Disclaimer: They aren't mine, and this is unbetaed. Sorry.

Warnings…just like before. Torture. Genocide. Language. It's a dark fic right now, will be fluffy later. We're getting nearer the fluffy.

Damn his eyes are blue.

Didn't know that color could exist in nature, Pike had the time to think

And then every alarm went off.

Pike saw Jimmy's eyes widen even further at the blaring klaxons, and then it seemed that every member of sickbay was pulling him away from the kid.

"Move, Lt."

Jimmy was forced to roll back onto his back as Pike stumbled out of the way. His eyes couldn't quite track everything they were doing to the kid, or why so many alarms were blaring at once. He hoped everything would be alright.

He had noticed that they had not yet made him leave. And none of them seemed to be on the very of panic.

Well that was good.

After a couple minutes of incredible hyperactivity, Adamson approached him. The good doctor was smiling, so it couldn't be all bad news.

"Well, Chris, we've sedated him, but I think he should pull through just fine. If he makes it through the night okay, then we might even be able to take the breathing tube out tomorrow."

Pike gaped at the doctor. "But the alarms…."

"Just to let us know he was awake. What he needs now is some good old fashioned sleep. Let him heal himself a bit, which is, by the way, what you ought to be doing."

Pike nodded. He knew that. He could feel it in the grit behind his eyes.

Adamson clapped him on the shoulder. "He should recover fine. Now, get out of my sickbay."

The doctor smiled, and Pike understood that he was being welcomed to return, but he was also definitely being kicked out for now.

He turned and headed for his quarters.

But then remembering the holo in his pocket, he turned and headed back into sickbay. The look on the CMO's face implied that he had better have a damn good reason for coming back in here.

Pike held up the chip. "If you play it for him, he might sleep better." He handed it over reluctantly. "Just make sure he gets it back."

The doctor gave him an assessing look, and nodded. "Okay, Chris. Okay."

Pike looked past the doctor, stealing one more glance at Jimmy. Then he headed out again.

Back to his empty room.

Damnit, that's never bothered you before. He nearly swore aloud.

He sighed.

That kid had really done a number on him.

He trudged back to his quarters. What a day. The buzz from the doctor's alchol had completely left him. Now he just felt…drained.

He wanted just to fall into bed and sleep for a hundred years.

Or at least eight hours.

But there was a morning briefing on the "situation" below, and he wouldn't get eight hours. He'd be lucky if he got six.

He stripped out of his shirt and threw it in the general direction of the recycler. He was generally a very neat individual, but this week had done a number on him. He could clean it in the morning.

He asked the computer for an alarm an hour before the briefing, which would give him time to shower and eat (and clean).

As he was pulling back the covers on his bed, Pike's eyes fell upon the pile of holos he'd tossed there earlier. He wondered if they were all like the one he'd seen.

It was likely.

After a moment, he decided not to watch them. They were likely personal. He could always view them later, when and if it became necessary to do so.

With that thought in his head, he drifted off to an uncomfortable slumber, plagued by unpleasant dreams.

The morning briefing came all too early. He had to start getting more sleep.

Pike arrived early for the briefing, clutching his coffee like it was his only lifeline.

Then again, sometimes it was.

Pike was of the opinion that nothing great had ever been achieved by any society lacking caffeine.

He sat slowly, taking his time to look around at those assembled.

Mara El Sayed, the ship's XO was already there, but that was no shock. Her dark hair was immaculately styled into a tight bun. Pike wondered how long it would be if she ever let it down.

Mara was half the reason that the captain ran such a tight ship. She was perky and laid back, nothing every fazed her. She was Terran Egyptian by birth, and Pike got on well with her. She was a fellow desert dweller.

There was something about living in the desert that forced people to get over petty grievances and to move on.

She smiled at and he waved back.

The captain was not yet present, but again that was no surprise. There were so many things on board a ship that demanded the captain's personal attention, that it was a miracle he ever got anywhere at all.

Most of the bridge crew was present also.

Pike knew them all. Daniels, Security. O'hara, Navigation. Wells, Communications. Gregory, Engineering. And of course, Adamson had come up from sickbay.

Pike was Tactical, currently fourth in the chain of command, after the XO and the Chief Engineer. He'd taken it on while completing the command track at the Academy, and he'd loved it. He'd actually been into engineering before George had seduced him to the dark side with tactical. But then that wasn't entirely George's fault. Winona had made cookies. And no one could resist her cookies.

No one.

But it turned out that Tactics…had turned out.

Pike loved it.

It was just one of the many things he owed George.

The captain entered and everyone stood. Moritari liked to do things the old fashioned way. But Pike didn't mind how the man did anything, so long as it got things done.

Moritari began the meeting with a brief overview of the situation currently going on the planet below.

They were still rounding up the remnants of Kodos' forces, which were to be approached with extreme caution. They were starting to get desperate. And desperate men did things that rational men did not.

Starfleet was apparently sending at least two more ships to help deal with the fallout from the disaster. That's good, Pike thought. Nothing like sending help, too little too late.

Oh well.

At least they were doing something.

The Constellation had been put in charge of determining what had happened, and how the situation escalated to the point it did.

Pike pitied the fucker that had to deal with that job.

He pitied the person even more when he found it was going to be him.

Oy.

Exactly the job he didn't want. But he put on a tight smile and said, "Yessir, of course."

He already had a headache. It was going to be a nightmare. Pike could not imagine the vast amounts of data he'd have to collect. Nearly ever person on the ship was going to have to be involved. Possibly everyone on every available ship.

He hid his sigh with a huge effort.

This was going to suck.

There would have to be survivor interviews. Interviews with Jimmy's kids. Computer specialists would be needed to hack the colony's computers. Botanists to test the fungi. Environmentalists to see if the land would ever be usable again. Would the world have be declared off limits?

He was so deep in thought about the logistics of it that he almost didn't hear the captain call his name.

Pike looked up to find everyone at the table was staring at him. Oh dear God, what had he missed?

Moritari smiled indulgently, though, so it didn't look like he was going to be reprimanded. "Somewhere else, lieutenant?"

Pike blushed. "Sorry, sir, it's a big assignment, sir."

"As I was saying," the captain continued, "due to recent events, Starfleet has decided to honor Lt. Pike for his bravery."

Pike was taken aback. For his what? What had he done? And when had he done it?

"Sir?" he said. It was all he could get out.

"This does not leave this room. Moritari's tone became sober and tightly controlled; he glanced at Adamson before he continued. "As some of you may know, a boy named James Kirk is currently residing in our sickbay. He's twelve. And right now, as far as we know, he is the only living person that can identify Kodos."

Every eye in the room shot straight to the captain. They all knew what that meant. But Pike looked down at his lap.

"This kid nearly single handedly saved some thirty other kids that were on the kill list. That boy is special; he's a hero, like his father."

Pike's insides squirmed. He wasn't sure where this was going, but he wasn't sure he liked it. His whole body squirmed as the communications officer practically shouted, "Wait you mean its George Kirk's kid?"

"Yes, that's what I mean. But his heritage isn't' all that important," the captain all but growled.

And though Pike was grateful for the growled warning in the captain's tone, he wondered why the captain would have brought up Jimmy's heritage at all if it wasn't important.

"Lieutenant Pike risked his life to save young Mr. Kirk's, and was wounded in the process. It is entirely possible that he may have saved the only witness that will help us bring this situation to justice. Pike stand up."

Pike climbed awkwardly to his feet, and stood at attention. He was never good with these kids of things

His mind was in a kind of filtered daze as the captain pinned the Starfleet Medal of Valor on his chest. He heard something about dedication to his comrades and to serving civilians, but most it went right in one ear and out the other.

He hadn't been badly wounded.

And he'd have done it anyway.

He did catch the small bit about the promotion to Lt. Commander, and the pay raise.

Really? For saving a kid?

The captain must have seen the look on his face, because he said, "You were due for promotion anyway, Chris. Starfleet just wanted to make it splashy."

Oh.

He guessed that made sense.

A few minutes later, the briefing dismissed and everyone hurried to shake Pike's hand. He was finding the whole experience rather surreal.

When Mara came up to shake his hand, he smiled at her, and she hugged him instead. She was very …genuine. He liked that about her. Shame she wasn't his type. Well, that and she was married.

But he liked her very much as a friend. He didn't have many. He was too severe.

"You look overwhelmed," she said to him.

"I am, a little." He admitted it.

She smiled at him. "You'll get over it…Commander."

Commander.

It sounded good.

"Yeah, I expect I will," he said. "I expect I will."

Hope you liked it. Please review.

I'll be away for the next two weeks, so there probably won't be any updates. But I'll write, and hopefully have a doozey for you when I come back.