Mirror universe

The "mirror universe" is the informal name for a parallel universe, so named because many people and places are "opposites" of their counterparts in "our" universe, with "evil" replacing good and vice versa.

History
The history of the mirror universe during the 22nd to the 24th century has been shaped largely due to influence from the "primary" universe.

During the 22nd century, the capture of a Starfleet vessel from a hundred years in the future helped to solidify the Terran Empire's grip on power and dominance over the quadrant. 

The chance interaction between Starfleet officers from the primary universe during the 23rd century, with their counterparts from the mirror, who eventually led to the downfall of the Terran Empire and the rise of the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance. 

Nearly a hundred years later another chance interaction would bring about a Terran rebellion against the Alliance. 



The continuum
The mirror universe, like all parallel universes, is believed to lie parallel to "our" universe on another dimensional plane in a six-dimensional continuum: three dimensions of space, and three of time. The dimensions of space (height, width, and depth) are familiar. The linear motion of time (past-present-future) can be considered one "dimension" of time. Time's other dimensions are made up of probability fields that are the "height" and "width" of time. In essence, these temporal dimensions encompass every possible past, present, and future that could exist, and does, "elsewhere" in the continuum.

A potentially infinite number of timelines lie in these higher temporal dimensions, running parallel to "our" universe. The amount of divergence between universes - essentially the difference between their quantum signatures - determines how "far apart" they are in temporal terms. The mirror universe lies quite "close" to "our" universe in a dimensional sense, one of the reasons it was the first parallel dimension encountered by visitors from "our" universe.

Quantum signatures
Everything in a particular timeline has a unique energy "signature" that can be measured on the quantum level, and cannot be changed by any means known to Federation science. The quantum resonance signature is a sort of blueprint, or script, of its entire universe; the movements of each and every one of its particles in every moment of its time. This quantum signature is normally of little interest, since it is common to everything in the universe. However, objects from outside the universe have a different quantum signature. This includes people and objects from a parallel universe. A quantum scan can determine whether or not something is from the same universe as the scanner. If the quantum signature of the subject's home universe is known, then it can also be identified.

Overview
The mirror universe is unusual, even for a parallel universe. Most parallel universes known to Federation science are what might be termed alternate histories. They diverge from known Federation history at a particular place in space-time, known as the divergence point. From that moment on, they follow their own history, but before the divergence, they are identical to "our" universe, save for a difference in quantum signature.

Some parallels appear to have diverged from "our" universe's history so long ago that it is difficult to determine the divergence point. These parallels are quite different from "our" universe, up to and including vastly different lifeforms evolving on Earth, Vulcan, and other planets of the galaxy. The further the divergence point is from "our" universe's present, the less likely it is for the parallel to have anything even remotely resembling "our" universe's history.

The mirror universe appears to be the exception. Although mirror universe history is quite different from "our" universe's history, going back centuries at the very least, many aspects of the mirror universe are remarkably similar to "our" universe, including the presence of certain individuals in both universes. For example, when Captain James T. Kirk and his crew first encountered the mirror universe, they accidentally beamed aboard an Enterprise that was an almost exact duplicate of their own Enterprise, down to the presence of an acid stain Dr. Leonard McCoy recalled from his own sickbay. Although the Terran Empire differed radically from the Federation in terms of politics and culture, it still had many of the same people.

With a history that diverged even decades previously, much less centuries, the odds of the mirror universe having a duplicate Enterprise, with an almost identical crew, are astronomical. The odds of there being a Benjamin Sisko and a duplicate crew of Deep Space Nine nearly a century after Kirk verges on the impossible. The events described by Intendant Kira, including the fall of the Terran Empire at the hands of the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance, should have so scrambled the human gene pool that Sisko and company should never have been born. Yet they existed in the mirror universe, along with duplicates of many other people from "our" universe.

All of this is because the mirror universe has a distorted, vaguely mirrored, duplicate of the same quantum signature as "our" universe. Nothing is truly opposite, but different because of the twisted quantum signature. The quantum signature is normally different in every alternate universe, but the mirror universe has the exact same signature as "our" universe, only with "mistakes", sort of self-compensating factors, self-repairing loops, that don't affect the timeline in the long term.

This creates a universe that duplicates "our" universe on a macroscopic scale, while altering events and personalities on a smaller scale. Take the example of looking at your reflection in a mirror. The image looking back at you appears nearly identical to you, but if you were to hold up a book or a sign, the writing in the mirror appears backwards. So it is with the mirror universe. Large-scale objects are nearly the same: planets, people, and even starships and space stations; but many of the details, the "writing" of the universe, are the opposite of what they are in "our" universe.

Quantum mirroring
One result of this is what scientists call "quantum mirroring". This essentially describes the fact that events and individuals often appear duplicated in both universes despite the larger-scale differences between them. Quantum mirroring "synchronizes" certain events between the two universes so they move in a parallel manner with different moments having their equivalents in each universe. Thus the same people are created under significantly different circumstances, under which the same groups of people often meet in the same place and time as in "our" universe, and the exact same genetic material is combined to form the exact same next generation. The personalities of the people are often very different compared to ours because they grew up in different conditions. However, the lives of individuals from both universes are often extremely similar, even down to the smallest details, despite larger difference in personality and attitude.

Dr. McCoy's acid stain is a prime example. Although Dr. McCoy from "our" universe was clearly a very different person from his mirror universe counterpart (who was described as "weak-willed" and prone to drinking excessively), both men experienced an identical accident that left an identical stain on their respective workbenches. Likewise, Benjamin and Jennifer Sisko from "our" universe and their counterparts from the mirror universe were both married, although Jennifer Sisko in "our" universe died during the Borg assault at Wolf 359, while mirror-Jennifer separated from her husband and continued working as a scientist. The list of similarities goes on and on.

Although the patterns of events move in similar manners in both universes, the intentions and characterizations can be vastly different. It is unknown why certain events are mirrored almost exactly, while others are distorted or altered, and some events are not mirrored at all.

A Debt of Honor, The Gift
In the continuities of these two stories, Spock became the Empire's Commander-in-Chief as portrayed on DS9, but was overthrown shortly thereafter by the Imperial Starfleet. In A Debt of Honor David Marcus led an underground resistance dedicated to carrying on Spock's vision of reform, but made a tragic miscalculation, while in The Gift the Empire's attempt to secure an Iconian Gateway backfired. In both of these timelines the Alliance subsequently conquered the Empire.

Star Trek: Arcadia
The Terran rebellion leads to the Empire's resurrection by 2379, when the Empire is at war with the Imperium (located in the Delta Quadrant) ruled by the mirror counterpart of Kes. This continuity, which ceased to exist when Arcadia continuity was revamped, served as inspiration for Star Trek: New Empire.

Star Trek: Distant Horizon
In 2381, the USS Intrepid (NCC-74600) was sent to the mirror universe where they encountered the mirror Dominion at Terok Nor. The Dominion went to war but the Intrepid left before it could be destroyed in battle. (Star Trek: Distant Horizon)

Star Trek: Dragon
In Star Trek: Dragon's first episode, the USS gets transported by an anomaly to the mirror universe in the 20th century, two months after the start of the Eugenics Wars, before Earth possesses advanced space travel. They have to find a way out of the mirror universe to get back home. In Dragon's fifth season, the ISS appears and attacks the crew. The Sentinels original mission was to test an experimental device that allowed them to easily cross dimensional barriers, but the mirror Chris Harriman's desire to test his abilities ends with the Sentinels destruction.

Star Trek: Mirror Wars
In Star Trek: Mirror Wars, a second Terran Empire evolved from the Terran rebellion after the destruction of the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance. 300 years later, the emperor of the Terran Empire plans to invade our universe. They eventually lead an assault on our universe, which is the main basis for the Star Trek: Mirror Wars storyline.

At the end of the episode "Alternate Invasion, Part 2", Starfleet and a few other species' fleets are about to cross over to the mirror universe, planning to invade mirror-Earth.

Star Trek: New Empire
The Terran rebellion leads to the Empire's resurrection after 2375, in the form of the Imperial Union of Planets, which reclaims most territory of the original Terran Empire by 2385. (Star Trek: New Empire)

Star Trek: Phoenix-X
In 2371, at the same time Smiley O'Brien visited Deep Space 9 and stole schematics for the Defiant, he stole schematics of the Phoenix-X and put one into construction as well. (Star Trek: Phoenix-X: "Mirrorlyness!")

In 2375, the Phoenix-X in the original universe accidentally used an Iso-Star to bring the Phoenix-X of the mirror universe to our own. Upon the encounter the crew of the mirror version changed their ship's name to Phoenix-V. The Doctor on the Phoenix-V transferred Commander Gotens into a Trill substitute named James. It wasn't long until tensions arose and the Phoenix-X destroyed the Phoenix-V. James escaped safely on a shuttle. ("Pure Evil")

In 2377, James Gotens found a girlfriend in the mirror universe named Lex Seifer, whom he convinced to trade her symbiont with Night Gotens on a trip back to the primary universe. They were then turned into Lex Gotens and Night Seifer. Night Seifer chased Lex and James back into the mirror universe. While there, they encountered a mirror species of the Jem'Hadar called the Nega'Jem. A group of Nega'Jem ships returned to the primary universe when Seifer returned empty-handed. ("Secret Shuttles, Part II")

In 2379, Seifer's symbiont was experimented on by the Gordarions, making it come to life on its own when in contact with another quantum state or the mirror universe. ("Occurrence, Part I")

In 2382, James and Lex returned to the primary universe in the Raptor to bring the Phoenix-X into the mirror universe where the Seifer symbiont would come to life on its own. Since the symbiont was evil, it took James' command and planned to join the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance. The Phoenix-X crew thwarted the plan and the ship returned to the primary universe. James and Lex along with the mirror Raptor were apprehended by Smiley on the mirror Defiant. ("Mirrorlyness!")

The next year, the crew of the previously destroyed Phoenix-V were brought back to life by an omnipotent being, named Rein. He simply plucked the crew out of coporeal existence mere seconds before the destruction of the ship and then re-materialized them eight years later aboard his own ship, the Socom. The mere action itself was to promote him to full omnipotent status - a power to which he used later to transport the crew back into the Mirror Universe. Before transport, the crew had hijacked and killed the crew of the USS Fusion. When they re-emerged in their own universe, they renamed the ship ISS Phoenix-X for the Klingons had conspired to bring such a named vessel back to the Alliance from the very beginning. ("Broken Pieces")

Star Trek: Pioneer
In 2387 a war began between the Terrans and the Alliance of Independent Governments. It lasted until 2389 when the Terran Empire was finally re-established. The remnants of the old Terran Starfleet were recalled into service, including the ISS Enterprise, ISS Defiant and the ISS Excelsior. Also using stolen plans from the primary universe, the Empire was able to replicate a Sovereign-class vessel, the ISS Pioneer. 

Star Trek: Shattered Universe
In 2293, Captain Sulu and the crew of the USS were transported aboard the ISS, where they were pursued by Commander Chekov on the ISS throughout the Alpha Quadrant as the Excelsior crew attempted to return home.

Sometime after 2293, mirror-Chekov assisted in the uprising of the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance. When doing so, he came into contact with the non-corporeal Pah'Wraiths, who gave him some of their power. Now immortal, Chekov helped the Alliance grow from the sidelines, never seen nor heard.

In 2382, the Terran rebellion had finally pushed the Alliance back and began the first phase of a new Terran Empire. The Pah'Wraiths, manifesting as a supernatural ion storm, passed along the border between both territories and gave random ships their power.

An Aeon Ryku stole a Lokirrim ship and named it the ISS. He was sent on a mission to protect the upcoming Empress aboard the ISS and ISS which were attacked by a Cardassian ship infused with Pah'Wraith energy, commanded by Chekov. Upon defeating the ship, Aeon met with the Pah'Wraiths and the Descent and was given some of their power as well. (Star Trek: Shattered Universe)

USS Saipan - Dark Mirror
In this RPG universe the Terran Empire formed an alliance with the Romulans in 2250 after an exhausting, decades-consuming war. The alliance was dissolved in 2418, when Praetor Turan tr'Kaleh declared independence. He tried to gain strategic advantage over the Terrans by using newly invented technology to open the Bajoran wormhole (considered mythological until then), but spurred a Borg invasion. For a brief time, all enemies, Terrans, Romulans and Klingon rebels, worked together in order to save the four quadrants from the Borg. Once they were repelled, much of the territory fell into anarchy. (USS Saipan - Dark Mirror)

Tales of the Mirror Universe
Part of the fan fiction universe of Star Trek: Special Operations, TMU is an anthology series showing mirror versions of characters from Special Ops. To date only two stories have been posted. "The Mirror Cracked" deals with Special Ops lead character Scott Freeman joining the Terran rebellion. "Phoenix Rising" features mirror versions of the cast of the Intelligence Strike Team series attempting to capture mothballed Imperial starships. Seven further stories were planned, but this was recently reduced to three. The stories are based on events seen in the TV episodes and the Pocket Books volumes ' and '.

Technology

 * Agonizer
 * Agony booth
 * Multidimensional transporter device
 * Tantalus field
 * Tri-cobalt warhead

Starships

 * See also: mirror universe starships.


 * Defiant
 * USS
 * ISS
 * ISS
 * ISS Avenger (NX-09)
 * Regent's flagship
 * Terok Nor (mirror)

Related topics

 * Mirror universe cultures
 * Mirror universe people
 * Mirror universe starships