In the Ferengi tradition of entering manhood, Nog prepares himself for Starfleet Academy by selling his boyhood possessions. At the same time, Quark acquires a ship that had been promised to him by his cousin Gaila. Suspecting that his cousin gave him a defective vessel, Quark has Rom go over the ship with a fine tooth comb. Surprisingly, Rom finds nothing wrong. To test out the ship, Quark and Rom take Nog to Earth and Starfleet Academy in Quark's new ship.
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.