First Battle of Chin ' toka The First Battle of Chin ' toka was the first offensive launched by the Federation Alliance into Cardassian territory during the Dominion War . The battle , fought in late 2374 , was a tactical and psychological victory for the Allies , but failed to lead to a general invasion of Cardassian space . ( ) The star system remained under almost constant siege by Dominion forces until it was retaken following the Dominion ' s alliance with the Breen in 2375 . ( ) Prelude . Apart from the short and successful campaign to retake starbase Deep Space 9 during Operation Return about eight months previously , the Federation and Klingon Empire were fighting a defensive war . Key Federation planet s such as Betazed and Benzar fell to the Jem ' Hadar , while core worlds like , Alpha Centauri , and Earth were coming into range of the Dominion war machine . However , with the sudden entry of the Romulan Star Empire into the war ( ) , the allies had enough combined firepower to launch a full offensive on Dominion - held territory . Starfleet Command , in conjunction with the Klingon and Romulan high commands , agreed that the war could be won only by taking the war into enemy territory . The Chin ' toka system , located on the Cardassian border , was chosen because the Dominion had drastically weakened the complement of warship s defending the system – only five squadron s of Jem ' Hadar attack ship s were left to defend Chin ' toka , while the rest were sent to fight on the Romulan border . Admiral Ross , General Martok , and Senator Letant ordered an immediate buildup of warships at Deep Space 9 for an attack on Chin ' toka . However , the Chin ' toka System was not left as undefended as the allies believed . The Cardassians had developed a new type of orbital weapon platform that compressed a huge amount of weaponry into an independently deployable hull . The platforms were protected by regenerative force field s , and armed with three heavy disruptor cannons and one thousand plasma torpedo es . Hundreds of the platforms were placed around the two inhabited planets in the Chin ' toka system . The allies ' intelligence detected the deployment of these weapons barely three days before they were scheduled to go online . However , because of the lack of other vulnerable targets , the decision was made to take the small window of opportunity and attempt to destroy the platforms before they became operational . The battle . As the combined fleet entered the Chin ' toka System , it seemed as if the allies ' projections had been true – Chin ' toka was practically undefended and the automated defenses were off - line . Quick victory appeared within reach , with the odds overwhelmingly in the allies ' favor . The small contingent of Jem ' Hadar attack ships defending the system had little care for the odds , though , and brazenly attacked the fleet ' s flank . In the space of just two minutes , the Jem ' Hadar ships managed to cripple or destroy at least 15 Klingon warships – many by ramming the Klingons directly . Undaunted , the fleet advanced into the midst of the deactivated platforms and proceeded to demolish them without resistance . However , the Cardassians were able to get the weapon platforms on - line before the allied fleet had a chance to destroy too many of them . The orbital weapons platforms ' effect proved devastating – protected by their powerful regenerative shields , the Cardassians could pour heavy fire upon the attacking fleet while suffering practically no losses themselves . Several starships were disabled or destroyed by the platforms ' furious barrage . Rather than retreat , however , Captain Sisko chose to continue the fight , correctly believing that if the defense platforms could be defeated , then the system would fall to the allies . In the chaos of the battle , an unusual anomaly was detected by Elim Garak – none of the weapons platforms carried their own power source , but were instead powered by a single central generator . This generator was located on a small asteroid al moon in a low orbit around one of the two inhabited Chin ' toka planets . If it could be destroyed , the platforms would be powerless . The allies attempted a frontal assault , but proved unable to penetrate the asteroid ' s defensive shields even with the sustained fire from multiple starships . Chief Miles O ' Brien of the proposed tricking the automated platforms to fire on their own power source . Using the ship ' s deflector array , O ' Brien imprinted a Federation warp signature on the generator , making it appear as if it were an enemy vessel . The orbiting platforms immediately locked onto this large new signal , pouring fire into the asteroid and quickly destroying it . Without more incoming power , the orbital platforms quickly fell silent and were once again easy targets for the allied fleet . Once the grid was shut down and thus posed no more threat , General Martok began transporting ground troops to the surface of both planets . ( ) Starships present . The following is a partial list of Federation Alliance starships present at the battle . Aftermath . Although the hoped - for grand offensive into Dominion territory failed to develop after Chin ' toka , the battle nevertheless had major consequences for the conduct of the remainder of the war . The Dominion faced their first major defeat since Operation Return , as well as the spectacular failure of the orbital weapons platforms , which had been a key plan for the Cardassians to upgrade their defensive capabilities . Although the system was lost to the Dominion in the Second Battle of Chin ' toka approximately eight months later , Chin ' toka had played an important role in the course of the war . The allies also had the opportunity to examine Dominion technology like Relay Station AR - 558 , which provided a boost on the allies ' knowledge of enemy capabilities . However , although the Chin ' toka system was nominally in Federation control , it was constantly under attack by Dominion forces . ( )