Editing Terran Empire (section)

===22nd century===

The Empire's hold on its territories was initially weak. In the 2150s, some of the worlds the Terrans had conquered were rising up against them, leading to a long-running conflict in which the Empire came to the brink of collapse. Propaganda, however, conveyed the message that things were going in the Empire's favor and that the war would be over soon.

By 2155, the Terran Empire had already conquered the [[Vulcan]]s, [[Denobulan]]s, [[Andorian]]s, [[Orion]]s, and [[Tellarite]]s and launched attacks against the [[Klingon]]s and [[Xindi]]. However, the flagship of the Empire, the Enterprise, under the command of Captain Maximilian Forrest, had a much more racially-diverse crew than its regular universe counterpart, with numerous Vulcans and Tellarites serving as crewmembers.

In that year, the [[USS Defiant (NCC-1764)|USS Defiant]], a  [[Constitution Class]] [[Federation]] ship launched in the 23rd century of a parallel universe, was reported in [[Tholian]] space. The first officer of the [[[[ISS Enterprise (NX-01)|ISS Enterprise]], Commander Archer, reviewed the reception of this distress call and proposed a bold surgical strike at the asteroid base at which the Tholians were keeping the Defiant. Archer's proposal was quickly rejected by Forrest, causing Archer to mutiny against his Captain and take control of Enterprise to retrieve the Defiant so its technology could be utilized against the rebellion. Enterprise arrived and dispatched a boarding party to gain all information they could about the ship, and destroy it to prevent the Tholians from being able to use it. Unfortunately, during the retrieval operation, the Tholians attacked Enterprise and destroyed it, stranding the boarding party aboard the Defiant. (ENT: "In a Mirror, Darkly")

Following the destruction of the ISS Enterprise and the death of Captain Forrest, [[Rank|Commander]] Archer and his away team commandeered the USS Defiant. They proceeded to destroy the Tholian hangar in which the ship was being held and rescued a number of former Enterprise crewmembers, including Hoshi Sato, after apparent consideration of leaving their comrades stranded. Archer made a rendezvous with the [[ISS Avenger]], the flagship of Admiral Black. Archer vaporized the admiral and took command of both vessels. Commander T'Pol and Crewman Soval led a mutiny of the non-Human crewmembers on board the Avenger and attacked the Defiant in hopes of destroying it. They were destroyed after Commander Charles Tucker reinitialized the power systems that Phlox had attempted to disable. Commander Archer, acting as Captain, then set a direct course for [[Earth]], where he intended to declare himself Emperor of the Terran Empire. However, Hoshi Sato poisoned him with the assistance of his bodyguard Travis Mayweather. The two then took control of the Defiant, and upon arriving at Earth, Sato declared herself Empress. (ENT: "In a Mirror, Darkly, Part II")

:'''''It remains unclear as to whether Sato actually established herself as Empress, or if the Defiant played any further role in the Mirror Universe.''''' 

:'''''Somewhere between 2155 and 2267, the symbol of the Empire appears to have been altered. The earlier symbol closely resembles that of the United Earth government, depicting all of Earth's continents, though replacing a laurel of peace with an aggressive sword. However, by the mid-23rd century, the symbol, while remaining essentially the same, depicted only the continents of Earth's western hemisphere, suggesting the seeds of the Empire were sown in that hemisphere.'''''