Sisko is leading an away team conducting a mineral survey on a planet in the Gamma Quadrant, when a Jem'Hadar warship crashes nearby. The team investigates and decides to take it home as a potentially invaluable aid to Starfleet intelligence. However, another Jem'Hadar ship arrives and destroys the away team's runabout. It soon becomes plain that the Jem'Hadar and their Vorta supervisor desperately want something aboard the crashed ship. To stay alive, Sisko and the others must find out what it is.
