James T. Kirk (mirror)

In the mirror universe, James T. Kirk was a Terran officer in the Imperial Starfleet who commanded the ISS Enterprise in the 2260s. In 2267, Kirk became one of the first to crossover into the primary universe, an event which would serve as a crossroads for the future history of the mirror universe.

Early life
James T. Kirk was born in a farmhouse in Riverside, Iowa on Earth in 2233. He had an elder brother George Samuel Kirk, Jr., whom he referred to as "Sam" and who later pursued a career as a scientist. As Sam had no interest in a military career and James had no interest in science unless he could manipulate it to make his life easier, neither brother had to worry about the other getting in the way of his career and having to be eliminated. The early years of his life follow pretty much the same as that of his primary universe counterpart, including the move to the colony on Tarsus IV in 2246. The mirror Tarsus IV also suffered a mass famine caused by the virogen plague and Kodos also ordered the execution of 4,000 colonists. However, in this universe, 13-year-old James T. Kirk led a small gang of children to seize the food warehouses and executed Kodos.

Road to command
The early Starfleet career of this Kirk likewise followed a similar course to that of his counterpart in the primary universe. However, in this universe, Kirk was assigned as first officer aboard the ISS Enterprise in 2264, under the direct command of Captain Christopher Pike.

Kirk remained as first officer under Pike until 2266, when he seized upon the opportunity to kill him. While out patrolling at the edge of the Empire, the ship encountered the First Federation vessel Fesarius, commanded by Commander Balok. Pike wanted to claim the vast Fesarius for himself and sent Kirk and a landing party over to acquire the vessel. They were greeted by Balok, but Kirk simply killed him and raided his laboratory for any useful technology. One piece of technology he came across was the Tantalus field, which Kirk was able to use to assassinate Pike and assume command of the Enterprise.

Captain of the Enterprise
Captain Kirk's command of the Enterprise was virtually unchallenged and he appointed science officer Spock, a man he perceived to be no threat, as his new first officer. Kirk's first action as captain of the Enterprise was to suppress the Gorlan uprising by completely destroying the planet Gorla. This was shortly followed by the execution of 5,000 colonists on Vega IX after they threatened to secede from the Terran Empire.

During a visit to the planet Exo III, Kirk destroyed the last surviving member of a society of androids which had turned on their masters and killed them.

In 2267, when his chief engineer Montgomery Scott was accused of the brutal murders of three women on Argelius II, he ensured that the charges against him were dropped without an investigation taking place.


 * As in the primary universe, the murders were presumably committed by Redjac while in control of Scott's body.

However, Kirk also had a personal security squad as bodyguards, led by Farrell. His woman in the late 2260s was Marlena Moreau, a lieutenant assigned to the sciences division (and also a skilled assassin).

Later in 2267, he visited the planet Halka. The Empire had noted the Halkan homeworld's vast dilithium reserves and threatened to destroy the Halkans if they did not comply. When Kirk's landing party attempted to beam up from the Halkan homeworld, an ion storm crossed him with his parallel from this universe, beaming him right inside his duplicate's clothes in a one-in-a-million transference, which read to Winston Kyle's board as a "wobble" in the power beam of the transporter.

He found himself aboard the USS Enterprise in a different world than the one that he knew. Upon his counterpart's return to the primary universe, Spock noted it was more difficult for the barbaric mirror universe landing party to behave civilized than it was for the civilized crew to feign barbarity on the other side. After being imprisoned by Spock, he offered him fantastic bribes to get his command back. Spock proceeded to place the captives on the transporter, to wait for when the crew from his landing party reciprocated the action, and beamed themselves back into the places of the duplicates.

After the landing parties returned to their respective universes, the Spock of the primary universe told his Captain Kirk and Doctor Leonard McCoy that he found their counterparts to be "brutal, unprincipled, uncivilized, treacherous; in every way splendid examples of Homo sapiens, the very flower of Humanity."

During the second known crossover in 2370, Intendant Kira told her counterpart Major Kira Nerys that Kirk's situation changed radically upon his return. The Spock from his own universe had relieved him of command and gained Kirk's Tantalus secret and the loyalty of his woman. Kirk's counterpart had strongly encouraged them to attempt to overthrow and change the Empire's negative effects on the galaxy.

Upon relaying this information to Dr. Julian Bashir from the primary universe, he noted that the events leading to Kirk's overthrow was something he read at Starfleet Academy.

Star Trek: Mirror Universe
Upon Kirk's return to his own universe, Spock attempted to reason with Kirk to spare the Halkans for their refusal to trade with the Empire. He made the logical argument that annihilating the Halkan civilization would hinder the Empire's mining of the planet, only to be ignored by a vengeful Kirk. Spurred by the words of the parallel Kirk and what he'd seen in his mind meld with the parallel McCoy, Spock strangled Kirk to death in his own quarters and assumed command of the Enterprise. Kirk's corpse was disposed of with the Tantalus Field and his confederates (including Security Chief Sulu) were eliminated.

Legacy
The Terran Empire named the capital city of Cestus III after Kirk, although the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance would change the city's name from Kirk City to Gorkon City after the fall of the Terran Republic.

By the 24th century, Kirk was an important historical figure, especially to Terrans, although opinions concerning him were mixed. Noonien Soong considered him an example of a military officer who deprived Terran science of valuable discoveries. However, Jean-Luc Picard held Kirk in high esteem, and in fact wondered if things would have gone better for the Terran race had Spock been assassinated instead of Kirk. Picard also wondered if Kirk's actions on Exo III might not have prevented Terrans from being conquered by androids, rather than the Alliance.

Mirror Universe Trilogy
In one alternate reality, Kirk became Starfleet's commander-in-chief within five years of the transporter accident, and five years later became Emperor Tiberius by assassinating Androvar Drake. He only reigned for a few months before being overthrown by Spock, but in that short time he became the most depraved dictator in the Terran Empire's history. He instigated a number of purges, killing many of his former officers, including Marlena Moreau. After his ousting he went to the Klingons and Cardassians and talked them into helping him reclaim the Empire. As a result humans and Vulcans became enslaved by the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance. In the tradition of Commander Jonathan Archer, plagued and growing obsessed with his counterpart, Tiberius increasingly despised his own over the years, eventually calling him and all that dwell in the other universe "ghosts".

Three
In another alternate timeline of the mirror universe Kirk died fighting the Klingons in the Mutara sector.