Paul Rice (died 2364) was a Human who served in the United Federation of Planets Starfleet during the mid 24th century. Holding the rank of captain at the time of his death, Rice served as the commanding officer of the USS Drake.
A classmate of William T. Riker at Starfleet Academy in the 2350s, Rice developed a reputation of being confident nearly to the point of being arrogant, and willing to take risks. In one of the final examinations in an advanced navigation course, one of the questions gave the students three possible answers. Rice rejected the three existing answers, and proposed his own answer. The risk paid off as Rice received the highest score for the exam, and the exam was modified to include Rice's answer as one of the possible options.
In 2364, Rice's former classmate Riker was offered the captaincy of the Drake, however Riker turned it down in order to accept the position of first officer on board the USS Enterprise-D. Rice was then offered the command, which he accepted. (TNG episode: "The Arsenal of Freedom")
Rice visited Farpoint Station in 2364, just prior to the arrival of the Enterprise. (TNG episode & novelization: All Good Things...)
Later in 2364, the Drake went to Minos to discover what had happened to the population of the planet. Shortly afterwards, the Drake was destroyed with all hands by the automated weapons which had destroyed the people of Minos. During the battle, the weapon systems learned enough about Starfleet, Rice and the Drake to construct a holographic recreation of Rice, which was used in an attempt to fool Riker when the Enterprise arrived to determine the fate of the Drake. Riker recognized this facsimile was not his friend from it's appearance and behavior. When asked the name of his vessel and its weapons complement, Riker answered "the Lollipop" and "ten". (TNG episode: "The Arsenal of Freedom")
Connections[]
| Omega Squad personnel | ||
|---|---|---|
| Class advisor | Kyethn Zund | 
|
| Cadets (2350s) |
R. Donaldson • K. Osir • P. Rice • H. Thorp • N. Zand | |
| Cadets (2370s) |
E. Astrun • M. Decker • K. Goldstein • Nog • P. sh'Aqabaa • T'Priell (Selke) | |
| USS Drake personnel | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Federation Starfleet | USS Drake (Wambundu-class) | Paul Rice |  
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| USS Drake (Miranda-class (Reliant-subclass)) | L. Rhone • Garvas • Morse | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
External link[]
- Paul Rice article at Memory Alpha, the wiki for canon Star Trek.