Christopher Pike was a 23rd century Starfleet officer. He was captain of the starship USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) for many years, as the immediate predecessor to later Captain James T. Kirk, and succeeding Captain Robert April. Captain Pike was a native of Mojave on Earth.
Encounter at Rigel
In 2254, Pike led an Enterprise landing party to Rigel VII, in which they were attacked in an apparently abandoned fortress of Kaylar warriors. Three crewmen, including Pike's own yeoman, were killed, and an additional seven, including Spock, were injured, some severely. The loss weighed heavily on Pike, with all the strain and overwork that followed he began to question his own continuance as starship commander. The ship then set out for Vega colony to hospitalize the sick and injured, but intercepted an old-style radio-interference distress call carrying the call letters of the SS Columbia, a survey expedition from the American Continent Institute which was lost in the Talos star group in 2236.
The Talosian Incident
At Pike's reluctant command, the ship diverted and traced the signal to the crash site on Talos IV. After an initial encounter with supposed survivors, including an out-of-place young beauty named Vina, it was revealed that native Talosians had used telepathy to create the illusion of an encampment, all the survivors except Vina were dead. Captain Pike was overpowered and kidnapped, and placed in a Talosian zoo where they attempted to get him to mate with Vina to create a population of illusion controlled human servants. They forced Pike to relive old memories, and placed him in illusionary scenarios of lives he could have if he abandoned his career as starship captain. The scenarios including reliving the fight on Rigel; a picnic on Earth with his favorite horse, Tango; and an illusory day in the life of an Orion slave-trader, dealing in green animal women. When Pike refused to mate with Vina, the Talosians began to take steps to convince Pike to breed with other females of his crew; to this end, Yeoman Colt and Pike's first officer, Number One, were captured. Pike escaped, however, and after a standoff, convinced the Talosians to restore the disfigured Vina's illusion of health and beauty while letting the humans of Pike's crew free.
The Talosians believed this violent reaction made humans unsuitable for breeding and agreed. Although the experience with the illusory worlds restored Pike's confidence in his command, it was recommended that all contact with the Talosian's powers be restricted. General Order 7 was enacted, threatening the death penalty should any travel there, for fear of the Federation falling to illusory indulgence. (TOS: "The Cage")
Tragic Fate
Fleet Captain Pike, disfigured by delta rays.
After a long tour as Enterprise captain (11 years of which were spent with junior science officer Spock as a loyal member of his crew), Pike was promoted to fleet captain in the mid-2260s when Kirk took command. Only a few years thereafter, Pike was aboard a training vessel, an old J-class starship, when a baffle plate ruptured and exposed many helpless trainees and cadets to delta radiation. Pike dragged many cadets from the danger, but in the process was hopelessly crippled by the rays. The disfigured Pike was put on a form of advanced life support which sustains his withered body and life functions, but is too weak and incapacitated to ever move or respond to physical stimuli again. A wheelchair that was tuned to his brain could use blinking light signals to respond to simple queries in the affirmative or negative, but that was the extent to which he could communicate.
Return to Talos
The Talosians.
In 2267, Commander Spock devised a plan to divert the Enterprise (which he was now first officer of, under Kirk) to Starbase 11, where Pike was hospitalized, with a fake message. Spock's intention was, risking execution if caught, to deliver Captain Pike to Talos, where the Talosians could tap Pike's mind with telepathy and illusions, so he would be spared dying helpless in that dead body. On Talos, with the help of the telepathic Talosians, Pike lived out a life of illusion in which his devastating handicap no longer exists. Fleet Captain Pike went into retirement from Starfleet active duty service and lived on Talos IV permanently, with no further outside contact, since the secrecy of the Talosian power made his fate largely unknown. (TOS: "The Menagerie, Part I", "The Menagerie, Part II")
In Memoriam
The Christopher Pike Medal of Valor was named in Fleet Captain Pike's honor. Benjamin Sisko and Solok received the award in the 24th century. There was also a shuttlecraft Pike carried onboard USS Enterprise-D. On the planet Cestus III, there is a Pike City, which has a baseball team named the Pike City Pioneers. (TNG: "The Most Toys"; DS9: "Family Business", "Tears of the Prophets", "Take Me Out to the Holosuite")
Dossier: Fleet Captain Christopher Pike
- Current Status: Incommunicado, retired on planet Talos IV since mid-2260s.
- Last Active Rank: Fleet captain.
- Duty Record: Commanding Officer, U.S.S. Enterprise until the early 2260s.
- In Mirror, Mirror, the Mirror Universe version of Captain Pike had been killed by Captain Kirk.
Biographical timeline
- early 23rd century
- Christopher Pike born in Mojave on planet Earth.
- 2236
- The SS Columbia crash-lands on planet Talos IV, only one survivor named Vina.
- 2245
- USS Enterprise NCC-1701 is launched under Captain Robert April.
It has been suggested that Christopher Pike may have been April's First Officer, but this has not been confirmed canonically.
- early 2250s
- Christopher Pike takes over command of the Enterprise.
- around 2252
- Spock begins his service on the Enterprise under Captain Pike's command, becoming a loyal and long-serving officer.
- 2254
- The Enterprise under Captain Pike, is involved in a violent conflict on planet Rigel VII, three crew members, including Pike's yeoman, are killed and seven are injured.
- Upon setting out for Vega, Captain Pike and the Enterprise receives distress signal from Talos.
- early 2260s
- Captain Pike is promoted to fleet captain, the Enterprise is turned over to the command of Captain James T. Kirk in 2264
- 2266
- Fleet Captain Pike is bound by delta rays to the wheelchair by an accident aboard the cadet ship.
- Stardate 3012 (2267)
- Fleet Captain Pike is taken by Spock and the Enterprise to Talos IV, goes into retirement and lives with Vina in illusory bliss.
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Appendices
Background
Captain Pike was played by Jeffrey Hunter in the original unaired pilot, "The Cage." Actor Sean Kenney portrayed a disfigured Pike in the present day scenes of the adaptation of that episode, "The Menagerie," because the part of a wheelchair-bound Captain Pike was a bit role in the context of the script, and would not justify the expense of hiring back the more popular Jeffrey Hunter for such a short part, especially since he had moved on to other projects.
The American author Kevin McFadden (b. 1954) took Christopher Pike as his penname.
Apocrypha
Outside of the canon information derived from his one filmed appearance, the old USS Enterprise Officer's Manual (by Doug Drexler and Geoffrey Mandel) suggests his middle name as Christopher Robin Pike, while Diane Carey's "Final Frontier" novel licensed for Pocket Books lists him Christopher Richard Pike. His adventures as captain of the Enterprise were the center of Marvel's Star Trek: Early Voyages comic book series, establishing his father as retired admiral Josh Pike. Chris Pike was also featured in a handful of novels and comics, some of them depicting his life after being crippled and left on Talos IV, some of them depicting his earlier adventures. The Pocket novel "Vulcan's Glory" by TOS scripter D.C. Fontana states that Pike previously commanded the starship Yorktown, a reference to the original name intended to be given the Enterprise. Some stories have also said that Pike served as the executive officer onboard the Enterprise under Captain Robert T. April.
In the Star Trek novel Enterprise, Pike is promoted to commodore upon relinquishing command of the Enterpirse. This could indicate that "fleet captain" was considered a position and not a rank.
In an episode of the 80's science fiction series Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, Christoher Pike's name is paged over the intercom system in a tongue-in-cheek homage to the Star Trek character.
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