Far from the center of Alpha and Beta Quadrant politics, the mysterious species known as
the Breen hail from a planet of the same name and over the centuries expanded their territory.
Known as reclusive and territorial, most of the other species in their region of space
have little knowledge about them, with even official intelligence reports containing false
information.
One of the many mysteries surrounding their species revolves around the refrigeration
suits they are always seen wearing, leading many to speculate that their homeworld must
be a frozen wasteland, and thus require the suits when travelling outside their planet.
However Wayoun, a high level official in the Dominion once remarked that the temperature
on the Breen homeworld was actually quite comfortable, yet they still wear the suits
and refuse to reveal why.
A courageous warrior race, the breen have no blood or liquid circulatory system, and
their thoughts and emotions could not be detected by empaths.
Though they largely avoid contact with other species, they were know to occasionally raid
the ships of neighbouring powers, taking their contents and enslaving their captives.
The Romulans came to distrust the Breen so much they developed a common saying, “Never
turn your back on a breen.”
Fiercly territorial, the Breen did not tolerate violations of their space, and so during the
Klingon Second Empire, when Chancellor Mow’gra sent a fleet of warships to conquer their
homeworld, the expedition was never heard from again.
By the 24th century, they were known as the Breen Confederacy, and had developed highly
sophisticated technology, able to mobilize a large military force in a relatively short
amount of time.
Known as great negotiators, they eventually started to trade with nearby powers like the
Cardassians and Ferengi, developing limited diplomatic relations, with a Breen pilot even
participating in a interpecies Palio held at the Federation outpost Deep Space 3.
They also had dealing with the Maquis during their rebellion against the Cardassian Union,
supplying them with cold storage units.
When the Federation, Klingons and Romulans joined together to fight against the Dominion-cardassian
alliance threatening the Alpha Quadrant, the Breen remained neutral for some time, while
in secret conducted subspace communications with the leader of Dominion forces, negotiating
the terms of a possible alliance.
However, with a species as reclusive as the Breen, suddenly entering into the largest
inter-species conflict in recent history, some have speculated that a larger plan may
have been at work.
Capable of changing shapes and assuming the identity of other species, the Founders, who
ruled the Dominion, may have sent an infiltrator to enter Breen society, possibly replacing
someone high up in their government to rally their species to war.
In line with this theory, the Federation officers Worf and Bashir actually encountered an imprisoned
Breen, sharing a cell with others who had been kidnapped and replaced by changelings.
And while this Breen died in captivity, his impersonator may have continued on, influencing
their government for some time.
However, in 2375, after months of secret communiations, Thot Gor of the Breen Confederacy, travelled
to Cardassian space to finish negotiations and sign a treaty of alliance.
On route he captured a pair of Starfleet officers, presenting them as a gift upon arrival.
Yet at this point in the war, the Dominion had lost control of the wormhole and could
not receive reinforcements, leaving them in desperate need of more soldiers and ships.
And so the Breen were able to demand a great price for their support, annexing a number
of Cardassian planets, and were eventually even promised control of Earth and Romulus
once the war was won.
As a demonstration of the power of the Breen and the commitment of their warriors, one
of their first actions was to organize a direct attack against Earth, targeting Starfleet
headquarters, in an attempt to strike fear into the heart of the Federation.
Although most of their ships were lost in the attack, the Breen were not afraid to die
in battle, with Thot Gor remarking that is was a small price to pay for such a great
victory.
The Breen then led the Dominion to another victory in the Second Battle of Chintoka,
using energy dampening weapons to drain enemy ships, leaving to be easily destroyed.
Although many alliance ships were lost, including the USS Defiant, a single Klingon ship survived,
as it was immune to the Breen weapon due to an engineer making an adjusting to their ships
warp core to deal with a containment problem.
General Martok then order all ship in the Klingon fleet to make a similar adjustment,
and so for a time the Empire stood alone, fighting on the front line against the Dominion,
while their allies upgraded their ships to withstand this new technology.
Although the war was now turning in favour of the Dominion, they soon suffered another
major set back, when Legate Damar, leader of the Cardassian Union openly rebelled against
their Gamma Quadrant masters.
Damar was furious with the generous terms given to the Breen when they entered the Dominion,
having been forced to sign a document allowing for the annexation of Cardassian territory
to their new allies.
Deciding he could no longer stand by while they became a conquered people, he rallied
his allies into rebellion.
Unfortunately, the movement was eventually betrayed and their forces destroyed, however
it was successful in distracting the Dominion and forcing them to waste resources, giving
the Federation Alliance time to equip their ships to fight against the Breen.
Seeing that there was no way to quickly end the war, the Dominion then chose to pull back
all forces into Cardassian territory, returning the galaxy to pre-war borders.
However this was a tactical withdrawal, designed to shorten their supply lines while extending
those of the enemy and giving them a smaller area to keep secure while they rebuilt their
army and fleet.
The Federation alliance saw how this prolonged stalemate would benefit the Dominion, and
so decided to make a final united push into Cardassian Space, to end the war once and
for all.
The Breen, fighting alongside the Jem’Hadar and Cardassians stood a good chance of winning
this battle, however with Legate Damar still alive, and stirring the citizens of Cardassia
to further rebellion, the Dominion unwisely chose to enact a severe punishment, killing
two million of their citizens in the bombing of Lakarian city.
But rather than terrify the Cardassians into submitting, it stirred them further to anger,
leading to rioting in the streets, and causing the Cardassian Fleet to turn against the Dominion
as they fought in the Battle of Cardassia.
The unexpected attack caused chaos in the Dominion Fleet, forcing them to withdraw to
Cardassia Prime and prepare for a last stand.
Meanwhile, Dominion headquarters was being attacked by Damar’s rebels, and while their
leader died in the attack, his forces took the building and captured the Female Founder.
Nevertheless she was prepared to order the Breen and Jem Hadar to fight to the death,
and make the Federation victory as bloody and bitter as possible.
Yet she changed her mind after linking with Odo, a member of her species who had sided
with the Federation.
Odo promised that if she surrendered, he would go to the Gamma Quadrant and deliver the cure
to a terrible disease devastating their people.
Although the Breen were willing to die for victory, they also seemed willing to honor
the terms of their defeat, with their representatives witnessing the final signing of a peace treaty,
ending the war.