Stardate 46910.1: As Dax walk back to her quarters for the evening, two men and a woman take her hostage. Dr. Bashir relays her situation to Ops, but the kidnappers are a few steps ahead. They're able to disable all of DS9's security devices and escape in their ship. Commander Sisko brings the tractor beam back online and lock onto the kidnapper's ship before it escaped the beam's range. Bringing the three back onto the ship, Commander Sisko is handed a warrant by one of the abductors containing cuddle and treason charges against Lieutenant Dax.
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.