Brief note: In my idea of the Mirror Universe it diverged from the main Star Trek universe sometime in the 20th century* (that's what the Star Trek Wiki says). I feel like due to the corruption and incompetence of the Imperial government a lot of the technology we see in Star Trek is only available to the very rich. Most of Earth is economically depressed in addition to being technologically and culturally stagnant. So this universe looks is basically an unpleasant combination of Ancient Rome, The Wild West, any fascist state, and the future.
*One fan theory that I like is that the Mirror Universe was created by the events in the episode "The City on the Edge of Forever" when McCoy goes back and changes history
I don't own anyone or anything and I hope you enjoy!
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George Kirk sits and listens to the admiral give his speech. He has of course heard of Starfleet, who hasn't? But the organization is so shrouded in myth and exaggeration it seems surreal to be seated here at a recruitment center. The speech is nothing he hasn't heard before. All about the glory of the Terran Empire and how all its greatness comes from Starfleet. He talks about how they bring stability to planets that have never known peace and the benefits of Earth's civilization to primitive uneducated peoples. He supposes that this is true, to some extent. Or that he should be more moved by it. It should be why he wants to go into space, but it isn't. It is because, even though he has been taught all his life that there is no planet that can match earth he has always felt that this can't be true; that out there, among the stars, there must be something better than this.
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Winona didn't need to be recruited. For her it was either Starfleet or be trapped in her dead end hometown with some looser and a pack of bratty kids. She has an aunt in the fleet, a science officer. She would come to family events with exotic presents and stories of pointy-eared Vulcans and ferocious Gorn. When Winona is sixteen and tells her parents that she wants to follow her into the fleet, she expects them to be proud but they aren't. Her father yells at her, calls her naïve, says she's stupid or insane.
"No daughter of mine is going to sell her soul to the devil!"
"Harry!" pleads her mom "What your father meant to say…"
"This is your sister's fault! She should be ashamed, recruiting her own niece, and shame on you Winona for buying her bullshit!"
Her mother tries to explain in a way that Winona might have listened to if she wasn't already holding back angry tears.
"Honey, though Starfleet does many good things and there are a lot of noble people in the service…once you join you've signed your life over. They can send you anywhere, make you do anything…and…its dangerous, very dangerous. Its not just the Empire's enemies that you have to worry about…you know how people move up in rank don't you?"
Winona doesn't. She doesn't know about agony booths either. There are rumors of course, but they haven't reached her. So all she does is scream
"So what do you want me to do? Get pregnant like all the other girls I know in the hopes of persuading their deadbeat boyfriends to marry them? End up with some looser like you did? Spend the rest of my life in this god awful little town working some shitty job until I get bored to death? That won't be me, I want more out of life…and you know what I deserve more! I'm smart and I'm strong…" No one has ever told her this so she feels very strange saying it, but she knows its true. She is pretty too with long gold hair and big blue eyes. But though she may look like a doe eyed ingénue or a princess in a fairy tale she's tough too, you can tell by the set of her jaw and the determination in her eyes. "I deserve the chance to achieve my full potential!" She quotes directly out of the pamphlet she's memorized.
She runs upstairs and grabs her things, they've been ready for a couple of days now. She kisses her little sister goodbye and promises that she'll write, and she storms out of the house slamming the door behind her. In the dark at the bus stop she allows herself to cry. She sleeps there, waking up and drifting off again. When the morning comes so does the bus that takes her to Des Moines and the recruitment center.
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Christopher Pike knocks on the door of his mom's place. It's opened by one of the girls, Mandy he's pretty sure her name is. She immediately yells for Rachel Pike who comes down furious.
"This had better be important girl. In case you hadn't noticed I'm with a customer." But she forgets her anger when she sees her son
"My gods Chris, what happened?"
"Bar fight" he mumbles. He doesn't want her to ask any questions, doesn't want her know it was about her.
"Mandy dear would you mind taking the client in my room now. You're younger and prettier than me so I'm sure he'll be happy with the substitution" Christopher smirks at the way his mother insists on saying "customer" or "client" rather than "john" or "trick". But he supposed that it couldn't hurt to make her place sound more respectable. She did entertain a high class of patrons for a one-horse town like this.
"I'm fine mom, really. I just need a place to sleep it off. Dad's been on my case about this"
"What? Wants you to be a nice quiet respectable drunk like himself? Are you even legal drinking age?"
"I'm not a drunk. I just fight. Besides what drinking age?"
"I don't know it but I know its not fifteen. Though I hate to be in agreement with your father on anything he does have a point. It seems as though you're always fighting these days."
"Those cocksuckers who work for Colburn started it" 'They said you weren't worth the money they paid for you' He thinks
Rachel made an exaggerated gesture of irritation and went into the kitchen. Christopher follows her and leans his long muscular frame against the doorway as she got a washcloth and basin.
"You don't happen to have a raw steak…"
"If I did I wouldn't use it on your damn face." There was no softness in her voice but she is gentle when begins cleaning his face, almost maternal.
Chris doesn't blame her for leaving. She never liked the ranch in the first place and once his father had taken to drink he had gotten exceedingly difficult to live with. He did resent her profession though, ever since he'd reached the age to know what she did and boys his own age had started getting to know the facts of life as well their comments had become intolerable. He knew she didn't have a lot of options and that all things considered she'd done well for herself. Once she'd left taking her talents for organization and bookkeeping with her the already struggling ranch had become impossible to keep up. Once Chris was old enough he'd tried everything but now they were deep in debt and under pressure to sell.
"What set if off this time?"
"Nothing! They just give me shit because they can. I hate it!" he almost yelled saying what had been on his mind "Colburn's friends with all these Imperial high ups, so he's above the law…"
"The law is the will of the Emperor son, always has been always will be"
"Well I'm sick of it"
"Then sell out to Colburn…" she growls at him
"You'd like me to do that wouldn't you? What his boys come in here and brag to you about how soon they'll be running your old man's place once they've got your son good and licked?"
"I don't know why you and your good for nothing father care about that worthless scrap of land, but I won't see you ruined by your own damn stubbornness. Take the money and leave."
"Who'll take care of dad?"
"You don't owe him anything. What's he ever given you besides his name, and it ain't a good one. You're a bright boy…and I'm not just saying that 'cause I'm your mother…you could make something of yourself." She finishes wiping the blood off his face.
"I won't lose to them"
"You already did kid." She said with a mix of tenderness and vexation "You did by trying to keep that shitty ranch, by dropping out of school, by getting yourself a reputation by fighting. You already lost by being born Christopher Pike"
"Well what if I want to win for once?"
"You sure as hell can't do it here"
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A young woman stands on the balcony looking out at the dusky arid spikes of saffron and orange rock. Behind her the guests are making the closest thing Vulcans have to small talk. The governor is here and both species are doing all they can to get him alone for a quiet word or two, even though this is rather illogical.
"I took the liberty of procuring you a drink Miss Barrett." She turns around to see Spock who holds two Plomeek teas, one for her and one for himself.
"Thank you" she says inclining her head slightly. They drink in silence for a moment and she notices that Spock doesn't look like he's enjoying himself
"Is there something wrong with the tea Mr. Spock?"
"No no, I would never insult your parents hospitality" she knows that she has hit on it…well part of it. She reads Vulcans well. Sometimes she thinks she understands them better than she does her own race.
"But…"
"I suppose I simply cannot accustom myself to the Terran way of serving Plomeek tea with ice." He admits
"Why don't I go get you some that's hot then?"
Spock barely shakes his head
"I would not trouble you in such a manner."
Out of the corner of her eye she sees Eric, who looks at Spock with suspicion. Eric is the son of a senator and they have an understanding. By understanding she means that it is understood that they are supposed to be engaged.
"I'm sorry about the tea Mr. Spock. We humans always think it is so hot on your planet that we prefer our drinks cold" What are they doing? Neither of them is comfortable chatting like this but they can't seem to stop. It irritates her because she really likes Spock. Normally they can talk about anything, they once stayed up all night discussing new breakthroughs in physics. But recently something had changed. It seemed as though there was something he wanted to say but couldn't so they were always avoiding some amorphous dreaded subject. She has known him for a long time. As a half human half Vulcan he is a member of an exceedingly small group of Vulcans who have intermarried. This willingness to cooperate with their Terran conquerors had served them well; Ambassador Sarek is one of the richest Vulcans on the planet. But it has gotten him and his son labeled as traitors, only received in society by humans and others who have embraced the Empire. He has business dealings with her father, a wealthy human merchant, and she has known Spock as long as she has been on this planet.
She is about to say something about the weather when he speaks
"You look very beautiful this evening" he says it quickly as though unsure of his ability to finish otherwise.
He's right of course. Her simple red evening dress accentuates her tall slender figure and her dark hair is carefully done up very becomingly in a Vulcan style with a white and silver pendant dangling on to her shoulder. She returns the compliment knowing it sounds false but meaning it.
A servant comes around to collect their glasses and as she hands them over she makes a decision
"Spock, would you care to dance?" She can tell by a flicker of an expression that she has asked him exactly what he had come over to enquire of her. As they drifted towards the other dancing couples Eric shows up to make an attempt at her.
"Am I going to get a dance from you this evening number one?"
"I'm afraid I shall remain with Mr. Spock for the remainder of the night"
She supposes she ought to feel bad. But she feels strongly that he was only interested because his family is, for all intents and purposes, bankrupt. There are lots of other wealthy girls without good names who would be happy to use him as a way to achieve patrician status.
"Why has your paramour given you the moniker 'Number One'?"
"He's not my boyfriend" she says and feels a sense of relief "and I don't know why" "Oh...well it suits you"
"Why thank you Spock"
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He sells his ranch to one of Colburn's men with the man from the bank looking on gladly. To ad insult to injury it's the man who baited him about his mother. Chris just glares, hoping he might actually be able to make him hurt somehow. All the money goes to his dad, so he'll be taken care of…well not really. But he's made up his mind now. His mom has offered to pay for his fare and whatever he needs for the trip. She'd been nagging him for a while to go to San Francisco and now he is.
"This will be a whole new life for you Chris. I get admirals in this place you know, and the stories they tell me…it won't be easy. Its dangerous and grueling, but you're no coward and you're used to working hard. But the rewards… you'll be rich if you're lucky. Soldiers take what they like from the planets they conquer. One man told me they found a planet, completely uninhabited and littered with diamonds and other gems." She smiles wickedly "But you're a young man money only means so much to you…"
"Mother, please. I'm already going"
"I've heard that on one planet there are green skinned animal women for sale. Vicious, seductive, they say no human man can resist them…" Christopher blushes
"Really mother…that sounds like something some damn redshirts made up to impress your girls"
But he can tell she is proud of him. Rachel Pike is the only person he knows who thinks he can amount to more than drifting around the Mojave from woman to woman and bar to bar until his luck and his liver run out. When he says goodbye he gives her a hug for the first time in years.
He shakes hands with the asshole from the bar after the deal is done.
"You'll take care of my horses right?" he asks to reassure himself
"Shit Pike, of course I will." He may be an asshole but he's a cowboy same as Chris. Those are his horses now and he'll treat them better than he treats people probably "You sure you don't want to stay on? You got a gift with them animals"
"No I'm sure…Take especially good care of the chestnut with the white blaze. His name's Tango, he's got a real steady gait and he…he's a smart animal. He knows what you want him to do almost before you do."
"Sure thing. I…I've been looking for a new mount myself." Christopher nods 'I'm going to miss my horse' he thinks