File:KlingonCardassianAlliance.gifEmblem of the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance In the mirror universe, the Cardassians were a quasi-reptilian humanoid species native to Cardassia in the Alpha Quadrant. The name means in their native language "People of Discipline". (ST - New Worlds, New Civilizations short story: "The Glories of the Hebitians") By the early 2290s, the Cardassian Union, then led by Legate Renar, was an emerging power in the Alpha Quadrant which sought to increase its scope at the expense of that of the Terran, Klingon and Romulan Empires.