Thomas Riker
William Thomas "Tom" Riker was a result of a transporter accident in 2361 that created two William Thomas Rikers, genetically indistinguishable from each other, with personality and memories identical up to the point of the duplication. One of the duplicates continued to be known as William Riker. The other chose to use his middle name and be known as Thomas Riker.

Eight years later

The existence of this other William Riker (hereafter referred to as "Thomas") was discovered on Nervala IV eight years later in 2369 when the  returned to retrieve scientific research that had been left behind. With the aid of Thomas, who had altered the computer systems on the planet to aid in his survival, the Enterprise away team was able to access the information and return to the ship with Thomas. 

Thomas and William clashed almost immediately due to the resentment each felt towards the other. The eight years of living different lives made them entirely different men – William evolved into a cautious and duty-driven officer while Thomas remained impulsive and reckless. As a result of conflicts with William – who was by that time a superior officer (a commander) – Lieutenant Riker decided to leave the Enterprise. He chose to use his middle name, Thomas, to distinguish himself from his counterpart. Captain Jean-Luc Picard managed to get Thomas a posting on the  where he could continue his Starfleet career. Upon Thomas' departure, William seemed to have accepted Thomas' existence and gave him his (or rather, their) trombone as a parting gift. ()

Joining the Maquis

In 2370, Thomas expressed dismay at the Federation's policies towards the Cardassians and the Federation colonies in the Demilitarized Zone, and later joined the Maquis resistance. In early 2371, Thomas, posing as William Riker, came aboard Deep Space 9 and stole the newly-commissioned .

With Major Kira as his unwilling passenger, Thomas took the Defiant to the Orias system, deep in Cardassian space, where the Maquis believed that the Cardassians were building a fleet of warships. Major Kira accused Thomas of still acting like a Starfleet officer instead of a terrorist; more concerned with intelligence reports and interstellar politics than with simply hurting the enemy. Trying to locate the Defiant with the assistance of Commander Sisko, Gul Dukat swore that he knew nothing of the fleet in the Orias system. He was telling the truth, as the fleet had been constructed by the Obsidian Order in direct violation of Cardassian law. As the Defiant arrived at Orias, it was intercepted by a number of Cardassian warships.

Imprisonment
Sisko achieved a compromise with Dukat and negotiated Thomas' surrender – in exchange for the Defiants sensor logs of the secretive Orias base, Thomas' sentence would be reduced to life imprisonment in the Lazon II labor camp, while the Defiant would be escorted back to the Federation-Cardassian border returning the rest of the Maquis crew to the Federation for trial. Thomas was initially wary of accepting the terms offered to him, but Kira pointed out that it would accomplish his mission and let his crew escape Cardassian imprisonment, even challenging his reluctance as some kind of death wish, a desire to go out in a blaze of glory in order to distinguish himself from the further-advanced William Riker.

Immediately after Thomas surrendered the Defiant to the  cruisers of the Cardassian Central Command, the Kraxon extended its shields around the Defiant to protect her from the fast approaching ships from Orias (upgraded  cruisers with markedly higher top speeds than regular ships of the class). Dukat was confident that the Orias ships would not dare fire on Cardassian ships. Upon seeing this, the ships from Orias – under the command of the Obsidian Order and not technically part of the Cardassian military – turned around and returned to the Orias system.

Just before Thomas transported over to the Kraxon, Kira promised to return for him one day. ()

Personal interests

Music
Riker was a jazz aficionado, and his favorite musical instrument was the trombone. Although he had trouble with certain pieces, including "Night Bird" as he spent ten years practicing it. ()

Poker
Riker first began playing poker as a junior officer aboard the Potemkin. ()

Sports
Riker had several sports-related hobbies. Anbo-jyutsu was one such interest, () as were Parrises squares () and handball. () He had skills in the martial arts, tai chi chuan in particular ()

Other interests
Riker had an interest in cooking from when he had had to fend for himself as a child. () He also enjoyed fishing. One of his favorite fishing spots was Curtis Creek, which he recreated in a holoprogram. () His favorite vacation spot was Risa. ()

Relationships

Family

William T. Riker

The Enterprise was sent to Nervala IV in late 2369 when the atmospheric disturbances began to subside. Commander William T. Riker led an away team to the surface, and discovered his duplicate, later known as Thomas Riker. The two quickly clashed over various issues, including Tom's resistance to direct orders and his attempts to rekindle a relationship with Deanna Troi. Tom felt that Will was the one who had benefited from his misery of being stuck on the planet for eight years. After working together to retrieve log files from the station computers and saving one another's lives, they began to accept one another. Thomas transferred to the , and Will gave him their trombone as a parting gift. ()

By 2371, Tom had resigned his post to join the Maquis. He pretended to be Will Riker in order to gain access to the , which he then stole for use by the Maquis. ()

Romances

Deanna Troi

During the time he spent on the planet, Thomas had remained deeply in love with Deanna Troi, his girlfriend at the time. Thomas had planned to meet Deanna on Risa the year of the transporter mishap, a fact upon which he had dwelt while stranded. In contrast, the Riker that beamed off-planet eight years prior was soon promoted and made his career a priority over their relationship, and never made the trip to Risa with Deanna.

Upon his rescue, Thomas told Deanna that he could not believe Will had failed to meet her as planned and that he was hoping their relationship could resume. Initially, Deanna was opposed to the idea, but found herself won over despite her objections. In the end, however, Thomas decided that he could not remain on the Enterprise alongside his counterpart, while Troi's feelings for him were not strong enough for her to leave the Enterprise with him. ()

Kira Nerys

Riker met Kira Nerys at Quark's Bar when he traveled to Deep Space 9. The two hit it off and spent three hours talking. Before Riker transported over to the Kraxon, Riker kissed Kira. ()

Key dates

2335: Born in Alaska on Earth.
2337: Will's mother, Betty, dies.
2350: Fifteen-year old Will is abandoned by his father, Kyle Riker.
2357: Riker graduates from Starfleet Academy. Seven months later, he is assigned to the  under Erik Pressman.
2357: 
Participates in a countermutiny after the Pegasus senior staff rebel against Pressman and his use of an illegal phasing cloaking device. Is one of a few survivors after the loss of the ship.
Sometime between 2357 and 2361: Stationed on Betazed. Meets Deanna Troi and begins a serious romantic relationship.
2361–2369: Trapped on Nervala IV after a transporter accident creates duplicated of Riker
2369: 
Is rescued by the USS Enterprise-D
Assigned to the 
Between 2369 and 2371: Leaves Starfleet and joins the Maquis
2371:
Hijacks the 
After relinquishing control of the Defiant, is convicted in a Cardassian court and sent to the Lazon II labor camp.

Memorable quotes
"I'm Commander William Riker from the Federation starship Enterprise."
"That's not possible. I'm Will Riker."

- William Riker and William Riker upon meeting on Nervala IV ()

"I am Will Riker. I don't know who or what made it back to the Potemkin that day but it wasn't me."

- Thomas Riker, to Picard after being brought aboard the Enterprise ()

"You know, I've been thinking we should probably let Dad know what happened."
"I'm sure he'd be thrilled to know there are two of us."

- Commander Riker and Lieutenant Riker ()

"You always had the better hand... in everything."

- Lieutenant Riker, resigning a poker game to Commander Riker ()

"I waited a long time. I guess I can wait a little longer. Take care of her."

- Thomas Riker, to Troi and William Riker before he leaves for the  ()

"The last time I was here, I was only able to spend a couple of hours at Quark's – but by the time I left, I had all of his latinum and a date with one of his dabo girls, so I thought I might try my luck again." (laughs) 
"You be careful – Quark's dabo wheel has been a little stingy lately, and one of his dabo girls is dating my son…"

- Thomas Riker and Sisko ()

"The Maquis have been hearing rumors about shifting loyalties in the Cardassian government. Certain hardline elements were unsatisfied with the Federation treaty and are doing whatever they can to scrap it. We had our hands on an intelligence report outlining a suspected military buildup in the Orias system. A secret buildup that even the Central Command isn't aware of."
"You're telling me you did all this to attack some secret base that may or may not exist?"
"I'm convinced that it does. They are building an invasion fleet. If we let them finish it, these renegade Cardassians are going to use it."

- Thomas Riker and Major Kira about the Maquis invasion fleet ()

"You shouldn't go fishing today, you won't catch anything."

- Thomas Riker to Kira ()

"Tough little ship."

- Thomas Riker on the Defiant ()

Appendices

Appearances

Background information
Thomas Riker was played by actor Jonathan Frakes, who also portrayed Will Riker.

The TNG writing staff toyed with the idea of having Thomas Riker permanently replace Will Riker in "Second Chances". With Will killed off, Thomas Riker would have been given a position at the Enterprises helm, and Data would have been moved to the first officer position. ()

Jonathan Frakes described Thomas Riker as being "much less confident than Will. But he's also tender and sweeter. I think I like Tom better!" () Troi actress Marina Sirtis concurred, "I preferred Thomas Riker. I thought he was cuter than Will." ()

Jonathan Frakes filmed his scenes for "Defiant" between Wednesday  and Tuesday 11 October 1994 on Paramount Stages 4, 17, and 18. According to the call sheet, he received a hair and beard cut prior to filming on 5 October 1994. The call sheets also distinguished the parts of "Will Riker" and "Tom Riker" in the cast section by using the numbers 9A and 9B.

The DS9 Companion notes that Thomas' return was on a list of stories the DS9 writers were not interested in hearing pitches on. In an interview with Jonathan Frakes provided with the TNG Season 6 DVD box set, however, he stated that he had approached Ronald D. Moore regarding a Thomas Riker DS9 episode involving Damar's rebellion, an idea that was not brought to fruition by the conclusion of the series. Towards the end of DS9, a rumor that Tom was to be revealed as a member of Section 31 emerged, although Moore said it was not true. 

Ira Steven Behr commented: "I thought that character... we could have had fun with that character on DS9. At that time, unfortunately for Jonathan Frakes who really liked doing it, that was the moment where I said, “We have to cut ties with the past, for sure.” As much as I liked that character, I said, 'We can’t bring him back. Sorry'. The guys kept saying, “We can use him.” We could never have used him enough in order to really get the good storyline going, continuing. That was a problem, to be honest, but that’s the character I would have liked to have driven".

Apocrypha
In John Vornholt's  , set in 2371, Thomas transferred from the operations division to the sciences division after a conflict with the Gandhis first officer. He wore a blue Starfleet uniform and served as a medical courier pilot. It was in this function that he abandoned Starfleet for the Maquis, joining Chakotay and B'Elanna Torres' cell after working with them to stop a dangerous virus. According to Quarantine, it was Chakotay's idea to steal the Defiant from Deep Space 9. 

In Peter David's novel Triangle: Imzadi II, also set in 2371, Thomas was freed from the Lazon II labor camp by Romulans, and had a brief affair with Sela, who believed that he was the original Riker. Driven by jealousy over news of Worf and Deanna's recent engagement, Thomas was manipulated into aiding an assassination attempt on Klingon Chancellor Gowron and Emperor Kahless, but it was averted due to Odo's interference, as Riker and Worf managed to replace the bottle that Thomas had been given – he had been told it contained poison that would only kill Gowron but it actually contained a dangerous nano-virus that would annihilate the Klingon race – with Odo. Thomas managed to escape capture, but his actions actually strengthened the Klingon-Federation alliance; believing the bottle to be poison, Thomas had been prepared to drink it himself before Gowron, thus prompting Gowron to reflect that there was still value in the alliance with the Federation if even a discredited Starfleet officer was willing to sacrifice himself for the sake of their alliance. This novel also featured some reflections on Thomas' reasons for abandoning Starfleet, including the idea that he sees himself as an "alternate" for Riker – having witnessed what Riker became as a loyal Starfleet officer, he decided to find out for himself how he would do as something else – as well as Troi speculating that Thomas had come to idealise their relationship, to the extent that he appeared to have forgotten how their last few days on Betazed had actually unfolded ( revealed that Riker and Troi's last meeting on the planet occurred when Troi walked in on Will in bed with another woman when he was drunk and believed that Lwaxana had convinced Troi to abandon any future relationship).

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 computer game Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Dominion Wars, set between 2372 and 2374, a Federation Alliance mission involves rescuing Thomas from a Cardassian convoy, after which point he is available as a commander for your ships. A Dominion mission in the same game requires the player to destroy the  starship under his command.

In Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens' novel series Millennium, an alternate timeline found Thomas rescued from the labor camp by the Grigari. Feeling abandoned by Starfleet, Thomas joined the Bajoran Ascendancy, although he secretly worked as a double agent for Starfleet. By 2399, he was the commanding officer of the USS Opaka and was killed on Christmas Day of the same year after failing to kill Kai Weyoun 5. This timeline was later reset thanks to Benjamin Sisko and the crew of Deep Space 9.

The eBook A Weary Life revealed that, shortly before the events of , Will Riker still felt betrayed by Thomas' actions in stealing the Defiant. In a conversation with Deanna Troi, it was revealed that Thomas had left the Gandhi and her crew to join the Maquis. Thomas had been recaptured by the Cardassians after the attempt to assassinate Gowron, and had been returned to the labor camp on Lazon II. All of these feelings had Will questioning his inclusion on a mission to the DMZ assigned by Picard. The feelings came to the surface again when Will met with Kalita and discovered that Thomas had allowed himself to be captured to save his Maquis conspirators. Discovering this led Will to feel pride for his "twin," the first positive feeling he'd had since Thomas joined the Maquis.

According to the Star Trek: The Fall novel The Poisoned Chalice, Thomas Riker was still alive in 2385 and had been recruited into a Starfleet Intelligence black ops team known as Active Four, working with Tuvok and Nog to find those responsible for the recent assassination of the Federation President, only to nearly be killed as part of a conspiracy to frame the Typhon Pact – a recent collection of anti-Federation powers – for the crime rather than the Cardassian terrorists truly responsible. In the next novel Peaceable Kingdoms, he assists Doctor Crusher and a Cardassian contact in finding evidence that the current Federation pro tem president – then holding the position for sixty days after the assassination until a full election can be held – is actually a former collaborator with the Cardassians during the Occupation of Bajor who adopted another Bajoran's identity to fake his death.

External links

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Bioreplicants
Humans
Starfleet personnel (24th century)
Starfleet operations personnel
Maquis personnel
USS Pegasus personnel