While haggling with a pair of twinned Miradorns over a valuable goblet for which he had agreed to provide a buyer—until learning that the artifact in question may have been acquired illegally—Quark is interrupted by a newly-arrived alien from the Gamma Quadrant named Croden, who bursts in on the meeting brandishing a phaser and demanding the goblet for himself. A battle erupts, and Croden ends up killing one of the twins. Odo takes Croden into custody, but Croden, in a holding cell, shows little remorse, and little interest in anything but food. However, he manages to mention during a conversation with Odo that he has encountered other "Changelings," or shape-shifters, in the Gamma Quadrant.

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