PERSONNEL FILE: FEDERATION

NAME: Pike, Christopher
RANK: Fleet Captain 
BORN: not on file 
PLACE OF BIRTH: Earth
ASSIGNMENT: Retirement, Talos IV
ORIGIN: Human
LAST SHIP: U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701 
ACADEMY CLASS: not on file
BIOGRAPHICAL DETAILS: Christopher Pike grew up in the Mojave region on Earth, a part of North America that had been uninhabitable desert only two hundred years earlier. However, by the time of Pike's birth in the early part of the twenty-third century, the Mojave had been converted into a paradise of glittering cities and wide belts of lush, green parkland. It was here that young Pie learned to ride horses -- particularly his beloved Tango -- and to enjoy the wide-open spaces, passions which remained with him throughout his life. It was here as well that Pike first glimpsed the stars in the crisp night sky and knew he wanted to devote his life to their exploration. Even before he took command of the U.S.S. Enterprise in 2250, Pike was known throughout Starfleet as a bright, dedicated and compassionate individual -- prime command material. Never one to crack a joke, he took his duties and responsibilities as captain quite seriously. According to his critics, he may have taken his responsibilities too seriously on occasion. For instance, when the Enterprise was involved in a violent conflict on Rigel VII and three crew members were killed, Pike blamed the incident on his own carelessness in not anticipating hostilities on the part of the Rigelians -- even though his colleagues on the ship assured him there was nothing else he could have done. In 2254, Pike and the Enterprise were en route to the Vega colony when they received a distress call from the S.S. Columbia -- a space going vessel that had disappeared near the Talos star group some eighteen years earlier. His investigation led to the discovery of the Columbia's crash site on planet Talos IV and, consequently, contact with the planet's indigenous inhabitants --  a race of technically advanced humanoids. The Talosians captured Pike and attempted to detain him with their ability to create realistic illusions. Their aim was to mate him with a human female in their possession in order to breed a line of captive humans. However, Pike managed to outwit the Talosians and win his freedom. Hid behavior convinced them that humans are unsuitable for captivity. Nonetheless, the human female whom Pike encountered -- Vina, the lone survivor of the S.S. Columbia crash -- opted to remain with the Talosians. Apparently, she had been badly disfigured in the crash and had come to prefer illusion to reality. Pike left Vina there, though he felt a strong emotional attachment to her. Soon after, Starfleet Command imposed General Order 7 on Talos IV, prohibiting Federation contact with that planet on pain of death. Pike went on to conduct two complete five-year missions of exploration, the second ending in 2261. He relinquished command of the Enterprise to James Kirk in 2263, at which time Pike was promoted to fleet captain. For three years, Pike proved to be a capable and creative administrator. Then, in 2266, he suffered severe radiation injuries in an attempt to save lives  during an accident aboard a class-J training ship. Wheelchair-bound as a result of delta-ray exposure, Pike found life difficult, to say the least. Always a very active individual, his disability drove him to the edge of despondence. Finally, with the help of the Vulcan Spock (see file), who had served on the Enterprise under Pike, the fleet captain managed to return to Talos IV despite General Order 7. Once there, he took the Talosians up on an offer they had made to him twelve years earlier -- an offer to use their power of illusion to give him a life unfettered by his physical reality. Though little is known of Pike's life after that, Starfleet chroniclers have speculated that he lived out his natural life in Vina's company, as happy and fulfilled as any human could be. Though Pike himself left Starfleet, his accomplishments went on to inspire a great many of the fleet's finest officers. One of them was the aforementioned Spock of Vulcan, who later served under James kirk, Pike's successor as captain of the Enterprise. Pike City, a town on the Federation planet Cestus III, was named for the sometimes grim, always unpretentious, and yet stirringly adventuresome Captain Christopher Pike.
ACHIEVEMENTS, AWARDS: not on file
FAMILY: not on file