What if Riker accepted his first Captain offer, and left the Enterprise D? Who would become First officer of the Enterprise? How would this affect things from an in-universe perspective?
What if Riker accepted his first Captain offer?
- Thread starter Snowdrop82
- Start date
It need not necessarily be someone already serving on the Enterprise-D. Generally, this is when you create a new character in a show, unless you're struggling to think of something to do with a side character and their current role doesn't lend itself to frequent plot involvement.
His first offer was captaincy of the USS Drake. The ship that disappeared in orbit of Minos (and was presumed destroyed.) Paul Rice took command instead, and he was presumed dead. So Riker’s story would have ended there.
As to who else would have been first officer? Beats me.
Data or Worf?
And then Thomas Riker at ops
And then Thomas Riker at ops
Nobody knew Thomas Riker existed when the Enterprise-D was launched. And Worf was only a lieutenant.
He would have been written out of the show, and the actor would have been out of a job.
Riker's 1st offer? was the Drake, before he'd even accepted the Enterprise post. Being just as green, he'd have been lost to the "Arsenal of Freedom" with the Drake at Minos, instead of Paul Rice. Picard's 2nd choice of applicant would've gotten the D's 1st officer job, who was probably some other candidate we didn't know.
Interestingly, Riker's 3rd offer was The Melbourne, lost in the Battle of Wolf 359, immediately after it was offered to him. So either he'd have been in command already & died on it there, or he'd never have gotten a chance to assume command before the transfer order went through & he could be deposited there, in which case nothing would be different... But with both offers you could say he dodged a bullet.
Riker's final offer, the Titan, seemed to me to be a legacy offer, much like Kirk & the 1701-A or maybe even arguably Picard & the 1701-E. Basically, they're the last stop for these gentlemen, offered as trophy commands.
However, Riker's 2nd offer was the Ares, "a relatively insignificant ship, in an obscure corner of the galaxy", which everyone agrees was probably the one he shouldn't have let pass by, Picard, his dad, his clone, basically anyone with insight into his life. Even he grapples harder with it, because it IS the right career move.
He's already spent nearly 2 years being mentored by Picard, which is honestly the real reason to have passed on offer #1, to go there instead, & this ship offer is the real deal, being a blip out in the middle of nowhere, doing the good work, establishing a name for yourself. This was Riker's Stargazer & he passed, which also stymies the mentoring track. In the time Riker serves on the D, Picard could've mentored a half dozen other potential captains, like Shelby, or even Data. Shelby is right that he's 100% in the way.
And he probably would've been fine. By all accounts it would've been a perfectly good command. Anyone who really wanted to run a ship off into the unknown should've jumped at it. The Enterprise would've gone on just fine thereafter, with potentially Data assuming the 1st officer role by then (who deserved it)
He passed for a number of possible reasons, like wanting to hang around imzadi & friends, preferring a prestige post over an insignificant one, possibly even having the hubris to expect he was entitled to succeed Picard there, or even maybe having no confidence in his leadership (as we'd find out might've been an esteem issue haunting him ever since the Pegasus & subsequent meteoric rising thru the ranks, off Pressman's influence)
Whatever it was, he just wasn't ready to put the big boy pants on IMHO, as evidenced by his utterly miserable mood anytime Picard goes missing & he had to step up. In fact, the only time his mood was worse was when he expected to step up & got passed over for Jellico. Are. You. Really. That. Surprised? You've been telling them to piss off for half a decade, dude. Read the room.
Interestingly, Riker's 3rd offer was The Melbourne, lost in the Battle of Wolf 359, immediately after it was offered to him. So either he'd have been in command already & died on it there, or he'd never have gotten a chance to assume command before the transfer order went through & he could be deposited there, in which case nothing would be different... But with both offers you could say he dodged a bullet.
Riker's final offer, the Titan, seemed to me to be a legacy offer, much like Kirk & the 1701-A or maybe even arguably Picard & the 1701-E. Basically, they're the last stop for these gentlemen, offered as trophy commands.
However, Riker's 2nd offer was the Ares, "a relatively insignificant ship, in an obscure corner of the galaxy", which everyone agrees was probably the one he shouldn't have let pass by, Picard, his dad, his clone, basically anyone with insight into his life. Even he grapples harder with it, because it IS the right career move.
He's already spent nearly 2 years being mentored by Picard, which is honestly the real reason to have passed on offer #1, to go there instead, & this ship offer is the real deal, being a blip out in the middle of nowhere, doing the good work, establishing a name for yourself. This was Riker's Stargazer & he passed, which also stymies the mentoring track. In the time Riker serves on the D, Picard could've mentored a half dozen other potential captains, like Shelby, or even Data. Shelby is right that he's 100% in the way.
And he probably would've been fine. By all accounts it would've been a perfectly good command. Anyone who really wanted to run a ship off into the unknown should've jumped at it. The Enterprise would've gone on just fine thereafter, with potentially Data assuming the 1st officer role by then (who deserved it)
He passed for a number of possible reasons, like wanting to hang around imzadi & friends, preferring a prestige post over an insignificant one, possibly even having the hubris to expect he was entitled to succeed Picard there, or even maybe having no confidence in his leadership (as we'd find out might've been an esteem issue haunting him ever since the Pegasus & subsequent meteoric rising thru the ranks, off Pressman's influence)
Whatever it was, he just wasn't ready to put the big boy pants on IMHO, as evidenced by his utterly miserable mood anytime Picard goes missing & he had to step up. In fact, the only time his mood was worse was when he expected to step up & got passed over for Jellico. Are. You. Really. That. Surprised? You've been telling them to piss off for half a decade, dude. Read the room.
Actually, it's not that unlikely that the "second choice" was Paul Rice, though without Riker's reasons for staying on, he might have moved on long before Riker did.
It's certainly possible he was on &/or near the top of the list. I couldn't say how often a command like that opens up, & had Riker snagged it, there may have been a wait for another, & Picard's opening would certainly be a top grab for officers at that level, to distinguish themselves for further consideration
If you are talking about the first time Riker was offered his own ship during the run of TNG, rather than the one he turned down prior to the start of TNG, then I would say it would be logical that Data would have been promoted to first officer and a new character would have been introduced to replace Data at ops.
Assuming the first officer should be a commander in rank, the lowest that can 'regularly' be considered would be a Lt. Commander (being promoted 1 rank (to Commander) upon becoming XO).
That takes Worf and Geordi out, as they were only Lt. jg. in season 1 (i.e. 2 full ranks below Lt. Commander).
Data could have been eligible, except that people probably would be uneasy serving under him. And frankly, S1 Data wasn't remotely ready for it. (S6 Data or so might have done it).
Beverley had the rank but probably wouldn't have wanted to leave Medical.
Then there's the various 'chief engineers' of season 1 (most often Lt. Commanders), but I guess they wouldn't have wanted to give up Engineering any more than Beverley wanting to give up Medical.
So, assuming there's no high level officer on board the ent-D we've never seen, the most logical option would be to attract someone from elsewhere.
There is Trek precedent for a first officer being Lieutenant Commander in rank, however. We saw that when Data commanded a ship in "Redemption." His XO was a Lieutenant Commander.
Spock was a Lt Commander on paper if not on sleeve for a bit.
Keep in mind that when Picard made that statement, he was comparing the Aries to the Enterprise-D. The Aries herself was probably not insignificant at all. In fact, the way Picard was describing the mission and the crew made it sound like a very prestigious posting.
If it had to be someone from the current cast who would it most likely be?
Honestly, what Starfleet command, specifically tasked with deep space exploration, wouldn't be? It's the highest renowned task of the whole institution, their mission statement. It wouldn't be mundane nor superfluous. It's just that it wasn't yet a post of legend nor repute. However, there's absolutely nothing stopping it from becoming one, depending on the circumstances & individuals taking them on, & thereby making a name for it that rivals an Enterprise or Excelsior etc...
Riker himself held that rank aboard the Hood while 1st officer, after being promoted to it following his Nervala IV heroics aboard the Potemkin. He got scooped up very quickly once in that rank. It's actually not even uncommon
True, but I wasn't talking about XO's in general, but the XO of the ent-D - a massive ship (as Trek ships go). That would be a quite different job from being XO on a ship with only (say) 50 crew. In real life navies, XO's of large vessels can be of higher rank than the captains of smaller vessels AFAIK.
Trek is plain silly in this, giving all captains-by-position the rank of captain, too (presumably because they think the audience would otherwise be confused), whereas in reality, captain Ransom (Equinox, 80 crew) and captain Picard (ent-D, about a 1000 crew, or at the very least, people) almost certainly wouldn't have held same rank. So I'll have to agree with you that as Trek goes it's quite possible. So yes, in that case Geordi or Worf could step up.
I guess that would depend on the mission too or the Captain's expertise or even their prerogative. Starfleet is much faster & more diversified than a navy. A smaller ship & crew could sensibly be given to an inexperienced captain, like Picard's Stargazer, or to an experienced captain, if the mission were in some way critical, like Pressman's Pegasus. I can even imagine a scenario where a smaller ship would be commanded by a quality captain, simply because they just prefer that assignment
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