Former Cardassian Legate Tekeny Ghemor ("Second Skin") ventures to Deep Space Nine in order to help draw up plans against the Cardassian Empire and their new Dominion associates. Unfortunately, the Legate is dying and does not have much time left. At the same time, Gul Dukat calls Captain Sisko and requests that Ghemor be returned to Cardassia.
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.