nine years ago a transporter accident created two William T Rikers one of them
returned to his ship the other was marooned on Nervala IV the second
Riker was finally discovered two years ago he chose to use his middle name
Thomas to distinguish himself from the other Riker the two men are physically
identical in all respects right down to their DNA coding there was no way for
the security computer to know that it was Thomas not William who boarded the
Defiant this is a very entertaining story but why am I listening to it we
have reason to believe that Thomas Riker is a member of the Maquis
what Thomas Riker was serving aboard the starship Gandhi while he was there he
began to express certain political opinions opinions that supported the
Maquis and their goals are you telling me that one of the most heavily armed
warships in this quadrant is now in the hands of Maquis terrorists
do you have any idea what kind of response this will provoke from the
Central Command they'll probably want to send ships into the Demilitarized Zone
to conduct a search we understand that but any entry into
the zone must be a joint operation between Cardassia and the federation the
central command will not be interested in any joint operation commander they
will believe your story about transporter duplicates and security
failures they will assume that Starfleet wanted the Maquis to have the Defiant
and they will respond accordingly and what does that mean exactly
it means they will seize this opportunity to finally eliminate the
Maquis they will send a fleet into that zone
Starfleet will cooperate in a search for the Defiant but they will not allow the
Central Command to use this as an excuse for a full-scale invasion of course not
so you will set your own fleet into the zone to protect Federation colonies but
at some point the two fleets will meet tensions will rise nerves will fray and
someone will make the tiniest mistake and we'll have a war on our hands
it is a prospect I do not relish commander neither do we
that's why we need to work together to prevent it from happening well unless I
can bring something back to Central Command to prove your good faith and
your willingness to help stop the Defiant I don't believe anything can
prevent this conflict from beginning then bring me with you I can help you
stop the Defiant and prove our good faith I was in charge of the shipyard
where the Defiant was built I hope design it I know her
vulnerabilities and her weaknesses you'll help us destroy one of your own
ships I want to try and disable it first oh I'm sure you do
but you are in no position to bargain here commander you want to prevent a war
you come back to Cardassia with me and you help me destroy the Defiant