Thomas Riker

Thomas Riker, or Tom, as his Maquis comrades would later call him, was an exact duplicate of William T. Riker, who was created following a transporter accident in 2361. As time progressed from the point of the accident, the two Rikers developed different personalities based on their differing life experiences.

Early life and career

 * See main article: William T. Riker

As Tom Riker was for all intents and purposes an exact double of William Riker, they share an identical history prior to the Nervala IV mission. However, Tom split off from Will at a younger and more impulsive age, and lacked Will's extra years of experience and maturity. Tom also remained in love with Deanna Troi, and comforted himself in exile with thoughts of her. Hence their personalities diverged markedly.

Nervala IV
In 2361, the USS Potemkin (NCC-18253) was ordered to evacuate a Federation research base located on Nervala IV. The planet was notorious for its atmospheric distortion field which prevented the use of transporters or shuttlecraft, except for brief periods every eight years. Upon arrival in orbit, Lieutenant Riker was ordered to lead the evacuation teams down to the surface and ensure that all personnel were evacuated.

Once all of the personnel had been beamed aboard the Potemkin, Riker requested to be transported aboard. However, difficulties with the transport led to the operator creating a second annular confinement beam, and with the intention of merging the beams once Riker was safely stored in the pattern buffer. But due to the unusual atmospheric distortions, only one beam reached the Potemkin, while the other rebounded to the planet's surface and, unknown to the Potemkin's crew, created a second Riker.

Riker lived alone on Nervala for eight years, believing that one day he would be rescued, not knowing that another Riker was carrying on his life. He was eventually discovered in 2369 when the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D) arrived to check on the research base. Leading the Enterprise away team was Will Riker, and despite some problems between the two Rikers, they worked together to ensure that the Enterprise was able to download the base's computer files. 

Following his rescue from Nervala IV, Riker took the middle name of Thomas and made that his first name. With assistance from Captain Jean-Luc Picard, Tom decided to continue his Starfleet career and was offered a position aboard the USS Gandhi, under the command of Captain Azon Lexen. 

The Maquis
As Riker's time aboard the Gandhi progressed, he continually butted heads with Commander Emma Crandall and started to show some sympathy towards the Maquis. The increasing sympathy concerned both Captain Lexen and Commander Crandall, and it was decided that Riker would be removed from the command track and made a medical courier.

In 2371, the Gandhi was assigned to patrol the Demilitarized Zone and Lexen ordered that Riker take a shuttlecraft and proceed to Outpost Sierra III so that medical supplies could be brought aboard ship. On the return trip to the Gandhi, Riker was intercepted by the Maquis and taken to Helena, a planet made up of differing cultures, which was experiencing a plague similar to the one that had struck Archaria III and Bajor. Torn between his duty to Starfleet and sympathies with the Maquis, he decided to join the Maquis and used the medical supplies to help treat the citizens of Helena. 

Several months later, Riker traveled to Deep Space 9 and posed as Commander Riker as a ploy to capture the USS Defiant (NX-74205) (I). After managing to get a guided tour of the Defiant by Major Kira Nerys, Riker arranged an apparent build-up to a warp core breach which would allow them to take the Defiant out.

After collecting some Maquis crewmembers, Riker took the Defiant into Cardassian space and headed for the Orias system where he had heard rumors that the Cardassians were massing a large fleet. Despite entering the system, the Defiant was forced to withdraw when faced with a large fleet of warships. Unfortunately, these warships were not under the control of Central Command, but the Obsidian Order.

Thankfully, Commander Benjamin Sisko and Gul Skrain Dukat were able to engineer an agreement that would return the Defiant, Major Kira and the Maquis crewmembers to the Federation, while Riker would remain a prisoner of the Cardassians, with the sensor data from the Orias system being handed over to Dukat. 

Captivity
After a brief show trial on Cardassia Prime, Riker was able to escape the death penalty but was sentenced to life imprisonment in the labor camp on Lazon II.

Some time later, he was returned to Cardassia Prime, where he underwent numerous tests and experiments designed to uncover the secret of his creation. On stardate 48979.1, Starfleet Command sent Captain Sisko to negotiate for his release, offering Delkar VII in exchange. The Detapa Council refused to release Riker, in the hopes of creating an army of transporter duplicates. However, Doctor Duran Nol, Cardassia's leading geneticist, did not want to see such technology used to make war. She convinced the Council that Riker was not created through transporter duplication, but was rather "pulled in" from a parallel universe. The Council ceased support for the project, and Riker was returned to the labor camps. As a parting gift, Captain Sisko gave him a non-functional combadge, to remind him of where he came from, and that someday he would return. 

Life on Lazon II was brutal for all imprisoned there, and the main work was the mining of deutronium ore. Fortunately, Riker was able to befriend a Romulan prisoner, by the name of Saket. He even shared his reasons for his past actions with Saket; since Will's life had shown Thomas what he would become if he had a successful Starfleet career, he decided to see how things would progress for himself if he chose a different path from his counterpart.

A few months later, it was revealed that Saket was a Romulan Tal Shiar agent working for Commander Sela. Sela was able to use a fighter to breach the defenses of the labor camp and extracted both Saket and Riker and get them to safety. Believing Tom to be Commander Riker, Sela began to woo Riker and the two eventually became lovers.

With Riker as her lover - and manipulating him due to his jealousy over news of Worf's recent engagement to Deanna - Sela used him as part of her plot for a massive, biological attack on Qo'noS, using a bottle of Romulan ale containing a lethal virus created by the Redeemers. The first part of the plan was to kidnap Deanna Troi and Alexander Rozhenko from Betazed and hold them hostage on Lintar IV. The purpose of the kidnappings was to force Commander Riker to agree to assassinate Chancellor Gowron and release the virus into the atmosphere of Qo'noS.

Fortunately the attack was foiled when Constable Odo, chief of security aboard DS9, took the form of the bottle, although Thomas had been willing to drink it himself in the belief that the bottle was poison. The hostages were also rescued from Lintar IV by Commander Elizabeth Shelby and the USS Excalibur (NCC-26517). Riker managed to escape being captured again by Starfleet, but his actions actually strengthened the Klingon-Federation alliance, with Gowron reflecting that there was still value in the alliance with the Federation if even a discredited Starfleet officer was willing to sacrifice his life for the sake of their alliance. 

By 2382, it was commonly believed that Thomas Riker had died while in Cardassian custody, sometime during the Dominion War. 

Following the end of the Dominion War, Thomas Riker and many of the prisoners of war at the Lazon II camp were both forgotten and neglected. However, Riker managed to convince his fellow prisoners to work together in order to survive and build a community. During that time, Thomas Riker had a son whom he named Joshua who took over from his father when he died of heart failure whilst he was carrying his critically injured wife back to camp where she died as well. 

Alternate timelines
In an alternate timeline, Tom Riker remained in the Lazon II camp until 2375, when it was liberated by the Grigari. Instead of going freelance, Riker returned to the Federation, and by 2399 he commanded the USS Opaka (alternate timeline) during the so-called War of the Prophets.

The Opaka was one of the first vessels to encounter the USS Defiant after they had been transported from 2374. Riker was later killed by Weyoun following an unsuccessful attempt to kill the Vorta.