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Description
Over on TrekBBS, someone posed a “What If…” scenario wherein after “Descent” Riker received his much sought-after promotion to Captain, with the rest of Season 7 being split across two ships in an arc to bolster the creativity of the last year of the show. The pitch included retaining the Pegasus Incident but upon the revelation of the illegal activities, Captain Riker would be demoted to Commander Riker and return to the E-D as First Officer in time for the films.

This aspect of the idea doesn’t sit right with me as it feels like giving the fans the middle finger in an almost “it was all a dream” trope, with the comfortable status quo being reinstated in such a short space of time, so I started thinking of it as being a way to launch another ship-based series after TNG finished being a more direct spin-off. VOY could still be developed as well and they could really push the whole isolated and alone angle, rather than just TNG-light, whilst Worf wouldn’t be added to DS9 so they could continue to focus on the Bajor/Cardassian tensions, rise of the Maquis, and threat from the Dominion, leaving the idea of a Klingon/Federation war to be something for the early seasons of Riker’s show to delve into and resolve (of course there is also huge opportunities for crossover with DS9 and definitely being included in the films).

Though I’d love to see an Excelsior-Class take the centre stage for a show, I suspect Riker’s ship would probably have to be something newer and a bit sleeker to try and sell it so I’m thinking a Cheyenne-Class might be a good option—and it would also play in nicely to the name I was thinking of giving her, the U.S.S. Stargazer, in honour of Picard’s first command.

So here are the two crews of TNG Season 7 and the beginning of Star Trek: Stargazer:-

U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-D
Commanding Officer = Captain Jean-Luc Picard
First Officer = Commander Data
Chief Flight Control Officer = Lieutenant (jg) Sariel Rager
Chief Engineering Officer = Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge
Chief Operations Officer = Lieutenant (jg) Mordock
Chief Security Officer = Lieutenant Ro Laren
Counsellor = Lt. Commander Deanna Troi
Chief Medical Officer = Commander Beverly Crusher

U.S.S. Stargazer NCC-TBD*
Commanding Officer = Captain William Riker
First Officer = Commander Mizari Vahl
Chief Flight Control Officer = Ensign Sam Lavelle**
Chief Engineering Officer = Lieutenant Macha Hernandez
Chief Operations Officer = Ensign Taurik**
Chief Security Officer = Lt. Commander Worf
Chief Medical Officer = Lt. Commander Selar
Chief Science Officer = Lieutenant Keung Lin

* Not sure if I'd have her be NCC-2893-A or a new registry number
** Lavelle and Taurik would have their introduction to Trek earlier and would be more than one hit wonders

Description
Over on TrekBBS, someone posed a “What If…” scenario wherein after “Descent” Riker received his much sought-after promotion to Captain, with the rest of Season 7 being split across two ships in an arc to bolster the creativity of the last year of the show. The pitch included retaining the Pegasus Incident but upon the revelation of the illegal activities, Captain Riker would be demoted to Commander Riker and return to the E-D as First Officer in time for the films.

This aspect of the idea doesn’t sit right with me as it feels like giving the fans the middle finger in an almost “it was all a dream” trope, with the comfortable status quo being reinstated in such a short space of time, so I started thinking of it as being a way to launch another ship-based series after TNG finished being a more direct spin-off. VOY could still be developed as well and they could really push the whole isolated and alone angle, rather than just TNG-light, whilst Worf wouldn’t be added to DS9 so they could continue to focus on the Bajor/Cardassian tensions, rise of the Maquis, and threat from the Dominion, leaving the idea of a Klingon/Federation war to be something for the early seasons of Riker’s show to delve into and resolve (of course there is also huge opportunities for crossover with DS9 and definitely being included in the films).

Though I’d love to see an Excelsior-Class take the centre stage for a show, I suspect Riker’s ship would probably have to be something newer and a bit sleeker to try and sell it so I’m thinking a Cheyenne-Class might be a good option—and it would also play in nicely to the name I was thinking of giving her, the U.S.S. Stargazer, in honour of Picard’s first command.

So here are the two crews of TNG Season 7 and the beginning of Star Trek: Stargazer:-

U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-D
Commanding Officer = Captain Jean-Luc Picard
First Officer = Commander Data
Chief Flight Control Officer = Lieutenant (jg) Sariel Rager
Chief Engineering Officer = Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge
Chief Operations Officer = Lieutenant (jg) Mordock
Chief Security Officer = Lieutenant Ro Laren
Counsellor = Lt. Commander Deanna Troi
Chief Medical Officer = Commander Beverly Crusher

U.S.S. Stargazer NCC-TBD*
Commanding Officer = Captain William Riker
First Officer = Commander Mizari Vahl
Chief Flight Control Officer = Ensign Sam Lavelle**
Chief Engineering Officer = Lieutenant Macha Hernandez
Chief Operations Officer = Ensign Taurik**
Chief Security Officer = Lt. Commander Worf
Chief Medical Officer = Lt. Commander Selar
Chief Science Officer = Lieutenant Keung Lin

* Not sure if I'd have her be NCC-2893-A or a new registry number
** Lavelle and Taurik would have their introduction to Trek earlier and would be more than one hit wonders