Deep Space Nine crew, including Sisko, Dax, Worf, and O'Brien are conducting a planetary survey via a runabout when a Dominion Warship crashes near their location. Investigating, they find the crew inside dead, a likely failure of the ship's inertial dampeners during the crash. Sisko contacts DS9 to have the Defiant come tow the ship back to the station so that it can be studied.

As they wait, a Jem'Hadar ship appears in orbit, destroys the runabout, and transport several Jem'Hadar soldiers to the surface where they fire on the Starfleet personnel, killing several of them and mortally wounding Muñiz, O'Brien's assistant. Sisko orders his crew into the Dominion ship for protection. To their surprise, the Jem'Hadar do not follow but maintain watch on the ship. As Muñiz's wounds are tended to, they find little of the ship to be of use beyond the unique helm controls used by the Jem'Hadar. The group is contacted by Kilana, the Vorta in command of the Jem'Hadar, who requests a meeting with Sisko.

At the meeting, Kilana refuses to allow Sisko to claim salvage rights for the ship, but offers to return Sisko and his crew back to the Federation safely. As they talk, a Jem'Hadar transports onto the crashed ship and tried to attack the remaining crew, but Muñiz, though weak, is able to fire and kill the Jem'Hadar. Kilana and Sisko immediately return to their ships, and Kilana orders her ship to fire near the crashed vessel. Sisko comes to believe that they do not intend to fire on the ship directly, as there is something valuable aboard, and are trying to intimidate them into abandoning the ship. O'Brien tries to assure Muñiz that he will live, but Worf asserts that the wound from the Jem'Hadar weapon will not heal, and Muñiz should prepare for death, leading to tensions between the two and others as the bombardment continues for ten hours. During this period, Muñiz succumbs to the wound and dies.

Sisko and the others start to devise a plan to bring up the ship's engines to a point where they would be able to pilot the ship out, when they notice a liquid dripping from the inverted floor. They discover that part of the bulkhead is really one of the Changelings, unable to hold its form anymore. It falls to ground and dies, turning into powder. The bombardment suddenly stops, and Kilana transports to the vessel. She explains that the Jem'Hadar on her ship have all committed suicide as they have allowed the death of one of their "gods", the Changeling, and thus there is no further reason to prevent Starfleet from salvaging the ship. Sisko allows her to collect some of the dust from the former Changeling before she departs to her ship and leaves orbit. The Defiant arrives shortly thereafter and tows the ship back to DS9.

...
Wikipedia