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.

Click here to read part one of “Star Trek: Chasing Reflections.”