#gosh I hope you’re not cephelaphobic! 😬😅

[ichayalovesyou]

Oooo ask for Pike, how about pike and a non human (preferable gn or male please :) ) reader and how they would try and communicate if the universal translators go down whilst stuck in a turbo lift together? :D

Oooh what a FUN concept! 🤩 I’ll do my best! I got really creative when I heard the word “alien” I hope you like it!

Color Coded (Platonic Pike x Reader)

Rating: E for Everyone!

Word Count: 1.1k

Content: SFW, Ops!Reader, Alien!Reader, Cadet!Reader, GN!Reader, budding friendship, author OG alien race, minor concussion, reader saves the day!, shenanigans, general cuteness (with stakes!)

Teaser: The language of your people is unique, even amongst Federation worlds. So much so that you need to have your own personal translator on hand. Sure would be a shame if a freak turbolift accident broke it or something!

It had been a long day of recalibrations and catching up on redundancy checks, but the Enterprise was back in peak condition. At least now you could finally go relax in your tank.

The turbolift doors whisked open hardly two floors after you’d started.

“Bridge.”

You straightened as much as your petite cephalopodic frame could manage, it was the Captain! A human you had only seen but had yet to meet!

“Oh! Hello Cadet! I’m Captain Christopher Pike. I apologize that I wasn’t able to meet you in person when you came aboard. I had some unexpected diplomatic duties on Starbase One.”

“No worries sir! I know you’re very busy!” You scented into your personal translator, turning dark blue then pink with humility and a little intimidation.

“Still, I try to make sure I get to meet everyone who comes aboard, especially someone as historic as you. You’re Starfleet’s first Prismatican correct? Your people communicate through color and olfactory sequences, unique even by Federation standards. How’s that personal translator working for you?”

“Quite well sir! Cadet Uhura and I have begun programming a software workaround that will hopefully allow me to patch into the universal translat-“

VOOM!

The turbolift froze in its tracks with a violent force that knocked the power out, and both of you off balance! You went flying and instinctively clung to the wall. The captain wasn’t so lucky, you heard him slam against the side of the lift with a grunt, and the sound of delicate metal crunching.

“Oh no.”

Unless the Captain was hiding a delicate piece of scientific equipment in his pocket, you could only guess what his unexpected dive had broken.

This was going to be a problem.

“Unh, are you alright Cadet?”

In the darkness you had no idea what he just said, you couldn't see him. You only felt movement, and with your scent resynthesizer crushed, you’d have to rely on lip reading. Thank goodness you took Federation Standard at the academy! But there was just one issue, it was pitch dark in here!

You skittered toward the where you knew the emergency switch was but the power came back on right as you reached for it, or where you had thought it was, turns out you were on the ceiling!

It seemed the Captain was surprised to find you there, he winced at the light. You tried to make yourself useful and open the ceiling hatch, but it was dented shut. You looked down and noticed something even more worrying, Captain Pike was bleeding!

You let go and landed right in front of him, turning red and trying to say ‘blood’ or at least scent it, not that you knew what human blood smelled like until just now.

“Ok, why… why do you smell like copper? What are you trying to, oh.”

Pike grazed his temple and noticed the red streak across his fingertips.

“Whelp, that explains why I was having such a hard time getting up. Is the turbolift actually tilted or… or is that just me?”

You tilted yourself to indicate that the turbolift was in fact almost sideways. The Captain nodded, pinching the bridge of his nose before reorienting himself towards the communications panel with a little help from you.

“We gotta talk to engineering, they’ll be able to get us out of here in no time.”

You sensed he was trying to be reassuring but you barely caught what he said, he wasn’t exactly looking at you. How were you going to tell him you could read lips? Would he even remember? He didn’t seem to be feeling too well.

“Engineering this is Captain Pike, status report?”

No response.

“Engineering, status report, what the hell happened out there?”

Still nothing.

“Captain to Bridge, Number One is everything alright?”

Captain Pike swallowed hard, Humans may not change color (much) when they were upset, but there were other ways to tell.

Hoping nothing bad had happened, you realized there was another possibility. You removed the cover panel of the communications hub. Ah! Just as you thought! The impact the turbolift took jostled some of the relay chips free.

It’d be an easy fix, if you had humanoid digits like the rest of the crew. Lesson learned, never leave your accommodations in Engineering!

You were going to have to show the Captain how to do it for you. You tapped the Captain on his shoulder, gesticulating to the chips.

“Ok, got it, how do we fix this?”

You turned orange then yellow, orange chip, yellow wire. Easy right?

“I don’t, I don’t follow.”

Apparently not.

You reminded yourself to be patient, he was your superior officer, and also, he hit his head pretty bad. Which couldn’t be good for somebody whose bones were on the inside. Human biology was so strange.

You pointed to the loose chip, and then to the wire, turning orange, then yellow again.

“Oh! Sorry, uh, I think, I miiiight have a concussion. Don’t worry though, I’ll be fine.” He grinned half-heartedly as he followed your directions.

You didn’t really believe him. But at least you knew what the thing that was wrong with him was called now! Maybe you should’ve taken a first aid course, fixing humanoids couldn’t be that different to fixing machines, right?

This process went on for a few minutes, there were a couple moments where he scared you a little by taking a while to respond or having to lean on the wall for a minute, but it got done. Wanting to be as much help as possible you pressed the comms button for him.

“Una…”

“Captain! Oh my god we’ve been looking all over for you, are you alright?!”

“I’m fine I- ugh, smells like battery acid, what’s wrong? Are you angry with me?”

“I’m sorry what was that Captain?”

“Okay, okay, okay I’m sorry. I might have a mild concussion, our new Cadet and I are trapped in a turbolift, hatch is damaged shut, not sure where we are…”

Oh no he'd zoned out again! You tapped the Captain on his leg, but he didn’t seem to notice.

“Captain? Chris?”

“What?”

“Don’t worry Chris, we’ll send someone to get you. I’ll fill you in on what happened AFTER you go to sickbay alright?”

“…Alright”

You turned off the comms, ushering the Captain to sit down, he did so heavily.

“Guess it’s time to sit tight, you did, ow, you did good Cadet. Especially given the circumstances, sorry about that by the way, I’ll… somebody'll fix it. Hope I can return the favor.”

You turned bright yellow, it sure felt nice to be appreciated!

“Oh, okay, that’s minty, I’m guessing that means thank you?”

You know what? Close enough!