Captain William Riker

Name William Thomas Riker

Position Former Starfleet Officer / Retired

Rank Captain

Stats

4 Mission Posts

Last Post

Sat Jan 25th, 2014 @ 3:46pm

Basic Info
Personality
History

Character Information

Gender		Male
Species		Human
Age		54

Physical Appearance

Height		6' 4"
Weight		265 lbs
Hair Color		Black, Graying
Eye Color		Blue
Physical Description		Tall, well built human. Beard, short hair.

Family

Spouse		Deanna Trio-Riker
Children		Natasha Miana Riker-Troi - Daughter
Father		Kyle Riker
Mother		Betty Riker
Brother(s)		Thomas Riker (transporter duplicate)
Sister(s)		None
Other Family		Thaddius Riker (ancestor) Lwaxana Troi (mother-in-law)

Personality & Traits

General Overview		William Thomas Riker was a noted Starfleet officer, perhaps best known for his long assignment as first officer under Captain Jean-Luc Picard aboard the USS Enterprise-D, and later the USS Enterprise-E. In 2379, he finally accepted a promotion as captain of the USS Titan. In 2361, a transporter accident resulted in two Rikers, with each one being identical to the other, as well as genetically indistinguishable. Their personality and memories were the same up to the point of the duplication. The other Riker eventually decided to use his middle name and became known as Thomas Riker.
Hobbies & Interests		Jazz music, playing poker, cooking, sports like Anbo-jytsu.
Languages		Federation Standard (English), some Klingon, some Vulcan, some Romulan, some Cardassian

Personal History		William Thomas Riker was born in 2335 to Kyle and Betty Riker in Alaska on Earth. His distant ancestors were from mainland North America, including Colonel Thaddius Riker, who fought in the American Civil War. Betty died when Will was only two years old, leaving his father to raise him alone. The Rikers remained in Alaska at Betty's wish. The only thing which kept Kyle going was Will, but he did not feel as if he could discuss the situation with him, even when Will was older. The memories of Betty's presence at their Alaska home were also painful for both. This initial trauma created a rift between the two Rikers which would last thirty years. When Will first started school, he told all of his new friends that his mother was still alive. Eventually, he told the story so often that he began to believe the lie. Soon, his teacher learned of this problem, and both she and Kyle had to talk to Will and make him realize that his mother was dead and she was not coming back. Will cried the entire night following, but later realized it was an important step in accepting his mother's death. However, Will's relationship with Kyle continued to deteriorate into his early teens. He was often left to care for himself, learning such skills as cooking. In 2344, the two went on a fishing trip. Will was able to hook a large fish, but Kyle insisted on reeling the fish in. This incident bothered Will for many years. He also practiced anbo-jytsu with his father. Kyle admitted that by the time Will was twelve, his skills were superior. Will did not know that the only reason he always lost was because his father used an illegal move called hachidan kiritsu. Kyle completely abandoned Will by 2350, when Will was age fifteen. Will held a grudge against his father for the following fifteen years. In 2379, Riker finally married is long time, on and off again lover and sole-mate, Deanna Troi.
Service Record		Will entered Starfleet Academy in 2353. During his time at the Academy, his superintendent was a Vulcan, who had taken the time to memorize the personnel files of each and every cadet. Paul Rice was a close friend of Riker's while at the Academy. He felt that people were out to get him during his first year at the Academy. During a battle simulation against a Tholian opponent, Riker calculated a sensory blind spot of their vessel and hid within the blind spot. This ingenious tactical strategy was noted in his record. Upon graduation in 2357, Riker was ranked eighth in his class. He set lofty goals for himself, and hoped to reach captain before thirty-five years of age. Seven months after graduation, Ensign William Riker's first posting was to the USS Pegasus under the command of Erik Pressman. He was the ship's conn officer, and his youthful appearance earned him the nickname "Ensign Babyface," coined by fellow crewmember Lieutenant Boylen. Phil Wallace was another of Riker's friends aboard the Pegasus. Fresh from the Academy, Riker was still somewhat serious about his work. Loyalty and obedience to his commanding officer was also top priority. Riker's ears were still ringing with words like Duty and Honor. This attitude caused Riker to behave against the principles of the Treaty of Algeron during a crisis on board the ship. Captain Pressman had been illegally testing a prototype phasing cloaking device aboard the Pegasus on its engine. This top-secret project was in violation of the Treaty of Algeron, not to mention extremely dangerous to the crew, leading most of the Pegasus officers, such as the 1st officer and Chief Engineer to mutiny against Pressman. Riker was the only bridge officer to defend the captain, picking up a phaser and instigating a running firefight all the way to an escape pod. Only a few other crew joined Riker and Pressman, and the Pegasus apparently exploded, with seventy-one personnel aboard, several minutes after Riker's escape pod was launched. Although Pressman commended Riker for his unquestionable loyalty, Riker began to have doubts about whether or not he had made the right decision. The Starfleet Judge Advocate General later investigated the Pegasus incident but the survivors withheld all information about the prototype cloaking device. They were only able to conclude that there had been some sort of mutiny aboard the Pegasus before its destruction and that it was highly likely that the survivors were not telling the complete truth, and also recommended a further investigation. Because of the sensitive nature of the cloaking device experiment, Starfleet Intelligence quickly classified the report and no followup was ever conducted. It was quietly buried. Following the Pegasus incident, Will was stationed on planet Betazed. While there, he met Deanna Troi. The two began a relationship which lasted several years. Sometime during his early career, Riker needed to wear a feathered costume while on a diplomatic mission to Armus IX. Similarly, he wore furs to meet with the leadership council on Kabatris. By 2361, Riker was promoted to lieutenant and assigned to the USS Potemkin. Aboard the Potemkin, he developed a tactic which involved using a planet's magnetic pole and shutting down all ship's systems to confuse an enemy vessel's sensors. Later in 2361, Riker led an away team to Nervala IV to rescue researchers stranded at the outpost on the world. Riker was the last to beam out. Atmospheric distortions threatened to dissipate Riker's pattern, so the Potemkin transporter chief compensated by creating a second confinement beam. Only one beam was needed for Riker to rematerialize, so the second beam was shut down. The Potemkin crew did not realize that the second beam had, in fact, been duplicated and reflected back to the planet's surface, materializing another William Riker. This duplicate remained stranded on the surface for the next eight years. The nature of the transporter accident created a unique situation: both Rikers had an equal claim to being the 'real' William T. Riker, as they are both genetically the same person. Riker received a promotion to lieutenant commander for "exceptional valor" during the mission. He was quickly posted to the USS Hood as first officer. Riker's commanding officer on the Hood was Captain Robert DeSoto. His service aboard the ship was exemplary, even despite an incident where Riker refused to allow Captain DeSoto to transport into a hostile situation on planet Altair III. Riker was offered his first command, that of the ill-fated USS Drake, in 2364. However, he turned down that position for a far more enticing offer. William Riker was promoted to commander and first officer of the newly-launched USS Enterprise-D in 2364. He was ferried to planet Deneb IV by the Hood, and met the Enterprise at the planet. The ship had undergone a saucer separation after being threatened by the entity known as Q. Riker reported aboard the stardrive section and was briefed about the current situation and was ordered to perform a difficult and unusual manual docking with the saucer module, which he conducted very well. During the Farpoint mission, Riker led several away teams which discovered that Farpoint Station was a living entity, trapped by the Bandi for their own selfish purposes. Q was intrigued with Riker, so much so that he believed Riker deserved to be empowered with the abilities of the Q Continuum. Q made a bet with the Continuum that Riker would accept the gift, and trapped the Enterprise while it was en route to a disaster on a mining colony on Quadra Sigma III. Most of its senior officers were then taken to a deadly illusion world. Riker used his new-found powers to save the crew from hostile aliens inhabiting the fantasy, bringing Lieutenant Worf and Wesley Crusher back to life in the process. Picard was concerned about these events, and requested that Riker not use his supernatural abilities. However, Riker changed his mind after he refused to save a young girl killed in the disaster. He became angry with Picard, feeling he had repressed his abilities and caused the death of the girl. Further temptation by Q led Riker to grant several wishes to the Enterprise crew: Geordi La Forge, normal eyesight; Worf, a Klingon female mate; Wesley, full growth to adulthood. He nearly transformed Data into a Human, but Data refused the offer, feeling that it would be merely an illusion. As Picard predicted, the other crew also turned down Riker's gifts because of their inherent emptiness. Riker learned his lesson, and the powers were taken away once Q was recalled to the Continuum. The Enterprise was stolen from Starbase 74 by a race called the Bynars. Their computer-based society was on the verge of collapse after the star Beta Magellan went supernova and damaged their central computer. They required the Enterprise in order to repair it. The crew evacuated, but Riker and Picard remained on board, infatuated by a holodeck program created by the Bynars as a diversion. The two were successful in retaking the Enterprise and saving the Bynar homeworld from destruction. Riker became involved with the alien conspiracy which infiltrated Starfleet Command in 2364. The possessed Admiral Gregory Quinn attempted to infest him with a neural parasite in order to have an alien operative aboard the Enterprise, but Riker resisted. He struggled with Quinn and was knocked out, but was able to alert other personnel to the situation. Dr. Beverly Crusher was able to incapacitate Quinn with a phaser, then determined the nature of the neural parasites. She implanted a fake parasite on Riker, who then beamed down to Earth just in time to prevent the infested Starfleet officers from co-opting Captain Picard. He and Picard were able to find the mother creature, hosted in Lieutenant Commander Dexter Remmick, and destroy it before the alien conspiracy grew any further. Riker was an accomplished tactician, inventing several strategies while serving aboard various starships. He apparently acquired a reputation for using unorthodox solutions, as Enterprise Second Officer Data estimated he only used traditional tactics 21 percent of the time. In 2365, Riker was given temporary command of the outdated USS Hathaway during a combat exercise to ready for the Borg invasion. The Hathaway was to fight the Enterprise in a simulation designed to test the response of a crew when faced with a substantially superior enemy. Although Riker's crew managed to turn the poorly-maintained Hathaway into something flyable and score several hits against the Enterprise during the initial phases of battle, the test was turned deadly when a Ferengi marauder intervened. The Enterprise believed that the Ferengi were a holographic trick designed to divert attention from the Hathaway, and therefore did not raise shields. The Ferengi opened fire, disabling the Enterprise's weapons and shields. The Ferengi demanded that the Enterprise hand over custody of the Hathaway, as they incorrectly assumed the Hathaway had valuable Federation secrets on board. In order to fool the Ferengi, Riker devised a plan to have the Enterprise fire photon torpedoes at the Hathaway, which would jump to warp just before they exploded, making it appear to the Ferengi as if the Hathaway had been destroyed. Worf then fooled the Ferengi sensors into believing that a Starfleet ship entered the system, scaring them away. In 2366, the Borg launched their first invasion of the Federation. A Borg specialist, Commander Shelby, was assigned to the Enterprise. The two butted heads over protocol, and Riker felt that Shelby was trying to ingratiate herself to Captain Picard in order to prove her qualifications as a first officer, particularly since Riker had recently been offered command of the USS Melbourne and was having trouble deciding whether his reluctance to accept the post meant that he had become scared of his old ambitions to become a captain himself. Picard was eventually abducted by the Borg and assimilated, becoming Locutus of Borg. Riker was then left in command of the Enterprise, and faced with the difficult decision of choosing to use a new deflector dish weapon against the Borg cube, which would destroy that ship along with Picard. When a rescue attempt failed, Riker gave the order to use the weapon. However, the assimilated knowledge of Captain Picard gave the Borg an advantage, and they altered their shields to resist the weapon. As the Borg continued on a direct course for Earth, Admiral Hanson field-promoted Riker to captain. Riker chose Shelby as his new first officer. Even though their relationship had a rocky start, Riker realized that they worked well together and Shelby had the knowledge necessary to mount a successful fight against the Borg. Riker was still reluctant to accept the responsibility in light of Picard's abduction, but Guinan, an old and close friend of Picard, was able to convince him that he needed to let Picard go not only to win against the Borg, but also save Picard. The Enterprise was repaired after its use of the deflector weapon and warped to rendezvous with the fleet at Wolf 359. It arrived shortly after the devastating Battle of Wolf 359, where many ships, including the Melbourne, were destroyed. At this point, Riker formulated a plan to recover Captain Picard, in hopes that the Borg may halt their approach with Locutus gone. The Enterprise caught up to the Borg and used Shelby's plan of separating the saucer section. Picard had been briefed on this plan before he was assimilated, and knew that the stardrive section was the only threat. As the Borg focused their attack, the saucer launched a shuttlecraft carrying Data and Worf. They beamed aboard the cube and brought Picard back to the Enterprise. The Borg were temporarily confused, but continued on course. Data and Dr. Crusher later learned that the Borg interconnectedness gave them access to the entire Collective through Picard. Data linked himself to Locutus and accessed the Borg command structure as the cube entered orbit of Earth. Initial attempts to deactivate the Borg were fruitless, and Riker prepared to ram the Borg cube with the Enterprise in hopes that the collision would disable the vessel. Picard was able to tell Data to instruct the Borg to regenerate, which was a low-priority command. The cycle ended up in a feedback loop, and the cube exploded, cutting Picard's link and restoring his humanity. Riker returned to his post as Enterprise first officer following Picard's recovery, having proven to himself and others that he was capable of shouldering the burdens of command but chose to remain on the Enterprise because he liked the friends and relationships he had formed on the ship rather than because he was scared of reaching for more himself. During the Klingon Civil War of 2368, Riker was placed in temporary command of the USS Excalibur along with La Forge as his 1st officer. The ship was part of an armada led by the Enterprise-D and set up a tachyon detection grid using blockade tactics in order to reveal Romulan assistance to the House of Duras. On stardate 46235.7, Riker was again left in temporary command of the Enterprise when Captain Picard and three other crew members were transformed into children. The ship was attacked by a pair of B'rel-class Bird-of-Prey under the command of Ferengi privateers. During the battle, the Enterprise was overwhelmed and subsequently boarded by the Ferengi. The Ferengi seized control of the ship, and it was only with the help of Captain Picard and the other transformed crewmen that control was regained. Riker was in command during the Enterprise-D's final battle in 2371. The ship had been attacked by the Duras sisters by order of Dr. Tolian Soran. The sisters were given an unfair advantage as Soran had placed a visual transmitter in La Forge's VISOR, giving them access to the Enterprise shield modulation. Riker's quick thinking led to the identification of a plasma coil flaw on the sisters' old Bird-of-Prey, which was destroyed. Unfortunately, the Enterprise suffered catastrophic damage to its warp core. Riker ordered a saucer separation, and the saucer section maneuvered to safety before the engineering section exploded. The shock wave from the blast caused the saucer to plunge into the atmosphere of Veridian III, where it crash-landed. The entire crew survived, although Riker was disappointed that he would never have the chance to command the ship. Riker participated in First Contact with the Ferengi in the Delphi Ardu system in 2364. The Enterprise and a Ferengi marauder were trapped in orbit, paralyzed by a Tkon energy-dampening weapon. An away team commanded by Riker made contact with the Tkon portal. The portal sensed Riker's great courage and dignity, while it only found deception with the Ferengi, leading it to grant Riker's request and release both ships. Will conducted another diplomatic mission that year, on the planet Angel I. Survivors from a Federation freighter, the Odin, were discovered on the matriarchal world and sentenced to death for advancing policies which granted equal rights for male members of the society. Riker successfully argued their case to Mistress Beata, Angel I's Elected One, convincing her that change is inevitable. She later allowed the Odin crew, and their new-found families on Angel I, to be moved to an isolated continent so they could continue their lives without affecting mainstream culture. Riker was an early participant in the Officer Exchange Program, temporarily transferring to a Klingon Bird-of-Prey, the IKS Pagh, in 2365. To prepare for the assignment, he indulged in many different Klingon foods. Worf also gave him an emergency transponder shortly before his departure, just in case of an emergency situation. On board the Pagh, Riker had to quickly learn the Klingon way of doing things, physically fighting the second officer to prove his loyalty to Captain Kargan and enduring the abusive comments of the Klingon crew. At the same time, the Enterprise became infected with a hull-degrading bacteria, which it inadvertently transmitted from the Pagh. The Klingons believed that it was a new Federation weapon, and returned to attack the Enterprise. Riker was able to relieve Kargan by giving him the transponder and sending him to the Enterprise, then staging a mock battle with the Starfleet vessel to maintain the honor of the Klingon crew. Riker returned to his post aboard the Enterprise following the incident. In 2366, the Enterprise hosted negotiations for rights to the Barzan wormhole. The Federation representative, Mendoza, was poisoned by the Ferengi delegation, requiring Riker to take his place. The wormhole later turned out to be useless, as its terminus fluctuated between the Gamma and Delta Quadrants. The Enterprise responded to sensor readings which indicated a Romulan outpost on Alpha Onias III in early 2367, on Riker's birthday. Riker led an away team to investigate, but was trapped by an alien named Barash. The alien was hidden by his mother on the planet to keep him safe from their enemies, and was given technology to generate any type of fantasy. He became lonely, and hoped Riker would stay to keep him company. When Riker regained consciousness, he was confronted by an Enterprise now sixteen years into the future. Dr. Crusher claimed that he was infected by Altarian encephalitis and had lost all memories since Alpha Onias III. He was a single parent with one slightly troublesome child, "Jean-Luc Riker." "Admiral" Picard then arrived on a Romulan warbird with a diplomatic delegation. Riker was to complete the final peace accords with the Romulans, which he had been working on ever since the Enterprise rescued a damaged Romulan ship. Although Riker began to accept his new circumstances and give "Jean-Luc" attention, the simulation quickly began to fall apart as the technology was not able to keep up with Riker. The Enterprise computer was much too slow and the senior staff were unable to answer Riker's questions about the previous sixteen years. Moreover, a recording of his wife revealed Minuet, a holographic fantasy. This illusion gave way to another, where Riker was imprisoned in a Romulan laboratory. Barash stayed in the form of the child, now called "Ethan." Riker and "Ethan" plotted an escape, but Riker figured out this second deception when "Ethan" accidentally called Tomalak "ambassador," a rank he only held in the first illusion. Barash then revealed his true nature to Riker. Will offered him safety and companionship aboard the Enterprise, and the two transported back to the ship. The Enterprise was crippled after a defect caused its dilithium chamber hatch to explode. Initially, the incident was blamed on Romulan espionage, but was later determined as native to the hatch, which was replaced at Earth Station McKinley a few months prior. Riker participated in the initial questioning of a Klingon suspect named J'Dan. After Admiral Norah Satie came aboard and instigated a "witch hunt" with the intention of forcing out Romulan collaborators, Riker served as defense counsel for Crewman Simon Tarses. Tarses was unfairly singled out as a spy because his grandfather was Romulan. Satie's investigation was later canceled by Starfleet Command when it became apparent her accusations had very little factual support. Riker piloted Trill ambassador Odan to a meeting on Peliar Zel in 2367. En route, their shuttle was attacked and Odan's host body injured. The symbiont was removed, and later transplanted to Riker at his insistence. Human physiology was not totally compatible with the symbiont, but Odan survived in Riker's body long enough to complete negotiations between the two moons of the planet. Odan had been romantically involved with Dr. Beverly Crusher, and she was confused by Odan's change. She tried to avoid him as much as possible as she was uncomfortable with the Trill way of life. Eventually, Crusher realized that she was attracted to Odan's personality as much as his physical appearance, and made love to him in Will's body. When a new Trill host arrived, the symbiont was removed from Riker, and he recovered with no long-term effects. Will was left in command of the Enterprise-D in 2368 while Captain Picard visited Romulus in search of Ambassador Spock. He was ordered to investigate the disappearance of the Vulcan ship T'Pau from Qualor II when the wreckage of its deflector array was found amongst the debris of a Ferengi freighter. The Enterprise discovered that a mercenary vessel had been stealing ship components from the surplus depot in orbit of the planet. The mercenaries were killed when they attacked the Enterprise, forcing Riker to turn to the planet for information. He found a Ferengi trader named Omag who revealed that the Vulcan parts were being sent to Galorndon Core. The Enterprise continued to investigate, and Sela attempted to divert the Enterprise by sending a fake distress signal from a Federation colony. Riker saw through the deception and the Enterprise went to intercept the stolen Vulcan ships at the Romulan Neutral Zone, but they were destroyed by a Romulan Warbird before entering Federation space. Riker was to escort Iyaaran ambassador Byleth during his visit to the Enterprise in 2370, but the ambassador insisted on Worf instead. While serving on board the Enterprise-D, Riker participated in away missions in which he employed disguises to protect Starfleet's Prime Directive. When a cultural observation post on Mintaka III was severely damaged in 2366, it was discovered by a Mintakan named Liko. Liko was severely injured after being startled by the structure's appearance, requiring his transport to the Enterprise for treatment. While there he briefly woke, and saw Captain Picard whom he believed to be a deity. Several members of the observation team were also injured and wandered from the post. Riker and Troi attempted to correct the damage done to their culture by masquerading as Mintakans. They tried to convince the Mintakans that Liko was merely delusional. Riker was able to retrieve one of the observers, Dr. Palmer, from the Mintakans, but Troi was left behind. The Mintakans, terrified that Picard was a god and would come to punish them, wanted to execute her as a sacrifice to Picard. Picard later transported their leader aboard the Enterprise and convinced her that he was not a god, and Troi was released. In 2367, he was injured while observing the Malcorians. In preparation for the mission, his face was surgically altered to look Malcorian. He posed as Rivas Jakara. After being injured, he was treated in the local hospital. A female Malcorian nurse, Lanel, who discovered that he was an alien, offered him help when he agreed to make love with her. Unfortunately, Riker was soon discovered by others and detained. Minister Krola, a government official who was frightened of the idea of alien visitors, attempted to kill himself with Riker's phaser. Riker was eventually rescued by Dr. Crusher and Worf. In 2369, he undertook an undercover mission to Tilonus IV to find and rescue a Federation research team on the planet. He was disguised as a Tilonian merchant but was eventually discovered, ambushed, and drugged. The Tilonians then tried to operate a neural drain on him in an attempt to learn secrets in his mind, but his mind kept fighting back with recent memories that included a play about an alien sanitarium. His mental defenses eventually allowed him to regain consciousness and fight his way to his concealed communicator, allowing the Enterprise to beam him away to safety In 2370, Data was damaged on a mission to Barkon IV. Riker and Dr. Crusher disguised themselves as Barkonians and brought Data back to the Enterprise. Also in 2370, Riker and Ro Laren were sent on a mission to infiltrate the Maquis. Riker was disguised as a Bajoran and claimed to be a relative of Ro's. Ro eventually betrayed Riker and joined the Maquis, but she allowed him to leave. Riker wished her "good luck" as he returned to the Enterprise. The Enterprise left personnel, including Riker, at the research station of Dr. Nel Apgar in 2366. They were to inspect his Krieger wave converter technology, as his research had been funded by Starfleet. While there, Apgar's wife, Manua, tried to seduce him. Dr. Apgar caught them kissing, and he and Riker fought nearly the entire visit. Tensions were at a breaking point when the Enterprise returned to pick up the crew. Shortly after Riker beamed out, the station exploded, killing Apgar. Riker was initially suspected of murder through accusations by Apgar's widow and assistant, and placed under arrest by Tanugan authorities. The Enterprise crew began their own investigation using the holodeck. They determined that the station was not destroyed as a result of a phaser blast from Riker into the station's power core, but as a result of an energy beam directed at Riker by Apgar. Apgar had actually been developing the new technology into a weapon which he wished to sell to the Romulans, and he was worried that Riker discovered his plan, which would cause an end to the research before the weapon could be created. The beam was intended to disperse Riker's pattern as he beamed off the station, but it deflected into the power core. Upon this revelation, chief investigator Krag dropped all charges. Shortly after Cardassian withdrawal from the Bajor sector in 2369, Captain Picard was reassigned to a covert infiltration of a Cardassian outpost on Celtris III. Command of the Enterprise was transferred to Edward Jellico at the order of Admiral Alynna Nechayev. Riker tried to convince her that he would be suited for the position, but she wanted an officer with experience in dealing with the Cardassians. The transition from Picard to Jellico was difficult for the entire crew. He reassigned many crew from engineering to security, placed overbearing demands on all departments, and instituted new duty shift cycles which led to personnel management problems. As first officer, Riker was the recipient of complaints. Jellico saw Riker as arrogant for questioning his changes, and questioned Picard's high opinion of Riker. Riker was present for the negotiations with the Cardassians, and learned that Picard had been captured on Celtris III. Jellico deemed Picard lost and refused to attempt a rescue mission. He and Riker got into a verbal altercation where Riker accused Jellico of sacrificing Picard's life and Jellico accusing Riker of challenging his authority. Riker was subsequently relieved of duty, with Data taking his place as first officer. The Enterprise later developed a plan to ambush a Cardassian invasion fleet in the McAllister C-5 Nebula, involving a shuttlecraft planting mines on the hulls of the Cardassian warships. Riker was the only pilot with the experience to fly the mission, and Jellico returned him to duty following a conversation where they both vowed to not let their opinions of one another affect their duties. Early in 2370, Captain Picard was believed killed on Dessica II. He was actually transported to a mercenary ship commanded by Arctus Baran and joined their crew with the name "Galen." The Enterprise pursued the mercenaries to the Barradas system, where Riker too, was abducted. He worked with Captain Picard to learn more about the mission of the mercenaries and assumed the role of a rebellious and untrustworthy Starfleet officer, trying to gain the trust of Baran. He later attempted to deactivate the Enterprise's shields with his out-of-date command codes, giving a signal to Data to drop the shields. Picard reconfigured the ship's weapons to a harmless setting, and the Enterprise pretended to be damaged. The mercenaries continued on their quest, and Picard eventually learned that they were planning to assemble an ancient Vulcan psionic weapon. The final component was aboard a shuttle piloted by a Klingon named Koral, who had been pulled over by the Enterprise. The mercenaries planned a raid on the Enterprise with Riker's help. Meanwhile, Baran instructed Riker to kill Picard, who had challenged Baran's authority. The group transported to the Enterprise and found the last component, but Picard then shot Riker before returning to the mercenary vessel. Riker was merely stunned, and reassumed command of the Enterprise. The ship went to Vulcan and stopped T'Paal, a Vulcan isolationist, from using the weapon. Back on the Enterprise, Picard jokingly suggested that Data place Riker under arrest for treason. Data did not understand the joke, and actually brought Riker to the brig. In 2370, the wreckage of the Pegasus was detected in the Devolin system. Erik Pressman, now an admiral, came aboard the Enterprise and the ship was sent to locate the Pegasus and to salvage it. Starfleet Security was interested in retrieving the phasing cloaking device, which also piqued Romulan interest. Pressman then told Riker that the the head of starfleet security has sent riker orders not to discuss the true mission of the pegasus. The badly damaged Pegasus was found submerged deep within asteroid gamma 601, but the phasing cloak was still intact. It was returned to the Enterprise, but the Enterprise was now trapped within the asteroid as a result of Romulan weapons fire. The phasing cloak was the ship's only hope of escape, and Riker revealed its existence to the Enterprise crew, to the ire of Pressman. La Forge and Data were able to connect and activate the cloak, letting the Enterprise escape. Picard informed the Romulans of what had happened, then took Pressman into custody. Riker was also arrested, at his own insistence, and appeared before a board of inquiry at Starbase 247. Riker however was allowed to return to duty despite this setback. Riker had only discussed the truth about the Pegasus with Ship's counselor Deanna Troi, and had difficulty deciding whether or not to reveal the true circumstances of the Pegasus incident to Captain Picard. At Troi's suggestion, Will recreated the final mission of the Enterprise NX-01 on the holodeck in order to gain command insight and specifically, try to learn from the relationship between Captain Jonathan Archer and his Chief Engineer, Commander Charles Tucker III. He interacted with several Enterprise crew members as Chef, and as a MACO, participated in the mission to rescue Shran's daughter. By observing Tucker's willingness to disobey orders during a critical moment, saving the life of Archer and ensuring the birth of the Federation, Riker realized that telling the truth and trusting Captain Picard's faith in him was much more important than obeying Pressman's orders. Riker transferred to the new USS Enterprise-E in 2372, along with most of the senior staff of the Enterprise-D. In 2373, the Enterprise took part in the Battle of Sector 001 against Starfleet orders. Thanks to the ship's intervention, the Borg cube was destroyed, but not before it launched a sphere which generated a temporal vortex and traveled to the year 2063. The Enterprise pursued, and destroyed the sphere before it was able to prevent the first flight of Zefram Cochrane aboard the Phoenix warp ship. The Phoenix was damaged during the attack, and several Enterprise-E crewmembers assisted Cochrane in repairs. Riker also needed to convince Cochrane of the importance of his first warp flight, as Cochrane considered canceling it following the Borg attack. Riker, along with Geordi La Forge, was present onboard the Phoenix for Cochrane's historic flight. In 2375, Riker, along with the Enterprise crew, defied Federation orders and rebelled against the plan to relocate the Ba'ku people from their homeworld in order to harvest the metaphasic radiation from their planet's ring system. While Picard and the rest of the senior staff protected the Ba'ku on the planet, Riker took the Enterprise out of the Briar Patch and alerted the Federation Council to the real issues surrounding the forced relocation. During the journey out of the Briar Patch, the Enterprise was engaged by two Son'a vessels. The ship was seriously damaged in the process and forced to eject its warp core to seal a subspace tear. Riker needed to invent a new tactic on the fly. Dubbed the "Riker Maneuver" by chief engineer Geordi La Forge, it involved collecting metreon gas with the Bussard collectors and then venting the gas while the ship continued to move. The cloud left behind the ship reacted with the isolytic weapons of the Son'a ships, destroying one and crippling the other. Will Riker's last mission aboard the Enterprise-E was during its encounter with Praetor Shinzon in 2379. Although Riker was eager to begin his life aboard the Titan with Counselor Troi, he realized how important it was to stop Shinzon and was willing to sacrifice anything in order to prevent him from using his thalaron radiation weapon on Earth. The Scimitar fought and weakened the Enterprise in the Battle of the Bassen Rift, sending several boarding parties to the ship. Riker and Worf took a security detail to fight off the invading Remans. The Viceroy entered the Jefferies tubes in an attempt to reach the bridge and kidnap Captain Picard. Riker followed and they fought hand-to-hand, with Riker eventually killing the Viceroy by knocking him down an Enterprise maintenance shaft. By 2379, Riker decided to accept promotion to Captain of the USS Titan, assuming command of the ship that year. Troi also transferred to the Titan. Once the Enterprise-E returned to Earth, the Titan was dispatched to the Romulan Neutral Zone to serve as the command ship for a diplomatic task force. Captain William T. Riker took command of the USS Titan (NCC-80102) on Stardate 56941.1, in the closing days of the year 2379. After more than four offers by Starfleet Command, 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. 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. While in Romulan space, Riker and Titan managed to rescue Commander Tuvok, formerly of the Starship 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. 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 was one of the most diverse in Starfleet history. One of his other choices was a verse sung by Jazz legend Theressa Brewer. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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 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. Also in 2381 Will and Deanna have their first child, named Natasha Miana Riker-Troi. By 2389, Riker is still the Captain of the USS Titan and the vessel is assigned to Beta Quadrant, often resupplying at Starbase 400.