Not only had Marcus been lying to Pike and everyone else in Command for over a year, he'd been lying to the entire fleet, which, in turn, made Pike lie to years' worth of Academy Classes while he spewed whatever party line he was given during all of those recruiting speeches. All of it didn't sit right with Pike, and it certainly didn't work with the 'humanitarian and peacekeeping armada' that the 'Fleet made itself out to be.

"Militarizing is one thing. We need to do that with Klingons, Romulans, and whatever the hell else is out there. Something has to protect this part of space. Doing what he did to get it? That's...." he shook his head once "....that's unforgivable."

What's more is, Marcus was a ship commander himself. He knew how most commanders felt about their crew, how they had to feel about their crew to be effective and he exploited all of that.

When Pike spoke again, he was genuinely apologetic, "I'm sorry that you lost them."