Maxwell Forrest

"When Zefram Cochrane made his legendary warp flight ninety years ago, and drew the attention of our new friends, the Vulcans, we realized that we weren't alone in the galaxy. Today, we are about to cross a new threshold. For nearly a century, we've waded ankle-deep in the ocean of space. Now it's finally time to swim."

- Forrest, upon the launch of Enterprise.

Maxwell Forrest was a character introduced in the Star Trek Enterprise pilot Broken Bow.

He was portrayed by Vaughn Armstrong.

Early in his life he had developed an interest in sailing and had considered joining the U.S. Navy as a way of paying for college. He would later join United Earth's Starfleet, and by the 2140s reached the rank of Commodore.

In the 2140s he was placed in charge of the NX program. During this time he became acquainted with a Commander named Jonathan Archer. In 2143 Forrest supervised testing of the warp two engine. Despite the NX-Alpha exploding, Archer and fellow pilot A.G. Robinson were able to successfully test the warp 2 engine by running an unauthorized test flight on the NX-Beta. While Forrest was forced to give Archer and Robinson a good dressing down and grounding them for several weeks, he was able to convince Starfleet to continue the program.

By 2150 Forrest had reached the rank of Admiral. That year he decided to name Archer the Captain of the NX class Enterprise as she neared completion. The following year he authorized the launch of Enterprise to return the Klingon courier Klaag to Qo'noS.

Over the next three years he was one of Archer's staunchest supporters at Starfleet Command, and often went to bat for Archer and the crew of the Enterprise when the crew invariably did something to upset the Vulcan high command. Despite his own past rocky relations with the Vulcans he and Ambassador Soval respected each other.

Forrest died in 2154 after the Romulan V'Las bombed the United Earth embassy on Vulcan. Before dying Soval finally confided in him the reason why the Vulcans were so hesitant in their dealings with humanity - of all the races they had encountered humans were the most like them and some Vulcans were afraid of humanity's potential.

The death of Forrest deeply affected both Soval and Archer, who had considered Forrest to be a close personal friend. Both men were prompted to dig deeper into investigating the bombing, and were eventually able to unmask V'Las as a corrupt, power hungry war monger.