- This article is about William Riker in the First Splinter timeline ended by the Devidian temporal apocalypse. You may be looking for William T. Riker in the prime timeline.
William Thomas Thelonius Riker was a 24th century Human man, an alternate version of William Riker in the First Splinter timeline. Riker was best known for service in Starfleet, as a captain in command of the Federation starship USS Titan from the year 2379 to 2385. In that year he was promoted to rear admiral, serving as adjutant to Fleet Admiral Leonard James Akaar, the commander-in-Chief of the Federation Starfleet. Riker had previously served as Jean-Luc Picard's first officer aboard the USS Enterprise-D and the USS Enterprise-E between the years 2364 and 2379.
- This character is a member of the Riker family.
- This character is a member of the Troi family.
Biography[]
The original divergence event that created the First Splinter was during the 2373 mission against the Borg following the Battle of Sector 001. Riker's history prior to that point was identical to the prime timeline William T. Riker. (TNG movie, novelization & comic adaptation: Star Trek: First Contact; ST - Coda novel: Oblivion's Gate)
Alternate timeline Starfleet career[]
Dominion War[]
During the Dominion War in 2374, Riker was then sent with a team from Starfleet's Corps of Engineers to join the crew of the Klingon battlecruiser IKS Gar'Tukh. They were sent to help enhance the defenses of an outpost on Elkauron II, which was on the edge of Gorn territory. (TNG comic: "The Gorn Crisis")
Will and Deanna finally resumed their romantic relationship in 2375 after feeling the rejuvenating effects of the metaphasic radiation inherent to the adopted homeworld of the Ba'ku. While in temporary charge of Enterprise-E, an armed conflict with the Son'a in the Briar Patch led Geordi LaForge to jokingly refer to the move possibly earning the name "the Riker Maneuver," in the tradition of his captain's Battle of Maxia Zeta. (TNG movie: Star Trek: Insurrection)
In late 2375, Riker commanded the Enterprise when the Breen attacked San Francisco. Captain Picard was visiting family on Earth at the time. Riker led the Enterprise against the Breen vessels assaulting Earth alongside the Columbia, destroying them after a short battle. (TNG short story: "Eleven Hours Out")
Later years[]
In late 2375, Riker was given temporary command of the USS Excalibur (which he had commanded briefly during the Klingon Civil War of 2367-2368) when that ship's captain, Mackenzie Calhoun was on a temporary assignment for Starfleet Intelligence. Riker commanded the Excalibur and her unorthodox crew through an encounter with Sela and the Romulans. (NF novel: Double or Nothing)
In late 2378, Riker was forced to take command of the Enterprise after Picard's competence was called into question after an incident at the Rashanar Battle Site that resulted in the destruction of the USS Juno with all hands, and the seeming destruction of an Ontailian vessel. Picard was soon cleared of all charges, and re-assumed command. (TNG - A Time to... novels: A Time to Be Born, A Time to Die)
Riker in 2379.
After the death of Riker's father Kyle on the planet Delta Sigma IV with so much between them still unresolved, he decided that his relationship with Deanna was not something that he wanted to go unresolved any longer. Will proposed marriage to Deanna, and Deanna accepted.
Soon after, he was offered the command of the USS Titan by Admiral Kathryn Janeway. Janeway reminded Riker that Starfleet had offered him his own command more than once, and warned him that this may be the last time. (TNG - A Time to... novels: A Time to Love, A Time to Hate)
When the Enterprise was tasked with assuaging the volatile governor of Tezwa, Kinchawn, Riker was to be a key figure in the planet's development at this period. Kinchawn, a minority conservative leader on his planet, was threatening to take border planets from the Klingon Empire, seemingly an ill-fortuned cosmic bluff that had angered the High Council. Chancellor Martok wanted to send a fleet to seize and occupy Tezwa, but the Federation President Min Zife and his chief-of-staff Koll Azernal convinced him to send an embassy and to allow the Enterprise to accompany the Klingons and pacify Kinchawn. Unbeknownst to the Enterprise or Martok, during the Dominion War Azernal and Zife had armed Tezwa with nadion pulse cannons as a potential strategy against the Dominion. Emboldened by his powerful arsenal Kinchawn had slowly took over his government, and relied upon his democratic opponents - who were trusted by Azernal - to feed the Federation chief-of-staff mistaken information. Not knowing that the cannons were active, Zife sent the Enterprise with Martok's fleet to embolden Kinchawn's political opponents. When the negotiations on the surface between Picard, Troi, the Klingon commander and Kinchawn quickly turned sour, Kinchawn revealed his power by destroying the Klingon fleet in orbit and nearly shooting down the Enterprise. Riker rescued his captain, fiancee and their bodyguards by taking the ship into the atmosphere beneath the Tezwan capital's shields, and then tow the one remaining Klingon ship's broken carcass from Tezwa. However this last action caused the already depressed officer more heartache when he realised, in confrontation with the curses of its dying captain, that in rescuing the hulk from fiery death in orbit of Tezwa, he had revoked that ship's crew's entry into Sto-Vo-Kor.
The Enterprise was then tasked with disabling Kinchawn's cannons as soon as possible, as an enraged Martok dispatched a full invasion fleet to Tezwa. Azernal and Zife, in fear of the discovery by the Klingons of their foolish gambit, instructed Picard's crew to destroy each cannon. Placed in six sites, Riker led one team to assault a tropically-situated cannon, skydiving into the jungle near the cannon. The mission was a success, with also Kinchawn's government being removed in a coup by his Federation-friendly opponents, who promptly surrendered to the Enterprise. But although his team was successful, Riker was captured by Kinchawn's troops and his other teammates KIA. (TNG - A Time to... novel: A Time to Kill)
Conflict during the occupation of Tezwa.
Riker spent several weeks a prisoner of Kinchawn's underground resistance. The former governor had taken his military underground, and was leading an increasingly bitter resistance movement against the new Tezwan government and the Federation "occupation". Tortured and brutalised, Riker only survived because he was released by a general disgusted at the barbarity Kinchawn had descended to. He was rescued by Federation ground troops. After the ordeal, Riker accepted the offer of the Titan a few weeks later. (TNG - A Time to... novel: A Time to Heal)
After seeing the Enterprise through a grueling inspection tour, William Riker and Deanna Troi were married in a ceremony in Riker's native Alaska.
The Enterprise was on her way to Betazed for the wedding ceremony being planned by Deanna's mother Lwaxana (who now claimed that she had always adored Will), when the ship had its fateful encounters with the mad Reman Praetor, Shinzon. After this encounter, they returned to Betazed for their second wedding ceremony, before spending three weeks honeymooning on the Opal Sea on the planet of Pelagia, in Picard's yacht the Calypso II, which he had lent them as a wedding present. During this honeymoon they were kidnapped by sea pirates. In their escape, the Calypso II was badly scratched. (Tales from the Captain's Table)
Soon after the Betazed ceremony, Will and Deanna transferred to the Titan. (TNG - A Time to... novel: A Time for War, A Time for Peace; TNG movie: Star Trek: Nemesis)
Captain Riker[]
Captain William T. Riker took command of the USS Titan on stardate 56941.1, in the closing days of the year 2379. After more than four offers by Starfleet Command, Admiral Kathryn Janeway told Riker it was a "take-it-or-leave-it" decision. Deanna was assigned as ship's Head Counselor and Diplomatic Officer. In hindsight of this, one could point out Riker's career choice may have also been borne out of sheer nostalgia, having co-piloted, six years earlier, a Titan-class rocket, in Earth's past. His love for 20th century Earth Blues and its varieties, compelled him to have all issued shuttles christened with names of musicians from the era. One, in particular, the Armstrong; was mistaken for Neil the astronaut, rather than Louis ("Satchmo").
The Titan's primary mission was to be one of scientific inquiry and exploration in the uncharted region known as the Gum Nebula. But, before the ship and crew could begin that mission, Admirals William Ross and Leonard James Akaar ordered a slight detour.
Titan was sent to Romulus as head of a small diplomatic and humanitarian convoy in response to Praetor Tal'Aura's request to begin a dialogue between the Federation and the Romulan Star Empire.
Titan taking wing.
While in Romulan space, Riker and Titan managed to rescue Commander Tuvok, formerly of the starship USS Voyager, who had been sent to Romulus to recall the legendary Ambassador Spock back to Federation space. Instead, Tuvok found himself taken captive by a Romulan faction during the chaos following Shinzon's murder of the Romulan Senate.
Riker and Spock managed to negotiate an agreement between the Romulans, the Remans, and the Klingons that did much to stabilize the region.
Before leaving Romulan space, Riker assisted Romulan Commander Donatra in searching for a missing fleet of Romulan ships that vanished near the anomaly created by the destruction of Shinzon's thalaron weapon, which the Romulans called The Great Bloom. The Remans and others called it Shinzon's Folly. The bloom turned out to be an interspacial portal of some kind that deposited Titan and Donatra's ship, the Valdore into the mini-galaxy known as the Smaller Magellanic Cloud, home to the sundered branch of Earth humanity known as the Neyel. (TTN novel: Taking Wing)
While in SMC space, the Titan evacuated as many Neyel and other species as they could from the destruction caused by the growth of a Proto-Universe (which was called the Sleeper by the natives of the SMC, and dubbed the "Red King" by the crew of the Titan), back to the Milky Way Galaxy. The fate of those left behind in the SMC is uncertain.
After returning from SMC space, Riker chose the Vulcan phrase Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations for the ship's Dedication Plaque in tribute to Titans crew, which following with the Luna-class's design, was one of the most diverse in Starfleet history. One of his other choices was a verse sung by Jazz legend Theressa Brewer. (It don't mean a thing/ If it ain't got that swing) (TTN novel: The Red King)
Titan finally began her primary exploratory mission of exploration in the Gum Nebula in late February of 2380, on stardate 57137.8.
In Riker's first mission, he brokered an agreement between a race of galactic hunters called the Pa'haquel (who believed that they were protecting the galactic ecology by hunting down and killing hostile Cosmozoan species), and the intelligent Star-jellies (who objected to be hunted and their corpses defiled), whom Riker and Troi first encountered at Deneb IV, on their first mission on the Enterprise-D.
The Gum Nebula apparently served as a breeding ground for cosmozoan species such as the Star-Jellies, the Crystalline Entities or Branchers, a living Solar System called the Proplydian, and many others. (TTN novel: Orion's Hounds)
The Titan continued on her mission of exploration in the Gum Nebula.
Sometime in mid-2380, Will and Deanna attempted to conceive a child through natural means. Although she required hormonal treatments to improve fertility which had the side effect of weakening her psionic defenses, Deanna eventually became pregnant with child. However, the fetus was miscarried. With miscarriage not an uncommon occurrence, the medical professionals on the Titan did not consider any further testing after removing the fetus.(ST - Destiny novel: Gods of Night)
In 2381, the couple was able to again conceive a child. Again, the pregnancy resulted in a miscarriage. Doctor Ree diagnosed severe genetic abnormalities in the fetus, which they had not previously considered testing for. Although the growing child was likely to rupture her uterine lining, Troi refused to allow Dr Ree to remove the fetus, a reaction that Riker supported despite his personal misgivings. The second miscarriage spun the couple into a dark depression; Riker knew that Deanna would refuse to speak rationally with him if he went to speak with her, and he wouldn't remove her from duty. William felt as though he had lost all hopes for children with Deanna when Dr Ree delivered his prognosis that pregnancy was impossible due to Troi's past pregnancy with the entity that she had come to call Ian Andrew Troi II, as the energy the entity generated in her womb had caused subtle damage to her reproductive systems that was beyond anything Federation science could treat. Despite her condition, he allowed Deanna Troi to join an away mission to the planet later revealed to be New Erigol, the home of the reclusive Caeliar. (ST - Destiny novel: Gods of Night)
Once on the surface, Troi and the rest of the away team became invited permanent guests of the Caeliar, and a similar message was delivered to Captain Riker and the Titan. The tension and grief between the two had all but prevented communications between them, and Riker found the loss of his trusted officers Deanna, Vale, and Tuvok to be yet another personal blow. Riker attempted to rescue the away team with a strike force, but a feedback in their systems halted the effort; rather than allow his crew to be discouraged, Riker made an announcement that they had made progress in learning more of the Caeliar capabilities and were finding the next attempt. Eventually, the Titan was able to tap into the soliton pulses used to maintain their subspace tunnels; former United Earth Starfleet Captain Erika Hernandez became aware of this, and offered to take the Titan to the Azure Nebula if they left immediately. Although Riker was hesitant to leave behind his wife and away team, he agreed with Erika's plan and they departed New Erigol. (ST - Destiny novel: Mere Mortals) They were eventually able to return and retrieve the away team, but during her time with the Caeliar Deanna's damaged reproductive system was cured by their advanced medical science, allowing her to complete her pregnancy and carry the baby to full term.(TTN novel: Over a Torrent Sea)
Also in 2381 Will and Deanna have their first child, named Natasha Riker-Troi. (TTN novel: Over a Torrent Sea)
In November 2382, the Shantherin th'Clane travelled to the Vela Pulsar to meet with the USS Titan, intending to deprive the Starfleet vessel of its seven Andorian crewmembers. The two ships parted without exchanging fire. (TTN novel: Fallen Gods)
Admiral Riker[]
The Titan is recalled to Earth.
In September 2385, in the month after the death of President Nanietta Bacco, Admiral Akaar summoned Riker and the Titan to Earth without explanation. Beaming down to Starfleet Command Riker found himself suddenly promoted to Rear Admiral without explanation, with no option to refuse. Torn by the sudden removal from starship command, Will, Deanna and Tasha settled into life in San Francisco. Without a specific brief ("without portfolio") or instructions from Akaar, Riker was frustrated by the bizarre turn of events. His aide, Lieutenant Ssura could offer no further explanation but advised him on the cynical turn of events on Earth towards surveillance and suspicion. Eventually he managed to confront his superior officer, where it was revealed to him Akaar's frustrations with the President Pro Tempore Ishan Anjar, who had surrounded himself with a cadre of war-minded hawks and begun a series of bellicose policies. He tasked Riker with investigating the fraught state of affairs within Starfleet revealed under Ishan, particularly in connection to the arrest of the traitorous idealist, Julian Bashir, and to dig deeper into Ishan's cadre of advisors.
To tackle the question of Bashir, and what really had happened with the Andorian crisis, Riker assigned Christine Vale to command the medical ship, USS Lionheart on a short term mission as excuse to visit the imprisoned Ezri Dax and gather information from the former Starfleet captain, who had helped Bashir escape with the classified medical information he stole. He also attempted to breach the communications of Ishan's chief-of-staff, Galif jav Velk. Though itself illegal, Riker discovered that Velk was running an off-the-books secret ops team, Active Four, tasked with capturing the assassins of Bacco and rendering them to a Klingon Imperial Intelligence world for torture and disappearance. Riker, to escape the surveillance on Earth and stop Velk's team, took the Titan in pursuit of the Active Team, contacting Chancellor Martok and finding the Intelligence elements involved to be some of Martok's interior enemies. Riker and Martok agreed to try and capture the Active team and the Bacco assassins, while Martok's troops destroyed the KII base and personnel. In the end, the Titan could only rescue four members of Active Four - his own officer Tuvok, Lieutenant Commander Nog of Deep Space 9, the Bolian pilot Lieutenant Yal Ixxen of the USS Blake, and his own "brother", Thomas Riker. Tuvok, Nog, and Thomas revealed to Riker that the Cardassian extremists, the True Way, had assassinated Bacco. More so, the True Way had claimed to have done so with the cooperation of Velk. Upon returning to Earth several days later, Riker found the situation on Earth changed - Velk had revealed his illegal managing of Active Four, and stepped down. Without proof Riker could not pursue Velk, who was now in custody. In a confrontation with President Ishan, Riker found himself committed to toppling the man he believed responsible to have dirtied the Federation and, to some unknown degree, have been responsible for the murder of President Bacco. (ST - The Fall novel: The Poisoned Chalice)
Following the arrest of President Ishan Anjar, both Riker and Admiral Akaar tried once again to convince Captain Picard to accept promotion to the admiralty but was once again turned down by Picard. Riker then presented to Picard with an isolinear chip containing information on a new long term exploratory mission to a region of space only ever explored by long range probes. Picard gratefully accepted such a mission. The new President also hinted to her Chief of Staff that Admiral Riker had requested a posting back to his ship. (ST - The Fall novel: Peaceable Kingdoms)
In November 2385, Rear Admiral Riker was the Federation representative to the mysterious Far Embassy, who, along with representatives from the Klingon Empire, Romulan Star Empire, Cardassian Union, Ferengi Alliance, Tzenkethi Coalition, Gorn Hegemony, and Tholian Assembly, became agents of the Cytherians. Under their influence, Riker transferred to the USS Aventine, and began attacking various communications stations. However, it was later determined that Riker had been working against his programming by transferring to the Aventine, as this allowed him to complete his 'assignment' faster than had been anticipated by the Cytherians, giving the investigating Enterprise time to determine what was happening. Eventually, with the help of the crews of Aventine and Enterprise, Riker was returned to normal.
After his experience with the Cytherians, Admiral Riker spent a few weeks at the Mira Romaine Center for Rehabilitation and Reintegration on Betazed Station 4 under the care of Dr. Simus. (TNG novel: Takedown)
In 2386, Rear Admiral Riker was assigned as sector commander of the Alpha Quadrant frontier zone, with the Titan to serve as his flagship and mobile base of operations. He experienced some growing pains with newly-promoted Captain Christine Vale as the two attempted to define their new duty parameters.
His first mission as sector commander was to visit the Dinac, and he and Titan ended up in a conflict with the Solanae, the mysterious aliens who had abducted him and many of his crewmates on the Enterprise-D seventeen years earlier. (TTN novel: Sight Unseen)
Starfleet service record[]
| location | assignment | dates | rank or rate | assignment insignia | rank insignia |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starfleet Academy | student officer | 2353-2357 | cadet |  |
|
| USS Pegasus | conn officer | 2357 | ensign | 
| |
| USS Zhukov | |||||
| USS Fortuna | second officer | until 2359 | lieutenant | ||
| USS Yorktown | 2359-2361 | ||||
| USS Potemkin | 2361 | 
| |||
| USS Hood | first officer | 2361-2364 | lieutenant commander | 
| |
| USS Enterprise | 2364-2365 | commander | 
| ||
| IKS Pagh | 2365 | ||||
| USS Enterprise | 2365-2367 | ||||
| commanding officer | 2367 | captain | 
| ||
| first officer | 2367-2368 | commander | 
| ||
| USS Excalibur | commanding officer | 2368 | |||
| USS Enterprise | first officer | 2368-2371 | 
| ||
| USS Challenger | 2371-2372 | 
| |||
| USS Enterprise | 2372-2379 | 
| |||
| USS Titan | commanding officer | 2379-2385 | captain | 
| |
| Starfleet Command | admiralty | 2385-2386 | rear admiral | 
| |
| Alpha Quadrant frontier zone | sector commander | 2386–2387† |
Appendices[]
Connections[]
| USS Titan senior staff | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| commanding officer | W.T. Riker • C. Vale | executive officer | C. Vale • D. Sarai | second officer | R. Keru • Tuvok | chief counselor | D. Troi | 
|
| diplomatic officer | D. Troi | chief engineer | N. Ledrah • X. Ra-Havreii | chief medical officer | S. Ree | chief of operations | S. Rager | |
| chief science officer | Jaza N. • M. Pazlar | chief of security | R. Keru | chief tactical officer | R. Keru • Tuvok | watch officer | F. Hachesa • T. Gibruch | |
| USS Pegasus personnel | ||
|---|---|---|
|
Boylen • Ronald Moore • Eric Motz • Erik Pressman • William T. Riker • Andy Simonson • Dawn Velazquez • Phil Wallace |
|
| USS Zhukov personnel | ||
|---|---|---|
|
|
R. Barclay • D'Emilio • N. Gleason • E. Pressman • Reynolds • W.T. Riker • M. Verata |
|
| Hood personnel | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Federation, Starfleet | USS Hood (Constitution class) |
Ankee • J. Banks • G. Barton • K. Chin • L. Craig • K. Dodge • D'Uberville • Ellis • En-Lai • M. Harrari • S. Kane • J. Kyle • J. Martinez • Morax • S. M'Ress • Oxley • A. Paultic • H. Revere • M. Rousseau • Simmons • Stuart • Tavi • C. Vayentes • G. Vedra • Umba • P. Yudrin |
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| USS Hood (Enterprise class) |
Lori Desmonal • Lustig | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| USS Hood (Excelsior class) |
Abrams • Brian • Buonfiglio • Chandra • Consuela • T. Czierniewski • M. Dayrit • R. DeSoto • R. Green • E. Hayat • R. Holverson • B. Hsu • J. Kojima • G. La Forge • Ledbetter • Lolo • F. Orzon • C. Papadimitriou • W.T. Riker • E. Rose • Tuvok • D. Voyskunsky • L. Weiss | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| USS Hood (Galaxy class) |
E. Sherwood • W. Crushera | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Terran Empire (mirror universe) | ISS Hood | Martinez | 
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| a : alternate reality | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| USS Excalibur personnel | ||
|---|---|---|
| USS Excalibur (2240s) | R. Bannock |
|
| USS Excalibur (NCC-1664) | T. Haleakala-LoBrutto • A. Harris • J.T. Kirk • H. Ogden • Thonen • M. Walsh | |
| USS Excalibur II | Preye | |
| USS Excalibur (NCC-26517) | Argyle • R. Beth • Boyajian • Burgoyne 172 • M. Calhoun • M. Christiano • Howard • M. Gold • Hecht • M. Houle • Janos • Z. Kebron • M. Korsmo • Kothari • K. Kurdziel • G. La Forge • R. Lefler • Lowe • Martins • Maxwell • M. McHenry • Meyer • C. Mitchell • Morgen • W. Morrison • K. Mueller • Ramirez • W.T. Riker • B.G. Robinson • Scannell • Selar • Shastakovich • E.P. Shelby • Soleta • Somak • R. Takahashi • Torelli • T'Shanik • D. Voyskunsky • P. Watson • M. Wilkarah • Yates | |
| USS Excalibur (NCC-26517-A) | Burgoyne 172 • M. Calhoun • Candido • Dreyfuss • Janos • Z. Kebron • R. Lefler • M. McHenry • Selar • E.P. Shelby • Soleta • T. Tobias • Xy | |
| Commanding Officers of the Starships Excalibur | |
|---|---|
| USS Excalibur (NCC-1664): | Harris |
| USS Excalibur (NCC-2004): | |
| USS Excalibur (NCC-26517): | Shastakovich | Morgen | Korsmo | Calhoun | Riker |
| USS Excalibur (NCC-26517-A): | Calhoun |
| IKS Pagh personnel | ||
|---|---|---|
|
Dukath • Kargan • Klag • William T. Riker • Vekma • Zegov |
|