Force and Motion

Force and Motion is a Star Trek: Deep Space Nine novel by author Jeffrey Lang that was published on 31 May 2016.

Publisher's description[]

In 2367, Captain Benjamin Maxwell of the starship Phoenix ordered the destruction of a Cardassian warship and a supply vessel, killing more than six hundred crew members. Maxwell believed that the Cardassians were arming for a new attack on the Federation, and though history eventually proved he was probably correct, the Federation had no choice but to court martial and incarcerate him.

Almost twenty years have passed, and now Maxwell is a free man, working as a maintenance engineer on the private science station Robert Hooke, home to crackpots, fringe researchers, and, possibly, something much darker and deadlier. Maxwell's former crewmate, Chief Miles O'Brien, and O'Brien's colleague, Lieutenant Commander Nog, have come for a visit. Unfortunately, history has proven that whenever O'Brien and Nog leave Deep Space 9 together, unpredictable forces are set into motion...

Summary[]

O'Brien and Nog travel to the space station Robert Hooke, a privately owned research centre where O'Brien's former captain Benjamin Maxwell is now the janitor. They meet with the station's owner, Anatoly Finch, who introduces them to Mother, a genetically engineered lifeform who Finch claims can neutralise toxins left behind during the Borg attack.

One of Finch's assistants, Sabih, apparently attempts to steal Mother, triggering a security system that kills him and flushes Mother out into space. Most of the station's scientists are evacuated on two transports, but Mother is attracted to the warp reactors and destroys one of them, damaging the other. Having sent their runabout out of the system on auto-pilot to summon help, O'Brien and Nog use towing cables and jet-packs to pull the remaining transport back to the station.

Maxwell works out that Sabih was working under Finch's orders: He had already arranged to sell Mother to a group of Romulan farmers. When the Romulan pick-up ship arrives, Nog is able to convince them to evacuate the scientists. Maxwell stays behind to repair the warp core and discovers Mother is sentient and largely peaceful. Maxwell is presumed dead when the station explodes but has actually left in the transport, hoping for a fresh start.

References[]

Science and technology[]

airlock • adrenaline • annular confinement beam • anti-gravity engine • antimatter • antiseptic • arachnoform • artificial gravity • artificial gravity generator • artificial intelligence • asteroid • atmosphere • atmosphere reclaimer • autopilot • bacteria • battery • biofilter • blueshift • camera • carbon dioxide • chronometer • cloaking device • communicator • computer • dimension • disruptor • eddy • electricity • environmental suit • experimental physics • frequency • fusion reactor • glycerin • graviton • headphones • helm • hologram • holoprogram • holosuite • impulse engine • isolinear chip • joule • knitter • life-support • lungs • maglev • magnetic grapple • matter • matter-antimatter generator • microbiology • microorganism • microscopy • Mother • nitrogen • oxygen • padd • phaser • physics • plasma torch • plasteel • probe • power coupling • quantum beekeeping • radiation • radiation pulse • railgun • recovery specialist • replicator • repulsor field dynamics • saponification • self-sealing stembolt • sensor • sensor array • sentry • Shedai meta-genome • shield • shield generator • shrink ray • sonic screwdriver • subspace • subspace communication • surveying • synovial fluid • telepathy • thermonuclear weapon • thruster pack • torch • tractor beam • transceiver • transparent aluminum • transporter • tricorder • turbolift • universal translator • uranium • viewscreen • virus • vitelline membrane • warp core • warp drive • warp factor • warp nacelle • warp speed • waste extraction • zero gravity

Ranks and titles[]

admiral • analyst • artist • bartender • botanist • cadet • captain • Castellan of the Cardassian Union • chemist • chief • commander • commanding officer • counselor • cyberneticist • director • doctor • engineer • farmer • first officer • geneticist • Grand Nagus of the Ferengi Alliance • helmsman • janitor • landlord • lawyer • lieutenant • lieutenant commander • maintenance engineer • matron • metallurgist • mission specialist • navigator • noncom • officer • physicist • pirate • President of the United Federation of Planets • prisoner • scientist • security chief • senior chief petty officer • teacher • turbolift technician • weapons officer

Other references[]

20th century • 22nd century • abacus • alpha shift • anarchy • Andorian reproductive crisis • aquarium • arachnophobia • assassination • banshee • barn • BASE jumping • Battle of Deneva • Battle of the Alamo • Battle of Wolf 359 • beach • Borg Invasion of 2381 • brig • bulkhead • capitalism • captain's log • Cardassian conflict • Cardie • Charlotte's Web • common house • cottage • court martial • crowbar • dachshund • dance • diagnostic • distress call • Dominion War • duct tape • epoxy tip • Eugenics Wars • eyebolt • farm • fencing • Ferengi Rules of Acquisition • first contact • fuel • glass • glasses • glue • gun • hammer • handkerchief • hangar bay • harpoon • helmet • hiking • hull • Irish wake • jamb • keg • klaxon • knife • Latin • latinum • mallet • medkit • The Minstrel Boy • monster • mutton stew • noose • obituary • ocean • operations center • patent • A Perfect Day for Bananafish • photograph • piano • picnic • piracy • Police Station • ponytail • pub • Public House • quadrant • quarters • racism • rank • ready room • redshirt • reincarnation • repair tape • rodeo • rope • running light • sandalwood • school • Scooby-Doo • sector • Setlik III Massacre • sewer system • shart • Siege of Bastogne • Starfleet uniform (2265-2270) • Starfleet uniform (2278-2350s) • Starfleet uniform (2350s-2366) • Starfleet uniform (2373-2386) • stool • stylus • suicide • suit patch • summer • surfing • tennis • toilet • totalitarianism • victrola • Visharu Adavu • water bottle • wool • wrench • zip-lining

Flora and fauna[]

ape • bee • bird • bull • bullock • cat • dhara • dog • duck • fantail • fish • gerbil • great white shark • haddock • horse • locust • Mongolian gerbil • palm tree • rat • raven • shark • sheep • spider

Food and drink[]

beer • bourbon • broccoli • Bushmills • coffee • egg • Guinness • ice cream • krelt • olive • pistachio • raktajino • root beer • rum • sanar • soy • Stilton cheese • synthehol • tea • tequila • ungaberry • vanilla • vinegar • vodka • water • whiskey • wine • yak-ja

Timeline[]

Chronology[]

c. 2348 (38 years prior to 2386): Benjamin Maxwell returns to Earth with the ashes of his wife and children following the Setlik III massacre (chapter 2)
c. 2349 (37 years prior to 2386): Aboard the USS Rutledge, Miles O'Brien and Naomi Chao consider their relationship (chapter 4)
2367, stardate 44002.3: The Battle of Wolf 359 took place (referenced in the prologue)
2367, c. stardate 44429.6: Under the command of Captain Maxwell, the USS Phoenix destroys a Cardassian science station and two Cardassian starships (referenced in chapter 2). O'Brien reencounters Chao, the Phoenix's first officer, following Maxwell's detention (chapter 10). Maxwell briefly speaks to Worf about his actions (chapter 20)
c. 2367: Maxwell's court-martial takes place at Starfleet Headquarters (chapter 15)
2369 (20 years prior to 2386): Nog and Jake discuss their worst day, and Nog remembers his best day—when Ben and Jake Sisko arrived on DS9—and how one gets the rank pips of a commander, like Sisko's (chapter 7 - 20 years prior to 2386 would make this 2366, but Starfleet didn't begin to administer DS9 until 2369. Also, Jake was attending Keiko's school, but Nog was not. Since they started school on the same day, this must be when Nog was pulled out of school.)
c. 2375: Served by Nog, O'Brien and Julian Bashir get drunk in Quark's and reminisce about their best day together: the day they saved the Alamo (chapter 16). At the penal colony, Dr. Gunther asks Maxwell about the first time he thought he was going to die (chapter 21)
February 10, 2381: Ben Maxwell at the New Zealand Penal Colony on the eve of the Borg invasion (prologue)
c. 2382: Maxwell tells Dr. Clark about dream in which a gerbil wore an old-style red Starfleet uniform. He remembers a very old joke about redshirts but declines to tell it to Clark (chapter 17)
c. 2383 (three years prior to 2386): Maxwell constructs a set of giant robotic legs (chapter 2). He tells Dr. Clark how he accidentally killed the school gerbil when he was a young boy (chapter 18). Maxwell is released from the penal colony and learns of the death of his mother (chapter 6)
c. 2384 (two years prior to 2386): Starfleet Intelligence take an interest in a pirate attack on a freighter helmed by Maxwell (chapter 8). Maxwell returns to New Zealand, rescues a dog called Horrible, and meets up with Doctor Clark again (chapter 11)
c. November, 2385: Maxwell arrives at the Robert Hooke (chapter 19)
December, 2385: Nog visits Jake at his home in Wellington, New Zealand (chapter 14)
January 2, 2386: Nog speaks to Rom via a holosuite at Quark's (chapter 3)
January 7, 2386: Over a drink, Maxwell tells Nita Bharad that O'Brien is coming to visit him (chapter 13)
January 9, 2386: O'Brien and Nog arrive at the Robert Hooke research station, the Mother escapes containment, and a Romulan turns up to claim his purchase from Dr. Finch (main story)
May, 2386: Honey arrives at Nita Bharad's home on Earth and tells of how she escaped the Robert Hooke (epilogue)
June, 2386: Horrible goes missing from Dr. Clark's residence at the Penal Colony, a thank-you note is left (epilogue)

Production history[]

published order
Previous novel: Ascendance	Star Trek: Deep Space Nine	Next novel: The Long Mirage
Previous story: The Light Fantastic	Stories by: Jeffrey Lang	Next story: TBA

Appendices[]

Background[]

Although the cover image depicts a Type-9 shuttlecraft, a spacecraft very similar to an Enolian shuttle^MA, and the Robert Hooke as one half of a Jupiter Station-type facility, none of these match the descriptions in the novel (although the Robert Hooke is similar). The Wren is described as structurally similar to, but smaller than the Erewon-class transport and is capable of holding at least a dozen people comfortably - something a Type-9 certainly couldn't manage; the Enolian shuttle should be a Romulan shuttle/Kestrel-class ship; and the Robert Hooke is described more like a much smaller Earth Spacedock-type station.

Images[]

Connections[]

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine relaunch publications and stories
Novels	A Stitch in Time • Avatar, Book One‎ • Avatar, Book Two • Abyss • Demons of Air and Darkness • Twilight • This Gray Spirit • Cathedral • Lesser Evil • Rising Son • The Left Hand of Destiny, Book One • The Left Hand of Destiny, Book Two • Unity • "Cardassia: The Lotus Flower" • "Andor: Paradigm" • "Trill: Unjoined" • "Bajor: Fragments and Omens" • "Ferenginar: Satisfaction is Not Guaranteed" • "The Dominion: Olympus Descending" • Warpath • Fearful Symmetry • The Soul Key • The Never-Ending Sacrifice • The Missing • Sacraments of Fire • Ascendance • Force and Motion • The Long Mirage • Enigma Tales • Original Sin
Miniseries and anthologies	The Lives of Dax • Divided We Fall • Mission Gamma • Worlds of Deep Space Nine (Volume One, Two & Three)
Short stories and novellas	"Horn and Ivory" • "The Officers' Club" • Lust's Latinum Lost (and Found) • Rules of Accusation • I, The Constable
Comics	N-Vector • "Crossfire" • "No Quarter" • "All Fall Down" • "United We Stand"
Omnibuses	Twist of Faith • These Haunted Seas
Related	Star Trek: Section 31 • Star Trek: Terok Nor • Star Trek: Destiny • Star Trek: Typhon Pact • Star Trek: The Fall • Star Trek: Coda

Translations[]

2018: German : Kraft und Bewegung, translated by René Ulmer. (Cross Cult)

External link[]

Force and Motion article at Memory Alpha, the wiki for canon Star Trek.

Memory Beta, non-canon Star Trek Wiki