Bajor's spiritual leader, Kai Opaka, visits the station for the first time. After a tour, Sisko, Bashir and Kira agree to accompany her on a trip through the wormhole. When their Runabout is attacked, it crash lands on a small moon. The Kai is killed and the officers are captured by a race of battle-scarred humanoids trapped in an endless war. After a brutal enemy attack, the Kai reappears — alive and well! Soon all the soldiers who were killed in the attack also come back to life and Sisko learns that as long as they are on this planet, the combatants cannot die — but if the station officers die, even once, they can never leave! Can they escape before suffering a fate worse than death?

Camille Saviola (Kai Opaka)
Paul Collins (Zlangco)
Jonathan Banks (Shel-La)

• The runabout U.S.S. Yangtzee Kiang NCC-72453 was destroyed.
  
• Kai Opaka dies in the shuttle crash, but the same technology that keeps the prisoners alive revives her. She is forced to remain on the planet.