Jeffrey Pike walked briskly down the wide hallways of Starfleet Headquarters in San Francisco. If you looked out the tall windows that lined the corridor's walls, you'd see the Golden Gate bridge arching across the bay to Sauselito, but Pike didn't notice. His mind was elsewhere. He was headed for the East-Wing transporter terminal, and from there, upward.
The door to the transporter room slid open and the young technician slouching behind the console snapped to attention. "Commodore! I wasn't expecting you yet. You're not scheduled to depart until 14:30 hours...." he stuttered.
Inwardly, Pike smiled, but he gave the nervous technician his best business-like glare. "No time like the present, crewman," he said. "Do you have the office coordinates set?"
"Yes sir!" snapped the crewman, relieved that he had done at least one thing right.
"Very good." Pike stepped onto one of the transporter pads. "Energize."
The view of the Starfleet HQ transporter terminal and one slightly discombobulated transporter technician quickly faded....
....and an endless vista of stars materialized two seconds later. Pike now stood on a transporter pad in the security vestibule of the Starfleet Drydock Office Complex in orbit hundreds of miles above San Francisco, looking out the enormous bay windows at the cosmos. Pike stepped down from the transport platform and nodded a quick greeting to the security officer behind the desk. He moved towards a large set of docking doors at the opposite end of the vestibule where a travel pod waited to take him the rest of the way.
According to long-standing Starfleet tradition, the commanding officer boarded his new ship for the first time via shuttle, not by beaming aboard. The tradition dated back to the days of James Kirk, who allegedly was the person responsible for starting it.
As he passed the windows, Pike couldn't help but sneak a glance in hopes of catching a glimpse of his ultimate destination. He was disappointed however, any one of the myriad sparkles of light could be it.
A woman standing smartly at attention was waiting for Pike at the airlock door. As he approached her she stood even straighter, and with eyes front said in a professional voice, "Lieutenant Lee Carter, to escort you over to the Knight, Commodore."
"Thank you, Lieutenant," said Pike. He liked her attitude; smart, competent. He indicated the docking port and said, "Shall we go?"
"Aye, sir." Carter turned and entered the access code into the panel beside the doors. The large, round portal split down the middle and the halves slid into the walls of the Office Complex. Carter walked into the travel pod beyond, activating the lights as she went. Pike followed her in and the big doors slid shut behind him with a muffled thud.
Carter moved quickly to the forward controls and began playing them like a musician plays his instrument. There were no seats in this particular travel pod, so Pike took up a position beside her, in front of the huge forward window of the pod.
Under Carter's expert guidance, the pod slipped away from its docking ring without so much as a nudge and began its graceful sweep around the curve of the earth to the drydock facility where the USS Knight waited.
Pike again looked out to the stars, trying to pick out the one speck of light that was their destination; his new ship! He was beginning to feel anxious and excited, like a little kid would feel the night before the big family trip to DisneyEarth.
Strange! he thought. This isn't my first ship. Why should I feel this way? I commanded the Excalibur-C through a successful five-year mission. Why should this be any different?
Pike shifted his attention to watching the earth roll by below them, and watching Carter perform her job. Her Starfleet dossier described her as a top notch pilot, and he was beginning to believe it. But his thoughts found their way back to his new ship before more than a few minutes had passed.
Pike knew why this assignment was different. He would be taking a brand new, state-of-the-art Starship out on an extended tour of exploration and first contacts beyond the furthest limits of Human knowledge.
Seeking out new life had always been basic to Starfleet philosophy, but that had taken a back seat to the task of defense these last fifteen or twenty years because of the Borg and Dominion invasions. Now, finally, Starfleet and the Federation had recovered enough psychologically and economically to reestablish the ambitious exploratory campaign that had always been its hallmark. And the Knight would be one of the ships in the forefront of this new wave of expansion!
Pike was roused from his thoughts by Lieutenant Carter. She was saying something about a large orbital structure Pike could now see out the forward window. Pike regained his senses and said, "Sorry, Lieutenant. What were you saying?"
Carter gave a small brief smile, as if she guessed what had captivated the Commodore's thoughts. "I was just saying that we're almost there, sir." At this she pointed out the windows at the enormous structure. It was the drydock.
Within its latticework of girders and framework, hung a vision of grace and beauty, but also one of strength and boldness. Lit from all sides by the drydock's floodlights, the titanic form of the USS Knight waited patiently for her new captain.
"Isn't she a beauty?" asked Carter.
"Indeed she is, Lieutenant," answered Pike. "Indeed she is."
A smiling Carter whizzed the pod in graceful loops and swirls around the hull of the huge ship, and buzzed the bridge for good measure. Pike allowed her this little self-indulgence, she seemed to be enjoying herself so, but finally he had to tap her on the shoulder and say, "Ahem. Lieutenant? If you don't mind...." He indicated the main hangar with a nod of his head.
"Oh, of course, sir," Carter said quickly. She grinned momentarily in embarrassment, then transformed back into the serious officer Pike had met outside the airlock at the Office.
"I'm probably going out on a limb here Lieutenant," began Pike, "but I'm guessing you miss your fighter pilot days."
Another small grin flashed across Carters face. She said, "Yes, sir."
"Well, we'll just have to do something about that."
Carter kept her attention firmly focused on the controls in front of her, but Pike caught the smile she was trying to hide.
The pod slipped through the atmospheric containment field covering the mouth of the hangar deck, and with another display of Carter's prowess, settled to the deck with a barely perceptible bump. The hangar bay doors started their ponderous slide shut, Carter snapped off the pod's controls and moved to the rear of the pod.
Pike followed her. This was the moment he had been waiting for!
The doors slid open. Carter stepped out and to the side, stood at attention and snapped in her official voice, "Commanding officer, USS Knight, arriving."
Pike stepped out of the pod. A crewmember blew the customary whistle, piping him aboard. Assembled before him were most of the ship's senior personnel, arrayed in their sharp white dress uniforms. At their head stood Admiral Zultok, behind a small podium. Pike quickly closed the distance between himself and the Admiral, and stood at formal attention.
Zultok snapped a small data chip into the podium and read off the orders that scrolled across its screen:
Commodore Jeffrey H. Pike, stardate 60841.62.
You are hereby requested and required to take command of the USS Knight as of this stardate.
Signed, Admiral Zultok, Starfleet Command.
At this, Zultok switched off the viewer, removed the data chip and stepped around the podium to where Pike was standing. "Congratulations, Commodore," he said as he shook Pike's hand. A small, very un-Vulcanlike smile played across Zultok's face. He handed Pike the data chip carrying Pike's official orders.
Pike accepted it and stepped up to the podium. He faced his new crew with a stern, serious expression on his face. Most of them were young. All of them looked eager to get this mission started.
"I am Commodore Pike," he began. "I'll be your captain. I don't know you all individually yet, but I guarantee you I will before very long."
At this a few in the assembled group glanced sideways at each other. They didn't know quite how to take that coming from such a stern-looking commanding officer.
Pike relaxed his stance and let his pleasure show. "That wasn't a threat. The Knight is a small community, a family, after all."
That's all Pike had to say, he wasn't keen on long speeches. He strode forward to meet his new crew.