Ghost Ship
The Enterprise encounters a million lost souls - trapped on an endless interstellar voyage!

Ghost Ship is a Pocket TNG novel – the first in the TNG numbered series – written by Diane Carey. Published by Pocket Books, it was first released in .

Summary 
From the book jacket
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  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.

Memorable quotes 
"Life is an offensive, directed against the repetitious mechanism of the universe."
 - ''

Background information 
 As this novel was being written ahead of the series' launch, and in some cases ahead of actual casting, author Diane Carey could only rely on the character descriptions in the series bible. ()
 According to editor Dave Stern, both Gene Roddenberry and Richard Arnold had issues with Carey's approach to this novel; Arnold himself later recalling his concern that Carey was placing too much emphasis on Starfleet being a military organization. ()
 According to a timeline released by DC Comics, this novel takes place shortly after the events of .
 The ship on the cover of this novel appears to be an upside down image of the titular vessel from Battlestar Galactica. The only other ship this could have been meant to represent is the research dinghy in which Riker chases Data's shuttlecraft.
 Data is portrayed on three pages as being able to use contractions when speaking, this novel was written before  established he definitely could not (even though the series occasionally featured him doing so both before and after that episode).
 The plot revolves around a Soviet aircraft carrier disappearing in 1995 despite the Soviet Union dissolving in 1991. However, as the novel was published in , it is understandable that the author did not foresee such an event.

Characters

Regular and recurring characters 

Jean-Luc Picard  Starfleet captain, CO of .
William T. Riker  Starfleet commander, first officer of Enterprise-D. Riker had previously been assigned as second officer of . 
This is one of two novels where Riker is referred to as "Bill"; the other is Encounter at Farpoint.
Data  Android Starfleet lieutenant commander, operations officer of the Enterprise-D.
Beverly Crusher  Starfleet commander, CMO of Enterprise-D.
Worf  Klingon Starfleet lieutenant junior grade who was assigned to the Enterprise-D in the command division.
Deanna Troi  Half-Betazoid Starfleet lieutenant commander assigned as Enterprise-D counselor.
Geordi La Forge  VISOR-sighted Starfleet lieutenant junior grade assigned as Enterprise-D flight control officer.

Argyle  Enterprise-D engineer. Argyle appears next in Pocket TNG: The Peacekeepers and comics of the Star Trek: The Next Generation (DC volume 2) series.
Natasha Yar  Starfleet lieutenant assigned as Enterprise-D security chief.
Wesley Crusher  Fifteen-year-old Enterprise-D resident, awarded the title acting ensign by Captain Picard.

Other characters 

McDougal  Enterprise-D chief engineer.
Arkady Reykov  Russian captain of the Gorshkov.
Timofei Vasska  Russian executive of Gorshkov.
Myakishev  Russian duty officer on Gorshkov.
Feklenko  Captain of Vladivostok.
Leon Ruszkowski Captain of USS Roosevelt.
David Galanter  Executive officer of USS Roosevelt. 
Named for novelist Dave Galanter.
Annalise Drumm  USS Roosevelt air wing commander.
Compton  USS Roosevelt crewperson.
Harper  US Navy admiral. Ruszkowski suggested that if Galanter opened a Greek restaurant, he could offer Adm. Harper a job as maître d'.
F. Palmer  Ensign
Mitchell  Doctor
Reykov's petty officer  Gorshkov crewmember.
Laura  Childhood crush of Picard.

References 
Athens; Paris; Los Angeles
aircraft carrier
Betazed
Black Sea  After leaving dock, the Gorshkov was headed toward the Black Sea with its EMP weapon.
Canis IV
EMP
Epsilon Indii VI
Klinzhai
Lenin-class  Type of aircraft carrier created by the Soviet Union in the 20th century.
research dinghy  Type of auxiliary vehicle carried aboard Enterprise-D. This scientific research vessel could be launched from the shuttlebay and was similar in capabilities to a standard shuttlecraft.
Edmund Fitzgerald  Great Lakes ore freighter lost in storm with all hands in November 1975; incorrectly referred to as a tanker in historical database viewed by Deanna Troi.
The Fitzgerald was in real life a bulk freighter most frequently carrying iron ore; referring to these ships as tankers is a common mistake because of their long open decks and lack of the type of cargo crane generally associated with ocean freighters. See also .
Sergei G. Gorshkov  Russian Lenin-class aircraft carrier, circa 1995. 
In real life, there was a carrier Gorshkov, and the authors correctly inferred the vessel (which wasn't named at the time of the novel's creation) would be one built at Nikolayev. See also .
Nikolayev  Shipyard location, the origin of the Gorshkov.
USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) : US aircraft carrier. See also .
Soviet Union  The novel was written in , three years before the Soviet government fell in 1991. It would now seem odd that the defunct government would have an aircraft carrier in 1995.
Vladivostok  Russian naval vessel in 1995.
USS George Washington (CVN-73)  US aircraft carrier, Enterprise-class, named for George Washington. 
The authors correctly divined 1992 as this vessel's commission date, although rather than being Enterprise-class, the ship is officially a refit Nimitz-class design. See also .

 Federation starbase. In 2360, William Riker received his orders to be assigned to the USS Yorktown on the station. The Yorktown came a short time later. See: Federation starbases.

   starship. 
This Yorktown was not mentioned in canon, but it could correspond to the Yorktown (of unspecified class) that Tuvok's father served aboard in the 2290s. () An Excelsior-class Yorktown is also listed in the Star Trek: The Next Generation Officer's Manual, with the registry NCC-2033. The novel  states Riker served three years as second officer of Yorktown''.

External links 
 
 

cs:Ghost Ship
de:Gespensterschiff
Novels