All was chaos.

In the universe of James T. Kirk, his bride lay dying, their unborn child within her, both victims of an assassin's poison, beyond McCoy's ability to save.

In the seething plasma storms of the Badlands, three starships obscured by sensor masks held open an impossible portal to another reality.

And through that portal, in the realm known as the mirror universe, Captain Jean-Luc Picard and his Enterprise waited for a legend's return.

To save his wife and child, that legend had traveled to the nightmare of the devastated mirror Earth, to penetrate the hidden enclave of his greatest enemy. His only hope.

James T. Kirk had at last found what he searched for.

And now would have to pay the price....

Kirk limped along in Tiberius's wake.

His head ached, the inside of his lip was split, and at any other time in his career he would have jumped Tiberius the instant his back was turned and strangled the pompous, self-righteous, murderous monster without a second thought.

But needed Tiberius alive. At least until he had the antitoxin Teilani needed. Tiberius might survive another few seconds past that moment. But only seconds.

They reached the alcove outside the transporter room. Kirk watched Tiberius walk past the terrible photograph of the hangings at Starfleet Headquarters without paying it a moment's notice.

As Kirk came to it, he couldn't help himself. He paused to check the photo for another name, McCoy. And found it. How is that possible? he asked himself. That identical people can have such different lives?

"Old friends?" Tiberius asked. He had turned back to see Kirk looking at the photograph and walked back to join him, as if they were on a tour of an art gallery.

"Do you have any friends?" Kirk asked grimly.

"How can I?" Tiberius replied. "I once was, and will be again, absolute master of life and death throughout known space." To Kirk, it sounded, incredibly, as if his counterpart was actually being sincere. "Everyone wants to be my friend, James, to curry favor, to bask in some slight reflection of my glory. But if I were to allow that, choosing one or two favorites or familiars here or there, how could I be fair with my subjects? How could I be honest? Come along, James. So much to do, so little time."

Tiberius started down the corridor again.

"In my analysis of your woefully inadequate career," he continued, "I believe I have identified many of your flaws. Chief among them, your foolish persistence in believing that you are like ordinary men." Tiberius glanced back over his shoulder. "You are notlike ordinary men, James. You never have been. We never have been. But only I have been able to rise above your shallow concerns about being a man of the people."

"Do you ever shut up?" Kirk asked.

They had come to another large white door. Tiberius placed a hand against the scanner plate on the wall beside it, and the door silently slipped open.

"I hope you realize," Tiberius said, "at some dim level of your perception, that the only reason I have allowed you to live this long while insulting me is because I do respect you."

"Why didn't you respect Teilani?"

Tiberius paused in the open door. "Incredible as it may seem to you, I don't care about your Klingon-Romulan hybrid concubine. Intendant Picard, on the other hand, seemed to find her remarkably attractive, but if he did anything to Teilani, it wouldn't be fatal."

Kirk suppressed his rage. It would not do to assault his counterpart again. Tiberius was better trained, more practiced in hand-to-hand combat. He would have to choose his time precisely. He might not be able to outfight his opponent, but Kirk was certain he could outthink him. Once the antitoxin was his.

But until then, he couldn't let this smug bastard continue to lie, unchallenged.

"If you don't care about Teilani, why did you send one of your children to poison her?"

"I did no such thing."

For the first time, Kirk felt he had said something that Tiberius was interested in.

"I was there. I saw it. I recognized the child in your... crèche."

Tiberius took on a serious expression. "Which one?"

"I can't be sure. A boy. Eight years old. He was in pyjamas."

"Where did this take place?"

"Don't play games with me! You know where it took place."

Tiberius's face flushed red, as if his temper had gained control of him. "Assume I don't know. Assume one of my eager commandants decided he'd make my day by sending an assassin after Teilani without telling me. Do you have sufficient imagination to do that?"

"Chal," Kirk said. But he'd be damned before he'd let Tiberius escape responsibility for what he had done.

"A backwater world. Of no importance in your universe. A lifeless cinder in mine. What did this child do to Teilani?"

"Poisoned her," Kirk said. "With a Klingon nerve toxin."

Again, Tiberius took on an expression of legitimate interest. "Follow me. I have something to show you on my computer."

Kirk wasn't certain what was going on, but finding out where Tiberius's computer was could definitely provide him with an edge. He followed Tiberius past the exhibition of atrocities depicted in the photographs on the wall. He couldn't help but notice one.

"Ahh," Tiberius said as he saw what Kirk was looking at. "One of my personal favorites." The small name plaque on the image said PAVEL A. CHEKOV. But what it showed was a desiccated body in a transparent tube. Then Kirk remembered what that tube was. An agony booth.

Tiberius preened as if proud of the photo. "I believe you share in some of the glory of that day. That week, actually. My good friend at the time, Mr. Spock, informed me that Chekov moved against me while you were conducting your laughable masquerade on my ship. When I finally returned to the real universe, I found poor Chekov in the agony booth, as punishment, but my torturers were at a loss because of the leniency you had shown him.

"So, I made leniency my showcase. I had the agony booth set to medium intensity. Think of a dull toothache throughout your body, in every part. Bearable, but most uncomfortable. And then I kept Pavel in it. It took thirteen days for him to die. It had a bracing effect on my crew. Set a standard throughout the fleet."

"In my universe, he became head of Starfleet."

"Which could explain a great deal about your Starfleet, don't you think?"

Kirk didn't want to engage this beast in any topic of conversation other than the one that had brought him here. "Where's the computer?"

Tiberius pointed through the door. Kirk entered.

The computer was on a console before him. It looked like a standard Starfleet system, the kind he'd expect to see on a starship. Past it, on either side of the long narrow room they had entered, Kirk saw transparent display cases. At the end the hall, Kirk saw a pair of bright red sliding doors that made him think of the original Enterprise.

Tiberius went to the computer console and input a series of commands, angling his body so Kirk couldn't see what his authorization codes were. When he stepped away again, there was a visual sensor recording of the boy who had attacked Teilani. The same one who was in the crèche on the other side of the alcove.

"That's the boy," Kirk said.

"You're certain?" Tiberius asked. "Perhaps it was this boy?" He pressed a control on the console and a new image appeared.

"That's the same one," Kirk said.

"Or, perhaps this one?" Tiberius asked.

Another new image. But again, the same boy.

Then Kirk looked at his hands, said the word that answered his questions. "Clones."

"Exactly. Three of that young one. And what might be of interest to you is that one of him is missing in your universe. I sent a signal to activate a number of secret bases and assets over there. The group of children he was with never reported back."

Kirk tried to process that information. "What are you saying? That someone just decided to use that boy to kill Teilani as a coincidence?!"

"Someone who knew how to use him, yes. That seems a reasonable assumption."

Kirk didn't understand the choice of words Tiberius had made. "What do you mean by use?"

"You don't know?"

Kirk shook his head and stepped to the side as if avoiding confrontation, but he did so to give himself a better look at the keyboard. "Right now, it seems I don't know anything."

"That's a start," Tiberius agreed. "As I said, I can't have friends. No peers. You can't imagine the disappointment you were to me. But still, I have to make preparations for the future. We both seemed to have achieved a second chance at life. Perhaps we'll get a third. Who knows? But in the meantime, I created clones."

Tiberius grinned. "Oh, not exact duplicates. Replication drift can be dangerous, and I was looking to the long term. So they're all half me -- half us -- and half various other people whom my research showed had satisfactory genes. And when I began adjusting their genetic heritage, it seemed a simple matter to enhance it here and there. Multiplied strength, vastly increased endurance. Hyperintelligence. And... a built-in method of self-defense."

Kirk waited for the rest of the explanation he knew would come. And it did.

"I borrowed here and there from other successful species."

"Species?!" But then Kirk knew the answer before Tiberius could continue. "Poisonous ones. The toxin wasn't painted on the boy's fingernail; he produced it."

"Mystery solved. Let's go down there."

"No!" Kirk insisted. "It's not solved. Who set that child on Teilani?"

"What does it matter? You said she's dead."

"She's in stasis. You must know what toxin the boy produced. You must have an antitoxin!"

Kirk didn't like the way Tiberius remained in place, folded his arms, and began to smile, horribly.

"You think I have the capacity to save Teilani?"

Knowing the terrible door he was opening, Kirk gave the only answer he could. "Yes."

Tiberius laughed, the sound hollow, mocking. "Just one small detail overlooked, James. Why would I want to?"

There was only one thing Kirk had to offer. "You want to kill me."

"I do. And here you are. Not much of a bargaining chip, I'm afraid." Tiberius walked closer to Kirk, watching him closely. "But you are serious? You want to save Teilani. You have to save Teilani. No matter what the cost?"

Kirk hesitated. He feared what Tiberius might be suggesting.

But more than that, he feared what might happen if he did not hear more.

"What do you want me to do?" Kirk said, and with those words he knew his soul was forfeit to Tiberius.

From his counterpart's triumphant smile, Kirk was certain Tiberius knew the same.

"Come with me," Tiberius said.

He turned his back on Kirk again and walked halfway down the line of display cases, stopping in front of one that had a small figure in it.

Kirk joined his counterpart to look inside that case.

And was almost sick.

"Balok?" he said.

"The one and only. Brilliant scientist. Lonely starship captain. And an extremely disappointing ambassador from the First Federation. He does, however, make an excellent trophy."

Kirk was overwhelmed by the butchery before him. The figure in the case was the diminutive alien who had tested him and his crew back during his first five-year mission. The encounter had marked the beginning of a still ongoing, if unconventional, relationship with the First Federation. But here, in this universe, Balok was a stuffed specimen in Tiberius's chambers of horrors. His mouth permanently twisted into a smile as he perpetually contemplated the glass of tranya that had been wired to his lifeless hand.

"Before I was finished with him," Tiberius said affectionately, "Balok gave me many secrets. I think you saw the Tantalus field at work. That was one of his. Captain Pike seemed far too eager to keep all the spoils of the Fesarius for himself, so I used the Tantalus field to rid the Enterprise of him, earning his rank for myself."

Tiberius frowned, as if recalling a terrible defeat.

"But after a time, torture seemed to have little effect on Balok. From what my men and I could translate from his ship's computers, there was a vast base of Fesarius-class ships just outside Imperial space. I used all my skills to make him reveal what I wanted to know, and in the end, before he died, he told me where the base was located."

Kirk could guess what had happened. "He lied to you."

"Imagine my disappointment."

Kirk looked at the mummified body of the little alien. He could imagine Tiberius's rage. This was the result of it. Absolute insanity.

"So my question for you, James T. Kirk, is do you know where the First Federation base is?"

Kirk nodded. Of all the questions Tiberius might have asked of him, that was one he could answer.

"Do you have the antitoxin that can save Teilani's life?" Kirk asked.

Tiberius matched Kirk's acknowledgment. Then he held out his hand.

"I believe this could be the beginning of a most profitable relationship, James. Something to give each of us what we want most."

Kirk looked at that hand for long moments.

It couldn't just be a yes-or-no situation, to accept that hand or not. There had to be a third option. There always was a third option.

But not this time.

Because there was no more time.

Kirk took Tiberius's hand in his and shook hands with the demon who dwelled within him.

Because of what he was choosing to do at this moment, Teilani might live.

But James T. Kirk was utterly and hopelessly defeated.