[Pike listened quietly while La'an poured her heart out, or at least tried to pour her heart out to him. He could see and feel the struggle between her natural reluctance to open up to someone, her apparent duty to not open up, but her desperate NEED to open up. It was a lot for one person to bear and he understood that all too well himself. Damn to time manipulations and all the problems that it brought about in the past, present, and future. Even if the timeline was protected that didn't mean there weren't ripples in the present, that those wounds didn't exist and scars didn't reopen. Reaching out he gently set a comforting hand on her shoulder.]

I can't tell you whether or not you should disobey orders. But I can tell you that I trust your judgement on whether or not it's the right thing to do.

[Which was good advice for him to take for himself. Orders be damned, the right thing was the right thing and if anyone in La'an's life could potentially understand it was Pike.]

Some time ago on a mission I became aware of my future. It's a future where I will be horribly disfigured and disabled. I'll no longer be able to captain a Starship. Or ride a horse. Hell, I don't think I'll even be able to walk. And even knowing the future... if I try to change it then it will be tragic for a very close friend of mine and in a very literal sense... the entire galaxy. And I know this because an older version of myself traveled back in time to let me know. So every day I live with the knowledge that this fate awaits me.