Hell's Mirror is a one-shot comic, published by IDW Publishing in 2020. The comic was written by J.M. DeMatteis, with art by Matthew Dow Smith. The story sees a tale of the mirror universe's Khan Noonien Singh.
Description
- Legendary writer J.M. DeMatteis returns to Star Trek for the first time in nearly 40 years! And it’ll be well worth the wait, as he tackles two of the franchise’s most popular concepts: Khan Noonien Singh and the mirror universe!
Summary
Centuries ago, the mirror universe's Khan Noonien Singh could have saved the world. He could made Earth a paradise only for the Terrans to rise up against him and his fellow Augments. After more than two centuries adrift, the crew of the SS Botany Bay, awoken by a desperate group of rebels, to find the Terran Empire conquering the galaxy, repressing art and culture in favor of brutal savagery. And so did Khan take it upon himself to rally the Terran Rebellion around him, intending to resurrect this sick universe with the Satori Project.
Walking the halls of his base, Khan is joined by his second, the defected mirror Spock, to the bridge of their spaceship, engaged in a duel with the ISS Enterprise, here to collect the abducted Doctor Richard Daystrom. After weapons fire proves ineffective, Kirk contacts the rebels and offers himself for negotiations, vaporizing his bridge crew as proof of his good intentions. Just as a security team enters, Kirk is beamed aboard and given the political asylum he had requested. To further prove his allegiance, Kirk remotely detonates every photon torpedo aboard the Enterprise, destroying it, and asking to be taken to Khan.
Brought to his opposite, Khan asks why Kirk would defect. The tense atmosphere quickly devolves into combat, both physical and philosophical, with Kirk opining that Khan is but a tyrant who seeks to eliminate the competition. After knocking Kirk down, Khan insists that he wants to build a galactic Federation before subjecting him to the only known method of confirming a man's true intentions, the Vulcan mind meld.
Pushing past Kirk's legendary defences, Spock reads the past of his former captain. Born to simple farmers, Kirk was brought up to know peace and fed a diet of forbidden literature before the sedition was discovered by the Imperial forces. As the farmhouse burnt, Kirk was dragged to a reconditioning camp to become a loyal servant of the Terran Empire.
Finding Kirk to be but one of many souls who was warped by the Empire's cruelty, Khan is quick to reach out the man, showing him a collection of books similar to his parents and finally acknowledges Khan as his master and savior.
As Kirk and Khan debate whether a revolution must come from within or without, the former asks again to see Satori before the latter sends him to the bridge. Having seen the whole exchange, Spock emerges from the shadows. Though he does not trust Kirk, the Vulcan notes that Khan trusts them both and yet refuses to tell them what Satori is.
Heeding his second's words, Khan takes the two to the depths of Ceti Alpha V to the cavern where Satori lies. Following, Kirk and Spock find, not a weapon, but a massive library filled to the brim with forbidden literature, amassed by Khan and all those like him and Kirk's parents. Soon, the drones will have finished digitizing all the tomes and the Satori project will be beamed out across the galaxy, a perfect virus that will bring the Empire crumbling down.
Kirk cannot stop himself from breaking down in laughter. The unwashed masses will never see it that way. They live in fear every day. Without even breaking his stride, Kirk orders the orbiting warships to commence an orbital bombardment while sending down forces to eliminate Khan's rebels. As Khan lunges at Kirk, Spock, another spy, quite literally stabs him in the back, revealing that Kirk's "memories" were nothing more than a fabrication.
As he falls, Khan insists that Kirk believed in his cause but the captain scoffs. Reciting Khan's own words back at him, Kirk insists that if one were to peel away the Augment's own self-delusion, they would find nothing but a petty tyrant. As the Terrans beam out and his life's work collapses around him, Khan lies dying, wondering if Kirk was right about him but still clinging to hope that he made a difference and that things will one day get better.
On their new ship, Spock enters Kirk's quarters and questions the memories he saw. Memories that the Vulcan knows were real. Stubbornly dismissing the idea, Kirk orders Spock out.
Now alone, Kirk reaches behind his computer, pulling out a hidden copy of The Once and Future King.
References
Characters
- Khan Noonien Singh (mirror) • Spock (mirror) • James T. Kirk (mirror) • Hikaru Sulu (mirror) • Pavel Chekov (mirror) • Janice Rand (mirror) • George Kirk (mirror) • Winona Kirk (mirror)
- Referenced only
- Emperor of the Terran Empire • Richard Daystrom (mirror) • Montgomery Scott (mirror) • Socrates (mirror) • Surak (mirror) • Guru Nanak (mirror) • Charles Dickens (mirror) • Fyodor Dostoyevsky (mirror) • Ray Bradbury (mirror) • Flint (mirror) • John Milton (mirror)
Starships and vehicles
- Referenced only
- USS Defiant
Locations
- Referenced only
- K7 prison station • reconditioning camp
Races and cultures
- Referenced only
- Sikh
States and organizations
Other references
- phaser • universe • The Satori Project • shield • commander • captain • political asylum • photon torpedo • Vulcan mind techniques • The Once and Future King • Library
Appendices
Images
.jpg "Khan (mirror).jpg (363 KB)")
Connections
Timeline
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Memory Beta Chronology | Next adventure: ' |
| The above chronology placements are based on the primary placement in 2272. The Memory Beta Chronology places events from this story in 2 other timeframe(s): | ||
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External link
- Hell's Mirror article at Memory Alpha, the wiki for canon Star Trek.