Maxwell Forrest Maxwell Forrest was a Human Starfleet flag officer in charge of the NX Project during the 2140s and 2150s . As a commodore , he supervised the first tests of the warp five engine . As such , he worked closely with the Vulcan s , who were supervising Humanity ' s progress into space . NX Project . As a Starfleet commodore , Forrest was responsible for overseeing the NX Project and did so from as early as 2143 . In that year , he chose A . G . Robinson over Jonathan Archer to pilot the NX - Alpha . This decision was a difficult one for Forrest , since the engine of the NX - Alpha had been designed by Archer ' s father , Henry . Robinson easily broke the Warp 2 barrier , but the ship exploded shortly after reaching warp 2 . 2 . Although Robinson survived by jettisoning an escape pod while at warp , the Vulcan s claimed that the warp program should be postponed . Forrest stopped at the 602 Club , a bar frequented by Starfleet personnel , and informed Archer and Robinson that the program would be suspended . After Archer and Robinson disobeyed orders and ran a new test that was successful , Forrest persuaded Starfleet Command to reinstate the program . ( ) The " Enterprise " mission . Launch . In 2150 , the final selection for the captain cy of took place between Captains A . G . Robinson and Jonathan Archer . Although Captain Gardner had originally been considered the most suitable choice by Vulcan Ambassador Soval , Forrest – by then an admiral – assigned Jonathan Archer as the commanding officer of " Enterprise " in October that year . ( ) After Klingon courier Klaang crashed on Earth during the Broken Bow Incident in April 2151 , the Vulcans wanted to delay the launch of " Enterprise " and , as the Klingons had requested , to return Klaang to his homeworld : Qo ' noS . Suspecting this approach wouldn ' t sit too well with Archer , Forrest requested that he immediately attend a meeting at Starfleet Medical , which Forrest also attended , along with a couple of Starfleet officers and a few Vulcan dignitaries , including Ambassador Soval and Sub - Commander T ' Pol . While Archer was yet to make an appearance , Forrest respectfully contended that Starfleet had a right to know what was happening with the case . Once Archer had arrived , the admiral helped explain the situation to him . Forrest initially warned Archer that Starfleet might have to defer to the Vulcans ' judgment . However , Forrest listened to Archer argue otherwise , and , moments later , the admiral overruled the Vulcans and declared that Starfleet itself would return the Klingon . Forrest authorized " Enterprise " to launch early , on a mission to return Klaang to Qo ' noS alive , despite protests from Soval and the other Vulcans . Forrest told the ambassador that Humanity had been waiting nearly a hundred years for this chance , and , after the Vulcans departed , he told Archer not to screw it up . One condition of the launch , though , was that T ' Pol join the ship ' s crew ; Forrest advised Archer that he and the rest of the crew should think of her as essentially a chaperone . Forrest also officiated over the launching ceremony of " Enterprise " . At a press conference immediately prior to the mission launch , he said that Humans had been ankle deep in space travel and that it was time to swim . Forrest also cited , in his speech , the work of Doctor Zefram Cochrane and Henry Archer . Rather than quoting Cochrane , the admiral opted to play a video of a historically significant speech that Cochrane himself had given , at the dedication ceremony for the Warp Five Complex . ( ) Forrest also stated , before the launch , that " Enterprise " would be making history with every light year , which Captain Archer later alluded to in his captain ' s log while pondering whether to venture aboard an apparently derelict Axanar cargo ship . ( ) The mission . Forrest stayed in constant touch with " Enterprise " . He gave many orders as different situations arose . ( , et al . ) As his role was rarely to dispense information , he enjoyed notifying the Vulcan High Command about Suliban individuals whom " Enterprise " encountered during its initial mission . After the ship successfully completed that mission , Forrest related this enthusiasm to Archer and advised that he saw no reason for " Enterprise " to discontinue its exploration of space . ( ) Forrest felt similar joy upon receiving sensor scans of a rogue comet which " Enterprise " thereafter studied . He ordered the ship to investigate a distress call from the , a cargo ship that had been attacked by Nausicaan pirate s . ( ) Forrest had to constantly walk a delicate balance between the goal of Human space exploration and Vulcan misgivings about it . After the discovery of P ' Jem as a base for spy activity against the Andorian s , it was destroyed in an attack by the Andorians . The Vulcan High Command called for an end of " Enterprise " s mission . Forrest refused , so the Vulcans called off joint Earth - Vulcan fleet operations and requested Sub - Commander T ' Pol to transfer off " Enterprise " . The Vulcans eventually relented after T ' Pol and Archer saved Sopek , a senior Vulcan officer . ( ) While " Enterprise " was visited by a group of Vulcans who did not embrace logic , Forrest contacted Archer and asked him to have one of the Vulcans , named Kov , call his father , who was dying . ( ) He also ordered " Enterprise " to transport Vulcan Ambassador V ' Lar from the Mazarite homeworld . She had information on the corruption of government officials and her life was in danger . ( ) After an accident seemingly caused by " Enterprise " killed 3 , 600 Paraagan s when tetrazine was ignited by the ship , Forrest informed Archer that , at the urging of the Vulcan High Command and Starfleet , " Enterprise " s mission was canceled . After Archer presented evidence that vindicated " Enterprise " , Forrest reinstated the mission . ( ) Later , Forrest ordered Archer to arbitrate a dispute between the Andorians and Vulcans after hostilities broke out over a disputed planet called Weytahn . ( ) After Archer contacted him about the discovery of a which had a Human corpse in it , Forrest thought it might be Zefram Cochrane , who had disappeared mysteriously . ( ) After a science team in the Arctic Circle lost contact with Starfleet , Admiral Forrest was informed and led a team to investigate . They rushed to the site , only to find it abandoned . He found that the scientist s were missing , as was their transport . Admiral Forrest called in " Enterprise " to find the transport . This was Humanity ' s first contact with cybernetic beings known as the Borg , although the Humans never found out what their name was . ( ) The Xindi mission . After an initial Xindi attack on Earth and once Archer met with a humanoid from the future who gave him details about the Xindi , Forrest met with Archer at Starfleet Headquarters . At first , Admiral Forrest was not convinced about Archer ' s information . Forrest was skeptical that it justified a mission into the Delphic Expanse . After Archer provided evidence by proving that the remains of a Xindi probe that had carried out the first attack on Earth included some debris which was from the future , Forrest authorized " Enterprise " to depart on a mission into the Delphic Expanse and to conduct a search for the Xindi there . ( ) Later career . After the Xindi mission succeeded , Forrest welcomed the " Enterprise " crew home as heroes . Archer was debriefed by Starfleet Command and the Vulcan High Command . When Ambassador Soval insinuated that trellium - infected Vulcan ship " Seleya " was destroyed without the " Enterprise " officers doing enough to help the Vulcan crew , Archer became outraged , blaming the Vulcan High Command for not providing enough assistance in their mission . Admiral Forrest ordered Archer to take some time off to clear his mind . ( ) Forrest visited the United Earth Embassy on in 2154 . There , he had a conversation with Ambassador Soval , discussing joint missions between Earth and Vulcan . When a terrorist bomb detonated in the embassy , Forrest pushed Soval out of the blast wave , sacrificing himself . This proved to be Forrest ' s last act , as he was killed by the explosion . Captain Archer was saddened by the loss of his friend . Ambassador Soval , for his part , offered the Captain his full support in the investigation and urged him to look on Vulcan for the answers he needed . ( ) " In an alternate timeline , Forrest sent a message to " Enterprise " after meeting with the Command Council to transfer command of the ship to Sub - Commander T ' Pol . He was likely killed when the Xindi weapon was deployed against Earth , shortly thereafter . " ( ) Appendices . Background information . Identity . Forrest was played by " Star Trek " veteran Vaughn Armstrong . The character of Forrest was named after DeForest Kelley , the " " actor who played Doctor McCoy . ( text commentary , ENT Season 1 DVD / Blu - ray ; ) Forrest ' s first name , " Maxwell " , wasn ' t established until ENT Season 4 installment , the only episode that uses that first name . Origins . While Rick Berman and Brannon Braga were developing pilot episode , they had no idea that Forrest would become a long - term recurring character . ( " Broken Bow " audio commentary , ENT Season 1 DVD / Blu - ray ) Hence , in a character breakdown sheet that Paramount sent to various talent agents upon casting " Broken Bow " , Admiral Forrest was described as a non - recurring role , scheduled to appear only in the pilot episode . He was , in the same document , further characterized thus ; " " Human male . 50s to 60s . A career military man who ' s the highest ranking officer in Starfleet . He ' s fond of Captain Archer and has personally selected him to command " Enterprise " . " " No reference to Forrest was made in the ENT series bible . The process of casting Vaughn Armstrong as Admiral Forrest turned out to be relatively straight - forward . " " When I went to audition for " Enterprise " , it seemed to go well , " " the actor noted . ( ) Although he auditioned ( for Rick Berman ) to play the part of Ambassador Soval , the creative staff who witnessed Armstrong ' s audition evidently had other plans in mind . ( " Admiral Forrest Takes Center Stage " , ENT Season 1 DVD & Blu - ray special features ) " " When I got home , I immediately got a phone call , " " the actor reminisced . " " They said , ' As soon as you walked into the room , they saw Admiral Forrest ! ' I was thrilled to get a human on " Star Trek " , and praying that it would be a recurring character beyond that one episode . " " ( ) Armstrong was also extremely proud that the casting personnel for " Star Trek : Enterprise " had immediately recognized him as right for the part . Vaughn Armstrong was told nothing about Forrest ' s personal history . This allowed Armstrong the freedom to concoct his own backstory for the character , influenced by the scripts he was provided . Vaughn Armstrong found adopting the role of Forrest , for " Broken Bow " , was somewhat odd , as he was much more used to playing aliens . Regarding the character ' s debut , he remarked , " " It was great ! Though I didn ' t have a lot of time to memorize my lines , because I usually do it in the makeup chair [ . . . ] This time I could actually sit in my trailer and learn my lines , but it was unusual in that there wasn ' t anybody patting my face while I was doing it ! " " ( ) In fact , the make - up application time for Forrest was only ten minutes . For " Broken Bow " , Vaughn Armstrong shot the scene in which Forrest , at Starfleet Medical , okays the launch of " Enterprise " on ( with a make - up call at 6 : 15 am , a set call at 7 : 00 am , dismissal from the set at 8 : 05 pm , with fifteen minutes permitted for make - up removal ) . Armstrong filmed Forrest ' s speech at the actual launch ceremony on ( with a make - up call at 9 : 45 am , a set call at 10 : 30 am , dismissal from the set at 4 : 30 pm , with fifteen minutes again permitted for make - up removal ) . ( " Broken Bow " call sheets and production reports ) Reappearances . During the making of " Broken Bow " , the question of whether Admiral Forrest would recur was brought up . " " During the pilot , they said that it could be a recurring role , " " Armstrong recalled . " " With the fact that they ' re staying closer to Earth [ than previous " Star Trek " series ] , I had hopes that Forrest would return . " " Following the initial appearance of Forrest in " Broken Bow " , Armstrong suspected the character would indeed return . ( ) In the first draft script of , Forrest had more dialogue than he does in the final version of that episode , all of which was in conversation with Captain Archer . For instance , Forrest wryly mentioned that he ' d been told a particular comet would be visible from Earth in approximately ten thousand years . He also said the was " pretty far out there " and asked Archer to " keep those ' postcard s ' coming " regarding scans from space which " Enterprise " had been relaying back to Starfleet Headquarters , on Earth . Although Forrest appears in only one scene in the final edit of " Fortunate Son " , he was originally scripted ( in the first draft of the installment ' s teleplay ) to feature in two of the episode ' s scenes , having an additional discussion with Archer , and appearing on a monitor in the captain ' s ready room . In that second scene , Forrest mentioned the Vulcan High Command hadn ' t been much help in regard to Nausicaan raider s frequently attacking the " Fortunate " and other freighters of the Earth Cargo Service in a particular sector of space . The admiral had also helped file a complaint with Nausicaa about the piracy issue , but he wasn ' t expecting to hear from the Nausicaans anytime soon , because their government was , according to the Vulcans , in a constant mode of " transition . " Though Archer suggested setting up regular patrol s or escort s to protect the freighters , Forrest reminded Archer that Starfleet didn ' t have the resources to cover such a large sector . In response to Archer expressing his frustration about the situation , Forrest admitted he wasn ' t pleased with it either but reminded Archer he was out in space as an explorer , not a policeman . Sympathetically , the admiral instructed Archer to get the " Fortunate " repaired and sent on its way , Forrest regarding that course of action as the best one the captain could take , at least for the time being . When Archer agreed to that , Forrest told Archer he was doing good work and then ended the discussion . Vaughn Armstrong was scheduled to perform Forrest ' s remaining single scene from " Fortunate Son " on . ( " Fortunate Son " shooting schedule ) In the first draft script of , Forrest had slightly different dialogue than he does in the final version of that episode . For example , he was more confrontational with Ambassador Soval , in the episode ' s teaser . Whereas , in the finalized edit of the episode , he apologizes to Soval for the loss of P ' Jem and respectfully states that the Vulcan High Command needs to take some responsibility for the facility ' s destruction , Forrest said neither of these things in the first draft teleplay . Instead , he directly regarded it as a given that the Andorians would destroy the monastery at P ' Jem , asking Soval how he thought they would react when they discovered it was being used as a cover to spy on them . Similarly , although Forrest , in the final cut , says he can ' t agree with Soval claiming that " Enterprise " has destabilized an entire sector since its launch and the admiral then proceeds to remark that the situation was already volatile a long time prior to Starfleet getting involved , Forrest didn ' t say these statements in the first draft script either . Rather , he less diplomatically exclaimed , " " If you ' d told us what the hell was going on , maybe your sanctuary would still be there ! " " A remnant of that comment remains in the final version of the installment , as Forrest tells Soval , " " Perhaps if you ' d been a little more open with us , this tragedy might have been avoided . " " In the original draft of the teleplay , Forrest ' s part in the scene then continued much as it does in the episode , except for the admiral asking how long joint Human - Vulcan fleet operations would be suspended , to which Soval replied , " " Indefinitely , " " before leaving the room . The two versions of a later scene , featuring a long - distance conversation between Forrest and Archer , were much more alike than the admiral ' s discussion with Soval . However , Forrest ' s transmission to " Enterprise " was originally referred to as a " priority " transmission , a status it is not given in the final edit . Also , during his discussion with Archer , the admiral commented , in the first draft script , that the Andorians were " a violent , predatory species , " whereas he makes a comment about Andorian commandos in the final version , saying they " are a dangerous group . " Vaughn Armstrong was scheduled to perform both of Forrest ' s two scenes in " Shadows of P ' Jem " on . ( " Shadows of P ' Jem " shooting schedule ) By the time Forrest made his fourth appearance ( in the first season episode ) , Vaughn Armstrong had thought up his own backstory for the character . " " What I have picked out of the scripts indicates that I ' m the highest - ranking Starfleet officer – I ' ve been around Starfleet for a while . So I ' m assuming that I worked with [ Archer ' s ] father , " " Armstrong reckoned . " " I watched Archer come up through the Academy and enjoyed his abilities , his human - ness , his spontaneity and his intelligence . I sent him out there because I kind of look at him as being myself as a younger military man , and I really want to be out there myself , playing with the greatest toy in the universe . But they need me at home , so I send the favored son [ . . . ] I ' m not sure that I ' m not fond of Vulcans so much as I ' m not fond of being told what to do , and Vulcans may not mean to , but they do that [ . . . ] I think part of the reason Forrest chose Archer was because he has a volatile nature but also real common sense . The common sense element is where we relate to each other . " " Meanwhile , Vaughn Armstrong also continued to consider what the future might hold in store for Admiral Forrest , such as hoping that he would soon need to make the decision of whether to reign Archer in and remind him what the reality of the situation was , Forrest being much more aware of a bigger picture than what Archer perceived of it . " " I ' ve got a whole fleet of ships out there , " " the actor said , " " not as far as he is , but they ' re all dealing with people . " " Though he didn ' t expect to ever see Archer disobey Forrest , Armstrong hoped they would go through " confrontational moments " and that Forrest would be required to protect Earth from aliens . In fact , he imagined a feature film that would include Forrest being instrumental to the initial stages of a Klingon war begun on Earth . Armstrong also pitched the story for a time - travel episode which would have involved a Klingon attempt to prevent Forrest launching " Enterprise " . One thing the actor definitely didn ' t want to happen , during the run of the series , was for Forrest to be killed off . Vaughn Armstrong ' s familiarity with the Admiral Forrest character proceeded to develop over the seasons he played the role , though the character took more of a backseat in the third season of " Star Trek : Enterprise " , to make way for an overarching Xindi story arc in that season . ( ) Forrest was referred to in a deleted scene from . In that scene , Phlox recalled that Forrest had allowed Captain Archer to bring Porthos aboard " Enterprise " , Phlox citing this as potential evidence that Starfleet might allow children on - board starships someday . Archer then imagined " the look on the admiral ' s face when he sees two " Enterprise " s pulling into spacedock . " ( ENT Season 3 DVD & Blu - ray special features ) By the advent of the fourth season , Vaughn Armstrong had devised more backstory for Forrest . " " I pictured him starting in engineering , wanting to be the best engineer in town , and then he got involved with this warp engine of Archer ' s father , " " Armstrong speculated . " " He got very excited about that , and then became a pilot , to hopefully one day fly the warp engine . Forrest was good at everything he did , so he came up through the ranks quickly . As time went on and he got more authority , he continued working with Archer ' s father and saw that his own job had become so important that he really couldn ' t fly the thing himself . He was probably a little older than he ought to be [ to be a pilot ] , so he had to pick the best flyer to take this engine out . " " Armstrong went on to theorize that Forrest ' s decision to select Archer for the assignment was " " because among other things , he thought the most human guy ought to represent Earth out there in the far reaches of space . So even though Forrest wants to be out there himself , there are too many responsibilities at home , so he had to pick the best man for the job . " " ( ) The idea of killing Forrest off in was thought up by Manny Coto . ( audio commentary , ENT Season 4 Blu - ray ) Vaughn Armstrong believed it was important to attempt to retain a sense of surprise and shock for the audience as regards the character ' s death . ( ) Ultimately , he felt that Forrest ' s demise was not as heroic as Damar ' s death in . In the stage directions from the final draft script of , Forrest was described as " heroic " and " selfless " . In retrospect , Vaughn Armstrong concluded , " " I wouldn ' t say that Forrest was my best contribution to the franchise . " "