Breen-Romulan War

The Breen-Romulan War was a conflict between the Breen Alliance and the Romulan Star Empire. It began shortly after the end of the Klingon/Romulan War. The Romulans were assisted by Starfleet, as the Breen crippled the USS Courageous in their opening movements.

Causes and Beginnings
Following the end of the Klingon/Romulan War, both powers were seriously weakened. Meanwhile, the Breen, a deeply isolationist and xenophobic power near Romulan space, were building up.

With the end of the war, the Breen saw an opportunity to seize Romulan territory and possibly become a great power. Therefore, they dispatched a fleet towards Romulan space, to launch a sneak attack. This assault was carried out through the Neath Nebula.

The Third Courageous Incident
At the same time, the USS Courageous was transiting the Neath Nebula on a survey mission, under the command of Captain Zara ka’Athnon. Courageous was attacked by the Breen, and crippled. Fortunately for the Courageous, a pod of Dreamers scared off the pursuing Breen ships, after two Breen frigates were destroyed by Courageous. The Dreamers then successfully towed the Courageous back to Federation space. Unfortunately, Captain ka’Athnon was left in a coma.

Federation Response
In response to the assault on the Courageous, the Federation took a number of steps. Immediate work was begun on alliance-building, and attempts to open a diplomatic channel with the Breen. At the same time, Starfleet created the new Task Force Breen, dedicated to gathering intelligence about Breen operations and sharing it with Romulan forces.

Initial Strikes
The Breen began with a series of major strikes on Romulan industrial targets, crippling ten yards, including at least one capital ship slip. Romulan forces had at least 7 ships damaged, but none destroyed, while the Breen lost some 5 frigates, with a similar number of cruisers either damaged or destroyed.

Settling In
The Romulans began to evacuate mining colonies across the frontier with the Breen, and began to form a new defensive line.

In May of 2323, neither side launched any serious attacks. The Romulans continued to rebuild their forces, and form a new defensive line, while the Breen were unable to launch new operations with their frigate wing crippled.

The stalemate on the front continued into June, with the Romulans having assembled 6 heavy warbirds at their Outpost in the Khazara system. SFI estimated that the Breen would be forced to launch an offensive within a few months, as the Romulan economy was beginning to recover.

Meanwhile, Zaardmani’s Task Force Breen continued to gather information on Breen industrial capacity and deployed force size. USS Inspire managed to get close enough to the Breen colony world of Snyd to obtain estimates of shipyard sizes, and, from that, likely total Breen industrial capacity.

At the same time, the Kelsatha, a former battlecruiser of the Andorian Guard, now in Yrillian private service, entered the war on the Romulan side. The Kelsatha was there both to assist the Romulans, and to support any revolution that might occur in Romulan space.

Battle of Khazara
In July of 2323, the Breen launched a second major offensive, directed against the Khazara system, home to a set of Romulan shipyards. The resulting Battle of Khazara was a Romulan defeat, though it halted the Breen offensive. The Breen were left in control of the orbitals, but without plans for invasion. The Romulans did manage to recover a few of their disabled vessels, but were not been able to remove them from the system while the battle was ongoing. The Yrillian mercenary/revolutionary ship Kelsatha was also present at the battle, with a member of its original crew, Ferash th'Koalthyk, providing the Federation with details about the battle. The Romulans lost a cruiser, with another disabled, along with two frigates disabled and a third destroyed. They also lost the IRW T’Mir, a science ship. The Breen, meanwhile, lost a battleship, along with a cruiser disabled and another destroyed, with damage to most other cruisers. They also lost a light frigate.

The End of the War
Following Khazara, the Romulan Star Empire claimed victory in 3 engagements at the border, claiming 5 Breen capital ships crippled, disabled, or destroyed. At the same time, the Federation Diplomatic Service managed to successfully establish contact with the Breen. This ultimately resulted in the Breen proving amenable to a negotiated peace. The Breen retained several evacuated Romulan colonies, and used the war as an opportunity for increased social unity, forming the Breen Confederacy. The RSE, meanwhile, held the major world of Khazara, and was left able to concentrate on economic recovery from the back-to-back wars.