J.M. Colt

J. Mia Colt was a human female from Oregon or New York City who served in Starfleet during the 23rd century. Colt joined Starfleet for adventure, and enjoyed encountering various aliens her travels. Her service number was 765874. (, SS ST (Conflicting Natures))

Early career
Colt attended Starfleet Academy with Alex Dumant, whom she dated for some time. They planned to serve on the same ship, but Colt broke this promise to obtain a berth on the USS Tiberius (23rd century), which was granted to her by Robert April; she subsequently served on the USS Hawking (NCC-618). Dumant was later killed on the USS Crazy Horse (2250s) when the Tholians broke the truce at Kakrafoon. 

USS Enterprise
In 2254, Colt was transferred from the Hawking to the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701), at the order of Commodore Robert April. She was assigned as captain's yeoman, replacing Yeoman Dermot Cusack, who had been killed in fighting on Rigel VII.

Colt and her new captain, Christopher Pike, got off to a bad start. After Cusack's eulogy, Colt suggested to Nano, the ship's communications officer, that the Enterprise's crew members killed at Rigel VII might not have died in vain. Pike, still grieving, overheard her, and informed Colt that she would be reassigned to other duties pending a transfer at the Enterprises next stop, at Vega, and that he preferred a yeoman with whom he had working familiarity, and who knew the Enterprises crew.

Despite the poor terms of their first meetings, Colt was attracted to Captain Pike. When the captain was kidnapped by the Talosians after the Enterprise diverted to Talos IV while following a distress call, she quickly volunteered for the rescue party organized by the ship's first officer, Number One. Both women soon found themselves also held prisoner. While Colt, Pike, and Number One were in captivity together, Pike took the opportunity to reconcile with Colt, putting aside any bad feeling that had accumulated in Pike's grief for his former Yeoman. 

Shortly after the Enterprise departed Talos IV, Colt joined Pike on a mission to sabotage the engines of a mysterious, hostile ship near Jupiter. Colt successfully established a feedback loop in the ship's dilithium control matrix, noted by Pike as evidence that Colt had been studying in her spare time, and the ship's engines slowly began a warp core breach. Moments before the last survivors of the away team were transported back to the Enterprise, Pike, still reeling from Rigel VII, Talos IV, and the deaths of half of the officers he took aboard the alien ship, asked Colt if the combat, death, and loss faced and suffered by Starfleet was worthwhile. Colt replied that she couldn't answer that for him, and didn't know if anyone could. After a breath, she added, that maybe, someday, she might be able to answer. 

As the Enterprise made best speed to Earth, Pike and Colt were informed that the now-destroyed attacker ship was of Halogian origin. Pike commended Colt for her actions aboard the Halogian ship, and informed her that he intended to recommend her for immediate promotion. 

Colt was promoted to lieutenant junior grade later that year. 

Also in 2254, Colt served as shipboard host to an Eremoid observer, an Aronnian ambassador, and a Devernian pilot on the Enterprise, all of whom were physically attracted to her. The ship's helmsman, Lieutenant José Tyler also expressed romantic feelings for her. Colt reciprocated his attraction, and the two dated for a time. On one of their dates, Colt experimented with an Algol keepsake and was flung into the year 2293. The heroic efforts of the crews of the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-A), Bounty, and USS Excelsior (NCC-2000) returned Colt to 2255, setting the timeline on a new course. (, SS TOS (Conflicting Natures), )

Later career
After the conclusion of the Enterprise's second five-year mission under Pike, she was promoted and assigned to the USS Bozeman (NCC-1941) as chief science officer. Captain Pike recommended her promotion and more senior assignment. 

By 2266, Colt had married. That year, she was promoted to captain of the USS Exeter (NCC-1788), a cadet training ship. During one exercise, Fleet Captain Christopher Pike came aboard to supervise. The two congratulated each other for their promotions. When Pike confidentially informed her that Starfleet considered war with the Klingon Empire was inevitable, she asked Pike if he truly wanted a position that made him responsible for even more lives. Pike replied that destiny was not something one could choose; he remarked to Colt that she had always understood the difficult reality of command, even when she was very young aboard the Enterprise. Colt tacitly acknowledged their old feelings for one another, and observed that she sometimes wished that some things could have been different. 

Soon after, the Exeter received a warning signal from Europa Base; a Halogian ship was moving quickly toward Jupiter. Pike pointed out that the Exeter was poorly shielded and had few weapons, but Colt concluded that the ship was the only one close enough to respond. Moments later, they discovered that the Halogians were using a radiation beam in an attempt to ignite stellar fusion in Jupiter's core. 

The Exeter engaged the Halogians, suffering heavy damage. While Captain Colt commanded her ship from the bridge, Fleet Captain Pike responded to an emergency in engineering, where twenty-three cadets were attempting to keep the ship together, but lacked the expertise necessary to ensure their own safety. Just as the Halogian ship was destroyed, the baffle plates in engineering ruptured, flooding the compartment with dangerous radiation. Captain Pike was the only casualty. 

Colt visited Pike ashore, where, stricken with extensive nerve damage, he was confined to a mobility chair, and to the use of only a single blinking light for communication. Colt informed Pike that the Halogian attackers they had twice fought were members of a small group of revanchists who had been angered by the Halogians having been turned down for Federation membership four times in the previous thirteen years. She told him, too, that he had saved her crew; the Exeter suffered zero casualties in battle. Then, she kissed him, crying, and told him that she wanted him to know that it had always been worth it to her - every minute - and that she hoped it had been worth it for him, too. Still crying, she left him, and missed the single blink - yes - that was his reply. 

Background
Colt's first name was never stated on screen. The credits for "The Cage" refer to her as J.M. Colt; in Early Voyages, she is given the first name of Mia. It seems a reasonable assumption that Mia is a middle name by which she prefers to go.

Early Voyages says that Colt is from New York, but it isn't clear how this relates to "Conflicting Natures", which states she is from Portland.