The booby traps planted on the USS Garuda, NCC-73809, some of which had exploded, were found to be Cardassian in origin. However, the crew did not have time to ponder this discovery for long as they needed to use the ship’s phasers to dehydrate an unstable volcanic mud dome that threatened to engulf the alien Eths’ city of Bocasa. With this threat neutralised, Captain Casandra Egan Manno asked for volunteers to go after Commander Harrison Ross, who had kidnapped Captain Quinn Reynolds and abandoned his team mates. He was eventually tracked down, and Reynolds was rescued but not before she had undergone terrible physical and mental torture at Ross’ hands. Ross managed to evade capture, and so the crew returned to their base at Deep Space Ten for some quiet shore leave and reflection. However, when they arrived they found out that the Federation had given joint control of the station to the Cardassians. Was this an olive branch for peace, or a partnership of peril?