Eee, thank you so much for this wonderful comment!

I thought a lot, when I wrote this story, about deriving Cadet Pike from Captain Pike, about the sort of boy this particularly self-assured man grew out of, and what effect George Kirk had on that trajectory. And of course, in turn, what effect Pike has had on Jim's path. So to hear, not least from a writer of your caliber, that I managed to convey some of that, really makes me happy. :D