Refrigeration suit

A refrigeration suit was a type of clothing used by the Breen, making up their equivalent of a military uniform. It was believed to be a type of environmental suit to keep a Breen's temperature at a lower level than its surroundings; specifically, it provides an atmosphere of a specific blend of subzero gases that triggered a unique immune system response and somatic cell regeneration within Breen that could potentially allow a Breen to recover from life-threatening injuries. (DIS: "Erigah") The suits appear to be sealed, as Breen have been observed operating in the vacuum of space in their refrigeration suits without any additional external support. The suit itself also appear to provide a strong degree of physical protection, as a Breen soldier on Brekka shrugged off a blast from a Type 2 phaser with no visible signs of damage.

It is unknown if Breen, which has both a fluid and solid states, benefit from wearing a refrigeration suit (other than the aforemention healing properties). Nonetheless, as seen with L'ak, a Breen who chose to forgo use of his refrigeration suit and exist in a solid state, the Breen were quite capable of surviving outside of their suits in a number of environments. (DIS: "Red Directive", "Under the Twin Moons", "Face the Strange", "Mirrors")

Despite being designed for Breen, other species can either use existing or replicated version of refrigeration suits. Federation had kept captured Refrigeration suits to study, which when combined with physiological data of L'ak, allow them to gain additional information of Breen biology. In order for an away team to infiltrate Ruhn's dreadnaught, the USS Discovery replicated refrigeration suits using scans of the Breen soldiers on the Eternal Gallery and Archive. With universal translators added in, the replicated suits allowed the away team to move around unseen aboard the ship and communicate in the Breen language in real time, understanding what the Breen they were communicating with were saying in return. Captain Michael Burnham was also able to change her suit to reflect her being a part of the engineering crew. (DIS: "Lagrange Point")

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There were two distinct styles of refrigeration suits seen on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

The first was a standard uniform worn by regular Breen and Breen soldiers. As noted in the script of "Indiscretion", the Breen wore "armored pressure suits which protect them from Dozaria's harsh atmosphere."

The second was a more ornate version worn by Thots and other command officials. As noted in the script of "'Til Death Do Us Part", "We've never seen one of the Breen before – he has distinctive markings on his suit that we'll eventually learn identify him as a high-ranking general." This style had golden lining on the shoulders and arms, as well as distinctive gold stripes that ran down the center of the top of the helmet and down the top of the "snout" section of the helmet.

External link[]

Refrigeration suit at Memory Beta, the wiki for licensed Star Trek works