As this episode starts it seems like it will be a comic story when Commander Sisko and his son Jake are joined on an educational trip to the Gamma Quadrant by Nog and his uncle Quark. The commander wasn't too pleased to have Nog and Quark along although as Jake invited Nog it was hard to say no and once on a planet in the Gamma Quadrant Quark won't stop moaning about the climate, the insects and the lack of anything interesting to him. The episode had a change of tone when an alien woman emerges from the undergrowth while Jake and Nog are away. She warns Sisko and Quark about the Jem'Hadar but before they can do anything all three of them are captured and the woman has a collar put on to prevent her using her telepathic powers to deactivate the containment field they are held in. When Nog and Jake realise something is the matter they return to the runabout and try to make their way back to the station, which is rather difficult as they don't have the password for the autopilot. Meanwhile back at the station a Jem'Hadar ship approaches and one of them beams into ops and tells them that they will not tolerate any further incursions into the Gamma Quadrant and that they are holding Sisko captive. As the USS Odyssey, a Galaxy Class starship is visiting the station it and the station's runabout mount a rescue mission, a mission that will teach the Federation just how dangerous the Dominion is.
This was a great episode which introduced the Jem'Hadar and the Vorta, two species which will come to be amongst the main antagonists in later series when the Dominion is more than just a Gamma Quadrant rumour. I liked how the episode changed from comedy to drama midway through and let us think for some time that the Vorta were not part of the Dominion. Having Quark expose the Vorta as a fraud was a nice touch too.
This was a great episode which introduced the Jem'Hadar and the Vorta, two species which will come to be amongst the main antagonists in later series when the Dominion is more than just a Gamma Quadrant rumour. I liked how the episode changed from comedy to drama midway through and let us think for some time that the Vorta were not part of the Dominion. Having Quark expose the Vorta as a fraud was a nice touch too.