Thomas Riker

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Thomas Riker
Lt. William Thomas "Tom" Riker
Species:	human
Gender:	male
Hair color:	dark brown
Eye color:	blue
Home planet:	Earth
Affiliation:	Starfleet, Maquis
Posting:	USS Pegasus helmsman Betazed USS Potemkin second officer USS Gandhi USS Defiant commanding officer (illegally)
Rank:	Lieutenant
Portrayed by:	Jonathan Frakes

In the fictional Star Trek universe, William Thomas "Tom" Riker, played by Jonathan Frakes, is a duplicate of William Riker created by a transporter accident when Riker served as second officer aboard the USS Potemkin. The duplicate goes by their middle name (and, later, "Tom") to distinguish himself from "Will".

Thomas Riker first appears in Star Trek: The Next Generation's "Second Chances", when the Enterprise-D crew travels to Nervala IV, the site of the transporter accident. The crew discovers that while William Riker 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 Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's "Defiant", 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.

[edit] 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' Maquis unit. According to Quarantine, it was Chakotay's idea to steal the Defiant from Deep Space 9.

In the game Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Dominion Wars, 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 Peter David's novel Imzadi II: Triangle, he is sprung from a Cardassian prison camp by Romulans led by Sela and forced to attempt to assassinate Klingon Emperor Kahless and Chancellor Gowron.