On their way to Ferenginar, Jake and Nog's runabout comes under attack from the Jem'Hadar, and they are rescued by the Valiant, a ship manned by an elite group of over-eager Starfleet cadets who have bitten off more than they can chew.

When an accident on the planet Golana sends Molly O'Brien through a mysterious vortex three hundred years into the past, she returns to the present eighteen years old with no immediate recollection of her previous life or her family.