Intentions (A Star Trek Mirror Universe Tale)

The thing about Vulcan logic is that it’s as true here as anywhere. We don’t believe in time travel, but we always knew there were alternate realities. Logic dictates eliminating all possible outcomes until you have reached the most rational one, but by that we understand that there were always other ways things could have turned out.

For instance, we hesitated to visit Earth for so long not merely because humans were considered too primitive, but because we couldn’t be certain that the result would be favorable to us. It was as likely that we would find them amenable as truculent. Our scans showed, in the years before first contact, that they had engaged in a massive world war that devastated the entire population.

The best possible outcome had humans putting that aside when they had definitive proof they weren’t alone in the universe. But that’s not what happened.

We were greeted with death. The entire crew of the research vessel that touched down on Earth was slaughtered. As far as we could tell, humans spent the next few decades deconstructing our ship, learning all its secrets, and before we had decided on a response, they were at our doorstep, and we were made subjects of their empire.

In time things changed, but again, it was not for the better. On Vulcan we determined the most likely cause for the revolt my brother attempted from within the empire was due to interference from an alternate reality. When you eliminate the possibilities, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the solution. We smuggled records back to Vulcan, during the brief period where it seemed peace was possible, and confirmed it for ourselves.

Then the Klingons formed an alliance with the Cardassians, and we learned that things had been better than they had seemed. Far from ideal, but at least then we were still masters of our own destinies, or at least we could tell ourselves.

I endured this longer than my brother. He quickly became a martyr, butchered by a Klingon named Chang, a conspiracy that involved humans and Romulans, after the loss of Praxus caused a potential catastrophe for the Alliance. The humans gained nothing, and the Romulans less. No one heard from them for decades. No one knew if they in fact had been exterminated. Logic would dictate the need to eliminate such a dangerous threat. No doubt the Breen would have been used to accomplish it, as they’re often used for such dirty work.

What no one expected was a different kind of alliance to form, between a Trill named Curzon and three Klingons, Kor, Kang, and Koloth. They found common ground in the pursuit of a lunatic known as the Albino, the left hand of Duras, who had gone rogue with delusions of power. He sought to betray Duras, then Regent of the Alliance, until his throne was claimed by Worf, Son of Mogh. When they were forced back into the shadows, they found an unlikely ally in a human named Sisko, who had cozied up with the Bajorans, the administrators under the Cardassians. Sisko and Curzon became fast friends. I gave them what supplies Vulcan could afford, as little as my countrymen trusted me, still bothered by my religious beliefs, which were what had brought me to Bajor, where I had heard of the Prophets, though Bajoran belief itself had stagnated over the years. That was how I entered their circle.

It was also how I exited. I became caught up in the machinations of life aboard the space station Terok Nor. A Bajoran, the Intendant Kira, hatched a plan to steal orbs from the alternate universe that had so complicated ours. She didn’t know anymore about them than I did. By then Sisko was dead, Kang and Koloth were dead, Curzon was dead, and Kor no longer trusted me, but did not possess the bloodlust to betray me. He was old. So was I but I had always been fueled by a fire within. I was fueled by pain, and I was very cunning. I found a Cardassian named Dukat, who had been exiled after it became known that he had fathered a child with a human, a woman named Yar, but he had never stopped believing he would one day find power again. He was not above any method to help him reclaim it. We intended to double-cross the Intendant.

But when his daughter died after Intendant Kira had failed to claim her orb and looked for someone to blame, something snapped in Dukat. My knack for self-preservation saw me through again, but then the Alliance fell after one too many attempts to steal the secrets of the alternate universe.

I had remained aboard Terok Nor. I remembered the orbs. Logic dictated that they must exist here as well. I would not rest until I found them. My search for them, however, was sidetracked by further tumult.

As it turned out, the Romulans had survived, but not for long. Their planet had become unstable, and they didn’t have time to evacuate. Outraged, the new federation of planets that had emerged set about to find a scapegoat. They found one in a human named Picard, who had previously been championed as a savior when he had led the fight against mysterious cybernetic invaders. I knew this man would make a powerful new ally. I offered my services to him when he went in search of an old friend, an android named Data, who had been presumed lost in some previous adventure (I don’t know the details as yet). It was then Picard introduced me to his friend Guinan.

It is through her that I have found true peace, for the first time in my life. My brother had once told me that logic was only the beginning of wisdom. I don’t know if he understood it himself, then, but, after all these years, I think I do. At last my mind has quieted. It wasn’t the turmoil of the universe that had plagued me, but my own.