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Part of the ''[[Star Trek Novel Verse]]''. A [[Day in The Limelight]] for the titular Department of Temporal Investigations, which monitors the integrity of the timeline and protects the history of the ''[[Star Trek]]'' universe from attempted [[Cosmic Retcon
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* [[Action Girl]]: Jenna Noi.
* [[Alien Geometries]]: 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.
* [[The Alliance]]: 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).
* [[Alternate History]]: One is explored to some degree in ''Forgotten History'', almost in the tradition of the [[Star Trek: Myriad Universes]] series.
* [[Alternative Calendar]]: 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 ''[[Star Trek]]'' 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.
* [[Amplifier Artifact]]: 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.
* [[And I Must Scream]]: 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.
* [[Arc Welding]]: Every single [[Time Travel]] episode gets at least a [[Shout-Out]]. The [[Arc Welding]] is particularly notable in ''Forgotten History'', which links all of Captain Kirk's time-travel experiences (in [[Star Trek: The Original Series|the Original Series]] and [[Star Trek: The Animated Series|the animated series]]) to create the story of the DTI's origins and early activities.
* [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking]]: 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.
* [[Berserk Button]]: DTI agents ''loathe'' time jokes. Given such things going wrong lead to hassles they have to clean up, it's pretty understandable.
* [[Broken Pedestal]]: Lucsly faces this regarding
* [[Charm Person]]: Lirahn and other Selakar have this ability.
* [[Continuity Nod]]: Many. ''Forgotten History'' is largely set in a similar timeframe to ''[[Star Trek: The
* [[Continuity Porn]]: Almost every time-travel story in Trek canon and the [[Star Trek Novel Verse]] gets a mention. Other nods are more integral to the plot - the Null from [[Star Trek: Titan]] is referenced as the reason why the Axis of Time has only just made contact with the modern era. Only when galactic drift brought them past the Null was it felt acceptable for the Axis to send out scouts into our time, explaining why it's only now been discovered.
* [[Cosmic Retcon]]: A large part of the DTI's purpose is to protect the timeline from these, and much of the Temporal Cold War revolves around trying to cause them without actively being seen to violate the Temporal Accords. In ''Watching the Clock'', a particularly disturbing [[Cosmic Retcon]] occurs, when
* [[Cultural Posturing]]: 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''.
* [[Double Meaning Title]]: ''Watching the Clock'' refers both to the DTI's role in protecting and monitoring the timeline, and to the mundane nature of its agents, who are most certainly not Starfleet-style adventurers. The DTI know that if they're having an adventure, they've already screwed up, and it's going to pay hell with the paperwork. No, they're 9-to-5 government employees, and like to keep things as unchaotic and, ideally, dull as possible.
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* [[Enemy Mine]]: 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.
* [[Expecting Someone Taller]]: Dulmur thinks this about Kirk after finally coming face-to-face with him. As for Lucsly, he was expecting someone far more reckless.
* [[A God Am I]]: During the Great Psionic War, millennia before the rise of the Federation, many of the advanced telepathic races ended up calling themselves divine and insisting that "lesser" races worship them as deities. Their psionic gifts were offered as proof of divinity.
* [[Gotta Catch
* [[Gut Feeling]]: Shortly into his partnership with Lucsly, Dulmur has one of these regarding a connection between the Manheim effect of the previous year and the vortex phenomenon they're currently investigating. Lucsly advises against "gut feelings", saying that everything the DTI deals with is counter-intuitive anyway. Nonetheless, Lucsly doesn't entirely dismiss Dulmur's insight, but insists on waiting until he has supporting evidence.
* [[Heroic Willpower]]: An important part of the Deltans' characterization in ''Watching the Clock''.
* [[Higher-Tech Species]]: The Vedala.
* [[Hitler's Time Travel Exemption Act]]: Discussed and justified. The DTI has to enforce this trope almost all the time. They acknowledge things like preventing disasters and wars are wonderful, but nigh always have to stop people from actually doing this because it does damage to the overall flow of history that can often be much worse than what it tried to fix. Basically, Hitler must have a time travel exemption nearly always to avoid this even worse scenario.
* [[I Say What I Say]]: 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.
* [[Incredibly Lame Pun]]: One of the two Baccos makes the "beside myself" joke, to the great pain of her duplicate.
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* [[Look on My Works Ye Mighty and Despair]]: 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.
* [[Manipulative Bastard]]: {{spoiler|Lirahn}}. And [[Star Trek: Enterprise|Future Guy]].
* [[Mr. Exposition|Ms. Exposition]]: T'Viss, crotchety temporal physics lecturer extraordinaire. [[Word of God]] confirms it:
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* [[My Name Is Not Durwood]]: [[Insufferable Genius|Professor Vard]] refers to Dulmur as Agent Duller, Agent Dummer, and Agent Dombler, among others.
* [[Mysterious Employer]]: "Future Guy", of ''[[Star Trek:
* [[Mysterious Past]]: We get no real information on Lucsly's backstory, in contrast to almost every other major character within the DTI. Of course, this being Lucsly, his backstory is probably very, very dull.
* [[Parental Favoritism]]: Paul Manheim insists that his brother was the favorite, explaining his subconscious resentment of said brother.
* [[Place Beyond Time]]: The Axis of Time, a pocket dimension that allows travel between various eras while itself existing outside normal space-time.
* [[Precursors]]: Among others, the Arret Empire. Two species in partnership - one standard Humanoid, the other Vulcanoid - spread themselves across the stars and founded countless colonies. Many of the Federation's member races, including Deltans and Vulcans, are strongly implied to be descendants of these colonies.
* [[Retcon]]: A subtle one; Kirk being [[Kicked Upstairs]] at the end of his five-year mission, with ''Enterprise'' given a major refit, was established in ''[[Star Trek: The
* [[Ret-Gone]]:
* [[Revenge Before Reason]]: The Sponsor has a little of this:
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* [[Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory]]: The Department of Temporal Investigations keeps records protected by phase discriminators, shielding the data from alterations in the timeline. Although the agents themselves will have no knowledge of the previous history, they can research their own files to determine if changes have been made.
* [[Secret Government Warehouse]]: The Vault on Eris is where the DTI stores all its confiscated time travel tech, [[Shout-Out|including among other things,]] a [[Doctor Who|large blue box]] and an [[The Time Machine|antique temporal carriage]].
* [[Sequel Hook]]: 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 [[Star Trek Enterprise Relaunch]].
* [[Set Right What Once Went Wrong]]: Averted. The crew of the ''Verity'', shot forward in time to find their planet in ruins following the [[Star Trek: Destiny|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.
* [[Shown Their Work]]: The author, Christopher L. Bennett, has a degree in Physics and it shows.
* [[Space Elves]]: The Deltans are fleshed out in ''Watching the Clock'', and have aspects of this trope.
** The Vedala in ''Forgotten History'' fit the bill. They're generally benevolent, older than other spacefaring races, very advanced and isolationist, and seem ever-so-slightly smug about their status in relation to younger "child" races. Behind their reasonable manner is the clear belief that [[Our Elves Are Better|Vedala are better than you]].
* [[Stable Time Loop]]: Kirk, Spock and Scotty only know how to slingshot with warp engines other than ''Enterprise'''s because
* [[Teeth-Clenched Teamwork]]:
** Despite its claim to unity, the [[Star Trek: Typhon Pact|Typhon Pact]] is still riddled with rivalries and the various member states' government agencies have yet to form a shared bureau for dealing with temporal integrity.
** The DTI and their 29th-century, 31st-century, etc. equivalents.
* [[Ten-Minute Retirement]]: 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.
* [[Time Crash]]: The climax of ''Watching the Clock'', caused by a [[Gambit Pileup]] involving at least a dozen temporal factions and [[Insufferable Genius]] Vard.
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** Another type occurs in ''Forgotten History'', where a time travel experiment [[Gone Horribly Wrong|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
* [[Time Police]]
* [[Time Travel]]: The books feature this, of course, but it's important to note that the DTI wants to avoid it wherever possible. The department exists to protect ''against'' time travel and clean up the mess that results, not travel in time themselves.
* [[Timey-Wimey Ball]]: Averted. The books aim for
* [[Unusual Chapter Numbers]]: Each chapter of ''Watching the Clock'' has a subtitle with an [[Alternative Calendar]] date:
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* [[Weirdness Magnet]]: Establishes that temporal anomalies turn you into one of these, explaining a great deal about Star Trek as a whole. Once you're exposed to one, probability is altered such that it becomes inevitable that you end up exposed to a whole lot more.
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