The USS Enterprise encounters a million lost souls - trapped on an endless interstellar voyage!—Ghost Ship is a 1988 Star Trek: The Next Generation novel by Diane Carey. It was the first novel in the TNG numbered novel line from Pocket Books, and was the first original prose TNG story.

Description[]

In 1995, a Soviet aircraft carrier is destroyed by a mysterious creature that just as mysteriously disappears thereafter. Over three hundred years later, Counselor Deanna Troi awakens in her quarters from a nightmare in which she senses the voices of the crew of that Russian ship, whose life-essences were somehow absorbed by the creature that destroyed them. And the nightmare heralds a danger to the USS Enterprise-D itself, for if Picard can't discover a way to communicate with the creature, it could absorb his crew just as it did the Russians.

References[]

Characters[]

Argyle • Compton • Beverly Crusher • Wesley Crusher • Data • Annalise Drumm • David Galanter • Geordi La Forge • Sarah MacDougal • Mitchell • Myakishev • Jean-Luc Picard • Arkady Reykov • William T. Riker • Leon Ruszkowski • Deanna Troi • Timofei Vasska • Worf • Natasha Yar

Referenced only

Borka • Cleopatra • Alexandre Dumas • Feklenko • Francis of Assisi • Harper • Kryo • Laura • Herman Melville • F. Palmer • Helena Rozhenko • Sergey Rozhenko • Stervasney • Bram Stoker • Ian Andrew Troi • Lwaxana Troi • Alfred North Whitehead • Yorktown captain • Yorktown second officer

Starships and vehicles[]

USS Enterprise-D • research dinghy (Federation shuttlecraft) • Sergei G. Gorshkov (Lenin-class aircraft carrier) • USS Theodore Roosevelt (aircraft carrier) • Vladivostok

Referenced only

Aegis-class (cruiser) • HMS Dreadnought (battleship) • USS Dwight D. Eisenhower • Edmund Fitzgerald (tanker) • USS Forrestal • USS George Washington (Enterprise-class aircraft carrier) • SS Great Britain (steamship) • Queen Elizabeth II (passenger liner) • USS Yorktown (Excelsior-class) • USS Theodore Roosevelt

Locations[]

battle bridge • Black Sea • bridge • Nikolayev • quarters • shuttlebay

Referenced only

Athens • Betazed • Canis IV • Epsilon Indi VI • Klinzhai • Los Angeles • Paris • Starbase 18

Races and cultures[]

android • Betazoid • Human (American • Greek • Lithuanian • Russian) • Klingon

States and organizations[]

Federation • Soviet Navy • Soviet Union • Starfleet • United States Navy • United States

Referenced only

Federation Science Bureau

Science and classification[]

drydock • electromagnetic pulse • EMP weapon • phaser • photon torpedo • sensor • shields • shuttlecraft • turbolift • VISOR • weapon

Occupations and titles[]

acting ensign • admiral • air wing commander • captain • chief engineer • chief medical officer • commanding officer • commander • counselor • crewman • doctor • engineer • executive officer • first officer • flight controller • lieutenant • lieutenant commander • lieutenant junior grade • officer • operations manager • petty officer • rank • second officer • security chief

Other references[]

1906 • 1955 • 1975 • 1992 • 1995 • 2360 • 2364 • 20th century • antimatter • asteroid • AU • blindness • cloaking device • coffee • command chair • euthanasia • gas giant • ghost • government • maître d' • Prime Directive • red alert • restaurant • saucer separation • science • solar sail • stimulant • Superman • titanium • title • The Wizard of Oz • zero-g

Chronology[]

20th century

• 1995

24th century

• 2360s decade
  • 2364: Enterprise encounters the electromagnetism effect

Appendices[]

Background[]

• Like the first season episode TNG episode: "The Naked Now", this novel was - in a manner which could scarcely have been imagined when it was published - rendered historically inaccurate only a few years later, as the Soviet Union no longer existed in 1995.
• The ship on the cover of this novel appears to be an upside down image of the titular vessel from Battlestar Galactica^WP. The only other ship this could have been meant to represent is the research dinghy in which Riker chases Data's shuttlecraft.
• Data is erroneously portrayed on three pages as being able to use contractions when speaking. This novel was written before TNG episode: "Datalore" established that he could not.
• This is one of two novels where Riker is referred to as "Bill"; the other is TNG novelization: Encounter at Farpoint.

Quotes[]

"Life is an offensive, directed against the repetitious mechanism of the universe."

- Alfred North Whitehead^WP

Images[]

Connections[]

Timeline[]

The majority of the book takes place in 2364, chapter one is on the 24th of April, 1995.

published order
Previous novel: first in the series	TNG numbered novels	Next novel: The Peacekeepers
Previous story: Final Frontier	Stories by: Diane Carey	Next story: Best Destiny
chronological order
Previous adventure: Where No One Has Gone Before	Pocket Books Timeline	Next adventure: The Last Outpost
Previous adventure: Where No One Has Gone Before	Memory Beta Chronology	Next adventure: The Last Outpost
Previous adventure: Heart of Glory	DC Comics Timeline	Next adventure: Survivors
The above chronology placements are based on the primary placement in 2364. The Pocket Books Timeline and Memory Beta Chronology place events from this story in 1 other timeframe(s):
Previous adventure: The Rise and Fall of Khan Noonien Singh, Volume 2 Chapter 21	24 April 1995 Chapter 1	Next adventure: The Rise and Fall of Khan Noonien Singh, Volume 2 Chapter 22

Production history[]

• Author Diane Carey wrote Ghost Ship before TNG premiered, which limited her characterizations to what was provided in the TNG writer's guide. (The Official Fan Club Magazine Issue 63: "Where No Man...: Ghost Ship")

Translations[]

1988

Turkish: Hayalet Gemi, translated by T. Ö. Erkan. (Ankira Yayıncılık)

1990

German: Gespensterschiff, translated by Norbert Stresau. (Heyne)

1992

Portuguese: O Navio Fantasma, translated by Vivi Humphreys. (Editora Aleph)

1994

Romanian: Vasul fantomă, translated by Roxana Ene. (Editura Olimp)

1996

Dutch: Spookschip, translated by René van Os. (De Boekerij)

1996

French: Spectres, translated by Bruno Billion. (Fleuve Noir)

External link[]

• Ghost Ship article at Memory Alpha, the wiki for canon Star Trek.