Ishmael

Summary
From the back cover: The Enterprise is on a peaceful mission at Starbase 12 when a bizarre cosmic phenomenon causes a Klingon ship to suddenly vanish - with Spock aboard for the ride.

Spock's last message from the Klingon ship is cryptic and frightening. The Klingons are travelling into the past, searching for the one man who holds a vital key to the future.

If they can kill that man, the course of history will be changed - and the Federation will be destroyed!

Characters

 * Jason Bolt • Jeremy Bolt • Joshua Bolt • Biddy Cloom • Sarah Gay • Lottie Hatfield • Maria Kellogg • James T. Kirk • Leonard McCoy • Joshua Norton • Candy Pruitt • Montgomery Scott • Spock • Aurelia Steiner • Aaron Stemple • Hikaru Sulu • Trae of Vulcanis • Nyota Uhura

Amanda Grayson • Sarek

Starships and vehicles

 * USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) • •

Locations

 * Seattle • Starbase 12 • Tau Eridani Cloud • Wonder Bar

Races and cultures

 * Drelb • Human • Klingon • Vulcan

States and organizations

 * Starfleet Academy • Vulcan Academy of Archives

Other

 * alcohol • Aldebaran depth charge • Christmas • iron • uniform

Chronology

 * 1486 : Karsid agents first arrive on Klinzhai. (Referenced)


 * 1540 : Klinzhai becomes a tributary world to the Karsid Empire. (Referenced)


 * 1669 : The Klingon homeworld, Klinzhai, is liberated from the Karsid Empire. (Referenced)


 * 1853 : A gold mine shaft is dug outside of Seattle which would later prove hazardous to Jason Bolt. (Referenced)


 * 1861 : The Confederate States of America's "Rebellion" begins. (Referenced)


 * 1865 : The "War Between the States" ends, and "Reconstruction" begins. (Referenced)


 * 1866 : Aaron Stemple bets that a boat load of New England women cannot find husbands in Seattle in under one year. (Referenced)


 * January 1867 : The Bolt brother's boat load of women arrives in Seattle and takes up residence in the "Dormitory". (Referenced)


 * September, 1867 : Spock escapes Klingon custody and transports down outside Seattle, Washington Territory, the United States of America, Earth. He has amnesia. (In-story)


 * December, 1867 : Spock recovers his memory, foils a Klingon plot to kill Aaron Stemple, and is rescued by the USS Enterprise. (In-story)


 * 1930 : Edith Keeler is killed in an accident. (Referenced)


 * 2269 : The USS Enterprise docks at Starbase 12. While on liberty, Spock snoops around a Klingon ship and disappears.  James T. Kirk assumes Spock is dead until they receive a cryptic message from the Klingon ship.  (In-story)


 * Approximately one week later : The USS Enterprise returns to Starbase 12 and, after much research, travels back in time to stop a Klingon plot. (In-story)

Information

 * The novel has Spock interact with the leading characters from  along with many other characters from franchises outside of Star Trek, including the Cartwright family from , Hokas from the book , Viper pilots from Battlestar Galactica, both the and the  from Doctor Who, one of the gamblers from Maverick, and Paladin from .
 * In Chapter 8, the shipping company Struan and Sons is mentioned as a reference to 's ' (published 1966, set 1841). However, at the time this novel was written, Barbara Hambly had no way of knowing that Clavell would later pen ' (published 1993, set 1862) which was set much closer to the 1867 in which Ishmael is set.
 * It also establishes Aaron George Stemple as an ancestor of Amanda Stemple Grayson-Sarek, much like Jeremy Grayson from Strangers from the Sky. Spock's first name is given as "S'chn T'gai," while his pseudonym in 1867 is "Ishmael Marx."