: Cal and Sisko can't help discussing how Dax is now a beautiful woman. Cal muses how discomforting it is that a woman now knows more about him than any woman has before (implying that he used to carouse with Curzon). Sisko claims he isn't bothered by it, but [[SheIsNotMyGirlfriend not to the extent of starting a relationship with Jadzia]], because in his mind she's still Dax.
* CallBack: Sisko recalls how Cardassians tried to arm Bajoran separatists in an effort to rekindle the war, which took place in "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS02E02TheCircle The Circle]]."
* ContinuityOverlap: This two-parter takes place following the events of TNG's [[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS7E19JourneysEnd "Journey's End"]] and the establishment of the DMZ.
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The Badlands are depicted here as a purple, wispy area of space. The pilot episode of ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' would later create a much more visually distinctive design for the Badlands, which would be carried over to this series.
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Dukat of all people is a proud dad to ''seven'' kids.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Subverted with Dukat on the trip back to [=DS9=]. For a moment, it seems like Dukat is just as disgusted as Sisko at Samuels' 'suicide'... only to reveal instead that he's actually disgusted with ''Evek'' over botching the interrogation and killing his own prisoner.
* EveryoneHasStandards: When Sisko comes into his quarters to find Dukat waiting for him and no sign of Jake, he of course presumes Dukat may have had something done to him. Dukat is indignant at the idea. Given that Cardassians are even more protective of family bonds than humans, it would be quite a crime to go after someone's family.
* {{Foreshadowing}}:
** The Badlands are introduced, with Sisko noting several ships [[Series/StarTrekVoyager have gone missing in the region over the last year]]...
** After Dukat is kidnapped by the Maquis, Odo vents his longstanding frustrations with Starfleet's security protocols (or lack thereof) and their opinion of his own security methods. These tensions between Odo and Starfleet will finally come to a head a few episodes later in "The Search, Part 1".
* MyBrainIsBig: A trait of Gallamites, along with transparent skulls. Kira finds them rather off-putting apparently.
* NoodleIncident: When Sakonna first approached Quark, he assumes she's law enforcement and assures her that a 'matter with the warrant' was cleared up months ago.
* NotMeThisTime: Sisko sees Dukat and assumes that if he is waiting for him, that he had something to do with Jake being missing. Dukat denies it and as Sisko soon realizes, he was telling the truth.
* {{Oktoberfest}}: Hudson and Sisko recount some memories of New Berlin, which included sausage, beer, and lederhosen.
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Kira and Sisko are both surprised the Cardassians have been slow to react to the destruction. A Cardassian ship blown up in Bajoran space would guarantee an instant retaliatory strike. It's never explicitly confirmed if the ''Bok'Nor'' had been carrying weapons or not. But clearly Central Command's worried Starfleet will find evidence of the DMZ Treaty violations and they're working to cover their asses as quickly as possible. This will lead to Samuels' abduction and culminate with Dukat being tossed under the bus next episode.
* PhotographicMemory: Cardassians possess this, hence Sisko leaving Dukat's console dark during their trip in the runabout. Dukat turns it around by revealing he knew exactly how the controls worked before he even boarded the vessel.
* ProductionForeshadowing: The introduction of the Badlands and the mention of missing ships, like the Maquis, lays the groundwork for the catalyst of ''Series/StarTrekVoyager''.
* SeriesContinuityError: Sisko mentions how the Cardassians were supplying Bajoran extremists through a third-party, the Yridians. Assuming he was referring to the Circle incident, they were actually supplied through the Kressari.
* SequelEpisode: To TNG's [[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS7E19JourneysEnd "Journey's End"]] as part of the multi-series arc that laid the groundwork for ''Star Trek: Voyager'' during mid-1994. "The Maquis" picks up the establishment of the Federation-Cardassian Treaty and the Demilitarized Zone. The tensions between Federation colonists and the Cardassians that was also set up in "Journey's End" comes to a boil here.
* ShoutOut: When Sakonna lists the weapons that she wants to acquire from Quark, she mentions cobalt-thorium devices. What would Film/DrStrangelove have to say about that?
* SpoilerTitle: Mixed with a touch of LateArrivalSpoiler. Those who saw [[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration TNG's]] "Preemptive Strike" or [[Series/StarTrekVoyager Voyager]] before this episode know who and what the Maquis are already.
* StockFootage: The matte painting depicting the Volan II colony is a reuse of the Tau Cygna V colony painting from the third season TNG episode "[[{{Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS3E2TheEnsignsOfCommand}} The Ensigns of Command]]".
* ThereAreNoCoincidences: Comes up during the initial investigation in the ''Bok'Nor'' explosion. Kira wonders if it's possible it really ''was'' an accident, but Odo counters the Cardassians will invoke this very Trope: That a ''Cardassian'' ship has an 'accident' in ''Bajoran'' space?
* TrespassingToTalk: Dukat invites himself into Sisko's quarters to discuss the destroyed freighter. [[PapaWolf Sisko immediately worries about Jake's safety]], but Jake is just fine.
* TruceTrickery: A guerrilla war breaks out in the Federation-Cardassian Demilitarized Zone between Federation and Cardassian settlers, with the Cardassian Empire eventually proven to be arming its own settlers to prosecute a deniable ProxyWar against the Federation despite the peace treaty they signed late in ''The Next Generation''. This ultimately leads to the formation of the Maquis, a militia raised from among the Federation colonies that then also turns its guns on Starfleet when [[HonorBeforeReason the Federation refuses to resume hostilities despite the Cardassians' repeated blatant disregard for the treaty]].
* VillainHasAPoint: Dukat on the return trip to [=DS9=] when he fires back at Sisko's 'Holier-than-thou Federation fair-play dogma'. He rightly points out that however angry Sisko is with Samuels' death in Cardassian hands, it doesn't change that Samuels ''did'' commit a terrorist act and that he ''did'' kill 78 people when the ''Bok'Nor'' blew.
* WouldHitAGirl: Dukat clocks Sakonna when she and her comrades are kidnapping him.