Mirror universe
From the Encyclopedia of Speculative Fiction - http://encyclopedia.wizards.pro
The "Mirror Universe" was the informal name for a parallel universe first visited by James T. Kirk and several officers from the USS Enterprise in 2267. The universe was so named because many people and places seemed to be the exact opposites of their "normal" selves in "our" universe. (TOS: "Mirror, Mirror")
- Our universe has infinite parallel universes such as Worf visited in TNG: "Parallels"; however the Mirror Universe appears to be one that is closely tied to our own, to the point that many persons from our reality have counterparts (alternate versions) there.
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History
- For main article, see Mirror universe history.
In this universe, first contact between Vulcans and the Terran Empire took place in 2063, as it did in our universe. However once the Vulcans landed and made their peaceful introduction, instead of welcoming them with open arms, Zefram Cochrane shot the first Vulcan to step onto Terran soil and the Terrans raided the Vulcan ship. They interpreted (perhaps correctly) the Vulcan landing as a prelude to invasion. The shotgun used by Zefram Cochrane later came into the possession of Jonathan Archer, who wondered what would have happened had Cochrane not "turned the tables on (the Vulcans') invasion force." With advanced Vulcan technology at their disposal, the Terran Empire expanded and conquered other races, including Vulcans, Andorians, Tellarites, Orions and Denobulans.
In 2155, the ISS Enterprise (NX-01), under the command of Captain Maximilian Forrest was the flagship of the Terran Empire's Starfleet. In January of that year, Commander Jonathan Archer mutinied against Forrest in order to take the ship into Tholian space to capture the USS Defiant (NCC-1764) from our universe. While the mutiny was ultimately unsuccessful, Captain Forrest had no choice but to continue the mission, since the ship's helm had been locked on auto-pilot. The Enterprise was later destroyed by Tholian ships, but not before Archer was able to take control of the Defiant. (ENT: "In a Mirror, Darkly") Archer tried to use the Defiant in a grab for power, intending to replace the Emperor, but was betrayed and killed by Hoshi Sato, who declared herself Empress. (ENT: "In a Mirror, Darkly, Part II")
By 2267, the Terran Empire was the dominant power in the Alpha Quadrant. When four Starfleet officers from the USS Enterprise were exchanged with those same officers from the ISS Enterprise (NCC-1701) in the Mirror Universe because of transporter interference from an ion storm, they discovered a brutal regime, almost dictatorial in its command structure. Advancement through assassination was commonplace.
During the encounter, Captain James T. Kirk convinced the counterpart of his first officer, Spock, that the Empire could not sustain itself. Indeed, Spock predicted that in its current form, the Empire had two centuries before total collapse. (TOS: "Mirror, Mirror")
Shortly thereafter, Spock rose to become leader of the Terran Empire, proposing a series of reforms designed to make the Empire more secure and less dictatorial in nature. These included a significant disarmament program. Unfortunately, once these reforms were complete, the Empire was unable to defend itself against the equally aggressive and powerful forces surrounding it. The Klingon-Cardassian Alliance overran the Empire, conquering Earth and leaving Terrans and Vulcans enslaved, and freeing several worlds that still remained under Terran occupation, including Bajor. Bajor soon joined the Alliance, and the command post/ore processing facility Terok Nor was constructed in orbit. (DS9: "Crossover")
Also, during this time, the forces of the Mirror Universe began implementing safeguards to prevent another such event. Transporter design was altered to prevent interdimensional travel - requiring the creation of devices specifically for that purpose, including the multidimensional transporter. In the event of another crossover, those involved would be killed to prevent further interference. (DS9: "Crossover", "Through the Looking Glass")
By 2370, Terok Nor was commanded by Intendant Kira Nerys, with Elim Garak as her second-in-command. It was at this point in time that the second known contact with our universe took place. A runabout from station Deep Space Nine entered the Mirror Universe following an incident in the Bajoran wormhole. Kira Nerys and Julian Bashir were captured by forces from Terok Nor, and interrogated by the Intendant. Bashir was sent to work in the ore processing plant, where he befriended "Smiley" O'Brien. After instigating a series of incidents aboard the station, including the death of Odo during a slave uprising, Kira and Bashir convinced privateer Benjamin Sisko to rebel against the Alliance and help them to escape back to "our" universe. (DS9: "Crossover")
A year later, Smiley crossed over to the Federation's universe and impersonated his counterpart long enough to capture our Sisko, and brought him back to the mirror universe, where he convinced Sisko to impersonate the leader of the rebellion. The mirror Sisko had been killed in a skirmish with Alliance ships; the rebels needed him to win over Jennifer Sisko, Sisko's wife, who in the mirror universe was a scientist working for the Alliance. Jennifer had been developing a transpectral sensor array which would have allowed the Alliance to locate rebel hideouts in the Badlands. Sisko convinced his wife's mirror-counterpart to defect to the side of the rebels. (DS9: "Through the Looking Glass")
While in the Federation's universe, Smiley downloaded information from Deep Space Nine's computers, including the plans for the Defiant. In 2372 the rebels constructed their own version of the Defiant, but had trouble getting it to function properly. Jennifer lured Sisko back into the mirror universe to help, though Kira Nerys killed her a short time thereafter. By this time the rebellion had grown in strength, culminating in the capture of Terok Nor, which became a rebel base of operations. (DS9: "Shattered Mirror")
In 2374, Kira sent a thief, Bareil Antos to "our" universe to steal one of the Bajoran Orbs, believing it would permit Kira to unite Bajor under her rule. The attempt failed, and Bareil returned to the mirror universe without the orb. (DS9: "Resurrection")
In 2375, Grand Nagus Zek, the leader of the Ferengi Alliance in our universe, used the multidimensional transporter to travel to the mirror universe along with his Hupyrian man-servant, Maihar'du, hoping to open up business opportunities, but they were captured and held hostage by the Alliance. Kira made arrangements with Worf, the Regent of the Alliance, to obtain our universe's version of the Klingon cloaking device in exchange for Zek's return.
She sent Ezri Tigan, a Trill mercenary and Kira's lover, to our side to give Quark the ransom demand. Quark and his brother Rom stole the cloaking device from Klingon General Martok's ship and delivered it to Ezri, but decided at the last minute that they couldn't trust her to keep her side of the deal, and accompanied her to the mirror universe, where all three were captured by the Terran rebels, who planned to keep the cloaking device, until Ezri's companion Brunt freed them, delivering them to Regent Worf. Aboard Worf's flagship, Quark and Rom were imprisoned along with Zek upon discovering Kira's plan, only to be later rescued by Ezri as revenge against Kira for killing Brunt. Ezri ended up joining the rebel cause. Quark, Rom, Zek and Maihar'du were allowed to return to the primary universe for having aided the rebels' defeat of Worf, a major victory for the rebellion. During the escape from Worf's ship, Garak was killed. When last seen, the rebels' march towards victory showed no apparent signs of slowing. (DS9: "The Emperor's New Cloak")
List of Technology
List of starships (Major)
(For a complete list see: Mirror universe starships)
- Defiant (mirror)
- USS Defiant (NCC-1764)
- ISS Enterprise (NCC-1701)
- ISS Enterprise (NX-01)
- ISS Avenger (NX-09)
- Regent's flagship
- Terok Nor (mirror)
Related topics
- Mirror universe cultures
- Mirror universe history
- Mirror universe people
- Mirror universe starships
- Terran Empire
- Theta
References
Apocrypha
Any possible "point of divergence" from the traditional Star Trek universe is not confirmed, though there have been different non-canon explanations. According to the FASA role-playing games and The Best of Trek, the mirror universe diverges from our own timeline around the Eugenics Wars, while DC Comics' The Mirror Universe Saga comics speculate the Earth-Romulan War was the point of divergence, with Earth having lost that war, and then embarking on a policy of conquest after overthrowing the Romulans (It is not known what kind of contact Sato's Empire had with the Romulans). Still other non-canon works, the novels of William Shatner's Star Trek: The Mirror Universe Trilogy (co-written with Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens) and the novelization of Star Trek: First Contact seem to indicate the time travel of the Borg to Zefram Cochrane's era might be responsible. Episode writers maintain that the mirror universe is not simply an alternate timeline, but instead a parallel universe where the patterns of events move in similar manners, but the intentions and characterizations are different, so the people of the mirror side will always remain (and always have been) skewed versions of their "normal" counterparts, so no true point of divergence can be traced, as the two realms move in a parallel manner. Dark Mirror, a Pocket TNG novel by Diane Duane, places the mirror universe as parallel since at least the end of Homer's Iliad, where the mirror universe Achilles kills old King Priam instead of showing one moment of humanity. After this there seems to be some sort of "moral inversion". For instance, according to Plato the perfect government is now one in which fear is meted out to the people in proper proportion by a wise ruler. Picard notes that the ending of Shakespeare's "Merchant of Venice" is drastically different: Shylock is awarded, and accepts, the owed pound of flesh. This universe is inconsistent with the others in that it was written before the DS9 mirror episodes, and references the Terran Empire as still being active in 2367.
The possibility of divergent mirror universes has also been considered by fans -- to explain costume and effects inconsistencies in the structure of the mirror universe. In "Through the Looking Glass", we saw Alliance ships de-cloaking, and in "The Emperor's New Cloak" the Alliance didn't have a cloaking device. In "Mirror, Mirror", when Kirk enters the turbo-lift with mirror-Chekov, the younger officer is seen wearing a gold sash, but when they're actually in the lift the sash is absent. When they leave the lift and Kirk gets ambushed, the sash is back!
The mirror universe made an appearance in Star Trek: Voyager - Elite Force, a video game released for the PC. Voyager, having been pulled into a starship scrapyard, encounters hostile humans working with various aliens, including Malons, Klingons and Hirogen. These human "scavengers" are from the mirror universe and operate from a station made up of the remains of a mirror universe Constitution-class starship, among other things.
The mirror universe also features prominently in Star Trek: Shattered Universe, a video game released on PS2 and XBox. It depicts an Empire Starfleet of the 2290s, and a crossover to the adventures of Captain Sulu on the ISS Excelsior.de:Spiegeluniversum