Thomas Riker

Star Trek character|if=|Title = Thomas Riker
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Caption = Lt. William Thomas "Tom" Riker
Species = Human
Gender = Male
Planet = Earth
Affiliation = Starfleet, Maquis
Posting = USS "Pegasus" helmsman
Betazed
USS "Potemkin" second officer
USS "Gandhi"
USS "Defiant" commanding officer (illegally)
Rank = Lieutenant
Portrayed = Jonathan Frakes

William Thomas "Tom" Riker is a fictional character from the "Star Trek" universe, played by actor Jonathan Frakes. He is a duplicate of William Riker, a regular character on "", also played by Frakes, who was created by a transporter accident when Riker served as second officer aboard the USS "Potemkin". The duplicate goes by his middle name (and, later, "Tom") to distinguish himself from William Riker.

Thomas Riker first appears in ""'s "", when the "Enterprise"-D crew travels to Nervala IV, the site of the transporter accident. The crew discovers that while William Riker (then a Lieutenant) beamed aboard the "Potemkin" and continued his career, a duplicate Riker was unable to return to the ship and rematerialized in that planet's abandoned Starfleet outpost. Thomas largely attributes his ability to remain sane during his isolation to thoughts of reuniting with his at-the-time beloved Deanna Troi.

Tom serves aboard the USS "Gandhi" before leaving Starfleet to aid the Maquis. At some point, he shaved his sideburns and wears his beard as a goatee. In the "" episode "", he leads a Maquis mission to steal the USS "Defiant" from Deep Space Nine. Commander Benjamin Sisko helps the Cardassians capture the ship and its crew on the condition that the "Defiant" be returned to Starfleet and that Tom Riker not be executed.

Non-canon appearances

In John Vornholt's novel "Quarantine" (part of the Double Helix series), Riker transfers to the sciences division after a conflict with the USS "Gandhi"'s first officer. He wears a blue uniform and serves as a medical courier pilot. It is in this function that he ends up leaving Starfleet and falling in with Chakotay and B'Elanna Torres's Maquis unit. According to "Quarantine", it was Chakotay's idea to steal the "Defiant" from Deep Space Nine.

In Peter David's novel "", he is sprung from a Cardassian prison camp on Layzon 2 by Romulans led by Sela and forced to attempt to assassinate Klingon Emperor Kahless and Chancellor Gowron.

In the Malibu Comics "Deep Space Nine" title, two stories were published extending Riker's story. "Sole Asylum, Part One" and "Part Two", set at the end of 2371, showed that Riker had been taken to Cardassia Prime and that Cardassian scientists were trying to discover the secret of his duplication in order to create an army of duplicates. It was also revealed that Riker's cells were only nine years old, suggesting their complete creation at the time of the accident. Unable to rationalize the accident against the Law of Conservation of Mass and proven transporter theory, one of the scientists, a Dr. Nol, told the Cardassian High Council that he must be from an alternate dimension. Because of this, the Council decided to send him back to a labor camp.

In the game "", Tom is rescued in a mission during the Dominion War and appointed to command an advanced battleship, the "Achilles"-class USS "Imperius". A later mission in the Dominion campaign requires the player to destroy the "Imperius" before Riker can take command and, if possible, destroy Riker's current ship (a "Galaxy" class starship).

In Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens novel series "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Millennium", Riker is freed from the camp by a species called the Grigari and joins them in an attack on the Alpha Quadrant.

External links