Gabriel Lorca's History
Captain Gabriel Lorca was a male Terran Imperial Starfleet officer who was a figure of immense prestige in the mirror universe during the mid-23rd century. While in command of the ISS Buran, he attempted an unsuccessful coup against Emperor Philippa Georgiou. He became a fugitive, wanted by the Terran Empire for treason and the murder of Michael Burnham, captain of the ISS Shenzhou. He escaped into a parallel universe and assumed the identity of his counterpart, a Federation Starfleet officer. In that capacity, he was named as the commanding officer on board the USS Discovery in 2256.
At some point prior to 2256, Lorca was a figure of immense prestige, Terran Emperor Philippa Georgiou's right hand, and trusted with the Empire's most sensitive missions. He also became trusted with the Emperor's adopted daughter, Michael Burnham, as Burnham came to see him as the father she was missing. Georgiou later claimed that Lorca had groomed Burnham, and that Burnham was complicit in his plot.
At one point, Lorca attempted a coup against the Emperor. According to Lorca, it was ruined after Paul Stamets sold him out. Michael Burnham was sent to stop the coup, but in the process, her shuttle was destroyed by one of his followers and she was believed killed.
Lorca made his way to Priors World aboard the ISS Buran, but while he was on the surface recruiting allies, the Emperor caught up with him in the ISS Charon. As he beamed back to join the fight, her torpedoes hit, but so did an ion storm, which caused a transporter malfunction. Lorca was thrown into another universe, and was believed to have escaped. The Emperor laid waste to the Buran in retaliation.
He later claimed that, in 2256 during a battle in the Federation-Klingon War, he destroyed the USS Buran rather than allow the ship's crew to be captured by the Klingons. He claimed that he was the only survivor from the Buran but that the vessel's destruction had injured his eyes, causing him to have to adjust to light change slowly from then on, when in reality his sensitivity to light was due to him being from the mirror universe. The fact that he appeared to have been the only survivor caused him to acquire a negative reputation among other Starfleet personnel, as typically captains were expected to go down with their ships.
Lorca was subsequently given command of the USS Discovery. Under his command, the Discovery rescued Michael Burnham and other prisoners after their prison shuttle was nearly destroyed by Species GS54, a species that fed on electricity. It was later revealed that the rescue was not by chance, as Lorca wished to recruit Burnham, per Starfleet Regulation 13982, to aid him in winning the war.
Under his command, Discovery was able to destroy the Klingon Ship of the Dead with a barrage of photon torpedoes after strategically placing two sensors on the ship, and performing one hundred and thirty-three spore jumps to collect enough data to devise an algorithm to crack the Klingon's cloaking frequency. After the victory, Discovery was ordered back to Starbase 46. However, Lorca performed an override on his console before the final spore jump, which sent Discovery into unknown space surrounded by starship debris. It was determined that they had jumped into the mirror universe.
Back in the mirror universe, Lorca continued to keep up his ruse, appearing to be as surprised by the development as the rest of the crew. He set in motion a plan which he claimed was needed to return home but which, in fact, was to give him access to the Emperor. It was revealed that he had recruited Burnham as part of his plan to gain entry to Emperor Philippa Georgiou's ship, the ISS Charon.
Once aboard the Charon, Lorca quickly built a power base by freeing his tortured followers. Additionally, while Captain Maddox claimed that the Emperor had successfully rounded up all Lorca loyalists from every corner of the Empire, to the point that the Charon's aft hangar bay had to be filled with agonizers to accommodate them all, Lorca's people believed he still had supporters on several worlds.
Lorca attempted a coup with Georgiou on the Charon, but was attacked by Prime Burnham, who aimed a phaser at him. After telling him that he should have simply asked Starfleet to help him return home, she lowered it, saying she couldn't kill him. Georgiou responded that she could, and stabbed Lorca through the back with a Terran sword. Lorca was then pushed through a safety field in the Charon's floor, and was vaporized by the reactor core of the ship's super-mycelial reactor.
