Headscratchers / Star Trek: The Next Generation S7E10 "Parallels"

• Why did Riker get command of the Enterprise in his reality? We've seen that when Riker gets offered commands, they're to much less distinguished ships because he has no experience as a captain. That's why he keeps refusing them. In "Chain of Command," when command of the ship gets transferred to a new person, it goes to Captain Jellico, a much more experienced captain.
  • All we know is that Picard was killed during the events of "Best of Both Worlds". It's possible that this Riker did so well in the fight against the Borg that he was offered command of the Enterprise and decided to take it in order to honor Picard's memory.
  • In "Best of Both Worlds" Riker was breveted to captain, he got to wear the four pips, but when they rescued Picard he wasn't confirmed captain (apparently through his own request); in the reality that they could not rescue Picard in, that no longer applied and he was no doubt duly confirmed captain of the Enterprise as part of that reality's Borg rebuild effort.
  • In those previous instances, Picard was still alive and Riker was offered command of other ships. In the timeline where Picard was killed, Riker presumably remained captain since he was the most experienced with the Enterprise and her crew. Remember, Jellico was only chosen to replace Picard in "Chain of Command" because he was specifically more experienced dealing with the Cardassians, which was what they needed.
  • Also, in this timeline, the roles of the Cardassians and Bajorans are switched, so the events of "Chain Of Command" never occurred.