Christopher Pike

Christopher Richard Pike was a noted Starfleet officer in the 23rd century. He was most famous for his thirteen-year command of the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701). (et al.)

Early Life

 * The  comic series, and the novel Burning Dreams, provide contradictory information on Pike's early life.

Christopher Pike was the son of retired Starfleet Admiral Josh Pike, and was raised in Mojave, California, Earth. Josh brought up Chris with level of tough love that left the father son relationship somewhat strained. 
 * ''Early Voyages'

Chris's godfather, Mahirn, was a friend of Josh's.

Christopher McKinnies was born in Mojave, California in 2219, the son of architect Willa McKinnies, and would not know his biological father until adulthood. When Christopher was nine, his mother married terraformer Heston Prescott, and his stepson took his surname.
 * Burning Dreams


 * Actor Jeffrey Hunter, who played Pike, was born Henry Herman McKinnies, Jr.

In 2228 the family moved to the colony world of Elysium. There he was befriended by Charlie Pike, an apparent drifter and hired hand, who helped the family in their horse breeding endeavor. Willa and Heston died in 2231 when intense wildfires swept across Elysium. While aboard a Starfleet ship aiding rescue operations on Elysium, Chris learned that Charlie was a Starfleet petty officer who had been on extended leave. Pike brought Christopher back to Mojave, to the home he shared with his wife, Hobelia. Charlie also brought Tango, a horse that Chris and Charlie had been raising back to Mojave as well. The day after Christopher's thirteenth birthday, the couple formally adopted him, and gave him the surname Pike. Pike would later learn that Charlie Pike was actually his biological father. 

Early Career
Pike attended Starfleet Academy, and graduated in 2241 at the top of his class. Fellow members of his class included Lucien Murat, Akiko Torunaga, and Kadish of Vulcan, all of whom also became Starfleet legends. 

Following his graduation from the Academy, Ensign Pike was assigned to the light cruiser USS Olympus (23rd century). During his service aboard the Olympus, Pike became good friend with the ship's chief engineer, Glenn Pitcairn. 

In 2246, he held the rank of lieutenant commander, and was temporarily assigned as first officer of the USS Aldrin (23rd century) under Captain Kamnach. Pike was forced to relieve Kamnach of duty when the captain launched an unprovoked attack on a Vestian ship. Pike was charged with mutiny, but all charges were dismissed following a court-martial, and Pike given a promotion to Commander, and assigned to the USS York. 

Pike served as the executive officer of the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) under Captain Robert April for a time. Here, he met a young Spock for the first time. (TOS novella: Crisis on Vulcan)

Pike's third command was the USS Yorktown (NCC-1704). 
 * As his command prior to the Enterprise it would presumably been on the Yorktown that Pike first served alongside Number One and Dermot Cusack.

At some point, Pike, along with his trusted Yeoman Cusack, were involved with a conflict with the Tholians. 

Captain of the Enterprise
In 2251, Captain Robert April announced to the UFP Grand Assembly that he was stepping down as commanding officer of the Enterprise. Pike was given command of the Enterprise, bringing with him Cusack as captain's yeoman, and managing to convince Number One to serve as his XO rather than pursue her own command. Pike and Cusack shared a drink of Irish whiskey when they discussed the rest of his senior staff selection, which included continuing member's of the crew from April's captaincy as well as several new faces. April personally walked Pike to the Enterprise in spacedock to give him some words of wisdom before he boarded. Pike commanded the Enterprise for a total of thirteen years, including two five-year missions. 

In 2251, while on leave at Earth, he met Janeese Carlisle and fell in love. Though forced to leave her as she was entering Starfleet Academy, they maintained subspace contact over the next two and a half years. When the Enterprise returned to Earth in 2254, he learned she was in love with another man, and was nearly driven to bitterness and disappointment. 

Two years into his command, Pike's science officer was struck down by Virillian toxic fever, just as the Enterprise was about to begin a long term survey of the Pathiad Nebulatae. Pike managed to secure the then Cadet Spock to take on the science officer role on the Enterprise before proceeding on the mission. 

On stardate 2252.34 in 2254, the Enterprise was diverted from her mission to the Marrat system to investigate some strange goings on. With the Enterprise acting as bait, the culprit of several disappearances was revealed. An organic starship of the Ngultor attacked the Enterprise and took Pike hostage, probing his mind causing him to flashback to times gone past, attempting to research the species and population centers of the region in preparation for their harvest. Fortunately their link worked both ways and Pike was able to discover their plans and with renewed determination break the connection. Pike was promptly rescued by a landing party lead by Number One and after being beamed back to the Enterprise destroyed the Ngultor mothership to prevent it reporting back its findings to Ngultor space. . The incident had lasting effects on Captain Pike and he still hadn't fully recovered weeks later The Enterprise proceeded to the Marrat system, arriving just in time to drive off a hostile force from Starbase 13. Proceeding to the Pharos siteworld, the site of Project Pharos to investigate a loss of communication the Enterprise came under attack from the under command of the Klingon Kaaj. The Enterprise near crippled by Kaaj’s advanced tactics Pike resorted to outside tactics and fired on the dilithium rich planet below, the attack ignited the planet and gave Kaaj a humiliating defeat, the Klingon retreated vowing a blood debt of revenge on Pike for his actions. 

The Enterprise's next mission took Pike to Rigel VII, where Pike was taken by the Rigellian Minister's aide Talza to visit the Zemtar fortress the site for a ceremony the next day ratifying the planet's entry into the United Federation of Planets. Unfortunately, Talza was Rigellian traditionalist and part of a conspiracy amongst the planet's warrior elite, the Kaylar, to stage a coup. The trip to the fortress was a trap and Pike only just survived an encounter with a Kaylar warrior. Dermot Cusack was less fortunate and was killed by Talza, who had left Pike to his fate. 

The Enterprise left Rigel for Vega colony to take care of others wounded in the Kaylar attacks. En route the USS Savannah (NCC-1622) collected the dead and delivered Pike's new Yeoman Mia Colt. Pike, still grieving, did not get off to a good start with Colt when he reacted badly when, following Cusack's eulogy, she, talking with Nano, suggested the outcomes of the incident on Rigel VII might not be all bad. 

The Talosians
Before reaching Vega, Pike diverted the Enterprise when it detected a distress call from Talos IV. On the planet Pike lead a landing party which discovered a camp of survivors from SS Columbia. However, all but one of these survivors was soon revealed to be the telepathic illusions of the planet's natives, the Talosians, who took Pike into captivity. 

While his crew tried to rescue him, Pike endured the mental illusions of the Talosians, reliving the events of Rigel VII, but this time with Vina, the one true survivor. The Talosians allowed two Enterprise crew persons to beam in, Number One and Mia Colt, hoping one of the three women would tempt Pike into staying on Talos IV and mating. Whilst held together, Pike made recompense for his earlier harshness towards his new yeoman. 

Not willing to be held by the Talosians Pike resisted and forced them to allow him and his fellow captives to escape, risking suicide rather than remaining in captivity, Vina chose to remain with Talosians. 

Later missions
Not long after Talos IV, the Enterprise visited Corinthia VII. Though initially believed to be devoid of any advanced life forms, a landing party discovered huge subterranean creatures on the planet. It was his experience with the Talosians that helped Pike battle these dangerous life forms. (SS TOS (A Private Anecdote))

Captain Pike was also instrumental in defeating the Merkaan Hamesaad Dreen, who had been harassing Federation shipping. Pike convinced Dreen that he wasn't the ideal Starfleet officer, that he could be bought. As part of the plan, Pike talked Dreen into allowing Spock to beam aboard his ship with a gift of dilithium. While Spock was being beamed on board, Pike had his transporter chief beam a security team on to the Merkaan ship at the same time. The Starfleet security team was soon able to seize Dreen's vessel. Dreen was later allowed to return home in disgrace. 

On a mission to find the missing starship USS Cortez Pike lead a landing party to Darien 224 where he and the landing party were attacked by a rebel group of the planet's resident Vulcan colony. The landing party was rescued by another group from the colony and soon found themselves the guests of the colony’s leaders. The Vulcans' motives soon became clear, they wished to return to Vulcan as conquerors, and required the Enterprise to get there. They sent Pike back in the landing party's shuttlecraft to prepare there ship, sure of his compliance while holding the rest of the landing party hostage. Pike got back to the Enterprise just as the Vulcans on Darien fired a powerful psionic weapon to destroy the Cortez, which had been commandeered by the opposing Vulcan faction. The firing of the weapon caused a feedback which began to destroy Darien. With the planetoid falling apart Pike had the Enterprise taken into the atmosphere to beam out the rest of the landing party and make a safe get away. 

Following the events at Darien 224 the Enterprise stopped at Deep Space Station K-12 to undergo repairs. Whilst their Pike received a message from his godfather informing him his father was critically ill. He took one of the Enterprise's shuttlecraft, headed for Earth, to visit his father. Unfortunately the message had been faked by Pike's Klingon nemesis Kaaj and he soon found himself under attack. Thanks to the incompetence of Kaaj's crew he was able to escape immediate capture and crash landed on the planet Prairie. He was rescued from the burning wreckage of his shuttle by Claire Thorn and taken back to her Harvester rig, the Rostok. The Klingons soon tracked him down and sent assault squads to capture him, once again Pike managed to evade them and left the harvester on a skimmer. His escape was short lived, he and his skimmer were shot down by another assault squad, but they were unable to track him in the corn fields. Frustrated and impatient Kaaj locked on to his assault teams com signal and fired from orbit, killing his men, destroying the crops, but missing Pike! Before Kaaj could destroy enough of the crops to kill Pike the Enterprise arrived and drove off the Klingons. 

In 2262, Pike encountered the Kan'ess, a race of reptilian hunters, and was for a time held captive as a pet by one of their leaders. 

Fleet Captain Pike
In 2264, following the end of his second five-year mission on the Enterprise, Pike accepted a promotion to Fleet Captain. 

Shortly after his promotion, Pike was a guest of honor at a diplomatic conference on Babel. He found the experience to be tedious and dull, but uncovered criminal activities by a Tellarite delegate with the peculiar help of Leata, an Orion slave/assassin/bounty hunter. 

In 2265, aboard the USS Tereshkova, he participated in a joint Starfleet-Trill study of a rogue comet in the Trill system. At the request of Trill scientist Audrid Dax, he agreed to keep the discovery of a parasitic life form inside that comet classified. (SS DS9 (Sins of the Mother)) Pike's reports on the encounter were added to the Starfleet file XENO-02884/1. 

Tragedy and New Life
In 2266, Pike was taking part in a training cruise on a J class starship captained by J.M. Colt when a structural rupture during an encounter with the Halogians flooded the ship with delta radiation. Pike acted to save trapped cadets, taking debilitating doses of radiation in the process. His life was saved, but he was confined to a life-support wheelchair and left unable to speak, other than by the simple blinking of a light on his chair. While technically Pike should have been removed from the active duty lists, Mendez and his fellow officers did not have the heart to remove Pike from the lists. 

Commodore Mendez gave Pike a room in the top floor of the medical wing so that he could look out over the starbase and surrounding lands. Mendez also kept in contact with Charlie and Hobelia - who had been asked by Pike not to travel across the galaxy to retrieve him if he suffered such an accident. Charlie and Hobelia began making arrangements to see if Pike could be brought back to them on Earth.

Doctors became concerned that Pike would deteriorate further and would soon be unable to even communicate through blinking the light on his chair. The Talosians, due to their continued telepathic link with Pike, were soon aware of Pike's condition. In early 2267, the Talosians sent a message to Spock, Pike's former science officer, and summoned him to Starbase 11. The Talosians asked Spock to bring Pike to them on Talos IV.

Spock beamed Pike on board the Enterprise, and then commandeered the ship. Spock programmed the ship's computer to take the ship to Talos, locking it so that any attempt to stop the ship would short out the life support systems. Kirk was determined not to lose his ship, and followed the Enterprise in a shuttle. Accompanying Kirk was what was later to be revealed as an illusion of Commodore Mendez.

Using the fiction of a court martial to distract Kirk from regaining control of the Enterprise too soon, the ship headed for Talos IV. The Talosians showed Kirk why Pike should be allowed to live out his life on Talos. Upon reaching the planet, the illusion of Mendez disappeared. At about the same time, Starfleet contacted Kirk and told him that not only would they not be taking any action against Spock, but also would allow contact with Talos IV on this occasion. The Talosians extended an invitation to Pike to live with them, unfettered by his physical body. Pike returned to Talos IV, where he would be reunited with Vina and given the illusion of full health. 

On Talos, Pike and Vina lived a life of illusion, freeing them from their ruined bodies. But soon, the illusions came to feel empty to them. So, Pike, still an explorer at heart, looked for a way to give his life meaning again. He found it in the abandoned technology of the Talosian race. He studied their history, their rise to power eons ago, and their fall when the illusions they had created consumed them. Pike also learned the Talosians' mental abilities. With the Talosians' help, he repaired the equipment that had manipulated the environment long ago, and started the world back on the road to new life. The Talosian robots even built a home for Pike and Vina in a reclaimed part of the surface.

Pike also studied the ancient Talosians' medical techniques. Using them, he and Vina finally were able to have the only thing missing in their lives -- a child. Phillip Joshua Pike was born in 2276, ten years after his father had returned to Talos.

In 2289, then-Captain Spock made a return visit to Talos. He had been sent by Starfleet to offer Pike a way to return home -- to undergo an experimental procedure that would put Pike's brain inside a partly-cloned, partly-bionic body. After Phillip attacked Spock out of fear that his father would leave forever, Pike refused the offer, and remained on Talos with his wife and son. By now, the retired Fleet captain sported a full beard, a stark contrast to the scarred face Spock last saw. 

On Talos, Pike helped inspire the Talosians to reclaim the surface of their planet and rebuild their former culture. Pike had died sometime prior to 2320, but by then Talos had again become a thriving world, and Pike (in a recorded message, relayed after his death) appealed to Spock -- now an ambassador -- to take some of his ashes back to Earth, and to help bring Talos into the Federation. 

Legacy
The shuttlecraft Pike has been flown under the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D). 

By the late 24th century, the Christopher Pike Medal of Valor has been awarded to officers (usually with the rank of Captain) for uncommon acts of bravery in the line of Starfleet duty. 

Pike City on Cestus III is a re-built, colonial capital named in his honour. 

Alternate timelines
In 2269, the Romulans implemented their Second History project to interfere in human history at a key moment. The Romulans were able to briefly change history, resulting in an alternate timeline in which the United Federation of Planets did not exist. However the Vulcans kept the Romulan Star Empire in check, and became a major Alpha Quadrant power. In this timeline, Pike served on board the VSS ShiKahr - that timeline's version of the Enterprise - as first officer under Captain Spock. Pike was later promoted to Captain himself, and was given command of the VSS T'Ruda. Spock and James T. Kirk were later able to reverse the Romulan interference, preventing the timeline from occurring. 

In another alternate timeline, Pike commanded the UESS Enterprise from 2250 to at least 2264. In that year, he was responsible for convincing T'Pol of Vulcan to help Earth petition for membership in the Interstellar Coalition.