E no TOS "The Menagerie Part 1":
MENDEZ: You ever met Chris Pike?
KIRK: When he was promoted to Fleet Captain.
MENDEZ: About your age. Big, handsome man, vital, active.
KIRK: I took over the Enterprise from him. Spock served with him for several years.
SPOCK: Eleven years, four months, five days.
Isso mostra que Pike era um dos únicos dois capitães de naves estelares, ambos na era TOS, que se sabe terem sido promovidos ao posto pouco conhecido de capitão de frota.
O outro é visto em "Quem deuses destroem":
SPOCK: A total of fifteen incurably insane out of billions is not what I would call an excessive figure. Who is the new inmate?
CORY: Garth. Garth of Izar, a former Starship fleet Captain.
(He calls up a picture on a monitor)
KIRK: When I was a cadet at the Academy, his exploits were required reading. He was one of my heroes. I'd like to see him.
E:
KIRK: I agree there was a time when war was necessary, and you were our greatest warrior. I studied your victory at Axanar when I was a cadet. In fact it's still required reading at the Academy.
GARTH: As well it should be.
KIRK: Very well. But my first visit to Axanar was as a new fledged cadet on a peace mission.
GARTH: Peace mission! Politicians and weaklings!
KIRK: They were humanitarians and statesmen, and they had a dream. A dream that became a reality and spread throughout the stars, a dream that made Mister Spock and me brothers.
E:
KIRK: No, sir. Captain Garth, Starship fleet Captain. That's an honourable title.
GARTH: And I was the greatest of them all, wasn't I?
E:
KIRK: No, I, I can remember. You were the finest student at the Academy, the finest Starship Captain. You were the prototype, the model for the rest of us.
GARTH: Yes, I do remember that. It was a great responsibility, but one I was proud to bear.
As qualificações para se tornar capitão de frota são desconhecidas. Mas eles parecem ter sido mais raros do que os capitães de naves abaixo deles e mercenários acima deles. Se, repita se, um capitão tivesse que ser outro Garth of Izar para ser capitão de frota, eram sapatos muito grandes para encher.
E uma viagem significativa do Empreendimento sob Pike é mencionado em "the Menagerie Part 1".
KIRK: What every ship Captain knows. General Order 7, no vessel under any condition, emergency or otherwise, is to visit Talos Four.
MENDEZ: And to do so is the only death penalty left on our books. Only Fleet Command knows why. Not even this file explains that. (unlocks the magnetic strip) But it does name the only Earth ship that ever visited the planet.
KIRK: The Enterprise, commanded by Captain Christopher Pike.
MENDEZ: With a half Vulcan science officer named Spock.
E em "The Menagerie Part 2":
UHURA [OC]: Message from Starbase Eleven, sir. Received images from Talos Four. In view of historic importance of Captain Pike in space exploration, General Order Seven prohibiting contact Talos Four is suspended this occasion. No action contemplated against Spock. Proceed as you think best. Signed, Mendez, J.I., Commodore, Starbase Eleven.
Isso implica que a importância histórica do capitão Pike na exploração espacial é tão importante que a Ordem Geral Sete é temporariamente suspensa dessa vez. Então Pike deve ter explorado muitos planetas pela primeira vez, feito o primeiro contato com muitas espécies e federações de viagens espaciais, negociado a admissão de vários mundos na Federação, derrotado muitos planetas destruindo ameaças espaciais, etc. , etc., etc., e geralmente têm sido o James T. Kirk da década anterior, assim como Garth teria sido o James T. Kirk da geração anterior.