A possible snag in this mission is the very thing Kennelly proposed to help it: the presence of one Ensign Ro Laren, a Bajoran. Her past record is such that virtually no one on board wants her there (including Picard), but Kennelly insists she can be of help. She comes on board, with a sour disposition light-years across.
Despite her attitude, she manages to be of some help. Due in large part to her suggestions and efforts, Picard manages to locate Orta, and they head to the third moon of Vallor One, his base. After Guinan takes an interest in Ro (despite Ro's opposition, and to the extent of calling her a friend), however, Ro receives a private communication from Admiral Kennelly. Everything is "going as [he] predicted," she tells him...
The next morning, the away team (Picard, Troi, Worf, and Data) prepare to beam down, and find that Ro did so six hours ago. They follow her, and are promptly captured by Orta and his people. Orta, horribly disfigured as a result of Cardassian torture, tells them that he felt abducting them was necessary, and says that the Bajora were not responsible for the attack. (Ro had beamed down early to try to stop the bloodshed she was convinced the mission will eventually come to.)
Picard is somewhat inclined to believe Orta, especially since Troi sensed no deception from him. However, he confines Ro to quarters for her unauthorized beam-down. She broods in her quarters, but Guinan again comes to the rescue, coaxing enough out of her to find that much more is going on than originally thought, and she convinces Ro to talk to Picard (and convinces Picard to listen, equally importantly).
Ro reveals that she was given a different mission by Kennelly: to offer Orta Federation weapons in exchange for returning to the camps. (He also gave her authorization for her beam-down.) However, with Orta's revelation, she no longer knows what to do or whom to trust. Picard decides that the best course might be to actually take Orta back to the camps, and then "see what happens"...
As the Enterprise escorts a Bajoran cruiser [at half impulse, the cruiser's top speed] to the camp, however, two Cardassian ships cross the border and forcefully "request" that the Enterprise leave this "terrorist" ship to them. Picard initially refuses, and is given an hour. Kennelly, far from helping, insists that the Cardassian treaty is the more important issue, and orders Picard to withdraw-even after Picard openly states his belief that Kennelly was working with the Cardassians to draw Orta out so that they could destroy him.
Picard withdraws, and the Bajoran cruiser is destroyed. However, Kennelly is surprised to hear that no one was on board! (Picard and Ro, suspecting a chain of events like this might occur, planned it.) Picard informs Kennelly that the Bajoran ships are so old and obsolete that they were incapable of attacking the Solarion Four settlement, and suggests that the Cardassians staged everything, hoping to find someone like Kennelly, naive enough to help them solve their problems. All is well-and Ro, after Picard challenges her to stay in Starfleet, stays on.