Dark Victory

Real world article

(written from a production point of view)

Kirk confronts his most dangerous enemy: himself.

Dark Victory is a Pocket TOS novel – the second novel in the retroactively-designated Mirror Universe trilogy – written by William Shatner, with Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens. Published by Pocket Books, it was first released in hardback in April 1999.

Summary[]

From the book jacket: The Mirror Universe is a dark and twisted reflection of our own, where all that is noble and compassionate is instead cruel and barbaric. Now our universe has been invaded by that other reality's most feared tyrant: the dreaded Emperor Tiberius, the Mirror Universe counterpart of James T. Kirk. Just as Kirk survived his own era to live into the 24th century, so has Tiberius returned from the past to menace a new generation of Starfleet heroes.

And only Kirk can stop him.

With Spock, McCoy, and Scotty at his side, and teamed with Jean-Luc Picard and the valiant crew of the USS Enterprise NCC-1701-E, Kirk is propelled into his most personal and dangerous mission yet as he fights to uncover the secret of Tiberius' return and learn the terrible truth behind the madman's nightmarish plans for the Federation.

But how can he defeat an enemy who knows Kirk's mind as well as he knows his own?

Excerpts of copyrighted sources are included for review purposes only, without any intention of infringement.

Background information[]

The audiobook version was abridged by George Truett.
An extract from this novel appeared in Star Trek Monthly issue 53.
The Science Fiction Book Club released a special edition of the hardback in July 1999.
The paperback edition of this novel contained Chapter Nine of the serialized novel Starfleet: Year One.
Bashir, Odo, and Garak make cameo appearances.

Cover gallery[]

Characters[]

James T. Kirk: Retired captain. Kirk's Starfleet authority had been reinstated, giving his counterpart the ability to activate a auto-destruct sequence on USS Enterprise-E by using authorization code Kirk eight-eight-alpha-kilo.

Tiberius: Former Terran Emperor.

Hu-Lin Radisson

Captain of Heisenberg.

Twining

Holographic Starfleet commodore.

It is noted that the "commodore" rank has fallen into disuse in the 24th century, although a handful of officers still have this grade.

Christine MacDonald
Randle: Captain of Sovereign.
Mantell: Captain of Schrödinger.

References[]

USS Ohio (β)

Runabout.

USS Heisenberg (β)

Leviathan-class science vessel, commanded by Hu-Lin Radisson. Equipped with advanced medical facilities and holo-emitters in most areas of the ship.

Leviathan class

Type of science ship the Heisenberg belonged to.

It is unclear whether any variation of this design was in "standard", non-classified service.

Mirror universe
Pauli: Shuttlecraft on USS Venture.
USS Pauli: Secret science vessel of Project Sign.
Project Sign: A top-secret Starfleet endeavor dealing with a perceived threat of the fabric of galactic civilization being manipulated by the Preservers, based on psycho-historical research. Starfleet assigned sophisticated holographic crewmembers, some possibly sentient or disguised living beings, to three vessels so secret that they were not even officially registered: USS Pauli, USS Schrödinger, and USS Heisenberg.
USS Schrödinger (β): Secret science vessel of Project Sign, commanded by Captain Mantell.
USS Sovereign
USS Tobias (β): Recently destroyed Oberth-class science ship.
USS Venture: Federation starship, with a shuttlecraft named Pauli.
USS Voyager (mirror): Duplicate of USS Voyager built in the mirror universe. This ship was built by the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance to be an exact duplicate of Voyager as part of a ruse to fool Jean-Luc Picard.

External link[]

Dark Victory at Memory Beta, the wiki for licensed Star Trek works

Previous novel:	Series	Next novel:
Mission to Horatius	Pocket TOS Unnumbered novels	Vulcan's Heart
Spectre	"Shatnerverse" Mirror Universe trilogy	Preserver