The resurrection of Thomas Riker

One of the things I like about the book I'm now reading - Star Trek: The Fall: The Poisoned Chalice - is that it includes the character of Thomas Riker. For those not Star Trek fans, Thomas Riker was introduced in the tv episode, Second Chances, in which Commander Riker comes face to face with an exact duplicate of himself, created years earlier by a transporter phenomenon.



Thomas Riker had quite a hard row to hoe after he had been rescued ... Willaim Rkier was uncomfortable around him and though he and Deanna Troi tried to recapture what they had once had, the relationship failed. He tried being an officer on another ship but eventually he left Starfleet and joined the rebel force, the Maquis, working against the (fairly evil) Cardassians. He showed up on an episode of DS9 next when he tried to steal a ship for his cause by impersonating William Riker ...



Thomas Riker chose to give up the ship and surrender himself to the Cardassins in order to save his crew, and he thereafter languished in a Cardassian prison until his death.

Or did he? ;)

In the book I'm now reading, it's revealed that Thomas had escaped and had faked his death during the fog or the Dominion war. He and William come into contact again when he's recruited for a clandestine mission, and by the end of the book the two men are reconciled. I found it very satisfying that the character of Tom Riker, whose life had been terribly blighted by circumstances beyond his control, was finally given a second chance.