"The Search, Part II" (season three, episode two; 3 October 1994): Wikipedia-link.
Commentary: "The Search, Part II" is the third act of a story begun with "The Jem'Hadar" & "The Search, Part I." The lion's share of the episode is a nightmare, with Commander Sisko, Lieutenant Dax, Doctor Bashir, Chief O'Brien, & guest star Subcommander T'Rul trapped in a Dominion virtual-reality "experiment" run by the Vorta, an experiment designed to gauge how much resolve the Federation Starfleet would show in the face of a Dominion invasion. Elsewhere, Major Kira & Constable Odo meet the Changelings, Odo's people, & we learn that an infant Odo was sent out into the galaxy on an extended fact-finding mission & returned home hundreds of years ahead of schedule due to the Bajoran Wormhole.
In the end, the tripartite structure of the Dominion is revealed: "The Changelings are the Dominion," are the semi-mythical Founders; the Vorta, who playact as "the Founders" in the V.R. experiment, are the administrators (the "carrot"); & the fearsome Jem'Hadar are the enforcers (the "stick"). The mission of the Defiant was successful, after a fashion: Sisko & his crew were able to locate & make contact with the Founders, but the extended olive branch was refused. The Changelings have a deep & abiding distrust of "Solids," & peaceful coexistence between the Federation & the Dominion is not on offer.
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