Riker Maneuver

The "Riker Maneuver" was the name informally given by Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge to a tactic used by Commander William T. Riker, in acting command of the , to combat two Son'a battle cruisers in 2375. Following La Forge's suggestion that history would assign that name to the maneuver, Riker replied, "If it works..." 
Attempting to elude the ships in the area of space known as "the Briar Patch," Riker ordered the Enterprises ramscoops utilized to collect highly-unstable metreon gas. Upon filling the storage cells to maximum capacity, Riker activated the ship's manual steering column to perform precision maneuvering, and ordered the ramscoops released. 
Riker then piloted the Enterprise in close proximity to the Son'a ships, leaving a cloud of metreon gas between them and the Enterprise. Subsequent to one of the pursuing vessels firing at the Enterprise, the gas ignited, destroying one of the ships and severely damaging and disabling the other. ()
File:Sovereign bussard collector.jpg|The Enterprise using its Bussard ramscoop to collect metreon gas
File:USS Enterprise-E releasing metreon gas.jpg|The Enterprise releases the metreon gas
File:Son'a battle cruiser fires a torpedo.jpg|The Son'a fire a torpedo
File:Sona battle cruiser aft.jpg|One Son'a battle cruiser is destroyed and the other is damaged and disabled
== Appendices ==
=== See also ===
*Picard Maneuver
*Pike Maneuver
=== Background information ===
La Forge's comment may have been merely jovial. The maneuver is similar to a previously depicted incident in in which the Enterprise crew vented hydrogen into space to be ignited by another ship. However, in that case, it was not with the express purpose of damaging or destroying another ship in combat, and therefore would not have been classified as a "maneuver".
The movie script alludes to the joystick used by Riker as a computer gamester's dream.
Riker previously had two self-named maneuvers, "Riker Alpha" and "Riker Beta," shown in .
Fans commonly refer to the unusual way Riker sits down in chairs (throwing one leg over the seat's back) by this name. references the trope when Brad Boimler attempts to mount a saddle using the same technique, shouting the man's last name.
=== Apocrypha ===
The Riker Maneuver is an ability available to certain playable variants of the in Star Trek Online, through the use of metreon gas canisters specifically carried aboard the ship for this purpose.
===External link===
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cs:Rikerův manévr
de:Riker-Manöver
ja:ライカー作戦
Category:Maneuvers