History Literature / StarTrekDepartmentOfTemporalInvestigations

* ''Watching the Clock'', which focuses on Lucsly and Dulmur, DTI field agents from the popular ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' episode "Trials and Tribble-ations".

* "Time Lock", an e-book novella about a mercenary raid on the Eridian Vault, which forces the DTI to activate the time lock protocol.

* "Time Lock", a second upcoming e-book.

* SecretGovernmentWarehouse: The Vault on Eris is where the DTI stores all its confiscated time travel tech, [[ShoutOut including among other things,]] a [[Series/DoctorWho large blue box]] and an [[TheTimeMachine antique temporal carriage]].

* ShoutOut: Felbog the Choblik is a reference to Nebogipfel, the Morlock from Baxter's ''The Time Ships''. Tigellan Chronic Hysteresis, meanwhile, is a nod to Series/DoctorWho.

** The DTI and their 29th-century, 31st-century, etc. equivalents.

* BrokenPedestal: Lucsly faces this regarding [[spoiler: Meijan Grey]]. Also inverted, as Lucsly gradually realizes that Kirk is not the reckless character he was expecting.

* SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong: Averted. The crew of the ''Verity'', shot forward in time to find their planet in ruins following the [[Literature/StarTrekDestiny Borg Invasion]], want to try and return to their original time to give warning. They're prevented from doing so, and it's explained why their decision was the wrong one, no matter how subjectively understandable the desire.

* StableTimeLoop:
** Kirk, Spock and Scotty only know how to slingshot with warp engines other than ''Enterprise'''s because [[spoiler: Lucsly shows Kirk how. Luscly]] is ''[[INeedAFreakingDrink not happy]]''.
** There is a short one during the firefight in the Vault, during which Dulmer uses one of the time gizmos lying around to travel back in time a few minutes to help ''himself'' neutralize the renegade Bozeman crew. Lucsly is predictably upset, since they're not supposed to do that, but Dulmer points out that he already saw his future self during the fight, so he had to travel back in order to preserve the timeline. Lucsly grudgingly concedes that he's right. (Perhaps this is why Lucsly [[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS05E06TrialsAndTribbleations hates time loops]].)

Part of the Franchise/StarTrekNovelverse. A DayInTheLimelight for the titular [[TimePolice Department of Temporal Investigations]], which monitors the integrity of the timeline and protects the history of the ''Franchise/StarTrek'' universe from attempted [[CosmicRetcon Cosmic Retcons]]. The first novel, ''Watching the Clock'', focuses on Lucsly and Dulmur, DTI field agents from the popular ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' episode "Trials and Tribble-ations". The second, ''Forgotten History'', details the founding of the department in the days of Captain Kirk. The third story, "The Collectors", is a shorter e-book exclusive novella, .

* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: Agent George Faunt suffers a breakdown, attacks his colleagues, takes a researcher hostage and turns the DTI branch office into a seige zone. He also makes a lame time-related pun. Dulmur notes this last in a manner suggesting it's almost as serious as the other offenses.

* AndIMustScream: Apparently, the Temporal Disruptor weapon causes its victims to "feel like it takes an age to die". This is largely why even those factions fighting against the Temporal Accords rarely use them.

* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: Agent George Faunt suffers a breakdown, attacks his colleagues, takes a researcher hostage and turns the DTI branch office into a seige zone. He also makes a lame time-related pun. Dulmur notes this last in a manner suggesting it's almost as serious as the other offenses.

* CharmPerson: Lirahn and other Selakar have this ability.

* CulturalPosturing: A little of this from T'Viss in ''Forgotten History'' (though she probably sees it as quashing Kirk's own "posturing"). She acknowledges that Jonathan Archer provided ''some'' assistance to T'Pau in rediscovering Surak's original writings and reforming Vulcan society. ''Some''.

* ISayWhatISay: When President Bacco is temporarily duplicated (long story), the two presidents respond to a compliment with a simultaneous (somewhat sarcastic) "oh, please!" Amusingly, they also snark at each other for making the exact sort of grumpy, sarcastic comments that Bacco always makes.
* IncrediblyLamePun: One of the two Baccos makes the "beside myself" joke, to the great pain of her duplicate.
* InsufferableGenius: Vard.

* LookOnMyWorksYeMightyAndDespair: Most of the races represented in the Axis of Time have to deal with this. In the time periods they consider to be "the present", they're often thriving cultures, indeed the leading races of their interstellar communities. But thanks to the Axis they know that a few thousand years later and they'll have been forgotten, being at best archaeological curiosities to the next group of spacefaring cultures and at worst lost to history.

* SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong: Averted. The crew of the ''Verity'', shot forward in time to find their planet in ruins following the [[Literature/StarTrekDestiny Borg Invasion]], want to try and return to their original time to give warning. They're prevented from doing so, and it's explained why their decision was the wrong one, no matter how subjectively understandable the desire.
** Agent Faunt was tempted to do the same thing while exploring a time portal on a world devastated by the Borg. When he found out the portal also led to an alternate dimension and wouldn't fix things, he suffered the psychotic break that kicks off ''Watching The Clock''.

* AccidentalMisnaming: [[InsufferableGenius Professor Vard]] refers to Dulmur as Agent Duller, Agent Dummer, and Agent Dombler, among others.

* AlienGeometries: Due to the properties of the finite pocket dimension which forms the Axis of Time, its Council Hub station touches its own opposite end, forming a Moebius Structure. Its public transport can be ridden in a straight line that ends up back where it started.
* TheAlliance: The Colloquium of Progress, a multi-species civilization represented in the Axis of Time. Plus of course the United Federation of Planets (and, in ''Watching the Clock'', its new rival, the Typhon Pact).
* AlternateHistory: One is explored to some degree in ''Forgotten History'', almost in the tradition of the ''Literature/StarTrekMyriadUniverses'' series.
* AlternativeCalendar: As well as multiple real-life calendars, including Christian, Islamic, Hindu and Mayan examples, the chapters of ''Watching the Clock'' offer dating systems from many ''Franchise/StarTrek'' cultures, including Vulcan, Andorian, Cardassian, Klingon, Deltan, Tandaran and Risian. Most of these have been plotted out in full by the author, according to his annotations.
* AmplifierArtifact: The Selakar used crystals that amplified their psionic abilities, for use as power sources, weapons, etc. Their most powerful allows them to permanently enslave other minds to their service, augmenting their natural ability to influence people.
* AndIMustScream: Apparently, the Temporal Disruptor weapon causes its victims to "feel like it takes an age to die". This is largely why even those factions fighting against the Temporal Accords rarely use them.

* BatmanGambit: In ''Watching the Clock'', it's revealed [[spoiler: that the Tandarans, under attack by the Suliban Cabal, knew that a future agency was sponsoring the enemy. They believed the Cabal was attempting to prevent Tandar Prime's ascension as a leading authority in temporal science, when in fact it was the knowledge that they were under attack from the future that led Tandar to pursue temporal research so aggressively. The Tandarans kept their knowledge secret so that the enemy would continue inadvertently strengthening them by attacking them. However, it's then revealed that the Cabal's Sponsor, AKA Future Guy, knew what they were doing all along, and was encouraging it. Tandaran pursuit of temporal research led to his own creation, so he was manipulating them into ensuring that he would exist]].
* BrokenPedestal: Lucsly faces this regarding [[spoiler: Meijan Grey]]. Also inverted, as Lucsly gradually realizes that Kirk is not the reckless character he was expecting.
* CallForward: In the {{Flashback}} sequence in ''Forgotten History'', Spock is surprised that his human collegue thinks of the Onlies planet (a parallel Earth where most of humanity died) as "home". He then reflects that he doesn't know how he'd react if he encountered [[Film/StarTrek a timeline where Vulcan was destroyed]].

* DrowningMySorrows: Cyral Nine, after quitting the Aegis. Lucsly, for a short time.

* EnemyMine: Discussed in the alternate timeline from ''Forgotten History'', where the Andorians, their homeworld under Vulcan occupation, have formed a strong alliance with the Klingons. A Klingon representative cheerfully acknowledges that had they not found a common foe in the Vulcans, the Klingons would likely consider Andorians their enemy too.

* HeelRealization: [[spoiler: Jena Noi from the alternate future in "The Collectors" realizes, after peering into the thoughts of her counterpart, just how much of a CrapsackWorld she's living in by comparison, making her much more self-conscious about [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone the things she's done]]. It's enough to convince her to help restore the original timeline, even knowing she will be erased in the process.]]

* HeroicWillpower: An important part of the Deltans' characterization in ''Watching the Clock''.

* HigherTechSpecies: The Vedala.

* JumpedAtTheCall: Subverted. We meet an eager young recruit who can't wait to have "adventures" as a Temporal Agent, but is told very quickly that the whole point of the DTI is to ''avoid'' adventure. In fact, if time travel happens the mission's already a failure. The recruit drops out the next day.

* KickedUpstairs: Kirk, in ''Forgotten History''.

* ManipulativeBastard: [[spoiler: Lirahn]]. And [[Series/StarTrekEnterprise Future Guy]].

* MysteriousEmployer: "Future Guy", of ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'' fame. The mystery is finally resolved at the climax of ''Watching the Clock''.

* NinjaPirateZombieRobot: [[spoiler: Borg Tyrannosaurus]].
* ObstructiveBureaucrat: Admiral Delgado places one aboard the ''Enterprise'', knowing that Kirk will earn her ire through his disregard for the letter of the law.
* OtherMeAnnoysMe: Jena Noi encounters an alternate version of herself in "The Collectors". [[spoiler: They do not get along well at all, since the alternate Noi's timeline is much more militaristic and cynical.]]
* ParentalFavoritism: Paul Manheim insists that his brother was the favorite, explaining his subconscious resentment of said brother.
* PlaceBeyondTime: The Axis of Time, a pocket dimension that allows travel between various eras while itself existing outside normal space-time.

* {{Retcon}}: A subtle one; Kirk being KickedUpstairs at the end of his five-year mission, with ''Enterprise'' given a major refit, was established in ''Film/StarTrekTheMotionPicture'' and explored further in the novel ''[[Literature/StarTrekExMachina Ex Machina]]''. In ''Forgotten History'', this is now shown to happen in part due to influence from Admiral Delgado, to further his well-meaning, if overzealous, ambitions for time travel experiments. Specifically, with the ''Enterprise'' undergoing a major refit, its old engines are his for the taking, along with their unique properties allowing artificial time travel.

* RevengeBeforeReason: The Sponsor has a little of this:
-->"If that revenge backfired and led to my arrest, then all the more need for the revenge itself to stand".

* SequelHook: Sort of. Before he is captured at the end of ''Watching the Clock'', "Future Guy" is said to have been hiding in the 22nd Century during the Romulan War. In other words, the time frame of the Literature/StarTrekEnterpriseRelaunch.

* StableTimeLoop:
** Kirk, Spock and Scotty only know how to slingshot with warp engines other than ''Enterprise'''s because [[spoiler: Lucsly shows Kirk how. Luscly]] is ''[[INeedAFreakingDrink not happy]]''.
** There is a short one during the firefight in the Vault, during which Dulmer uses one of the time gizmos lying around to travel back in time a few minutes to help ''himself'' neutralize the renegade Bozeman crew. Lucsly is predictably upset, since they're not supposed to do that, but Dulmer points out that he already saw his future self during the fight, so he had to travel back in order to preserve the timeline. Lucsly grudgingly concedes that he's right. (Perhaps this is why Lucsly [[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS05E06TrialsAndTribbleations hates time loops]].)

* TenMinuteRetirement: Lucsly, after his faith that the DTI will protect the timeline's integrity is shattered when, on advice from a future agency, he is refused permission to prosecute Janeway for her actions in ''Endgame''. Dulmur talks him into returning.
* TimeCrash: The climax of ''Watching the Clock'', caused by a GambitPileup involving at least a dozen temporal factions and InsufferableGenius Vard.
-->''Chapter XX - [[OhCrap Time out of Joint]] - [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt A Doomsday]]''
** Another type occurs in ''Forgotten History'', where a time travel experiment [[GoneHorriblyWrong Goes Horribly Wrong]] creating a "confluence" where the past and present of two separate timelines overlap, with the potential that people could stumble between universes and / or times and accidentally rewrite each others' histories.

* TyrannosaurusRex: [[spoiler: Borgified, of all things]].
* UnusualChapterNumbers: Each chapter of ''Watching the Clock'' has a subtitle with an AlternativeCalendar date:
-->''Chapter XI - Décade II Quartidi Frimaire, Année DXC de la République, French Republican Calendar - A Friday''[[note]]That's 4 December 2381 Gregorian, in case you're wondering.[[/note]]
* VestigialEmpire: A willingly vestigial one in the case of the Deltans. They turned inwards centuries ago and now control only a few star systems, considering space travel and colonization a “noble savage” sort of concept. They still get annoyed when the Carreon try to settle their old holdings, though.

* WhamLine: At the end of ''Watching the Clock'', courtesy of Shiiem of the Zcham, a species from 800,000 years into the future: "[[spoiler:We're only human, after all.]]"

* ActionGirl: Jenna Noi.

* HeinzHybrid: By the 31st Century, these are more common than single-species Humanoids. Jenna Noi, for example, is part Vulcan, Ocampa, Cygnian, and Tandaran, among others. Races as disparate as Bolians and Cardassians can eventually, with medical assistance, produce children together.

* HeelRealization: [[spoiler: Jena Noi from the alternate future in "The Collectors" realizes, after peering into the thoughts of her counterpart, just how much of a CrapsackWorld she's living in by comparison. It's enough to convince her to help restore the original timeline, even knowing she will be erased in the process.]]

** The Black Star, and its orbiting Warlock Station, are named after the title character and his dragon in the animated series ''WesternAnimation/{{Blackstar}}''. (In-universe, Warlock Station's name comes from a work by Andorian sf author Vaacith sh'Lesinas ... which has the same plot as ''Blackstar'').

** The three ''Bozeman'' security guards who help Lt. Whitcomb break into the The Vault are named for the actors who played Biff's "gang" in ''BackToTheFuture''.

* ShoutOut: Felbog the Choblik is a reference to Nebogipfel, the Morlock from Baxter's ''The Time Ships''. Tigellan Chronic Hysteresis, meanwhile, is a nod to DoctorWho.

* StableTimeLoop: Kirk, Spock and Scotty only know how to slingshot with warp engines other than ''Enterprise'''s because [[spoiler: Lucsly shows Kirk how. Luscly]] is ''[[INeedAFreakingDrink not happy]]''.

* SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong: Averted. The crew of the ''Verity'', shot forward in time to find their planet in ruins following the [[StarTrekDestiny Borg Invasion]], want to try and return to their original time to give warning. They're prevented from doing so, and it's explained why their decision was the wrong one, no matter how subjectively understandable the desire.

* AlternateHistory: One is explored to some degree in ''Forgotten History'', almost in the tradition of the ''StarTrekMyriadUniverses'' series.

* {{Retcon}}: A subtle one; Kirk being KickedUpstairs at the end of his five-year mission, with ''Enterprise'' given a major refit, was established in ''Film/StarTrekTheMotionPicture'' and explored further in the novel ''[[StarTrekExMachina Ex Machina]]''. In ''Forgotten History'', this is now shown to happen in part due to influence from Admiral Delgado, to further his well-meaning, if overzealous, ambitions for time travel experiments. Specifically, with the ''Enterprise'' undergoing a major refit, its old engines are his for the taking, along with their unique properties allowing artificial time travel.

* ContinuityNod: Many. ''Forgotten History'' is largely set in a similar timeframe to ''Film/StarTrekTheMotionPicture'' and the novel [[StarTrekExMachina ''Ex Machina'']], and there are references to both. Among other nods is a mention of [[Literature/StarTrekMereAnarchy relief efforts to Mestiko]].

* {{Retcon}}: A subtle one; Kirk being KickedUpstairs at the end of his five-year mission, with ''Enterprise'' given a major refit, was established in ''Film/StarTrekTheMotionPicture'' and explored further in the novel [[StarTrekExMachina ''Ex Machina'']]. In ''Forgotten History'', this is now shown to happen in part due to influence from Admiral Delgado, to further his well-meaning, if overzealous, ambitions for time travel experiments. Specifically, with the ''Enterprise'' undergoing a major refit, its old engines are his for the taking, along with their unique properties allowing artificial time travel.