James Copper

Summary
James "Blackbeard" Copper is the commanding officer of the USS Hunt. He has commanded three starships since entering service in 2389, the USS Hunt from 2389 to 2408, the USS Hunt-A from 2409 to 2417 and the USS Hunt-B from 2419 to 2452.

Appearance
James is 6'0" tall, medium in build and sports a medium-length black beard and swept back hair. He has a Y-shaped scar on his left cheek which is mostly obscured by his facial hair; the wound was originally a ritualistic mark left by Scolarians on the bodies of defeated opponents they felt were worthy. James was born in Merseyside on Earth in 2368, and is approximately ten years older than his executive officer Mirra Boleros. He speaks with a northern British accent.

Personality & Lifestyle
James is somewhat introvert and considered unapproachable by most, apart from Mirra Boleros who has known him for many years. He is quick to snap and takes a no-nonsense stance to problem solving. He doesn't consider himself a great negotiator, but has a superior grasp of battle tactics both on the bridge of a starship and on the battlefield. He discriminates against no-one, but if he considers someone an idiot then he will make his feelings towards them very clear. He is rarely seen partaking in any recreational activities. He does however sometimes play squash with David Shinkfield. He detests the colloquiallism 'Jim' however has been told that those who serve under his command affectionately refer to him as 'Captain Blackbeard.'

Upon taking command of the new USS Hunt, he became increasingly irritated at getting lost on such a large ship, often finding he was too proud and stubborn to ask a crewman for directions.

He is known for having an affinity for classical and opera music, and has been heard playing it in his quarters when off duty. Prior to the retaking of Deep Space Nine from the Dominion in 2412, he retreated to the holodeck to watch a performance of Dante's "Vide Cor Meum." He appeared to be visibly moved by the performance, almost to tears. Whatever his reasons for viewing it, it clearly gave him the courage, resolve and inspiration to lead the Federation into a battle of epic proportions. Copper later revealed to Mirra Boleros that he thought he was going to die in the battle, and chose the song as the last he would have listened to while he was alive. Years later, when Nion revealed he had an excellent singing voice, Copper encouraged him to learn the male operatic vocal of the piece with the support of a holographic female vocalist. Copper also watched a performance of Allegri's "Miserere Mei Deus" on the holodeck, arranged for the benefit of the Rankatli delegates whom were on board at the time. The Rankatli ambassador was highly critical of the piece, complaining that it was starkly different to their own musical preferences which sometimes involved the ritualistic slaying of the performers.

James is a pale ale drinker, and keeps a stock of real unsynthesised bottles in his quarters. He also enjoys seafood and regularly partakes in private dinners with Mirra Boleros and David Shinkfield, often serving up hand-prepared meals of catfish, squid, prawns and salmon.

Pre-Starfleet Life
Very little is known about James's life before Starfleet. He rarely talks about his youth and apart from being born in Merseyside and graduating from Starfleet aged 21, his past is a mystery.

In 2413 during a brief respite, he told Mirra that his surname at birth was in fact Cooper, however due to a typing error by the doctor who completed his birth certificate, he was officially recorded as Copper.

Maria Enriquez
James met Maria at Starfleet Academy and began a relationship with her. Maria was five years older than James and was assigned as his mentor for shuttle-piloting lessons. They had to keep their relationship a secret for many months until he was signed off as competent. Quite significantly though they arrived together as a couple at a birthday party, much to the surprise of the guests, including David Shinkfield whom expressed his annoyance at him for keeping such a significant thing from his friend. James left Maria several months later after discovering that she had been unfaithful. Maria would become the focus of several difficult situations for James, always appearing to be present during various crises, including being stuck with James on K-7 during a radiation leak and passengers by coincidence on a freighter overrun by terrorists.

Clarissa Starling
Clarissa Starling was infatuated with James throughout all of his time at the Academy, and regularly sent him gifts and love letters. James however never felt the same way about Clarissa and saw her as nothing more than annoyance. Long after 2389, Clarissa still sent recorded messages to James on the anniversary of their meeting.

Jade Collings
Jade Collings was an intelligence operative for Starfleet Command, and met James on the ice-planet Aygo IV where she was acting undercover as the secretary for an unscrupulous Ferengi administrator called Rok. James was supposed to be taking respite on the planet's spa facilities following the 2800 Incident, but became embroiled in a plot to kidnap and murder a rare alien for his adrenal glands. James assisted Jade during the investigation, briefly becoming romantically involved with her. At the conclusion of the operation, both had to return to their respective appointments.

Voluptua Zel
Voluptua Zel was an Orion matriarch who kidnapped James in 2413. Wanting him to be her mating partner, she subject him to severe psychological torture before giving up on him.

Mirra Boleros
The USS Hunt's first officer Mirra Boleros has been a loyal and caring friend of James' since their first meeting. She was devastated by his decision to leave Starfleet in 2408, and actively sought him out for the command of the new USS Hunt a year later. Despite showing a professionalism expected of Commanders and XOs, Copper has on many occasions violated directives and orders in order to save her life. An emotionally charged relationship exists between the two, with neither likely aware of just how crazy they are about each other.

2389-2408
James graduated from Starfleet Academy in 2389 with skills in tactics and engineering, and was posted in the engine room of the first USS Hunt, a Miranda-Class starship. By 2389, the Hunt was over a hundred years old and was falling apart at the seams. Subsequently she was relegated to short-range science missions within Federation space where the risk of engaging in battle was significantly small. This did not stop her responding to a distress call from the New Orleans over the border into Pellian space. Copper was manning the bridge engineering console at the time, and was called down to the engine room to assist with a coolant leak; Hunt was rated at warp 6, but had pushed the engines to warp 7.7 in order to reach the New Orleans in good time, and the strain had caused a number of systems to fail.

Only minutes after reaching engineering, the Pellians attacked the Hunt, killing Captain Qatanmek and several bridge officers. This left Copper the most senior member of the crew on board. Copper piloted the Hunt through the wreckage of the battle, saving the crews of the Verona and New Orleans without the assistance of the viewscreen or sensors, which was now a hole into space protected by a weak forcefield. It was this incident that united him with his future comrades Mirra Boleros, Rixom M'Gila, David Shinkfield, Nion, Isaac Stamp and Saurek Sian.

On returning to Earth, Copper was granted the field commission of Captain and given the repaired USS Hunt as his first command, with an amalgamated crew of the personnel he rescued from the battle with the Pellians.

In the year 2400, Copper was selected to take part in an exchange with the Tamarians, the first in many decades. During the experience he was awarded the Mark of Temba, which he wore in place of his combadge 2409 when holding talks on board the USS Hunt between the Tamarians and the Yridians.

2408
In 2408, during a battle with the Scolarians, the ship was boarded by Scolarian troops, including General Deadrick Akopian. Akopian seriously wounded Copper, leaving a large y-shaped scar on his face. Akopian left him for dead and beamed out. Copper subsequently used the Hunt to ram the S.T.S Krom over Arvada III. The ship perished in the incident and crash landed on the planet below, leaving the crew languishing in orbit in escape pods. The crew were rescued by the USS Amity and returned to Earth, where Copper was court-martialled. He was deemed to have too deep a resentment of the Scolarians which was affecting his judgement. Instead of accepting a demotion, Copper walked out of the hearing and Starfleet employment altogether.

He spent the next seven months in Hawaii repairing boats, eventually taking to the sea himself on his yacht, The Razor Thin Moon. Two weeks into a three month trip across the Pacific, his yacht was approached by a Starfleet shuttlecraft. On board was Mirra Boleros, who wanted to utilise his experience with the Scolarians to negotiate a treaty with their government - the Scolarians had attacked the Federation, leaving thousands dead. He agreed reluctantly, and boarded the brand new USS Hunt as an advisor. Admiral T'Nae strongly objected to his involvement in the mission, fearing he was fuelled by vengeance for the injury to his face and the loss of his ship.

After the first mission into Scolarian space, Copper accepted a reinstatement to Captain and took command, however under the close eye of Admiral T'Nae, who posted counsellor Dana Anderson to the ship to monitor him. Apprehending Akopian became the Hunt's overriding mission from this point.

Stardate 61104.4
Whilst searching for Akopian, Copper ordered the Hunt to observe a significant event in the development of a non-warp species; the Kesh were about to attempt their first moon landing. He had the Hunt initiate silent-running mode in order to evade detection. During the event, the Scolarians arrived in the system. Copper opened a channel to the Scolarian commander and demanded his departure, but he refused, forcing the Hunt to remove the Scolarian threat whilst risking exposure to the Kesh. The Hunt was successful, and the crew managed to covertly observe the Kesh's first moon landing.

Stardate 61221.7
After the Kesh mission, Copper was contacted by Starfleet and ordered to investigate a mysterious rogue Federation runabout that had been the centre of a number of bizarre incidents over the previous three months. The ship had been spotted interfering in various skirmishes in the quadrant, and had been seen to wield some impressive, if unconventional weaponry. It appeared whomever was flying it was a vigilante, whose intervention had normally resulted in victory for the Starfleet taskforce, even if the odds were stacked against them. The ship had last been tracked heading in the general area of the USS Hunt. Copper had the Hunt intercept the ship, and tractor it into the shuttlebay. Emerging from the shuttle was boisterous nomad John Legend, a pompous and arrogant human who saw himself as somewhat of a superhero. Legend spent several days aboard the Hunt, eventually causing a radiation leak and escaping, only to antagonise a Sheliak battlecruiser on a pilgrimage into Scolarian space.

Stardate 61299.2
Only weeks before the New Year, the Hunt received a mysterious message consisting of a musical scale. M'Gila decoded the message which translated into co-ordinates for a previously thought desolate area of the Alpha Quadrant. Upon arrival, the Hunt was greeted by the Fal-Tor-Ree, and Copper was invited on board a massive collection of space stations obscured by a nebula. The Fal-Tor-Ree were staging a massive union of the galaxy's races, one which they hold every 400 years. The union was interrupted by the arrival of the Scolarians, led by none other than General Akopian. During the visit, Copper learned that a bomb had been planted somewhere amongst the fleet, forcing he and Akopian to work together, The Fal-Tor-Ree prevented any violence on board their stations, allowing Akopian to escape Copper's grasp for the meantime once the crisis was resolved.

Stardate 61300.1
On this date, an accident in engineering caused Copper and Ensign Gina Leyton to become stuck behind an emergency blast door. As the crew struggled to restore the engine room and clear the leak of coolant, Copper struggled to deal with Leyton's injuries, with her eventually dying in his arms at only age 18. Copper was deeply troubled by Leyton's death, and became temporarily withdrawn whilst he tried to come to terms with it. He would later comment to Dr Stamp that his helplessness at being unable to treat her wounds would trouble him for the rest of his life. Prior to the accident, Copper and Stamp had fallen out over the merit of their respective roles, with Stamp forced to take command during the subsequent lockdown caused by the accident; whilst Stamp clearly did a commendable job, Copper was unable to act as a medic and save Leyton.

2409
Main article: The Devidian Incursion  Early in 2409, the crew of the Hunt encountered Devidians in the Neutral Zone. Copper led an away team to Drozana Station nearby, which he discovered was being used as the crux of an invasion of the Federation and the Klingon Empire. Deep in the bowels of the station, the Devidians had constructed a time portal into the year 2265 where they planned to harness the chronometric energy of an unusual comet called Driffen; they were planning to drag the entire sector into the past risking catastrophic changes to the timeline. During this time, he was contacted by rogue agent Franklin Drake and convinced that a temporal intervention was necessary to prevent a crisis. Against orders from Admiral T'Nae and to strong objection from Dana Anderson, Copper entered the portal and emerged in the 23rd century. He successfully destroyed Driffen's Comet and prevented the Devidians from executing their plan. With the rare comet no longer in existence, the Devidians had no reason to continue their invasion, and retreated to their dimenstion. During the Devidian Crisis, Copper met Dr Leonard H. McCoy on board Drozana. McCoy was frantically trying to solve an epidemic of unknown origin, and with Copper's help managed to formulate a cure. When later explaining the encounter to Temporal Investigations, Copper described it as a humbling experience.

Stardate 61302.2
Only a few days after the Devidian Incident, Copper became stranded on K-7 when a radiation leak on board the USS Hunt forced Starfleet to quarantine the ship. The dose was not lethal, however meant that Copper had to spend three days on board K-7 with old flame Maria Enriquez, whom he utterly despised. Although he never reconciled with her during the incident, he did manage to solve the radiation crisis with her help.

Stardate 61555.0
On stardate 61555.0 the Hunt was boarded by Jeremy Astor, now an expert on stellar anomalies. His presence on board was allegedly to assist the Hunt's scientists in preventing a star from going hypernova, however it soon became apparent that he intended to use the star's energy to power a planet-destroying weapon.

Stardate 61623.7
On stardate 61623.7 the Hunt was dispatched to Lora IV to investigate an asteroid that had an 87% chance of colliding with a M-Class planet with a pre-warp civilisation living on it. The tribal Yenn were revealed to consider the arrival of the asteroid, or "star flower" in their language, as the turning of a new era. Copper and Stamp infiltrated the tribe in hope of learning more about them, to discover cave drawings resembling the contours of the USS Hunt.

Stardate 61752.9
When the USS Hunt's eldest human crewmember John McClaren passed away in his sleep, Copper allowed Nion to look into locating the next of kin of perhaps the ship's most quiet and unremarkable crewmembers.

2410
Main article: Razor Thin Moon  Only a year into the voyage of the new USS Hunt, Copper was recalled to Earth to face murder charges to the shock of the entire crew. Commodore Epidemus alleged that Copper had murdered Captain Qatanmek during the Battle of Pellia in 2389 in order to seize control of the ship and secure a promotion to the rank of Captain. Copper's senior officers became enraged at the prospect, even more so when Copper refused to deny the charges. The Hunt was grounded in Spacedock and the crew ordered to remain on the station until the hearing was over. Boleros and Shinkfield however, defied these orders and bought passage on a Pakled freighter to the Neutral Zone, where they hoped to contact former Section 31 member Franklin Drake. Boleros knew that Drake had the means to prove Copper's innocence by way of access to the Enigma Nebula, a region of space where time is not relative and the souls of the dead may live on in purgatory. Boleros and Shinkfield shocked the court by walking into the hearing with none other than Qatanmek, albeit in a semi-corporeal form. Qatanmek explained to the jury the truth surrounding his own death, and once his presence was proven to be no trick, Copper was exonerated. Before Qatanmek returned to the Enigma Nebula, Copper took the opportunity to thank him for everything he learned from him, something he never had the chance to do when he was alive.

Stardate 62955.5
On stardate 62955.5 Copper took a temporary leave of absence following an operation on his heart. En route to Risa via a civilian shuttle, he was dismayed to discover that he would be sharing the three day journey with none other than Maria Enriquez. Even worse, the shuttle was hijacked by terrorists forcing them to work together again to resolve the crisis. His second unwilling venture with Maria was not as antagonistic however, with both making their peace with each other, albeit with Maria getting the last word in during a final bickering moment.

Stardate 63010.7
Copper, Stamp and Boleros beamed down on Hura III on stardate 63010.7 to examine the fossilised remains of a long extinct mammal. What they discovered however was that the hulking great subterranean creatures were alive and well, stranding the trio on the planet for 24 hours. In a final dash to reach their shuttlecraft, the Hunt was able to beam them up, but in error beamed up one of the creatures as well, which caused chaos in the cargo bay before finally being subdued.

Stardate 63754.4
On stardate 63754.4 Copper was approached by engineer Ensign Ramos, who had serious concerns about his colleague Lieutenant John Graham, whom he had seen walking into his quarters and "deactivating" himself as a photonic being would. Copper then swears Ramos to secrecy about Graham's existence, recounting an incident months prior where Graham had created a revolutionary new interface which allowed a living person to temporarily transfer thier consciousness to a holographic body in order to conduct themselves in environments considered otherwise lethal to humanoids. Complications during the process resulted in the physical death of Graham, leaving his sentience trapped in holographic form.

Stardate 64023.3
On stardate 64023.3 Copper was ordered by Starfleet to investigate a rift in space. Scans revealed that the anomaly bore the signs of a fluidic space portal, however there was no indication of Species 8472 being involved. Copper, Shinkfield and Nion took a shuttle into the rift and emerged in the fluidic realm to discover something amazing; enormous spaceborn entities resembling Earth cetaceans. These creatures were being hunted by a group of poachers from the prime universe, none other than Hirogen hunters, the first confirmed sighting of the species in the Alpha Quadrant.

2411
Main article: Invisible War  In 2411, the USS Hunt was ordered to investigate a new space station being constructed on the edge of the Romulan Neutral Zone. The structure was in fact of Reman origin, with a stolen Borg Sphere being repaired at its core. Copper discovered that the Remans were intending to invade New Romulus with the Sphere in retribution for centuries of subjugation. Obisek, the Reman leader, attempted to destroy the Hunt but failed when his experimental thalaron weapon did not fire. The Romulan Tal Shiar soon contacted the USS Hunt, absolutely amazed that they were able to penetrate the base so easily when they had been trying and failing to do so for months. Subcommander Hakeev suggested an alliance in order to take the space station down, but Copper refused on the basis that sensor readings had confirmed there were thousands of innocent civilian labourers on board.



In the meantime, M'Gila and her science team discovered a disturbing truth about the cause of the Hobus Supernova; overmining of the star's hydrogen by the Remans had led to the star's premature destruction. Copper decided to withold this from the Romulans for fear of an all out attack, but Hakeev soon got wind of the revelation, and assaulted the space station. The space station proved too difficult to destroy however, so Hakeev turned his attention to wiping out the Reman colonies in neighbouring sectors. The subsequent attacks forced Copper to enter into an uneasy alliance with Obisek. After signing a treaty of non-aggression, Copper returned to the Hunt with Obisek's aide Grom on board a Reman scout, which was subsequently shot down by Hakeev's forces. Both were imprisoned by the Romulans and forced to fight for their survival in a mock gladitorial arena against various, vicious alien wildlife.

Copper and Grom managed to escape the arena, but not before discovering the unthinkable; a functional Iconian Gateway on the unnamed planet they were marooned on. The pair spent three days on the barren world, having to feed off the land and endure bitterly cold and windy nights. Grom hoped that by finding the crashed scout they could repair the radio and send a signal to the USS Hunt to hasten their rescue. The plan was futile however, as the ship was smashed beyond recognition. Copper attempted to fashion a receiver out of the guidance system of a photon torpedo, and successfully sent a message into space. In a cruel twist, Grom revealed he was in allegiance with Hakeev, who then beamed down to come face to face with Copper. Hakeev spilled his guts to him about his attack plans before ordering his men to kill Copper, but the Hunt had been waiting in orbit, and beamed him out just in time.



Armed with the knowledge of the next attack, Copper took the Hunt to the new Reman homeworld, New Remus, to stage a defence against Hakeev. After a long a bloody battle through the streets of the capitol, the forces of good were victorious. Obisek slew Hakeev after a short hand-to-hand battle, leaving his men without cause to fight. What should have been a divisive fight actually brought the Romulans closer to their Reman brothers. Boleros subsequently mediated a formal treaty between the two species, with Obisek agreeing to dismantle and destroy the Borg Sphere.

A new era of peace had begun, but Copper was left with the bitter feeling that this was not over; the Tal Shiar had control of an Iconian Gateway, and it was only a matter of time before they used it.

Stardate 65114.7
During a routine scan of subspace eddies near the Romulan Neutral Zone, the Hunt was sucked into a wormhole and trapped along with the USS Hermes, which had been reported missing three months prior. The Hirogen, now becoming more frequent visitors to the Alpha Quadrant, had constructed the snare to strand and salvage vital starship parts to further their needs. The Hirogen leader, Alpha Kran, demanded the Hunt's immediate surrender, however it soon became clear that the Hirogen were no longer in control of their own weapon, which was slowly collapsing in on itself. Copper decided to launch a rescue mission for the crew of the Hermes, finding all but a dozen of them dead, the rest hunted like animals by their captors. Copper was able to defeat Kram on the Hermes' bridge with the help of none other than Deadrick Akopian, whom had been successfully apprehended by the Hermes before it became trapped. Copper laughed at the prospect that he had spent the best part of three months tracking him from his last location at the Fal Tor Ree event, when in fact he had been in a Federation brig all along. Attempts to escape the anomaly became contrived when the gravitational forces of the collapsing wormhole negated the warp drive, however with a tentative modification to the engines by Akopian they were able to emerge into normal space safely with the Hermes in tow.

Stardate 65508.5
En route back to Federation space with their prisoner, Copper finally faces his past in a long discussion with Akopian, recounting the incident where he gave him his scar and killed many of his crew.

Stardate 66412.9
On stardate 66412.9 Copper was contacted by Obisek, who asked him to meet at the Reman base. Obisek had worrying news that he needed to share with the Federation. Since the skirmish between the Reman Alliance and the Tal Shiar, he learned that the Tal Shiar had broken completely away from the Romulan Star Empire and allied themselves with the Hirogen. Empress Sela, previously thought dead, had emerged and proclaimed herself as the ruler of the new faction and allowed the Hirogen "free hunting" in Romulan space, however this soon began spreading into the Neutral Zone and the systems close to New Remus. Even worse, Obisek presented Copper with evidence that an Iconian ship had been detected near New Romulus. Copper and Obisek travelled to New Romulus in hope of speaking to Praetor Talaura about the threat, only to find none other than Sela sat in the Praetor's chamber in the senate building. It seemed a coup d'etat had occurred under their very noses. Both were detained whilst the Hunt was held over trained weapons of several Warbirds in orbit. Boleros decided to stage a daring rescue by dropping the Hunt into the atmosphere, beaming out Copper and Obisek, before warping back into space. A devastating battle ensued, with the Hunt facing off against Sela's Warbird, only for the battle to abruptly end with the activation of an Iconian Gateway on an asteroidal moon, which swallowed up Sela's ship. The incident left more questions than answers.

Stardate 66788.7
Copper was ordered to attend an emergency session on Beta-Carina IV, and was ordered to collect Admiral Data from the USS Titan en route. Data had been tasked with investigating the incident on New Romulus. However en route to the system something very unusual happened. A ribbon of energy intercepted the Hunt, and despite their best efforts they could not avoid it. The Hunt was annihilated in an instant. Copper suddenly found himself in civilian mining uniform on board a planetoid, with various members of the crew present but working as miners under poor conditions. The facility was being run by Tholian overseers, and only Data was able to discern any change in the timeline, and had to work hard to convince Mirra Boleros that there was something very wrong. In this timeline, the Tholians had invaded the Federation and enslaved millions of its people, over 2,000 of which were working on the planetoid. The alternate version of Copper was in cohorts with the Tholians and had special food and recreation privileges bestowed upon him whilst others lived in squalor. Boleros and Data discovered an underground rebellion, led by none other than an elder Tasha Yar, whom Data was utterly amazed to see alive. The rebels had learned that an old Federation cruiser was docked somewhere on the planetoid, and served as the intended means of escape. Managing to break into the main hangar, Data and Boleros discovered the Enterprise-C moored to the planetoid. Data surmised that the disappearance of the ship in the previous century had created an alternate timeline upon its emergence, with the ship's computer recording an intervention by the Enterprise-D, although Data said he could not recall any such encounter. They managed to pilot the ship out of the dock, only for the Tholians to engage the aged ship. Managing to determine that a mysterious ribbon of energy was the key to solving their predicament, they forced the Enterprise into the path of the ribbon and were destroyed. The resulting explosion restored the timeline, and only Data was able to remember the event.

2412
Main article: The 2800 Incident  In 2412, the appearance of Borg vessels on the edge of Federation space prompted Starfleet to stage a conference to discuss the threat. The conference was intended to go ahead on Deep Space Nine, with representatives from Starfleet, the Klingon Empire, the Cardassian Union, the Gorn Hegemony and the Deferi Empire in attendance. James Copper and Captain Vakel Shon, commander of the USS Defiant, were selected to represent Starfleet. As the meeting began, the Bajoran Wormhole opened and ejected just under three thousand Dominion starships into the path of DS9. The leader of the fleet, a Weyoun clone, ordered an attack on the station. DS9 fell into enemy hands in minutes, and Copper and the delegates narrowly escaped alive. The Hunt and Defiant were unable to stave off a four thousand strong fleet, and retreated to Bajor.

Weyoun seized control of the command centre and broadcast a message to anyone who was listening; it was apparent from his words that the ships and people on board were not of this time, and under the impression the Dominion War was still in effect. M'Gila was a veteran of the war, and recalled the disappearance of over 2,800 Dominion ships in the wormhole during the course of the conflict; it would appear, she commented, that their emergence in 2412 solved a decades old mystery. Using Bajor as a staging area for a counter-offensive, the Federation sent Admiral T'Nae to oversee progress. The Bajorans however, were not pleased with Starfleet's presence, even less with the Klingons being present as well, and many nights of unrest unfolded.

T'Nae later tasked Copper, Shon and Boleros with a secret mission. Since the end of the Dominion War, Starfleet had been keeping the Founder at a secure facility in orbit of Organia. The existence of the penal space station was to be denied by all three if asked, and it was intended that they would speak to the Founder, and convince her in turn to talk Weyoun down and surrender DS9 back to Starfleet. The Founder agreed, but only in exchange for her freedom and return to The Great Link in the Gamma Quadrant. T'Nae reluctantly approved the Founder's terms, and authorised her release. Weyoun immediately surrendered to the Founder's instructions, and all seemed to be going well until the Jem'Hadar portion of the fleet refused to surrender along with him.

The Jem'Hadar leader, T'Metiklan, murdered Weyoun and took control of DS9's bridge, creating another crisis. The Vorta and Breen factions broke away from the attack force and left for their respective territories, leaving Starfleet alone in the fight. T'Metiklan began executing the station's occupants on the hour, forcing Starfleet to act. An all out assault was out of the question; the station was too important an outpost to risk destroying, so Shon and Copper formulated a covert insertion in hope of shutting down its defenses so Starfleet could move in. Only the two of them boarded the station on a cloaked shuttle, and after a long and perilous spacewalk made it to the command centre. Shon deactivated the station's defenses, allowing Starfleet to attack the Jem'Hadar ships. Copper and T'Metiklan fought fiercely on the bridge, with the towering soldier finally succumbing to a thrust from his own weapon, which Copper plunged deep into his chest. Copper was seriously wounded in the fight, and in desperation opened a comm channel to Mirra Boleros, who was commanding the Hunt in battle outside, and told her that he had loved her since the day they met.

The Jem'Hadar fleet fought equally as fiercely in the space around DS9, with the Defiant perishing at the hands of their flagship. All seemed dire until the Remans arrived out of the blue and gave an assist; Obisek, it seemed, had remembered his debt. The Jem'Hadar fought until the last man, with none willing to surrender. The final few ships made suicide runs for the USS Nelson, annihilating it with all hands lost. Victory was bitter, but DS9 had been reclaimed. Copper narrowly survived his injuries, and Shon was left without a ship. As the Hunt travelled back to Earth for repairs, a beaten and bruised Copper is visited in his ready room by Boleros, who asked him whether he really meant what he said. Without speaking another word, they kiss, and then she returned to the bridge. As Copper sat and contemplated what he has been through, Captain Shon chimed in over a secure channel; he had been given command of a new ship, and wanted to know whether Copper would like a tour of the new Enterprise. "I'd love to." He replied.

Stardate 67111.1
The Hunt's demotion from flagship in the presence of the new Enterprise meant that it's new directive was of pure exploration, and Copper was ordered to take her in the Beta Quadrant to explore the Rolor Nebula and its surrounding star systems. The sparseness of the void between the Beta Ursae sector and Rolor led him to realise that he was a latent claustrophobe, and he suffered greatly until Stamp formulated a therapy to treat him. During a psychotherapy session with Stamp, Copper described an incident he endured during his days at the academy, when he was left stranded in space in only a malfunctioning environmental suit, and had to wait for 27 hours to be rescued.

Stardate 67225.6
At the trial of Deadrick Akopian, an assassination attempt on Copper in the court fails when the bullet intended for him hits Mirra Boleros instead. Copper becomes distraught at the idea he may lose her, showing a rare emotion from the usually stoic captain of the starship Hunt. The assassin, an Akopian sympathiser, is detained and subject to an impromptu violent interrogation by Copper, which nearly loses him his command. He discovers that the projectile contained a poison that would guarantee the death of the target in the event they survived the wound. Mirra barely recovers, and whilst in her comatose state relives the early days of the original USS Hunt.

Stardate 67422.9
When a Starfleet outpost suddenly stops transmitting, the Hunt is despatched to investigate. Copper beams down to the planet with an away team to find that the population had been slain by the Hirogen, with a small number being kept alive for hunting games.

Stardate 67689.1
In the year 1999, amateur astronomer Samuel James Copper sent a crude radio signal in the direction of Gliese 21b. In 2257, the inhabitants of the planet intercepted the message, and knowledge of life outside their own solar system led to a holy war. Fast forward to 2412, and the Gliesians track down the last known descendant of Samuel Copper and decide to exact their revenge for centuries of slaughter.

2413
Main article: Cold Call  In 2413, the Deferi applied for entry into the Federation. Deferi Ambassador Surah had been present during the "2800" incident at Deep Space Nine, and was impressed by Starfleet's resolve in dealing with the conflict. The Deferi are a peaceful race rooted in the belief that balance is key to a happy existence. They have a massive empire across many light years, and were first encounted fifty years prior by the Enterprise-D. In that time they were in a state of upheaval, and had asked to be left alone. Now though, times had changed. Surah personally requests that the USS Hunt stage the talks, and invites the ship to the Deferi homeworld, a planet called Defera. Nion detects what might be a ship cloaked nearby, but soon loses the signal. Copper, Boleros, Nion and Shinkfield beam down to the capitol to greet Surah, but something was amiss. Surah was cagey at best, not the calm and collected being Copper had encountered before. Nion concludes that there are unusual readings at the Deferi Embassy as well, similar to the ones he detected in space. Without warning the away team is attacked by Breen soldiers. The Breen leader, Thot Trel, assaults Copper and tells him to leave; the Breen are taking control of Defera, and the Federation are not welcome. The Deferi offer no resistance, much to Copper's annoyance, leaving him no choice but to beam back to the ship with Surah to assess the situation.

Back on board the ship, Surah explains that the Breen had arrived a month ago and were demanding access to the ruins on the edge of the city. The application for Federation membership was a ruse to draw Starfleet in with little suspicion. Trel believed that the ruins ran deep underground, however was frustrated that he could not work out how to access them. The ruins were coded, and Trel put a number of Deferi to work on discovering the combination. Trel had also abducted dozens of scientists from the Deferi Science Academy and had taken them off-world. Copper received word that the Federation were attempting to contact the Breen Confederacy, and after a week of waiting were told that Trel was not part of the Breen government and was obviously acting alone. The Breen government wanted nothing to do with Trel nor did they offer to help resolve the crisis.

Under cover of darkness, Copper visited the ruins and with Stamp's help managed to decode the obelisk. The ruin generated a holographic representation of a star map with co-ordinates to a primary obelisk somewhere in Deferi space. The map however was incomplete, and Stamp theorised that there must be more fragments scattered throughout the region, each pointing to the next piece until the puzzle was complete. The Defera map pointed to the Raveh system, and course was set for the star immediately. En route, discussions were had about the reasons for the Breen breakaway faction's interest in the ruins. The aggressiveness displayed by Trel suggested that something sinister was waiting at the endpoint, but what that could be was at that stage a mystery.

A second fragment was discovered amongst the shattered remains of a moon around Raveh II, and upon finding the piece the Hunt was attacked by Trel's own battleship. Trel was enraged that the Hunt had two of the pieces, and demanded they be handed over. Copper offered to halt hostilities and work together to reach a common goal, but Trel refused, stating that the ancient weapon hidden in the sector would bring his people untold power in the Alpha Quadrant. The ships were evenly matched, with Trel deciding to beam troops over to the Hunt to steal the pieces. All were killed save for one, an engineer called Brot whom Copper had thrown in the brig. Brot was different from the others; he showed an element of compassion. He wasn't a soldier by trade, more of a scientist who knew there was more than just a weapon at stake. Brot recalled enough of Trel's piece of the map to give an accurate reference point for the final destination.

With Trel in hot pursuit, the Hunt marched forward into unchartered space to a planetoid shrouded in toxic atmosphere. Donning environmental suits, the away team, led by Copper, entered the only traceable structure on the surface, and were amazed to discover that the air on the ground was breathable; they were able to remove their environmental suits and breath without issue. The final obelisk was enormous, and opened to reveal a catacomb-like structure housing objects of similar design and construction. The final door into the main chamber was blocked by what appeared to be five resonating crystals arranged in a circle. Stamp recalled a mission centuries prior whereby James T. Kirk had entered similar ruins by touching an arrangement of crystals in the correct order, the sound each representing a part of the "lock." After much trial and error, the lock was decrypted, but any further investigation was interrupted by Trel, who had been following the away team the whole time. Trel barged past the door and into the main antechamber, his presence activating a hologram that spoke to him in his own language. To the amazement of Trel and Copper, the being could speak and be understood by all who were listening regardless of the language barrier. What they were looking at was no hologram, it was a living, breathing Preserver. There was no weapon waiting for Trel, only a vast library of wonders chronicling the entire history of the galaxy. Trel refused to stand down, clearly humiliated by the revelation that what he had been looking for was nothing more than an encyclopedia. Trel turned his weapon on the Preserver, but was shot in the back by Brot.

Word of the discovery was sent back to Starfleet immediately, who dispatched a science taskforce to examine the records and tend to the needs of the Preserver. Trel survived the shot, and was taken into custody, while Brot was offered passage back to his own empire by Copper. Brot refused and decided to stay and wait for Starfleet; the gift of a living Preserver to learn from was impossible to resist. The Hunt left orbit soon after the arrival of the USS Amity, and handed over the operation to Captain Arroway.

Stardate 67988.5
The USS Hunt is implicated in a planetary assault on a Klingon colony, with Klingon Ambassador Worf coming to the Federation with strong evidence placing the vessel in orbit. Worf's previous allegiances however make him reluctant to assume that Starfleet was to blame, and that other forces were involved. Copper meets Worf on Qo'Onos to see his evidence, existing in the form of telemetry from a Klingon sensor array clearly showing a vessel resembling the Hunt bombarding the planet. What's more, intercepted communications chatter confirms Copper's voice giving orders, however clearly identifying himself to his targets as General Copper of the ISS Hunt. Worf had kept this from Starfleet, preferring to speak to Copper direct; the attackers were from the Mirror Universe, and it was only a matter of time before they struck again.

Stardate 68100.4
Using Worf's intelligence, Copper took the Hunt into the Azure Nebula, the perceived hiding place of the Terran forces, whilst Worf made efforts to quell any unrest amongst the Klingon Empire. An enormous spatial anomaly was found in the nebula, but before efforts could be made to identify it, the ISS Hunt decloaked off the starboard bow of the USS Hunt and attacked it. A long battle ensued, with the ISS Hunt demontrating some impressive tactics and weaponry. Terran troops boarded the Hunt and kidnapped Copper along with Mirra Boleros, before disappearing into the anomaly, which closed behind them. Shinkfield, now in command, was left with the task of bringing the severely damaged Hunt back online.

In the mirror universe, Copper and Boleros spend almost a day bound together in the brig, discussing various methods of escape before they are greeted and interrogated by General Copper. The General tells them they are prisoners of war, and pays particular interest in Boleros, displaying an almost tearful reaction to her presence. Boleros is subsequently dragged away by his guards, leaving the two Coppers to exchange insults as only men of this ilk can do. It seemed that despite being mirror opposites, they were very much alike.

Meanwhile in the prime universe, a rogue fleet of Klingon warbirds locates the Hunt in the Azure Nebula and opens fire, thinking it responsible for the assault that started the crisis. Shinkfield is unable to talk them down, eventually leading to the ship getting boarded by Klingon troops.

Stardate Unknown - Mirror Universe
James Copper is liberated from his cell by his opposite, albeit in shackles, and given a tour of the ISS Hunt by the grizzled General. He tells Copper that the Terran Empire is in tatters following a long and brutal civil war, and although the war is over and the Terrans victorious, one enemy ship remains unaccounted for. On board is the enemy leader with a massive bounty on his head. He explains that the enemy leader had found a way to traverse the line between universes and escape into the prime universe. He had sought refuge on a planet in Klingon space, where the ISS Hunt had followed through and attacked. Terran forces were planning a mass exodus into the prime universe to hunt him down, and nothing was going to stop them. Copper questioned the General's reason for taking him hostage, and his answer was simple - by removing the most dangerous Starfleet captain alive, there was very little anyone could do stop the incursion.

Meanwhile, Boleros was greeted by her own opposite, a twisted and vicious Lieutenant who was obsessed with the torture of her subjects. The mirror Boleros was sterile, and wanted ova from her opposite in order to conceive. The procedure for their removal was invasive and barbaric, with Mirra forced to conform at gunpoint. The General was aware of the procedure, but kept it from the Captain.

Back in the prime universe, the Klingons removed Shinkfield from command and steered the Hunt towards Klingon space under tractor beams from the surrounding birds of prey. The subjugation was short lived however when the IKS Pagh arrived with Worf in command, who managed to talk the troops down. Worf boarded the Hunt and restored command to Shinkfield and assisted the crew with repairs. The birds of prey soon became bored and departed, leaving the Hunt and Pagh alone. During talks with Starfleet Command over subspace, Shinkfield was given the field commission of Captain by Admiral T'Nae and ordered to rendezvous with the Federation fleet on the Federation side of the Neutral Zone. Worf was convinced an attack by the Terran Empire was imminent, and returned to his own empire to scramble his own attack force. WIth militaries from both sides focused on the Azure Nebula, there was nothing more to do but wait. As the forces prepared for an attack, the fleet is intercepted by the ISS Enterprise; and the reveal? None other than Tiberius Kirk, General Copper's nemesis.

Kirk's heavily armed Enterprise, with a contingent of Borg vessels, sat nose to nose with Starfleet. But instead of attacking, he surrendered. Shinkfield took Kirk on board the Hunt under heavy guard and prepared him for interrogation. Tiberius was clearly over 200 years old, albeit heavily augmented with Borg technology, which Stamp determined was sustaining his life well beyond normal human expectancy. Kirk informed Shinkfield that the universe he came from was ravaged by war, depleted of resources and verging on the brink of human extinction. The Borg of his universe were the dominant species and had conquered much of the four quadrants leaving only nomadic fleets of starships wandering the stars looking for safe havens. Kirk it seemed wanted nothing more than the perpetuation of his people in the prime universe...

Back in the mirror universe however, General Copper prepared his forces for the traverse into the prime universe. Copper and Boleros were subject to a proud and illustrious speech by the General amongst the hundreds of crew on board the ISS Hunt. Kirk it seemed, in his selfish quest for longevity, had attracted the attention of the Borg to the Terran Alpha Quadrant in the first place, leading to the subsequent invasion and arbitrary civil war. He was the most hated man in the galaxy, and he had to die. Before leaving for the nebula, Copper revealed the crux of his endeavour, a massive ancient spaceborn weapon capable of unimaginable destruction called Juggernauts.

With lines blurred as to who the aggressor was, General Copper proceeded back into the prime universe and engaged the fleet with the assistance of the Juggernaut, which he controlled with a bizarre control device located on the bridge. With losses quickly suffered for the Federation, Kirk broke free from detention and made his way to the transporter room, bidding farewell to Shinkfield saying that destroying this threat was his chance at redemption. It was clear that General Copper had more than revenge on his mind, he was planning to conquer the entire Federation. Kirk beamed abaord the ISS Hunt, and killed General Copper where he stood, although Kirk was critically injured in the fight. Meanwhile, James and Mirra, fearing near death as the ISS Hunt spiralled out of control into the maw of the juggernaut, appeared to begin to embrace, only to have them suddenly beamed back onto their own ship.

The confusing turn of events cumulated in the ISS Hunt colliding with the Juggernaut as it prepared to fire, causing it to explode.

Stardate 68222.1
Following the Terran incursion, the Hunt was returned to Mars for repairs, whilst a majority of the crew indulged in shore leave on Mars and Earth. Mirra left for Andoria to come to terms with what she had experienced during the event, living with the uncomfortable idea that she may have a daughter or son, albeit born from her mirror opposite. Copper meanwhile, visited his hometown of Liverpool for the first time in over two decades, returning to his family home in hope of seeking out his sister, of whom he had not spoken to in a long time. Upon locating his home, he found it empty and under the guard of an eccentric photonic security officer. The hologram was evasive and obstructive, refusing to tell him where his sister was. Copper lost his temper with the entity, uttering his favourite swear word, which seemed to unlock a subroutine in its programming, providing him with co-ordinates for an address in Jersey. Upon arriving there, he found the Copper residence, but present was another family, who informed him that his sister Siobhan had passed away over two years ago. Realising he was much to late in many respects, he returned to the Hunt.

Stardate 68301.5
Copper's first orders after the Hunt's repairs and refit were to enter the Bajoran Wormhole and search the Gamma Quadrant for Turok Nor, the believed base of operations of the Cardassian True Way, which had been committing acts of terrorism in the Alpha Quadrant for the past six months. Support for the True Way on Cardassian was gathering momentum due to the slow progress of the rebuilding of Lakarian City, and the Federation's struggle to adequately supply the population with food and amenities. Supporters of the True Way believed that a complete reversion to a militarised government would solve the crisis. Copper was ordered to take Ambassador Skyl on the expedition, a prodigious figure to all Cardassians being the son of Legate Damar. Turok Nor was located on the edge of a nebula, however the military force they expected to find with it was absent. Copper, Skyl and an away team boarded the desolate, listing station, and found Gul Madred, withered and dying, in his bed. Madred was taken into custody and treated by Dr Stamp. Madred's condition was poor, and he appeared to be suffering from the same affliction the original Great Link had been troubled with in the century prior. It seemed that the virus had made the leap between species. An enraged Founder soon attacked the away team, seemingly perceiving them as a threat. Before Madred died, he told Copper that Turok Nor was attacked by a group of Founders still suffering from the virus whom had been exiled from the Link. They killed the crew one-by-one and infected the rest, leaving only Madred to squander. Copper ordered the destruction of the station and its Founder antagonists, and returned to the Alpha Quadrant.

Stardate 68422.7
During a routine inspection of civilian freighters in the Cardassia sector, Copper was given orders to return to Deep Space Nine and speak with Ambassador Worf. Worf told Copper that there was unrest in the Klingon Empire due to the suspicion that shapeshifting entities had infiltrated the highest ranks of the council and killed and replaced Chancellor J'mpok. When asked what Copper could do for the empire, Worf told him that only Starfleet could help in a time of such mistrust and paranoia. He was to escort Worf to the Mempa Sector to confront the House of Kargh, the only known independent Klingon family, and the least likely to have been infiltrated. The mission was a political disaster for the Federation however, when it was revealed that Worf himself was actually the impostor; a member of Species 8472 masquerading as the Ambassador. The creature attacked Copper, pinned him against a wall and proceeded to probe his mind. During the exchange, the creature told him to warn his people that a storm was coming; the Undine, as they called themselves, had agents amongst the ranks of every major galactic power, and that they should "prepare for a war the likes of which your Federation has never seen..."

Stardate 68466.9
The events of the Mempa Mission had massive ramifications for the Federation. Fearing an attack from the inside by Undine infiltrators, Starfleet initiated rounds of genetic testing to weed out the spies, however these tests turned out to cause more unrest than the knowledge of their security breach. The New Romulan Empire temporarily cut ties to the Federation when Praetor Taris was murdered by an Undine impersonating Admiral T'Nae, however when the crew of the USS Mercury Phoenix were able to prove the deception, dialogue was continued. Matters became more grave when fluidic space portals began appearing in the Pelia Sector. Relations with the Pellians were already strained from conflicts of old. Nonetheless, Copper was ordered to take the Hunt to Pelia Prime, both to broker a non-aggression pact and to warn them of the dangers of an Undine invasion. James Copper became the first human to see a Pellian in the flesh; his reaction to their non-humanoid form would suggest that they are terrifying to look at. The meeting was difficult for James; standing in the Pellian Senate at the site where in 2389 he lost his Captain. But the treaty was agreed. T'Nae arrived in the USS Victory and boarded the Hunt for the first time in many years, and ordered Copper to investigate the portals whilst a fleet was established in the MacKenzie Nebula.

Stardate 68499.2
The Hunt's first foray into unchartered territory led to the discovery, once more, of the mysterious cetacean life forms they encountered years before, this time a whole pod of them inhabiting an asteroid belt. Meanwhile, a shuttle mission led by Shinkfield and Nion discovered the unthinkable; not only were the Undine traversing the void into normal space, the Borg were constructing a stronghold around a dying star. The Borg City was drawing power from the solar body, and growing in size by the day. Nion boarded an lightly armed scout and found Borg drones, but nothing like those encountered before. These were different, more streamlined, smarter and more heavily armed. News of the Borg presence caused Admiral T'Nae to double the size of the fleet at the edge of Pellian space. The fleet was bolstered by the arrival of Obisek, whom added approximately seventeen extra vessels to their numbers. Obisek provided the Victory and the Hunt with a contingent of six Reman fighter craft each, with additional Reman pilots, after the Hunt's own squadron failed to return from a reconnaissance mission.

Stardate 68511.7
Copper led an investigation into the new type of Borg drone on this date, using a tried and tested method of disabling a Borg Sphere for 33 minutes whilst officers could infiltrate it safely. Along with Boleros and Nion, Copper discovered the prelude to what may have been an attempt to create a Borg drone free of external modifications, and for all intents and purposes appearing completely humanoid. The prototype drone was thought to be an infiltrator, meaning that not only had the Undine been committing acts of espionage across the empires of the galaxy, but so had possibly the Borg. Copper ordered the drone be seized for examination, but upon moving it it became mobile and injected him with nanites; tightening its grip around his neck and boring into his mind, Copper heard the cries of a trillion voices and for a moment was at one with the entire Collective. The intrusion was to be only temporary however, with the drone rendering the nanites inert just before the connection was severed. These Borg were not the mindless automatons Starfleet had come to know, they were different. They had conscience. The encounter left Copper with the feeling that they were trying to deliver a message, but for whatever reason, he could not piece it together in his mind.

2414-2418 [Four Years of Hell]
Stardate 68622.4

James Copper was called forth by D'Tan of the new Romulan Republic on planet Mol'Rihan to oversee Federation logistical support of the new Romulan homeworld [formerly Tau Dewa III.] Saurek Sian decided to leave the USS Hunt at this time, deciding to help his people build a new society. Sian was replaced in engineering by veteran Nigel Penny who had just been transferred from the USS Britannic.

Stardate 68659.9

The discovery of an Iconian Space Gateway by the Remans was a precursor to a four year struggle for the crew of the USS Hunt. When the USS Victory disappeared near the gate, Copper was ordered by Starfleet Command to find it. The investigation caused the ship to become trapped over 40,000 light years away inside a Delta Quadrant Dyson Sphere, the structure itself of indeterminable size. Cut off from Starfleet and any other allied power, they were left to work out a way to return home themselves. Only days into the mission, the crew discovered that a large portion of the Dyson Sphere was inhabited by an extremely xenophobic race of humanoids called the Voth, who were in turn waging a war against an equally hostile species known as the Elachi. Neither were found to be native to the Sphere, but both had clearly been there a long time, with evidence found of settlements on both sides. Copper attempted to meet with the Voth leadership to discuss a non-aggression treaty, but the meeting was disastrous, resulting in the deaths of approximately fourteen Hunt personnel and serious damage to the ship. Over the course of four long years, Copper would struggle with many impossible situations, including the loss of over a quarter of the ship's crew to battles, disease and capture by the Voth.

Six months in, Copper faced a crisis when Boleros discovered that regular fighting and energy expenditure to stay one step ahead of the Voth would leave the ship's critical resources depleted in only a month. Moreover, various environmental forces within the Dyson Sphere were found to be having negative effects on the USS Hunt's hull, with stress fractures appearing all over the ship at an alarming rate; the Hunt, it seemed, was falling apart at the seams.

With repair teams struggling to stay on top of curing the Hunt's devastating structural damage, Copper was forced to consider ditching the ship and settling the crew on the planet contained within the Dyson Sphere. Had it not been for the discovery of the hulk of the USS Victory, his decision would have been final. The salvage from the Victory only allowed them to continue on for another three months, before the critical decision was made to abandon the Hunt on the surface. Copper faced a mutiny over his decision, with a large number of crewmembers dissasociating themselves from his authority and trying to take over the ship. To Copper's surprise, he was betrayed by Superintendent Graf, who led the mutineers and succeeded in overthrowing Copper, his bridge crew and over 500 personnel still loyal to him. Graf abandoned them on the surface, seemingly taking the Hunt high up to a spire structure in the middle of Voth-controlled territory.

Copper for the next year led somewhat of a nomadic life, trying to keep together a legion of humanoids in a camp built from the salvaged remains of the USS Victory. Daily they battled the native reptilian wildlife, disease, weather and even feral Voth, losing more and more as the months went by. Not prepared to languish any longer, Copper decided it was time to take the Hunt back. This was never to be however, as the Hunt was found abandoned on the surface, heavily overgrown with the native vegetation; Graf's mutiny it seemed, had been futile and his corpse was found on the bridge along with many other mutineers.

In the final year of Copper's struggle to escape the Solanae Dyson Sphere, he faced the deaths of many more crew, and became embroiled in a final standoff between the Elachi and the Voth, culminating in the arrival of the Enterprise through a reactivated Iconian Gateway. The Elachi were planning to use the gateway to invade the Alpha Quadrant, and with the help of dissident Voth Copper and the crew were able to destroy the gate after returning home safely, but stranding Mirra Boleros and a handful of others 40,000 light years away with no way of returning home.

The experience left him hollow, and having to face the prospect yet again of being without a ship, and missing comrades, nearly drove him to suicide.

2418 - The Search for Mirra
Following their return to the Alpha Quadrant from the Solanae Dyson Sphere, Copper immediately approached Starfleet with plans for a rescue mission to retrieve Mirra Boleros. Admiral T'Nae refused his request, declaring the Sphere and any Iconian access points off-limits by an Emergency Executive Order. Copper became furious at the decision, denouncing T'Nae in front of the Federation Senate Committee and comparing their unwillingness to help to Starfleet's refusal to allow James Kirk to return to the Genesis Planet two centuries earlier.

As the weeks passed, Copper garnered the willing participation of Shinkfield, M'Gila, Penny, Sian, Marotte, Nion and Stamp in a rescue mission under the nose of Starfleet. Utilising the services of Ferengi nomad Glamp, who demanded a stolen cloaking device as payment, the crew headed out to the only other known working Iconian Gateway, located deep in Romulan Republic territory. Their plan succeeded until they were intercepted by the Enterprise, and detained by Captain Vakel Shon. Shon eventually would overlook Copper's indiscretion based on their friendship, and lets him and his band of crew free whilst under attack from breakaway Remans.

Shon - "James, you are a dear friend and one of the bravest men I have ever met. Go to the Delta Quadrant and find your lost officer. I will deal with the fallout from Starfleet. T'Nae will likely demote me for letting you go, but what you're doing? I would do the same for any one of mine. Godspeed, Captain."

Their return to the Sphere was greeted by a barren and hostile wasteland, a far cry from the lush and fertile utopia present only months prior. Copper would discover that the hulk of the Hunt had gone critical, emitting a huge swathe of radiation, killing a large proportion of life on the surface. Infuriated by this event, the Voth captured and tortured Mirra Boleros and demanded she find a way to reactivate an Alpha Quadrant gate to allow them a retaliatory attack.

Mirra was located badly beaten and suffering from severe infection, of which Stamp was unable to treat outside a Federation facility. Ultimately, Copper would come face to face with Loss Tren, the Voth leader, and defeat him in hand to hand combat, destroying the Voth plans for a counteroffensive, and annihilating the entire Sphere before escaping back to Federation space.

As Mirra lay in Starfleet Medical in recovery, Copper and the others who accompanied him on the illegal mission were brought before a tribunal, and to their surprise were pardoned for their gallant efforts in saving the Alpha Quadrant.

T'Nae - "Perhaps next time you decide to save the galaxy, Captain, you would be so courteous as to tell us what your plans are?"

As the curtain falls on a devastating chapter of his life, he visits Mirra in her hospital and holds her hand as she lies comatose. After many minutes of silence, he kisses her on the forehead and tells her he loves her, then walks away as she starts to open her eyes.

In dialogue heard between Admiral T'Nae and Rixom M'Gila, it is established that the radiation caused by the destruction of the Solanae Sphere has left 10,000 light years of Delta Quadrant space uninhabitable for approximately 20,000 years.

2419 - A New Beginning
High above planet Earth, the newly commissioned USS Hunt-B flies into view. Copper is in command, and his monologue reveals that the new Odyssey Class vessel is ready to leave for its maiden voyage. Happy with the status of the crew and ship, Copper orders a warp six flyout to the edge of the solar system. Upon arrival at Neptune, Shinkfield reports that no Earth facilities are responding to their status report, so he orders they return to Earth orbit immediately.

TBC

General James Copper
In the Mirror Universe, a counterpart to James Copper exists. He is the leader of the True Imperial Empire and in 2413 is waging a long war against the forces of Tiberius Kirk. He commands the ISS Hunt and has outfitted it with a large array of weaponry, including anti-proton weapons, a thalaron cannon and various devices and components stolen from the Borg. He is feared amongst the empire and, like his Prime Universe counterpart, is wanted by the Klingons. During the Mirror Universe incident, Mirra Boleros jokes that his "evil" counterpart is more charming than the one she knows.

Vice Admiral J.E. Copper
In one possible future, James lives long enough to become a Vice Admiral in Starfleet and is the commander of the Third Battle Fleet in the Sirius Sector of Federation space. In the year 2451, he oversees the anniversary celebrations of the launch of the Enterprise NX-01 approximately three centuries prior, which involves the christening of the Enterprise-G and a commemorative trip to Qo'Nos with the Klingon ambassador in honour of the NX-01's first mission. When Mirra Boleros woke up fifty years into the future, she sought out the Admiral's help in hope of returning to 2413 and restoring the timeline. She found however that the James she knew had began to lose his faculties and was extremely forgetful, cantankerous and hard of hearing.

Foreman James Copper In an alternate universe created by the emergence of the USS Enterprise-C, Copper eeks out a life of quiet servitude at the behest of the Tholians on a mining asteroid. His allegiance is not clear to begin with, with him clearly content on roughing up the other workers and taking bribes. He later comes to realise that all is not what it seems, and assists Admiral Data, Tasha Yar and Mirra Boleros in escaping on board the Enterprise. He remains on the asteroid and is last seen being beaten by his Tholian masters. His fate in this universe is unknown.

Quotes
Surrender your ship and prepare to be boarded.

Go to hell!

- Copper responding to the demands of his nemesis Deadrick Akopian.