Jake's friendship with Nog comes to a crossroads when Nog asks Jake to lie for him. Chief O'Brien, subbing for his wife in her classroom, was the one who was lied to, and he suggests to Commander Sisko that it may be best for Jake and Nog to sever their friendship. Meanwhile, Quark is visited by the Grand Nagus, the most powerful of all Ferengi, and he's worried that the Nagus has come to buy his bar.
When the Cardassian occupation of Bajor ended in 2369, the mining space station Terok Nor was left abandoned, its systems ripped out. By invitation of the Bajoran provisional government, Starfleet stepped in to oversee the rebuilding and day-to-day operations of the newly christened Deep Space Nine.
The years of Starfleet's nonintervention into Cardassian matters, however, had taken its toll on relations with the Bajorans. Consequently, Starfleet's position was a tenuous one; many Bajorans, suspicious and hostile as a result of decades of Cardassian oppression and brutality, did not greet the Federation's presence with open arms. The Federation's assistance is put to the test as DS9 becomes a center of travel and commerce that stretches into the Gamma Quadrant.