Star Trek: Mirror Universe
Star Trek Mirror Universe is a series of books in the Star Trek Novel Verse, filling in the gaps between the episodes taking place in the Mirror Universe (as shown in the various TV series). There were three anthologies:
- Glass Empires -
- Age of the Empress: The rise of Empress Sato to power.
- The Sorrows of Empire: Mirror Spock's rising through the ranks to admiral, coup to become emperor and purposely weakening the Terran Empire so that the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance would conquer them - and be destroyed from the inside.
- The Worst of Both Worlds: The story of Luc Picard, slave to Gul Macet, captain of a small ship called the Stargazer, as he liberates himself from the Alliance while at the same time defending it from the Borg.
- Obsidian Alliances -
- The Mirror Scaled Serpent: The Mirror Universe version of the crew of Voyager and their exploits to take down Intendent B'Elanna.
- Cutting Ties: The Mirror Universe version of the Star Trek: New Frontier crew as they free themselves from the Romulan Empire.
- Saturn's Children: "Smiley" O'Brien, from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, has to deal with unrest in the Terran Rebellion, while at the same time, former Intendent Kira uses her wits to regain her position while dealing with political enemies.
- Shards and Shadows -
- Nobunga (Trip Tucker)
- Ill Winds (Commodore Robert April and his wife Sarah)
- The Greater Good (How Mirror Kirk seized control of the Enterprise)
- The Black Flag (Mirror versions of the Vanguard Station crew)
- The Traitor (Gilaad Ben Zoma leads a resistance cell)
- The Sacred Chalice (Deanna Troi, the daughter of harem owner Lwaxanna Troi, on the ruins of Betazed)
- Bitter Fruit (Kes as a member of Memory Omega)
- Family Matters (Mirror versions of the IKS Gorkon crew)
- Homecoming (Mirror Excalibur returns to Romulus)
- A Terrible Beauty (How Mirror Keiko joined the resistance)
- Empathy (Mirror versions of the Titan crew on Irrol)
- For Want of a Nail (Miror K'Ehleyr and Barclay as resistance commandos)
The Star Trek Deep Space Nine Relaunch novels Fearful Symmetry and The Soul Key are crossovers with the Mirror Universe series.
Finally, we have the concluding novel, Rise Like Lions: The fall of Terok Nor, the destruction of the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance, the secession of Bajor, and the establishment of a new government body, the Galactic Commonwealth.
Tropes used in Star Trek: Mirror Universe include:
- Adventurer Archaeologist: Mirror Universe Picard is one, though not an independent one as he wants to be.
- The Alliance: The Galactic Commonwealth.
- Also the Taurus Pact, this universe's version of the Typhon Pact.
- The Atoner: Damar, after wiping out pretty much every Vulcan in the Cardassian realm. When it became clear their telepathy was behind the anarchy gripping Cardassia, he ordered the genocide, and it shattered his sense of worth. He seeks solace in the Oralian Way.
- The Butcher: The Tellarite Gral (in the Prime Universe a diplomat) is known to the Terran Empire as "The Butcher of Berengaria".
- Continuity Snarl: The fate of the Constitution-class Defiant follows from that depicted in Star Trek: Enterprise, which was different from what was established in the Starfleet Corps of Engineers stories. Reconciling the accounts is not unworkable, but might require some thought. Then again, if the interspace in which the ship was lost connects two universes it could connect more, so the two Defiant fates aren't necessarily an issue either way.
- Dark Magical Girl: Kes ends up as this.
- Darker and Edgier: Much more so than even the bleakest installments in the Prime Universe.
- Defector From Decadence: Mirror Seska is a member of the Terran Rebellion and feverent in her disaproval of the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance. She believes the Cardassians should rule the quadrant, but they shouldn't have allied with the Klingons to do it.
- Divided We Fall: When O'Brien's Terran Rebellion and Calhoun's Xenexian-Romulan forces come together, the two leaders spend more time posturing and insulting one another than they do co-operating. This leads Memory Omega to impose itself on them as, essentially, their joint leader.
- Dying Alone: In The Sorrows of Empire, Mirror Spock and his wife, Marlena, have a conversation in which he promises her that they'll be together when they die, but notes that in the end, everyone is alone when they die.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: Rise Like Lions, full stop. So, billions of people on all sides are dead, combatants and civilians alike. Yet now, the galaxy appears to have entered an unprecedented era of peace... unless the Dominion finds the wormhole or the Borg return...
- Enemy Civil War: A large part of both Memory Omega's and the Terran Rebellion’s plan depends on driving a wedge between the two great powers of the Alliance. Cardassia and the Klingons indeed end up fighting each other.
- Face Heel Turn: Kes.
- Foreshadowing: The fate of Vanguard Station in The Black Flag is pretty similar to that suffered by the prime universe Vanguard, several (real world) years later.
- Good Old Ways: The Oralian Way on Cardassia, just like in the Prime Universe.
- Half-Human Hybrid: Empress Sato tries to have an offspring with Shran. Given the very different genetic structures of the parents, the baby is artificially engineered and it's not even certain if the experiment ultimately succeeds.
- Hope Springs Eternal: The ending of The Sorrows of Empire is both one of the bleakest and simultaneously most uplifting there is.
- In Harmony with Nature: One of the stories in Shards and Shadows is set on Lru-Irr, the planet of the Irriol race introduced in Star Trek: Titan. The entire biosphere, Irriol included, is telepathically interconnected to the point where prey will lay down and be eaten if the ecological balance requires it.
- Last of His Kind: The Dax Symbiont, following the genocide of the other symbionts on Trill.
- Mirror Universe: Duh.
- Necessarily Evil: The actions Spock takes to ensure that the the spirit of the Terran Republic and freedom lives on are quite ruthless, and he knows it. He even calls himself a villain.
- Revenge Before Reason: Dukat, when asked by Damar what Cardassia has to gain from conquering Bajor in the wake of its secession from the Alliance, answers “Revenge!” He also throws his glass at the wall – hey, it’s the mirror universe, it’s supposed to be over-the-top.
- Running Gag: The Mirror Universe episodes of Deep Space Nine had a running gag concerning Ferengi characters being killed off. The joke climaxes in Rise Like Lions with the destruction of Ferenginar itself.
- Sequel Hook: The Dominion finds the wormhole opening in the Gamma Quadrant.
- Star-Killing: Trilithium warheads. One is used to destroy the Ferenginar system.
- Vestigial Empire: It seems the Romulan Star Empire splinters and collapses no matter which universe we’re in; the mainstream Star Trek Novel Verse, Star Trek Online, and now here. After the destruction of Romulus occurs early thanks to a thalaron weapon, the colonies are left to be conquered by Klingons or join Calhoun’s resistance.
