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Pete Mitchell | |
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| Maverick | |
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| Biographical and chronological information | |
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Homeworld: |
Via'yt Earth |
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Home universe: |
Via'yt Universe |
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Nationality: |
Via'yt American |
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Date of birth: |
1546 NE (1962 Via'yt) |
| Physical and biological description | |
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Species: |
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Gender: |
Male |
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Height: |
1.83 m (6 ft) |
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Hair color: |
Brown |
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Eye color: |
Green |
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Skin color: |
Light |
| Societal and political information | |
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Affiliation: |
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Rank: |
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Occupation(s): |
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Status: |
Active |
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Father: |
Duke Mitchell (deceased) |
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Marital status: |
Unmarried |
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Children: |
Bradley Bradshaw (surrogate son) |
| [Source] | |
Pete Mitchell, better known by his callsign, Maverick, is an ace fighter pilot from the Via'yt Universe's America. With a combat record stretching from 1986 (1570 NE) by combat with hostile MiG-28s to participating in Operation Snowbird in 2022 (1606 NE) against the Rogue Nation in his home universe, Maverick is also widely known for his incredible combat history while serving with the Alliance of Nations, earning the Ace of Aces award for racking up over 100 air-to-air kills and 25 victories during his service.
Biography[]
Pre-Alliance life and service[]
TOPGUN training[]
Pete Mitchell was born in 1962 (1546 NE) in the United States of America to Duke Mitchell and an unknown mother. Duke Mitchell was killed fighting for the US in the Vietnam War by the time Pete Mitchell was 24 and enlisted in the Navy's aviation corps, where he enrolled in the TOPGUN naval aviators' academy.
Throughout his time in the TOPGUN program and the events occurring thereafter, Maverick was known to be an excellent pilot, despite his reckless tendencies in the air which potentially endanger both himself and his wingmen. While many of his fellows were impressed with these maneuvers, others saw it as reckless and dangerous, putting his copilot in unnecessary danger.
During a training flight later in the TOPGUN program, Maverick's F-14 suffered a flameout in its starboard engine after flying through Tom "Iceman" Kazanksy's wake turbulence, also known as "jet wash", while chasing LCDR Rick "Jester" Heatherly. This caused his jet to stall and enter into an unrecoverable flat spin. As Maverick struggled against the overwhelming centrifugal force preventing him from reaching his own overhead ejection seat handle, he ordered his radio interceptions officer LTJG Nick "Goose" Bradshaw to pull his own seat handle to initiate their ejection. After Goose pulled the handle, the canopy blew away from the aircraft and Goose was ejected, followed shortly after by Maverick. However, as the pair ejected, Goose was slammed into the canopy by his seat's ejection motors, breaking his neck and killing him instantly.
Despite the fact he was cleared of wrongdoing in the accident, Maverick blamed himself for Goose's death. He turned to his mentor CDR Mike "Viper" Metcalf, who had been a friend of his fathers, for advice. This led to him finding out the truth about what had happened to his father during the Vietnam War.
1986 combat operations[]
While at the TOPGUN graduation, he found out that he, Iceman, Hollywood, and Wolfman were needed on the USS Enterprise, an aircraft carrier in the United States Navy. LTJG Sam "Merlin" Wells, who was originally Cougar's RIO, became Maverick's new RIO. He and Merlin launched from the Enterprise following a skirmish in which Hollywood and Wolfman were shot down. During a dogfight with several MiGs, Maverick found himself haunted by Goose's death, causing him to briefly disengage. Despite his momentary disengagement, he reengaged after using Goose's dog tags to force himself back into reality, repeating the phrase "Talk to me, Goose!". He reengaged in time to save Iceman, and proceeded to shoot down three aircraft, with Iceman downing one more, causing the remaining enemy aircraft to retreat.
Maverick and Iceman then returned to the carrier, where they safely landed and and agreed that they could be each other's wingman. Maverick then threw Goose's dog tags into the ocean, having come to terms with his death. Following the completion of the mission, Maverick decided he wanted to return to the TOPGUN program as an instructor after being told by CDR Tom "Stinger" Jardian he had free pick of any assignment he wanted.
Later service[]
Maverick would keep in touch with Goose's widow Carole Bradshaw and their son, Bradley, during the intervening years. In time, Bradley apparently made it known that he wished to follow Goose's example in joining the Navy and eventually becoming a fighter pilot, but Carol was secretly against this. As a result of this, Carole made Maverick promise to do what he could to prevent Bradley from flying, as she didn't want for him to possibly share his father's fate. This led to Maverick pulling Bradley's admission papers to the Naval Academy, causing a deep rift to form between the two. Maverick also decided to never tell Bradley his true reasons for doing so, as he felt that there was no point in causing Bradley to also resent his mother's memory. Bradley would persist and join eventually, but Maverick's interference set back his Naval career by four years.
Darkstar Program[]
More than 30 years after Goose's death, Maverick was still in the pilot's seat, consistently sabotaging any attempts by superiors to promote him past the rank of captain, believing his place was in the cockpit. At one point, Maverick was scheduled to test a prototype of a supersonic reconnaissance aircraft known as Darkstar. However, just prior to launch he and the others there for the test flight learn Admiral Cain was on his way to shut the program down, planning to use the funding for his own drone projects.
Despite this revelation, Maverick still chose to pilot the prototype, hoping that by reaching Mach 10, the stated goal of the project, he could keep it from being shut down. While Maverick did successfully reach Mach 10, he decided to push the aircraft even further, reaching Mach 10.2 before suffering catastrophic failure, resulting in him having to bail out of the doomed aircraft. For his actions in this, Cain grounded him. Despite being reprimanded for his actions, Maverick would later be recalled to TOPGUN, having been brought back to train a new group of pilots consisting entirely of former graduates of the program, including Goose's son Bradley, now a Lieutenant under the callsign of "Rooster".
The following day, Maverick began his position teaching the pilots. He clashed particularly with Rooster, who strongly resented him, and LT Jake "Hangman" Seresin, who didn't follow Maverick's instructions or believe in his leadership. During a training exercise, Rooster and Maverick engage in a spiralling dive in the air, resulting in both flying below the hard deck of 5000 feet. After Rooster lost his chance to take the shot due to them being too low, Maverick does a cobra maneuver with his plane to take his shot and beat Rooster. Maverick is severely reprimanded by Cyclone for both these things. The plan Maverick creates for the mission consists of several extremely difficult challenges, and the training for them does not go as smoothly as planned. LT Javy "Coyote" Machado almost crashes his plane after entering G-LOC due to the extreme mission parameters, and LT Natasha "Phoenix" Trace and LT Robert 'Bob' Floyd are forced to eject from their plane due to a bird strike leading to engine fire and failure. These conflicts cause tension within the group as Rooster, in particular, doubts Maverick's ability to teach.
Maverick consults with Iceman about his progress teaching the class and seeks advice on his relationship with Rooster. Shortly thereafter, Iceman passes away from terminal cancer. Maverick and his class are present at his funeral. Cyclone ultimately grounds Maverick and changes the mission parameters in such a way that makes it easier to fly but deadlier for the pilots. Maverick responds to the news by taking his plane out on an unauthorized run of the test course, proving that it can be flown under the difficult conditions, prompting Cyclone to appoint Maverick as team leader on the attack on the uranium enrichment plant and allow him to return to teaching.
Operation Snowbird[]
For the mission, Maverick chooses his accompanying pilots and settles on Rooster, rather than Hangman, honoring Rooster's wishes. After successfully completing the objective, the four F/A-18s evade a barrage of SAMs; Rooster runs out of countermeasures and Maverick intersects and after using his own countermeasures, sacrifices his plane for Rooster. He ejects but was chased by a Mi-24 Hind until Rooster, having turned back to search for him, shoots the gunship down. Rooster then is shot down by a SAM and ejects. The two reunite and with Rooster's assistance, steal an old F-14A Tomcat from the bombed airstrip base and escape in it. They fight and down two Su-57s, and use all of their ammunition, missiles and flares in the process. Once out over the sea, they face another Su-57; Maverick orders Rooster to prepare to eject, but Rooster's attempt reveals the ejection system isn't working. Maverick faces the realisation that he can't bring Rooster home from the mission, before being saved by Hangman, who took off as a spare from the carrier.
They then return to the carrier where they are greeted by a triumphant crew. Maverick receives approval from Cyclone, as well as RADM Solomon "Warlock" Bates. He and Rooster embrace on the runway, showing their relationship has improved, and Rooster has forgiven Maverick for pulling his papers. Phoenix remarks that Maverick has achieved "flying ace" status, having shot down five enemy aircraft; three MiGs 30 years prior, and the two Su-57s during the operation.
Alliance service[]
Personality and traits[]
Skills and abilities[]
Equipment[]
In 1986, during his earliest flights, Pete Mitchell flew an F-14 Tomcat in combat, but due to the craft being phased out by the F-18 Hornet as the US Navy's mainline fightercraft, that became Maverick's main aircraft, which he used in training other pilots of TOPGUN and in proper battle.
While working with the Darkstar Program, Maverick was the selected pilot of the prototype Darkstar, which he pushed beyond Mach 10, and broke the record in his universe for travelling faster than any human ever recorded, but shortly after pushing it beyond Mach 10, the craft exploded mid-flight, scattering its pieces across Midwest America in a shower of debris, though Maverick survived relatively unharmed.