A Starfleet officer, Pike served during the 23rd century. In the Kelvin timeline, Pike was assigned to write a dissertation about the USS Kelvin. He came to admire the "leap without looking" attitude of George Kirk, the officer who took command of the ship during its final minutes. Pike regretted that Starfleet had, in his opinion, lost this trait amongst its commanders. In 2255 Pike encountered the 22 year old James Kirk in a bar near the Riverside shipyard. He encouraged Kirk to enlist in Starfleet, which he did. [1]In 2258 Pike was the Captain of the Federation's new flagship, the USS Enterprise, for her maiden voyage. Her first mission was to rush to Vulcan, which was apparently experiencing a natural disaster. Cadet Kirk managed to convince Pike that the planet was in fact being attacked by Nero; despite the warning the ship was quickly incapacitated on arrival, and Nero demanded that Pike surrender himself. Pike placed Spock in command of the ship and appointed Kirk as first officer before dispatching some officers to sabotage the Narada's drilling rig as he surrendered himself. Despite his actions Nero succeeded in destroying Vulcan and escaping with Pike on board. [1]Nero subsequently tortured Pike for the access codes and frequencies for Earth's defence systems. Pike resisted, prompting Nero to use a Centurian Slug on him. Nero was subsequently rescued by James Kirk in a daring mission aboard the Narada, and beamed back to the Enterprise. [1]When Kirk graduated from Starfleet academy he was appointed as Captain of the Enterprise, relieving Pike, who had been promoted to Admiral. [1]