Burning Dreams Burning Dreams is a Pocket TOS novel – released to celebrate the 40th anniversary – written by Margaret Wander Bonanno . Published by Pocket Books , it was first released in . Summary . 2228 – 2231 – Nine - year old Christopher and his architect mother , Willa McKinnies , leave their home in Mojave and join their new stepfather / husband , Heston Prescott , in colonizing the frontier world of Elysium . Prescott is something of a legend in terraforming and he ' s awarded special considerations for helping the colony to establish its self - sufficiency . He has grand plans – harnessing a nearby volcano and the surrounding wilderness , using geothermal energy to completely power his own homestead away from the city , and breeding horses to introduce into the wild – though his reach repeatedly exceeds his grasp . The volcano proves difficult to harness , sprouting new fault lines and causing flooding and earthquakes . Heston is constantly at odds with the Neworlders , crusty agronomists who decry all pre - millennial technology , especially his unnatural contraptions . The ruling council prohibits further tampering with the tectonics ; Heston ignores them but is left using outdated and piecemeal technology in designing and building his master " Gizmo " to monitor and alter the environment . He becomes obsessed , prioritizing his own projects above Willa ' s and he ' s often away from home . He reveals Willa ' s pregnancy to Chris – something it was her place to tell the boy – but is too busy to care about his wife ' s rage . Despite several accidents and a volcanic eruption , Heston refuses to listen to anyone , insisting that he ' ll fix every problem himself and prove them wrong . His actions ultimately endanger his family and the whole colony . Young Chris is very interested in the horses , but Heston forces the boy to keep his distance . Despite his plans , the horses are really only a hobby and an investment ; Heston isn ' t that knowledgeable , so he pays others to do the real work . He hires Charlie Pike to see to their breeding , though the two men continually butt heads . Heston flexes his authority and calls the shots , but Charlie is the one who makes things happen . While Chris never knew his birth father , and his relationship with Heston goes from difficult to impossible , Charlie quickly becomes his best friend and mentor . He teaches Chris to ride and train horses , and somehow convinces Heston to let Chris keep the firstborn colt ( Tango ) as his own . However , Chris is crushed when he overhears Willa and Charlie discussing what to do about Heston and suspects them of having an affair . Heston drafts Chris into helping him move the Gizmo into the volcano to continue tinkering , but by now he ' s so irrational that he suspects the boy of sabotage and threatens him ; Chris runs away and Charlie rescues him from the wilderness . Though it temporarily seems like Heston fixes the tectonic problems , the earthquakes resume with increasing intensity . Soon after , the hybrid grasses that Heston planted to solve erosion issues ( despite Charlie ' s cautionary warnings ) erupt in a massive wildfire that consumes hundreds of thousands of acres . The fire may have been sparked by an " unforeseen interaction of transplanted grasses with the non - native environment causing spontaneous combustion , " Newworlder teenagers playing with fire , a volcanic hiccup , or something else – a definitive cause is never discovered – but the conflagration threatens the whole colony and completely destroys the Prescott homestead . Heston runs off on his own and dies in the blaze . Willa is killed when their house catches fire and collapses on top of her . Charlie saves Chris , who blames himself for years after for failing to save his mother . Charlie , Chris , and Tango ( now also an orphan ) evacuate to an orbiting starship and return to Earth . 2231 – 2241 – Charlie and his wife Hobelia legally adopt Chris on his 13th birthday and the men settle back into Mojave . Charlie , a constant wanderer , is in and out of Starfleet and occasionally away on assignment . Chris excels in his studies , is captain of the football team , casually dates a lot of girls , and spends lots of time with Tango – their special relationship forged in fire . As Chris approaches graduation , he considers enlisting in Starfleet but Charlie convinces him that he ' s too smart and talented to be a grunt . With minimal help from Charlie and his well - placed contacts in Starfleet Command , Chris is easily accepted to the Academy . He ’ s haunted by the ghosts of Elysium and is very wary of being responsible for other people ' s lives , but still pursues the command track . Nearly obsessed with perfection , he retests himself for anything less than a perfect grade and graduates at the top of his class . 2246 – Pike quickly advances through the ranks without facing any major crises or losing a life under his command . Now a lieutenant commander , he ' s assigned as XO of the front - line cutter USS " Aldrin " . The ship is tasked with patrolling the border of the Vestios system where the local civil war is threatening to spill into Federation territory . Chris ' excitement for the new assignment , especially as he and Charlie will be serving together for the first time , is short - lived . Hard - ass Captain Kamnach frowns on senior officers fraternizing with enlisted crew ; he explicitly orders that the Pikes are not to have any contact outside of the line of duty . Second officer / weapons chief Hanley and Kamnach are old friends and the two share an itch to see some action . Pike is hopeful for a relationship with Lt . Hana Flowers in communications , but events conspire against them . Chief Engineer Chee Wee Chua ( " Chewy " ) is by far the friendliest face that Pike is allowed to talk to . While the ship is on patrol , insurgents topple the Vestian government . Kamnach is looking for a fight and uses the region ' s communications dead zones to get away with doing whatever he wants . Using circumstantial evidence of Vestian aggression , he orders an attack on a Vestian ship on their own side of the border , resulting in that craft ' s destruction , and later alters official logs to show the enemy ship was in Federation space . Worried , Pike feels out a few allies among the senior officers . Kamnach later orders an attack on a second ship ( still within Vestian space ) and refuses to listen to communiques that might defuse the situation . Pike stages a mutiny , having Kamnach removed to his quarters , but Hanley fires on the other ship without orders , forcing a battle that leaves the " Aldrin " heavily damaged . Chewy and six other crewmen are killed . Fighting the burden of command and distraught over the deaths on his watch , Pike apologizes for the attack and convinces the Vestians to stand down . He is vindicated when the communiques state that the war is over . The " Aldrin " limps home , but the incident becomes a source of great public debate , and the officers face a court martial . Starfleet Command rules that both men were right and wrong given the circumstances , and decides to whitewash the complicated situation ; Kamnach is honorably retired but faces a loss of purpose , and Pike is promoted to full commander . In confidence , Admiral Straczeskie reveals that Pike was stationed on the " Aldrin " to expose Kamnach ' s questionable behavior . Pike is incensed and considers resigning his commission . Trying to talk sense into Chris , Charlie finally reveals himself to be Chris ' father . Years earlier , Charlie and Willa were together for a year before his wanderlust took him back into space . She let him go , didn ' t tell him she was pregnant , and refused his marriage offer once he did find out . Charlie correctly sensed that Heston would be a problem and followed them to Elysium to look after his son . Keeping such a large secret for so long only creates a wide gulf between them , and Chris immediately takes a long - term post on the USS " York " . 2254 – Pike is haunted by the ghosts of Talos for years after the encounter . He fears that he never actually left , that his experiences since are merely more illusion , and he occasionally puts himself in mortal danger to see what will happen . Spock believes that once such powerful telepaths touch another mind , they are forever , if only tenuously , linked . Pike is also preoccupied with Vina , learning all he can about her life . He even visits her mother ' s still - operational bakery though he instantly regrets it . Every future relationship is compared to her spectre . " Vina was born early in the 23rd century in Paris , the bustling Federation capital and cultural center . She studied as a dancer under her father , a famous choreographer , and as a shuttle pilot , but didn ' t have the focus to commit to any single pursuit . While a university student , she fell in love with Professor Theo Haskins and served as his assistant on several deep - space expeditions , the last of which took them past Talos . An engine failure forced a crash - landing and Theo shoved her into a refrigeration unit at the center of the ship . She alone survived , though horribly injured , and the Talosians recovered and treated her as best they could . They taught her how to retreat into her dreams while her body healed , and they followed her themselves . When the " Enterprise " arrives eighteen years later , she was coerced into cooperating with their scheme through the promise of true human companionship and the threat of what would happen to the Starfleet crew if they don ' t prove useful . " 2262 – Pike ' s second five - year tour on the " Enterprise " ends with a survey of the Kanes system . Though one planet appears to be an uninhabited paradise , the crew quickly run into trouble . A ship operated by an unknown reptilian species – the Kan ' ess – arrives in orbit . Its systems disrupt all communications and scanners and the most of the landing party are eaten alive by Kan ' ess hunting parties . Spock and Pike avoid a similar fate but are marooned on the surface . Pike risks his life ( unnecessarily ) and is captured and taken to the Kan ' ess homeworld while Spock escapes to the " Enterprise " , which is forced to withdraw . The captain discovers that the aliens are deaf and he learns the rudiments of their gestural language enough to demonstrate his own sentience . He is spared from becoming dinner but is instead kept by the regional director as a sort of pet , a curiosity . The universal translator has no provisions for communicating with deaf species , but Pike works with their scientists to develop a primitive voder translation device . He learns that the materials used in Kan ' ess clothing and technology inadvertently disrupt communications and sensors , while his crew separately devise a means to penetrate the interference . When the director begins molting and retreats to her private quarters , Pike takes the opportunity to escape . He finds a communications center and discovers that the Kan ' ess have reverse - engineered his voder , using it to lure the " Enterprise " in so that the crew can be captured as food . He warns the starship away , but is still rescued . Kanes space is declared off - limits and the " Enterprise " returns to port . Weary of his losses and put off of deep - space expeditions , Pike accepts a promotion to fleet captain . 2264 – 2267 – Pike ' s new position gives him great latitude and flexibility ; he can cut orders from his desk or go out on assignment . His own wanderlust – and Vina ' s ghost – prevent him from developing any lasting romantic relationships , though he does become involved with Siddhe , an Argelian attaché . An empath - sensitive , she can feel the past and the future . While Siddhe helps Pike to face his past , even helping him to make up with Charlie and to forgive himself for his mother ' s death , she won ' t commit herself to his ( doomed ) future . A training cruise ends horribly when the old ship suffers a structural failure . Half of the vessel is irradiated , but Pike saves most of the hundred instructors and trainees by sealing off the damaged sections and ( single - handedly , without a radiation suit ) pulling as many people out of danger as he can . He is left a broken man , incapable even of asking to be put out of his agony . Spock – and the Talosians , who indeed maintained a faint touch with his mind – offer him a last chance at anything approaching a normal life . Though wary , he ultimately accepts and is reunited with Vina . The self - exiled Humans come to know each other in truth , rather than dealing with idealized illusions and memories of each other . Pike also learns about the Talosians ' past and finds purpose in helping them to build a promising new future . Siddhe visits Charlie and Hobelia , offering them a semblance of closure and the knowledge that Christopher Pike is safe and at peace . Tango has somehow sensed what has happened to his friend and he quietly passes away that same evening . 2320 – Spock is summoned to Talos IV once again . Using his ambassadorial status , he sneaks away and pilots a shuttle to the off - limits planet with only a brief interruption by the USS " Excelsior " . He finds that Captain Pike and Vina have long since passed away , but that the influx of Pike ’ s memories , ambition , and energy have spurred the Talosians to rebuild society themselves . Surface radiation has been minimized and the rubble has been replaced by gleaming cities and new generations of Talosians , who seek contact with the Federation . Having watched Spock from a distance for decades , they believe him the best person to share their story .