2253
Three years had gone by like wildfire.
Even though Arianne had not yet finished her degree from San Francisco University, which she was doing distance-learning while continuing to work with Dr. Boyce and Dr. Puri at Starfleet Medical, she had still endeavoured for as much education impossible: even that from medicine-related studies.
However, tonight was a milestone, for Arianne had just completed an intense program of Basic and Intermediate Field Medic studies that had been offered through the university. She and her very proud father had attended a ceremony that had officially christened her as a field medic.
"It was a beautiful ceremony, Arianne," Chris said, as he watched Arianne frame her newly acquired completion credential in Basic and Intermediate Field Medic Studies and hang it on his living room wall, just above the electric fireplace. "I am so proud of you, my daughter."
Arianne smiled, "At least I have my medical assistant job to support me while I get my degree in Psychology and Peace and Justice Studies," she said. "It's a relief to know that at least half of what I want to accomplish at this point in my life is achieved. I'm just worried about the rest of it now."
"You'll get your degree, don't worry," Chris said, smiling. "Now, I wish I could take you out for a celebratory dinner, but unfortunately, I have some work at Starfleet Command that needs immediate attention. The shipyard's sending me some blueprints of the Enterprise to look over and critique."
Nodding, Arianne moved over to the open kitchen's replicator and programmed a cup of tea, "I hope that ship of yours gets finished soon, Dad, I really do," she said, as the cup of tea appeared. "You've worked so hard all your life and you are finally getting what you deserve."
"Arianne, I consider raising you my greatest accomplishment," Chris stated, smiling. "Having my own ship will be great, but seeing you do as well as you have done this far means even more to me."
"Thanks Dad," Arianne said, as she picked up the mug and took a sip of tea, "Enjoy your evening."
Chris smiled and patting Arianne's shoulder, he grabbed his jacket and left the house.
Taking another sip of tea, Arianne walked into the living room and looked at all the pictures of starships that her father had all over the walls. A photo of the Enterprise would someday be up there too.
While her father would captain the Enterprise and do great things in space, she would use her civilian qualifications to do some good in the world. She would bring great honor to the Pike family name.
As she switched her view to the mantle, where pictures of her father with old friends were placed, Arianne suddenly got an idea of what she could do that evening. She would endeavour to help others immediately.
Smiling, Arianne placed the cup of tea on a nearby counter and moved over to the coat rack where her jacket hung. She could celebrate her recent accomplishment by visiting her medical mentor.
It was evening, so Dr. Boyce could probably use some company and would welcome both her visit and help in the massive medical building.
"Do you think you might attend medical school someday?" Dr. Boyce asked, as he walked alongside Arianne. "I know you're already doing some studies, but what about after you're finished?"
Arianne smiled and thought for a moment. She had left the house, intending to go to Starfleet Medical and visit Dr. Boyce, but she had found him out on an evening walk around the Academy campus.
"I'm not sure yet, actually," Arianne replied, gazing up at the stars. "By the time I get my degree, my dad will be off in space with the Enterprise and you'll probably be running the ship's Sickbay. Maybe I'll go back to Iowa and see if I can get a job at the Achievement Academy of Hope."
Dr. Boyce smiled, "You are so much like your father, Arianne," he stated. "Always shooting for the stars."
"Well, I think I'm more useful to society on the ground," Arianne chuckled. "My father's always been wanting to work in space, so I'm so glad that he's finally getting his own ship after all this time."
Giving Arianne a look, Dr. Boyce sighed, "It's not your fault that your dad passed up the Kelvin and gave it to Captain Robau," he stated, knowing full well that Arianne had always carried guilt over her father's stagnated Starfleet career. "He chose to stay on Earth and has enjoyed raising you without any regrets."
"You're right, Doctor Boyce, I do carry a lot of guilt over it," Arianne admitted, realizing that they were coming upon Starfleet Medical. "I try and use a bit of meditation sometimes to make it go away."
Dr. Boyce nodded, "Meditation's a good thing, it helps," he replied as they began walking up the steep staircase towards the medical facility. "Do you want to help me prep some hyposprays? There's some sort of cadet party in the dorms tonight and no doubt there will be pleas for hangover remedies in the morning."
Before Arianne could reply, the ground began to shake uncontrollably and loud cracks could be heard.
"I think we'd better get off the stairs," Dr. Boyce said, grabbing Arianne's hand and pulling her up the stairs towards the safety of the building's doorway. "We haven't had an earthquake in over 25 years…"
Suddenly, as they were close to the top, there was a louder crack and the stairs split open, sending both Arianne and Dr. Boyce falling sideways towards the edge of the stairs.
As the shaking intensified, both felt themselves fall over the stairs and their handgrip was broken.
Arianne let out a loud scream as she hit the ground hard and everything instantly faded to black.
Realizing that the shaking had stopped, Chris crawled out from underneath the metal table and was immediately shocked to see the extent of the damage: there was a massive cracks in the floor, furniture pieces and ceiling debris were all over the place, and PADD's were all over the floor.
"J.M.?" Chris shouted as he stood and carefully made his way around the debris to the door.
Chris pushed the damaged door open and was relieved to see his secretary, J.M. Colt, crawling out from under a damaged desk. She stood and looked at Chris, her expression frightened.
"Are you all right, Chris?" J.M. asked as she assessed the damage in the visitors area.
Chris nodded, "I'm fine, but I think many are not," he replied. "Are any of the communication systems working? We need to send out an emergency signal and then see where we can be of help."
"Communications are down here," J.M. reported, quickly noticing that her computer had fallen off the desk during the earthquake and was irreparably damaged. "We need to access campus communications from another terminal…If I remember correctly, the nearest terminal is at the campus library."
Sighing, Chris offered J.M. his hand, "If we go together, it'll be a lot safer," he stated, leading her towards the exit doors. "It should take about five minutes to get there if we use an emergency shuttle."
J.M. nodded and followed Chris from the building, hoping that very little damage had been done.
Loud sirens brought Arianne back into consciousness and she immediately realized that she was laying on the ground with her face in the grass. Her head was pounding mercilessly and her entire body hurt.
Letting out a groan, Arianne shakily stood and gazed around at the area in shock: there were uprooted trees and the paths were torn up. She looked up and saw that the stairs up to Medical were in ruins.
"DOCTOR BOYCE?" Arianne shouted as she made her way across the grass and up the damaged stairs towards Starfleet Medical, which had surprisingly taken very little external damage.
There was nothing but the repeated sirens for a moment then suddenly, Arianne saw a hand sticking out of some rubble just beside the doors. She limped up the damaged stairs and over to the rubble, suddenly noticing that a piece of an upper wall had fallen and probably buried Dr. Boyce during the quake.
Swearing under her breath, Arianne quickly moved the rubble away and was horrified to see a severely injured Dr. Boyce laying there with blood all over his face and uniform. He smiled at seeing Arianne.
"Doctor Boyce, I need to get you inside to the supplies," Arianne whispered as she knelt beside him and took his bloodstained hands in her own.
Dr. Boyce smiled, "It's too late for me, my girl," he said in a weak voice. "I am going to die very soon."
"You can't," Arianne whispered, sorrow in her voice. "You're my mentor…you can't die."
"Arianne, you have always been a good girl," Dr. Boyce croaked. "I am very proud of what you have done and will do…Reach for the stars always…Never hold yourself back from achieving greatness…never."
Gasping in pain, Dr. Boyce's eyes began to flutter, "Thank you for being with me as I die," he whispered as Arianne fought to keep tears falling from her eyes. "Always reach for the stars, Arianne…Always."
Arianne bit her lip and as Dr. Boyce ceased breathing, she gently closed his eyes and began to cry loudly.
It had taken only one catastrophic event to rob her of a great mentor and friend. Just one.
"HEY, I NEED A MEDIC!" a scared voice suddenly shouted, jolting Arianne from her sorrow.
Rising, Arianne turned and saw a bloodied cadet staggering up the stairs towards the building, "I'm a field medic and medical assistant," she explained to the cadet. "How can I help you?"
"The dorms are in shambles…" the cadet whimpered. "We're having a party…there were about 500 of us inside…I had just gone outside when the ground started shaking…I dunno where any help is…Communications are down so I had to run here…There's a lot of people that need help…"
Pushing her own thoughts of grief aside, Arianne grabbed the cadet's arm, "There's a lot of medical supplies inside," she explained, guiding the cadet towards the door. "I will help you, I promise."
Even though he was scared out of his mind, the cadet nodded and allowed himself to be led inside.
Relieved that even though everything else on campus was in shambles, his mountain bike still worked, Dr. Puri pedaled quickly towards the mountain of debris that used to be the cadet common room and dorms.
As he got closer, Dr. Puri noticed groups of cadets huddled in a circle near what he assumed to be the former entrance to the dorms. They all looked scared and some more injured than others appeared to be.
"Doctor Puri, it's about time you got here!" Chris, who had been on scene for nearly half an hour, snapped as he emerged from the swarm of cadets. "These cadets are saying that there's only a field medic on scene!"
Dr. Puri looked around at the chaos, "Has anyone been able to get a hold of Doctor Boyce?" he asked, suddenly noticing that J.M. was herding another small group out the side of the building
"Chris, some of the cadets are saying that Arianne's in there," J.M. stammered, her voice quaking as she helped the last of the cadets out of the ruins. "She's helping some of the more severely injured cadets."
Feeling as if he had suddenly been punched in the stomach, Chris swore, "She may be a field medic, but Arianne is my daughter first and foremost," he stated. "J.M., go and get her out of the building…"
Before J.M. could move, there was some cracking and the ruins began to collapse further.
"MOVE BACK!" Dr. Puri shouted, pulling Chris away from the danger zone.
Suddenly, Chris heard a shout from above. He looked up and was horrified to see someone that resembled Arianne coaching uninjured cadets to jump and land on the soft grass. He felt the ground begin to shake.
"Puri, it's an aftershock," Chris gasped, struggling to keep from falling as the ground shook.
Dr. Puri turned towards Chris just in time to see him run forward and extend his arms as if to catch something, "CHRIS, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" he shouted anxiously.
Chris didn't reply, so Dr. Puri looked up just in time to see Arianne, who had lost her balance, falling towards the ground. He was immensely relieved to see Chris dive and catch her in his arms.
As the shaking stopped, Arianne gazed up at her father, "Dad, Doctor Boyce is dead," she whispered, her voice trembling with anxiety. "I hurt everywhere….It's so cold…."
Without warning, Arianne gasped in pain. Chris laid her gently on the ground.
"I-I hurt," Arianne whispered as she tried to hide the pain she was in. "S-So c-cold."
Chris quickly removed his jacket and placed it over his injured daughter, "PURI, GET A MEDI-SHUTTLE OVER HERE!" he shouted, seeing that the building was quickly crumbling to nothingness.
While the last of the ruins crashed to the ground, Arianne allowed the blackness to claim her.
By noon, every last survivor of the earthquake had been shepherded into the auditorium and were now eating meals, resting, and grieving the loss of those who were killed or fatally injured in the quake.
Civilian seismologists were currently determining the extent of damage all over the city and until they were able to get to Starfleet's property, the entire campus had been shut down. Instructors and other administrative personnel had been given the job of keeping the cadets in one place and calming them.
Classes had been temporarily suspended until things had calmed down and Starfleet Medical had been swamped with injured cadets and officers since the sun began to rise. Fortunately, Dr. Phlox had been in the area and since he was uninjured, he had come to assist Dr. Puri in doling out medical assistance.
Admiral Archer had heard about the quake, but was unable to get back to Earth immediately, as he was swamped with his own work. As a result, several civilian media outlets were now badmouthing him.
Of course none of the chaos or need for survival supplies mattered to Chris, as he had mentally shut himself off to the chaos and was focused on making sure that Arianne would survive this horrible time.
Despite all the chaos, Chris had immediately put her in a medi-shuttle and taken her over to Starfleet Medical. It had been fortunate that there were several nurses there to help keep her medically stable.
After Dr. Puri had come, having been kicked off of the scene by Phlox, Chris had watched as Puri quickly determined that Arianne not only had a broken leg, she also had internal injuries that needed surgery.
During the surgery, Chris had found himself outside, lingering next to Dr. Boyce's body. He had lamented on how much things had changed and after shedding a few tears, he had gone back inside to wait.
Now, as construction crews were working to move the debris and help Starfleet Security retrieve bodies from the destroyed dorms, Chris found himself sitting beside the bed where a recovering Arianne lay.
His daughter, his beloved only child, was laying there wearing a gown and covered by a blanket. He held the necklace that she had received from Sarek, as Puri had removed it to perform the surgery.
"Captain Pike?" a monotone voice sounded out as footsteps entered the room.
Chris turned and was surprised to see Spock lingering there, "Commander, what can I do for you?" he asked in a tired tone.
"I am inquiring to the condition of Ensign Pike," Spock stated. "There are many cadets inquiring as to how she is faring…Apparently, she was instrumental in lessening the possible fatality rate."
Chris sighed, immediately remembering that at last official count, over 100 cadets had been listed as killed in the earthquake when the dorms were damaged, "What's the most current count of fatalities?" he asked.
"As of half an hour ago, Captain, the number of fatalities has been increased to 200," Spock stated, raising an eyebrow at the Captain's curiosity. "No others were killed, sir…"
Chris grimaced, that must have meant that the cadets were having an unsupervised party without bringing it to the knowledge of any Academy personnel. Spock cleared his throat, as if waiting for a response.
"You have done well, Commander Spock," Chris stated, his voice tired. "You can go off duty now."
Before Spock, who couldn't help but be concerned over his superior's compromised physical and emotional state, Dr. Puri came into the room. He glanced at Spock, who silently left the room.
"Chris, go home and get some sleep," Dr. Puri ordered. "You've been here since dawn."
Chris shook his head, but before he could reply, he noticed Arianne's eyes fluttering.
"Puri, she's waking up," Chris gasped, seeing Arianne's eyes suddenly open.
Dr. Puri took one look at Arianne and immediately pulled his medical tricorder from his pants pocket, "Arianne, it's Doctor Puri, how do you feel?" he asked, quickly scanning her entire body.
"Sore and a little queasy," Arianne replied in a tired voice. "How badly off am I?"
Dr. Puri sighed, "I took your spleen out and casted your left leg," he replied, not wanting to reveal that during the initial scan, he had come across a more serious internal problem.
"What else is wrong with me?" Arianne asked, suddenly feeling like Dr. Puri was not telling her everything.
Fearful that Arianne would react badly to the news, Dr. Puri looked at Chris for a brief moment and then looked back at Arianne, "When I was doing the pre-surgery scan, I came across some abnormalities in your reproductive organs," he explained. "You have a condition known as endometriosis, Arianne."
"What is endometriosis?" Arianne asked, pulling herself into a painful sitting position so she could be at eye level with Dr. Puri. "It sounds like something I've read in one of those old-age medical textbooks."
Dr. Puri sighed, "Endometriosis is a condition where tissue similar to the lining of the uterus, the endometrial stroma and glands, which should only be located inside the uterus is found elsewhere in the body," he explained. "Since you're still young, there's a chance you might still have some fertility."
Feeling a sudden pressure from the incisions, Arianne slowly lay back down, "What can be done to treat this condition of mine?" she asked, deciding to assume responsibility for this unexpected twist in her life.
"Well, you'll need several weeks to recover from your present injuries before I can do anything," Dr. Puri stated, giving her a pointed look. "After you're healed up, we'll discuss some hormonal therapies."
Arianne sighed, "Now, I have to go and check on the cadets who were injured seriously enough for long term stays," Dr. Puri stated. "Just sleep for now and I'll be back to check on you later."
Before she could ask how she was supposed to sleep while in pain, Arianne felt a hypospray being pressed to her neck, "Chris, make sure she actually goes to sleep," she heard Dr. Puri tell her father.
As Arianne felt her body succumbing to the hypo, she heard a small chuckle from her tired father's lips.
Nearly a week later, a mass memorial service was held on the Academy grounds for all of the cadets who had perished in the earthquake and subsequent aftershocks. Thousands of surviving cadets, officers, other administrative personnel, and even some civilians had attended in full dress uniforms.
A more private funeral had been held for Dr. Boyce just a day earlier and he was quietly buried in the same grove of trees where Arianne's mother had been buried years ago. Despite the fact that she was still recovering from her injuries, Arianne had chosen to attend the funeral in the company of Dr. Puri.
Since Admiral Archer was still off-planet, Chris had the unpleasant task of commandeering the funeral and giving a eulogy for all the cadets that had died, despite knowing hardly anything about most of them.
Fortunately, with the aid of Spock and several mugs of strong coffee, Chris had managed to deliver a strong eulogy that had brought some measure of unofficial closure to this tragedy. Following the eulogy, a massive tombstone with a specially crafted Starfleet insignia was revealed and dedicated.
Once the whole service was over, everyone had been ushered into the auditorium for some memorial speeches and reminiscing slideshows of those who had died. Those who didn't want to attend more memorial functions were allowed to either return to the remaining dorms or go off campus to grieve.
Although Chris was stuck going to the auditorium to deal with the grieving masses, Dr. Puri had whisked Arianne off campus so that neither of them would have to deal with anything else related to tragedy.
They had taken a taxi to a quiet library-type diner and Dr. Puri had forced Arianne to order food, despite her insistence that she wasn't hungry. He had then watched her closely, making sure she actually ate.
"I know you're dealing with a lot right now, Arianne," Dr. Puri stated. "However, I think that I'm going to need your help in assisting those who were affected by this tragedy. People will need a counselor to turn to and since I'm neck-deep in medical things, I can't think of anyone better for the job as a counselor than you...You're empathetic and a good listener."
Despite her reservations about being a counselor for others when her own life was full of holes, Arianne nodded, "I'll do my best to help others heal from this tragedy, sir," she replied in a soft voice.
"Thank you," Dr. Puri replied in a gentle tone. "Doctor Boyce would be proud of you today, Arianne."
Nodding, Arianne gazed at the table and wondered if she would ever feel a sense of contentment in life.