One of the most popular episodes of the original Star Trek series was “Mirror, Mirror” in which Kirk, McCoy, Scotty, and Uhura switch places with their counterparts from a parallel universe where the peaceful United Federation of Planets does not exist. Rather, the malevolent Terran Empire conquers and murders its way to dominance with Starfleet as little more than its ruthless enforcers.
Though Star Trek: The Next Generation never revisited this concept on screen (but did so in one or two novels), Star Trek: Deep Space Nine aired five episodes involving the parallel universe. In 2001, I thought it would be interesting to go back in time to the command of Captain Christopher Pike (played by Jeffrey Hunter in the first Star Trek pilot, “The Cage”) to see how he and his crew would fare against their doppelgängers.
“Star Trek: Chasing Reflections” – Part I
Phil Giunta
Chapter I – Impact
On the main screen, the cloud of debris and plasma billowing from the defeated Klingon warship provided a satisfying spectacle.
For Captain Christopher Pike of the ISS Enterprise, the negotiations were proceeding remarkably well.
“Damage report.”
“Shield strength at sixty one percent,” the helmsman reported.
“Engineering reports partial damage to the matter-antimatter routers,” added the ensign at communications. “Minor injuries on decks—”
“I didn’t ask for a casualty report,” Pike snapped, never diverting his gaze from the screen. “Forward that information to Sickbay, it’s their problem. Contact the landing party.”
With a tone of distinct belligerence, Ensign Kanaan complied. “Channel open, sir.”
Pike noted the other man’s attitude, though his expression betrayed nothing. “Enterprise to landing party.”
“Spock here, Captain.”
“Mr. Spock, gather your men and get back to the ship immediately. There will be a debriefing upon your return.”
“Acknowledged.”
Pike sat back in his chair at the center of the bridge and returned his attention to the pitiful vessel crushed by his hand. He smirked as the ship crossed into the boundary of a nearby ion storm and exploded, igniting thousands of charged ion particles and volatile gases that disintegrated its hull in seconds.
The red alert klaxons that screamed from the ship’s speakers at that moment served to deflate much of his bravado. Pike spun to face his first officer at the science station just as the entire ship began to vibrate. “Number One, Report!”
The woman stared at the data scrolling across her screen. “Sensors are picking up an energy force originating from the final coordinates of the Klingon battlecruiser.”
She looked up, urgency in her eyes. “Shockwave dead ahead, approaching at three quarter sublight. Ion particles off the scale!”
The bridge crew fell silent as a new spectacle, a horror in raging iridescence, formed before their eyes.
“Impact in fifteen seconds,” Number One warned.
“Shields!” Pike barked.
“They’re only at sixty percent,” Kanaan reminded him.
Slamming his fist on the arm of his command chair, Pike ordered full reverse.
Which is precisely what happened when the shockwave struck.
Chapter II – In Parallel
On the main screen, the chiseled, olive-skinned visage of the Klingon Commander leered menacingly. “Morex III will soon become territory of the Klingon Empire. You will withdraw your crew from the surface immediately.”
“I think you’ve been misinformed, Commander.” His gaze unwavering, Captain Christopher Pike of the USS Enterprise rose from his command chair and stepped closer to the screen. “This entire sector is still in dispute between the Federation and your Empire. Until such time as an agreement is reached, both parties are permitted peaceful exploration. In fact, that was a stipulation your government demanded.”
Pike had not even finished when his opponent was distracted by something out of visual range. After a moment, the Klingon returned to the matter at hand, albeit with noticeably less bluster.
“Yes, so it was,” he said simply. Clenching his bearded jaw, he leaned forward. “I trust you will keep that in mind for the duration of your… exploration. Perhaps it is best we leave such matters up to the politicians. As a warrior, I will not waste my time with it.”
With that, the image of the commander was gone, replaced by the tan and green sphere of Morex III and its moons.
Audible sighs of relief traveled around the bridge as Pike began pacing thoughtfully. That was too easy.
“Sensors detect transporter activity on the planet’s surface,” his first officer reported. “It seems the Klingons are recalling their landing party.”
Pike nodded his acknowledgment. “Let’s wait before doing the same, Number One. I want that battlecruiser well out of weapons range before we lower our shields.”
Seated at the science station, the commander frowned in concern as more ominous readings appeared on her monitor. “Captain, I’m picking up something else from the Klingon vessel. They’re experiencing what appears to be a significant plasma leak in their reactor core but there’s too much interference from the ion storm to be certain.”
“That would be a good reason why they didn’t force a confrontation,” Pike commented. “On screen.”
Returning to his command chair, he watched as the other ship turned and assumed a course that took it along the perimeter of the anomaly.
Number One became suddenly alarmed. “If they go to warp now, they might—”
And they did.
Her interrupted warning was finished graphically as the aft hull of the warship erupted, sending it careening wildly out of control and straight into the periphery of the ion storm. A chain of explosions swept through the length of the ship, igniting thousands of charged ion particles and volatile gases that disintegrated its hull in seconds.
Pike spun to face his first officer just as the bridge began to vibrate. “Report!” he shouted over the red alert klaxons.
The woman stared at the data scrolling across her screen. “Sensors are picking up an energy force originating from the final coordinates of the Klingon battlecruiser.”
She looked up, urgency in her eyes. “Shockwave dead ahead, approaching at three quarter sublight. Ion particles off the scale!”
Red alert klaxons screamed from the ship’s speakers as a new foe, a horror in raging iridescence, formed before their eyes.
“Impact in fifteen seconds,” Number One warned.
From the communications station behind him, Pike heard Ensign Kanaan issue a ship wide alert. His order to brace for impact became a painful irony as the captain was hurled from his center seat into the middle of chaos.
***
Minutes later, or perhaps days for all he knew, Pike awoke to the gentle pressure of cool metal against the side of his neck. It took a few blinks to realize that the ceiling above him was not that of the bridge but of Sickbay and the craggy, etched face staring down at him belonged to Dr. Phillip Boyce.
“The ship…” Pike groaned.
“Is in better shape than you,” the physician remarked, arms folded. “Both you and Tyler took a nasty hit up there, not to mention about half the personnel on board. I’m far too old for outer space acrobatics, thank you very much.”
Sitting up cautiously, Pike held up a hand in a gesture of mock surrender and to indicate his sympathy for the Chief Medical Officer’s predicament. “Wasn’t my idea, trust me.”
“Well, do you mind telling me what happened?”
“How’s Tyler?”
“Already back at his post. Now, what exactly—”
The whistle of the ship’s intercom brought Pike to his feet. “Bridge to Sickbay.”
Boyce sighed and pressed the button on the wall panel. “Sickbay here, Commander.”
“Doctor, is the captain able to speak?”
“Yes,” Boyce grumbled. “But he doesn’t seem capable of answering questions.”
“Doctor?”
Pike spoke up, peering indignantly at the elder man. “Never mind, Number One. What do you have?”
“A potential problem. That explosion has opened some sort of… rift inside the ion storm.”
“Can you elaborate?” Pike asked, trading a concerned glance with the doctor.
“That’s the most accurate term I can give you at this time. It could be anything from a developing wormhole to a tear in the very ‘fabric’ of space as we know it. Whatever it is, I’ve never seen sensor readings like these. Worse, if we stay at our current position another thirty minutes, we risk being pulled into the anomaly.
“On a more immediate note, we’ve lost contact with the landing party. Communications this close to the ion storm are next to impossible.”
With a deep breath, Pike considered the situation and saw little advantage in remaining in harm’s way. He ordered the Enterprise taken out of range of the disturbance until they could find a way to retrieve their stranded crew.
“I’m on my way back to the bridge. Pike out.”
Thanking the perturbed doctor, he dashed out of Sickbay toward the nearest turbolift. Only when he was alone did he close his eyes for a moment’s reprieve—which was rudely cut short as the red alert klaxon again echoed insolently through his aching head.
The doors had barely parted when Pike bolted out, forcing aside such minor discomforts. Instinctively, he looked first to the viewscreen.
The fact that they had apparently cleared the ion storm was merely his second observation, and one that became altogether insignificant relative to the sight of three Klingon battlecruisers surrounding them.
Chapter III – Convergence Beginning
Without warning, the emerald skies above Morex III distorted into a threatening mass of gray storm clouds while mild sporadic tremors unsettled its surface.
Outside the shuttlecraft Copernicus, Lieutenant Commander Spock stood stalwart against the raging wind, his Vulcan mind focused on his tricorder as if nothing else existed. Holding the instrument outstretched, he panned it across his field of vision twice before finally bringing it to a stop.
Curious.
Emerging from the hatch, a frustrated Chief Engineer Zundel shielded his eyes from the bits of sand and dust that scoured everything in its path. “Something’s aggravated that ion storm.”
“That much appears obvious,” the Vulcan replied.
“Still no response from the Enterprise. Dyle and Lampert just reported back as ordered. I recommend we take shelter in the Copernicus until either this subsides or we get the word to clear out of here.”
Saying nothing, Spock merely continued his scan. Zundel glanced at the tricorder. “What have you found?”
“Lifesigns, Commander. Bearing approximately two hundred and three kilometers due east. However, readings are fluctuating due to the storm’s interference.”
“Klingons?” the engineer asked.
“Negative. Human and Vulcan.”
Zundel paused. “Mister Spock, that’s us! You’re obviously picking up reflections, ghost images. An ion disturbance this intense will scramble the hell out of sensors.”
“Perhaps.” Spock knew the engineer’s point was valid, yet the readings did not totally concur. Nonetheless, he resolved to close his tricorder.
“I’ll see you in the shuttle.” Shaking his head, the chief engineer made his way to safer territory.
With one last visual scrutiny of the hills around them, Spock observed a small, white object climbing toward the mottled atmosphere approximately two hundred and three kilometers due east.
Chapter IV – At The Edge
Lying on the floor beside his command chair, Pike was roused to consciousness by the sole of a boot pressed against his throat.
“Wake up, Captain. It doesn’t do to have our fearless leader asleep on the job.”
With a gasp, his eyes snapped open to find Ensign Kanaan standing over him, phaser set to kill. Blood trickled from a gash on the younger man’s forehead, carving streams of bright red down his face and adding a touch of the deranged to his arrogant grin.
Apparently satisfied, the communications officer stepped back to allow Pike a cursory inspection of his surroundings. Immediately to his right, the lifeless form of Lieutenant Carson Dyle lie slumped over the helm console. Behind Kanaan, two security guards flanked the turbolift doors, their own phasers trained on the scene playing out at the center of the bridge. Uncertain of their loyalties, the captain instantly wrote them off.
“There’s no one here to help you,” the ensign boasted. “And the bridge is sealed off.”
The captain assumed as much. Strategically he was outnumbered, unless…
“Number One,” he called out.
“Here, Captain.” Disheveled but otherwise uninjured, the first officer was seated at the science station, also a hostage to one of Kanaan’s operatives.
It struck him then that someone was missing, but before he could consider the matter further, Kanaan waved his phaser in an upward motion, gesturing for Pike to rise.
“You had to know this day would come. For someone in your position, it was inevitable.”
“And you think you’re capable of commanding this ship?” Pike taunted as he drew himself up to his full height. “My people would eat you alive.”
Backing away with a smirk, Kanaan shook his head. “Not me, Captain.”
Over Pike’s shoulder, Number One uttered a cry of warning. He turned barely in time as the command chair spun and its knife-wielding occupant lunged toward him. With well-honed reflexes, he grasped his assailant’s wrist with one hand while wrapping the other around the throat of the ship’s navigator, José Tyler.
“Should have known,” Pike said through clenched teeth. Twisting his leg behind Tyler’s, he knocked the other man off balance, throwing him to the floor.
The shrill beam of phaser fire scorched the air above their heads. Somewhere across the bridge, a security guard vanished in a pallid blue glow.
From behind, two arms hooked themselves around Pike’s, restraining him while an enraged Tyler picked himself up and resumed his attack. Raising his dagger in a white knuckled grip, he rushed at his prey once more.
A flash of movement between the two combatants briefly obstructed the captain’s view and changed his opponent’s expression to one of shock. A body crashed into Pike, its long dark hair caressing his face before it slid to the floor and remained still.
Stunned silence fell over them as all attention shifted to the expanding stain of blood on the first officer’s tunic and the knife handle that protruded from her chest. The raw fury in Pike’s eyes was the last image Tyler saw before he, too, perished in the path of a phaser beam. The last remaining security guard then leveled his weapon at Kanaan, awaiting an opportunity that never came. With a savage roar, Pike broke free of his captor and in one swift motion, slammed the dazed ensign headfirst into his own console.
“Unseal the bridge and get me the transporter room!” he ordered, trembling as he fought to control his wrath.
The guard nodded sharply before moving to the tactical station. For a fleeting moment, Pike was unsure if respect or fear shown in the man’s eyes. He did not care as he knelt down and cradled his dying lover.
“Emergency transport direct to Sickbay. Now!”
***
Nearly half an hour passed as Pike waited impatiently in the office of Dr. Boyce, the ship’s senior physician. Earlier, after Number One had been taken into the care of the doctor and his staff, he placed Transporter Chief Pitcairn in temporary command and demanded a full status report within the hour.
Finally, the doors parted and Boyce entered, his typically drawn, stubbled countenance darkened by obvious worry.
“I can’t save her—”
Before he could say anything more, Pike grabbed the elder man by the collar and shoved him against the nearest bulkhead. “I didn’t hear that.”
Wincing in pain, Boyce swallowed hard. “The only way she might survive is through a heart transplant, but I’m not equipped for that kind of procedure. We’d have to get her to the superior medical facilities of an outpost where they have organ banks.”
Pike scowled, but remained silent permitting the doctor to continue.
“I can keep her alive for a short time.”
“How long?”
Boyce hesitated. “Maybe three days.”
“Maybe?!” Pike tightened his grip as the doctor began to squirm.
“Our life support systems were damaged when the shockwave struck,” Boyce explained pleadingly. “We’re doing the best we can.”
“What about the other casualties?” the captain pressed. “Why can’t you harvest organs from one of them? You’ve done it before, butcher.”
Regaining what little composure he could muster, Boyce answered slowly. “The only other fatalities were on decks six through eight and in Engineering. Those on the upper levels were lost when the hull was breached and Engineering is sealed off until the excess radiation can be vented into space. Of course, being trapped on the bridge, you couldn’t have known any of this.
“Simply put, we have no ‘donors’. Unless you’d care to sacrifice Mr. Kanaan.”
“I wouldn’t violate her with his filth.”
Pike released the doctor as the whistle of the intercom interrupted. Boyce slumped in relief, trying to steady his shaking hands by smoothing his grimy, blood stained overcoat.
The captain slammed the button on the wall panel. “Speak.”
“Pitcairn here, sir. Ensign Kanaan has been taken to the booth. How long should we keep him in there?”
“Consider it his new quarters,” Pike growled.
The agony booths were a standard method of punishment for disobedience and other crimes aboard Imperial starships. The intensity of the pain induced in its occupant could be adjusted based upon the severity of the violation. In this instance, Pike ordered the maximum.
“What about the ship?”
“Warp engines are offline.” Pitcairn replied. “Chief Engineer Zundel estimates another four hours until radiation levels are within safety limits. Once he can get back into Engineering, he’ll be able to assess the damage.
“We have a larger problem, though. There’s some kind of gravitational anomaly forming in the middle of the ion storm. We think it was somehow caused by the explosion of the Klingon ship. It’s wreaking havoc with sensors and communication. We’ve lost contact with Commander Spock and the Genghis.”
Pike exhaled in disgust at the seemingly unending string of disasters. He ordered the Enterprise taken out of range of the anomaly until they could affect repairs.
From Boyce’s office, the two men listened as Pitcairn relayed his orders to the helm. Suddenly, the entire vessel lurched to starboard.
“We can’t turn around,” the transporter chief reported. “Impulse engines ineffective. We’re being pulled in. Repeat, we are being pulled in!”