On Deep Space Nine, Odo made a request to the Vorta, Weyoun, that his Bajoran security team be reinstated. Taking the request as an order from a god, Weyoun readily agrees provided that Odo join the station's council that includes Weyoun and Gul Dukat. Meanwhile, Captain Sisko and his team have destroyed a Dominion supply station of Ketracel-White, the only way that the Jem'Hadar can survive. Unfortunately, they were caught in the blast and their Jem'Hadar ship is severely damaged. With warp drive out, the former ops crew of Deep Space Nine is as good as stranded.
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.