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Takes place in: 2374 - 2375, continues from Spectre
Following Tiberius' arrival on the Enterprise-E, Tiberius (mirror Kirk) orders Kirk to surrender or be destroyed. The Voyager, commanded by mirror Kathryn Janeway, attempts to ram into the Enterprise-E, but mirror Janeway was stopped by Kirk, who noted that there were innocent lives on the Voyager. Instead, Voyager destroys the crossover device and damages the Enterprise-E in the process. Tiberius activates the self-destruct sequence on the Enterprise-E, then he and his henchman transported themselves to the asteroid camp. Kirk, together with Spock, T'Val and Teilani, went to the asteroid in pursuit of Tiberius, while an away team led by Picard beamed aboard the Enterprise-E and managed to stop the self-destruct.
While recovering from his injuries, Kirk was informed of the existence of a secret Starfleet operation known as Project Sign, which was set up specifically to deal with possible threats from the mirror universe. In fact, Project Sign had the Alliance asteroid labor camp under surveillance for over a year until Kirk's involvement ruined their plans to safely rescue every prisoner in the camp. Kirk is warned not to disturb Project Sign again, while evidence of Tiberius' death was presented to Kirk so as to convince him to stop pursuing the matter. Although Kirk still believes that Tiberius is alive, he agrees to the demands.
In the meantime, Dr. Andrea M'Benga, currently stationed at Deep Space Nine, was taken to a secret Starfleet research facility where she helps in the examination of several children found onboard a recovered sleeper ship. There were speculations that these genetically-engineered children could have come from the mirror universe, and when the children attempted to break out of their quarantine they were apparently destroyed.
Seven months pass, and at the wedding of Kirk and Teilani, the pregnant Teilani unexpectedly falls unconscious. As Teilani is half-Klingon and half-Romulan, the USS Sovereign is assigned to bring Teilani to Qo'noS, the Klingon homeworld, in the hope that Klingon physicians could develop a treatment. Kirk and Spock uncover evidence that Teilani was poisoned during the wedding ceremony, and Kirk begins to suspect that Tiberius was behind the poisoning. Picard contacts Kirk and inform him that Tiberius had been sighted stealing Kirk's mission logs from an archive on Pluto, and that Project Sign requests Kirk's cooperation to capture or kill Tiberius, or Kirk will be placed in protective custody so that Kirk cannot be replaced by Tiberius and therefore represent a threat to the Federation. In order to save Teilani, Kirk offers to help Project Sign stop Tiberius but on his own terms.
After a brief stopover at Deep Space Nine, the Enterprise-E arrives at the Goldin Discontinuity, where the Project Sign science vessels create a field disturbance which transports the Enterprise-E into the mirror universe.
Back on Deep Space Nine, Garak, the Cardassian tailor, discovers that Dr. M'Benga was involved in a cover-up in which her memories of certain events are being suppressed. With Garak's help, Dr. M'Benga recalls the events at the research facility, and through interrogating a captured Project Sign agent, she learns that the children were not destroyed but transported away. Project Sign had sent one of the children to poison Teilani, so that Kirk would do what Project Sign wanted.
In the mirror universe, the Enterprise-E locates Tiberius' base on Earth, and Kirk, with mirror Janeway and T'Val, proceeds to the base in a shuttlecraft disguised as an Imperial Raptor. A genetic forcefield only allows Kirk to enter the base, where he first meets many children, before finally encountering Tiberius. The children are apparently created by Tiberius for reasons unknown, and are genetically engineered with many abilities, including producing poisons. Tiberius denies poisoning Teilani, while Kirk demands a cure. Tiberius proposes an exchange, asking Kirk to provide the secret location of the First Federation base, intend on stealing the technology. Kirk has no choice but to agree to Tiberius' demands...
. Project Sign is a secret Starfleet operation which was set up specifically to deal with possible threats from the mirror universe. It was set up after Kirk's encounter with the mirror universe in 2267. Among its activities include identifying possible mirror duplicates infiltrating in Starfleet. Project Sign has several starships assigned to it, including the science vessels USS Heisenberg, USS Schrodinger, and USS Pauli. Officially, these ships do not exist. Initially, the mirror universe falls under the protection of the Prime Directive and Project Sign did not interfere in its affairs, while the several incursions that had taken place at Deep Space Nine were regarded as local matters. But now that the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance had taken hostile action against the Federation, the Prime Directive no longer applies. Project Sign now works with the Vulcan resistance against the Alliance.
. The fates of several mirror personnels are revealed. In Tiberius' base, Kirk saw the photographs of personnel who were hanged apparently in a purge conducted by Tiberius. They include Rand, Scott, Decker, Moreau, Garrovick, Marcus, M'Benga, and McCoy. The dessicated body of Chekov is on display.
. According to Tiberius, the Tantalus Field is technology of the First Federation. Mirror Pike wanted to keep the technology from the Fesarius for himself, so Tiberius used the Tantalus Field to get rid of Pike and become Captain of the ISS Enterprise. Tiberius tortured Balok for more information, and learnt of the presence of a First Federation base. But Balok gave a false location before he died. Tiberius had Balok's body stuffed and placed on display.
. The First Federation base no longer exists in the mirror universe. Balok's people had left the region after Balok's tragic encounter with the Terran Empire.
. In Kirk's universe, after first contact with the First Federation, Starfleet became aware of the First Federation base, but as Balok's people would share their technology only when the Federation has advanced to similar levels, all reports regarding the base were kept secret. Kirk is aware of the location of the First Federation base as it was him who sent the report to Starfleet.
. USS Tobias has been destroyed during the Dominion War. The Jem'Hadar had captured the Tobias, thinking that there was a Borg artifact onboard. After the crew was evacuated, the Tobias self-destructed and took out the boarding party, destroying five attack ships and one warship. The artifact turned out to be some useless junk.
. Starfleet maintains an archive on Pluto. In the event that the sun becomes a red giant, the star would expand only as far out as the orbit of Mars. Hence, while Earth and the inner planets would be destroyed, records will still remain on Pluto.
. The real Fleet Admiral Nechayev has returned to Starfleet. She had been a prisoner on the asteroid labour camp.
. Tiberius had sent at least one sleeper ship of his children into Kirk's universe. They are now held by Project Sign.
. It is mentioned that the Stardates rolled over from 51999.9 to 52000.0 (the year changed from 2374 to 2375). This establishes the timeframe of Dark Victory. Admiral McCoy's age is mentioned as 149 in the second half of the book, which would have placed that section in (2227 + 149) = 2376. I disregard this discrepancy, and any other which suggest a timeframe for the book from 2375 to 2376.
. The second half of the book takes place after Star Trek Insurrection.
. Picard says that he and his crew had been prisoners on the asteroid labour camp for three weeks.
. The mirror Voyager was constructed at the asteroid labour camp. It had went into the mirror universe and was transported to the Delta Quadrant but managed to return. The mirror Voyager was then used to lure the Enterprise-E in the Goldin Discontinuity and capture the vessel, as described in Spectre.
. The crossover device in the Goldin Discontinuity was initially believed to be a device that could transport entire starships between universes. Instead, Tiberius only used the device to transport certain technology from the Enterprise-E to the mirror universe, including quantum torpedoes and the captain's chair.
. A tsunami was said to have hit Malibu, California, on April 26, 2005, killing 2,700 people.
The Ashes of Eden
The Return
Avenger
Spectre
Dark Victory
Preserver
Captain's Peril
Captain's Blood
Captain's Glory
Ex Machina
The Fearful Summons
The Last Roundup
War Dragons
The Captain's Daughter
The Sundered
Dark Mirror
Crossover
Ship of the Line
Dark Passions, Book 1
Dark Passions, Book 2
Vulcan's Soul, Book 1 - Exodus