 A Mindaran ship has arrived with the brothers Ah-Kel and Ro-Kel, known as smugglers, and a mysterious individual, Croden, has been spending quite a lot of time in Quark s bar. He is from the Gamma quadrant and there are reports of them having extensive conversations. Odo doesn t trust it and he;s right. He catches Quark negotiating with the Mindarans about an artifact that was probably stolen. He can t stop Croden however from killing Ro-Kel while trying to steal the artifact. While Ah-Kel vows revenge, Croden tells Odo something that really piques his interest. He mentions he has seen shape-shifters before and calls them Changelings. Croden tells they once lived on his planet, but were driven out, but he encountered them again on a secret planet. Odo is skeptical, but gets interested when Croden shows an artifact that contains a living shape-shifting fluid.