AN: Don't own, don't profit from anything except the presence of my lovely boys upstairs. This is for Sovereignty'd, who asked for a story featuring Captain Pike's daughter. Lillian Pike hasn't had an easy life, she grew up without her father and her mother tended to ignore her. After involving herself in a barfight in Iowa, she gets nailed a year-long mandatory sentence in ol' Alacatraz. In this story, the island is still around and they've rebuilt the old penitentiary. After six months in the slammer, Lillian gets a break when Admiral Pikes comes a-calling with a deal. Six more months in Alcatraz, or redemption aboard the good ship Enterprise. Lillian takes the Enterprise, though she doesn't know that's where she's going until they arrive. I don't want to spoil it, but I hope this is what Sovereignty'd wanted. Enjoy, children! Spock/Lillian goodness later.
From Alcatraz to Enterprise: Chapter One
Lillian Pike stared at the panel above her bunk, at the series of hatch-marks drawn on the surface that marked her prison term. Six months of her life were up there, and six more to go before she got out of this dump. She'd ended up in the Star Fleet brig for getting into a fist-fight with a couple of second-year Cadets. She'd kicked the stuffing out of the big one, and left his buddy with a few reminders. She wasn't a Cadet herself, but the judge had decided that the Star Fleet brig was the safest place for Lillian to go, since she was too old for the Juvenile Reprocessing Centers but her record wasn't long enough or bad enough to dump her in the Bay Area Prisoner Reprocessing Center. It was also isolated, being the site of the former Alcatraz US Penitentiary.
"Pike!" she heard the Warden and ignored him. "Hey, Pike! You've got a visitor!" Lillian turned her head.
"Huh?"
"Come on out, you've got a visitor." He opened the door of her cell and waved her out. She stood still for the handcuffs and belt, then followed his prodding. She didn't know anyone in the outside world, no one who would care enough to come out to Alcatraz and see her. Her mother was off-world on a science mission, her step-father was fucking showgirls on Risa, she had nobody to know or care where she was. The other prisoners hooted and cat-called, she ignored them. The Warden led her into the Visiting Room, which was usually empty at this time of day. There were very specific visiting hours and you didn't come in before or after, no matter what. Lillian glanced at the chronograph on the wall and realized it was just a little after three in the morning. She couldn't remember the last time she'd gotten a decent night's sleep and didn't care. The Visiting Room wasn't empty this morning, as she noticed belatedly. There was a man sitting at one of the tables, flanked by two others in uniform. Star Fleet? Something in the back of her head was telling her to tread carefully. Judging by his uniform, the man was an Admiral. As they got closer, she realized he was in a wheelchair and gasped. It was Admiral Pike! She remembered his face from vid-casts, and something else. She couldn't reach it right now, but around her neck she wore a silver locket engraved with the symbol of Star Fleet. Inside was a picture of the father she had never met and she had never planned on meeting. She'd gotten his picture off a news database since her mother didn't keep any evidence of Lillian's father in the house. He looked up at her as she came to a halt on the other side of the table and smiled.
"Hello, Lillian."
"Good morning, Admiral." She said quietly. The Warden took off the handcuffs but hung them off the belt.
"You've got an hour, Admiral."
"I won't be taking that long." Admiral Pike smiled patronizingly at the Warden. He had a reason for being here at three in the morning and he wasn't leaving until he'd accomplished his goal, which had something to do with Lillian. When the Warden stayed, and Lillian remained standing, one eyebrow went up.
"She's perfectly safe with me, Warden. No need for babysitting."
"She's a priority inmate, sir. We're not supposed to leave her alone."
"She's not alone, and last I recall, she was still a human being. Stop treating her like a dog or a drone, for chrissakes! Now get out of here." Lillian wasn't used to people speaking in her defense like that, and watched the Warden leave with a sense of bizarre relief. Pike extended one hand to her in invitation, "Sit down, Lillian." She sat obediently and waited. For a long time, there was no verbal communication, but there was plenty to be said. Lillian wondered if he was even aware of who she was.
"I'm sure you've got questions."
"Yeah." She folded her hands in her lap. She had a lot of questions.
"I've got a few of my own." He smiled, "You're, what, twenty-four now?"
"Twenty-five. Yesterday at noon." She shrugged, "Nobody cared."
"You think there's nobody outside who cares?"
"Nope. My mother doesn't care, and the further away I am from Carter, the better for all of us." She shrugged.
"Lillian." He spoke her name deliberately, "Look at me." She looked up. He knew alright, she could see it in his eyes. He smirked, "I heard about the scuffle that landed you in here, and having seen the two who nicked you for an easy target, you're lucky you didn't come out worse. How'd you do it?"
"Practice." She rubbed her throat, "Getting my ass kicked by my step-father every weekend I couldn't get away with friends." Lillian looked at the wheel-chair-bound Admiral, "I knew there was better out there, I just didn't know how to find it."
"I've got your ticket out of here, Lillian."
"Can you cut off my sentence?"
"Enlist in Star Fleet, make something of yourself, and declare your independence."
"Star Fleet? Are you nuts? I won't last two minutes in that place!"
"Says who?" He leaned across the table, "I've got a captain just like you, same personality type and god damn near the same record. He's one of the best captains to hit Star Fleet since God knows when. We're a hair short on officers right now, and no room to be picky."
"What's the catch?"
"No catch."
"Really?"
"Really. You want out of here that badly?"
"If you can get me out of here."
"Trust your old man, Lillian." He set a data-screen on the table between them, "That's for your Warden." At the same time, he pressed the call-switch under the edge of the table. The Warden came in and Pike handed him the screen.
"What are these?"
"Transfer orders. Lillian Pike is free to go under my custodian-ship. If you have any problems with that, you can take it up with Admiral Barnett." Pike maneuvered away from the table and as the Warden fastened the handcuffs in place, he took Lillian's hand in his, "I'll be waiting at the gate." Then he was gone. It took a half an hour to finish out-processing, and she left the Star Fleet Penitentiary Alcatraz Island with a single backpack of belongings. She saw the shuttle waiting just beyond the checkpoint outside the gates and took a deep breath. As she set foot beyond the gates, she looked back once at the prison and swore she'd never go back. Boarding the shuttle, she found a place to sit, buckled up, and caught a fifteen minute nap. She was roused out of her nap by Admiral Pike's voice in her ear.
"Lillian! Lillian, wake up. I want you to see this." he shook her away and she rubbed her face, free to do so for the first time in six months.
"What's going on? Where are we?"
"Take a look." He pointed out the window and she turned to look as they passed over a starship in spacedock.
"Whoa! What's…is that the Enterprise?"
"You know her?"
"Oh yeah." She nodded, "I know 'er." Lillian remembered her escapes to Waterside Shipyards, sitting on the hill outside the gates, watching them build the Enterprise. She looked out on the finished product, "I used to sit outside the fences and watch them build her. I always dreamed about going up and going places in a starship like the Enterprise."
"Now's your chance." Pike smiled and they watched the hull pass close as their shuttle made a circuit toward the bays at the rear of the ship.
"You were captain for a while, weren't you? That's how you landed a desk-job at the Admiralty."
"You keep track of news-vids, I see."
"Kinda hard to miss the biggest news to hit the Federation when more than half the Academy's senior class was killed off in a freak attack by Romulans."
"Most of the survivors are now the crew of your new home. My replacement made very few changes to the make-up of the senior staff, which I thought both fitting and a little odd."
"Why? He didn't get along with one of them?"
"Something like that." Her father leaned back as they entered the shuttle-bay and docked after receiving clearance. Lillian was rightfully nervous but not afraid. These people couldn't be any worse than what she'd put up with for six months and most of her lifetime. Still, these people were all strangers and she was the outcast. Oh well, at least it got her out of Alcatraz.
"Just behave yourself, Lillian, I will be keeping track of your activities." Her father warned. She glared at him briefly before turning her gaze to the bracelet around her wrist.
"Yeah, I gathered as much when the Warden slapped this around my wrist before I left Alcatraz. What kind of trouble can I get into up here?"
"I think you'd be surprised how rowdy these kids can be. Actually, I'm just asking you to keep the Captain in one piece. I don't really care if you get into a brawl with the ensigns or security officers, just don't mess around with the Captain."
"Anything I should know about him?"
"Remember the kid I told you about earlier?"
"Yeah, your renegade miracle."
"This is his ship, and he had to do a bit of bloody-knuckles fighting to get her. I helped, of course, when it came to the Academy Council, but he did the rest of it by himself." Her father rolled past her with a smirk, "Come on, we're expected."
"Yeah, about five minutes before we arrived, I'm sure." She rolled her eyes and grabbed her backpack, following Admiral Pike off the shuttle. They were met by a Vulcan officer in a blue tunic, who eyed Lillian with a cool, distant curiosity. His gaze fell on the tracking bracelet around her left wrist and his eyes widened. She folded her hands behind her back, hiding the bracelet with her right hand.
Judge me by my record, you pointy-eared bastard. She thought acidly.
"Commander Spock, this is Lillian Pike." The Admiral made introductions, apparently unaware of the tensions between the two of them, "She's joining you on a good-faith commission."
"Admiral, I do not understand."
"She's coming on with you because there's nowhere else left for her to go."
"I see. Have her Star Fleet records been transmitted, Admiral?"
"She doesn't have any, Commander. She's civilian commission."
"Has the Captain been informed of this?"
"He will be. I assume he's in his quarters?"
"Yes, sir."
"Thank you, Commander." The Admiral smiled at the straight-laced Vulcan officer and waved her to follow. Lillian trotted along after him, shooting a curious parting glance over her shoulder.
"Is that one going to be a problem?"
"Who, Spock? Not if you stay on your best behavior and out of his way."
"What's his problem?"
"Humans in general."
"Me especially." She spat, "He saw the tracking-bracelet, he knows what I am! You just didn't say anything!"
"Let me know if he makes any trouble about that." Her father looked at her meaningfully, "If you stay out of trouble while you're here, I'll have all of your civilian records sealed and no one will ever know about your little six-month stint in Alcatraz if you don't want them to."
"You can actually do that?"
"I am an Admiral, my dear. You deserve to live a normal life, without your past getting in the way."
"Yeah, well, it's done a bloody good job recently." She huffed, "So, the Captain?"
"You'll like him. He's a lot like you, actually. I meant what I said back on the island, Lillian."
"I'll hold my judgment until I've actually met the man, thank you." She folded her arms across her chest. When they reached the Captain's quarters, they were admitted by an automatic door that opened when her father announced who it was come calling.
"Be nice, Lillian." He scolded. Lillian rolled her eyes and looked around. Whatever else, the Captain didn't have a lot of material belongings.
"Spare guy."
"Not a whole lot he wants to remember from civilian life."
"Like me." She saw a series of pictures by the desk but didn't dare go for a closer look. One of them she saw she recognized the two men in the picture, "Wait a minute. Is that Commander Kirk?"
"Yes. Just a few months before the Kelvin was destroyed."
"Jesus Christ, you didn't tell me it was him!"
"You two know each other?"
"Unfortunately, better than I'd like to." She recalled one encounter at a bar in Waterside, where Cadets and civilians mixed with great ease.
"I hope that's far enough behind you you've both moved beyond it if it was a forgettable experience."
"I don't know if it's forgettable, quite memorable really, and not nearly long enough." Let's see how long James Kirk's memory really is. She thought bleakly.
"Admiral! When they called down and said you were coming, I thought they were joking!" she heard his voice from the bathroom and whimpered.
"Sorry to disappoint you, Jim. Did we catch you at a bad time?"
"Nope, just got out of the shower five minutes ago! Wait a sec, we?"
"I brought you something. A sort of gift." Her father grinned at her and she quietly loathed him. He was going to milk this very uncomfortable moment for all it was worth. She shouldn't have said anything about knowing James Kirk personally. A moment later, the Enterprise's handsome, dashing, and charismatic young captain emerged from the bathroom fighting his way into a yellow tunic.
"So, to what bizarre honor to I owe the pleasure of your company, Admiral?" He finished as he yanked the tunic over his head. His hair was still damp from the shower. He looked up, caught sight of Lillian, and his eyes tripled in size, "Oh! Wow, hello."
"Hello." She wished she didn't sound so…shy?
"Jim, this is Lillian Pike. She's new to the Enterprise, no background in Star Fleet. Can you do me a favor and keep an eye on her for me?"
"Sure, sure. No problem. What, uh, what…happened?"
"I'll let her tell you the gory details. Well, I figure you're set to launch any minute, and I've got a stack of paperwork about as high as the Seattle Space Needle on my desk, so I'll say my goodbyes."
"Of course, Admiral. I-We will see you out." Kirk corrected himself and as they headed for the door, he realized Lillian was still carrying her backpack, "Oh, um, you can leave that on the couch. Nobody will touch it. I'll see the quartermaster about getting you private quarters."
"No special treatment for me, Captain." She blushed like an idiot as she tossed her backpack onto the couch.
"Y-you're the Admiral's daughter, I can't have you bunking with two gawky strangers. Bad." He stammered. Lillian knew her father was loving this because it made them both so damn uneasy. She'd find some way to pay him back. Once the Admiral's shuttle was safely away, it was just the two of them.
"I-uh, yeah." He scratched the back of his neck, "Lillian."
"J.T."
"So…this is, um, weird."
"I hate Admiral Pike."
"He's your father."
"That doesn't mean I can't hate him for deliberately putting me in an awkward position." She huffed, "Ugh!"
"What's the alternative?"
"What?"
"What's your alternative? Enterprise or what else?" it was an innocent question she was not ready to answer. She covered her wrist with one hand.
"Compared to my alternative, Captain Kirk, the Enterprise is like a ticket to heaven."
"That bad, huh?"
"Oh you have no idea." She bit her lip. James asked what she was any good at as they made their way down to visit the quartermaster.
"I've picked up a few words here or there in Andorian, Arcadian, Klingon, Vulcan…" she listed a few more before Kirk held up a hand to stop her, grinning.
"You fluent in any of those?"
"I know enough to get by in most situations, emergencies included, and I know some pretty sweet insults. I also studied warp engines for the hell of it."
"Any other skills I should be aware of?" Kirk prompted.
"I have a Federation Generic Star Ship Pilot's License."
"When the hell did you have time to train for one of those?"
"I took the course by remote-access. And tested for it. When I was ten."
"You're joking, right?" Kirk sputtered, trying not to laugh.
"I recertified when I was twenty."
"You and me both. So…preferences?"
"Captain's choice." She shrugged, "I know almost nothing about space travel, but enough about warp-engines to fix the damn things if something goes wrong. Languages, I can do that too. Just don't ask me to play nice."
"Uh-oh. Who'd you make an enemy of this time?"
"Your First Officer."
"Spock?" Kirk snorted, burst out laughing, "What'd you do to him?"
"Nothing! I existed! He gave me this look like I was the lowest of scum!"
"Aw."
"I hate it when people treat me that way." She glared at the floor.
"Then that's a definite no to a bridge post, at least until you two are on amicable terms?"
"Hah."
"Fine. Engineering it is." He led her to the quartermaster's office, got her a duty uniform, arranged for private quarters, and gave her a few minutes to change. Then it was down to Engineering to introduce her to Mr. Scott. As they walked, he caught sight of her bracelet, now in plain sight no thanks to the red ladies uniform she had been given. The bloody thing came to her thighs, fit every curve she owned, and was adorned with cap-sleeves. Tall, polished boots finished the uniform and she felt decidedly exposed.
"What's the bracelet?"
"A reminder of my alternative." She sighed, fingering the colored lights that flashed at intervals.
"Wait a second, that's a tracking bracelet! They only put those on…"
"Delinquents and convicts, I know."
"Where did you come from, Lillian?"
"Alcatraz Island."
"Oy! What landed you in Alcatraz?"
"A bar-fight with a couple of block-headed Cadets."
"Bad idea."
"Not my fault. One of 'em got nailed on sexual assault charges once I got the tribunal to actually listen to my side of things."
"Say goodbye to his career."
"Yeah, then your friendly Vulcan caught sight of this damn thing and it kinda went down hill from there."
"Don't worry, I'll take care of Spock."
"Meaning?"
"I'll make him understand your circumstances." James smiled reassuringly, led her into Engineering, introduced her to the brusque Scotsman in charge, and wished her luck. Mr. Scott wasn't half bad, and far better company than Commander Spock any day and Lillian did whatever and exactly what he told her without question.
With a work-ethic adopted from years of fending for herself and assigned labor at SFP, Lillian dove headfirst into her new job and decided she liked Engineering. Fiddling around with computers and engines was a fun way to waste a perfectly good shift. James had made it a point to tell Mr. Scott that by no means were any questions to be asked regarding Lillian's bracelet, and this word was passed along to the rest of the crew in Engineering. Her first full shift on the Enterprise was fairly quiet, she kept busy with small tasks for Mr. Scott, and when the shift was over, she joined the rest of the crew in the mess for dinner. No one bothered her and she ate alone by default of not knowing anyone on the crew. She knew the Captain, of course, but he was chatting away with the Enterprise's CMO at another table. After eating what she could, Lillian cleared her place and left as quietly as she'd come. She was grateful to the Captain for insisting upon private quarters for her, Lillian wasn't sure if she could handle questioning from overly curious roommates. Getting ready for bed took only a few minutes, she had learned to manage her time at Alcatraz, and she fell asleep listening to the thrum of the finely-tuned engines.
Well, there you have it. Chapter one. Sorry if it was real dialogue-y. The Reprocessing Centers are all my idea, I have no idea if anything like that would have existed, but I liked the way it sounded.
Sovereignty'd? What's the feedback, friend? Like it? Hate it? Consensus, people, consensus makes the world go round and keeps the muses happy.