Gary Mitchell

Second officer of the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) under the command of Captain James T. Kirk, Lieutenant Commmander Gary Mitchell also happened to be a close friend of Captain Kirk's from their Academy days, although their relationship initially got off to a rocky start (Pocket Books series: My Brother's Keeper). After being called a "stack of books with legs ", Ensign Kirk decided to teach Cadet Mitchell a lesson by forcing the plebe to take Kirk's course on tactics. It was at this time that Kirk discovered Mitchell's Esper ability: The cadet had the ability to interpret an individual's thoughts by staring at their face and actually interpreting their thoughts. Kirk thwarted this and forced Mitchell to think by turning away from him when asking a question. http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/stexpanded/images/b/b2/250px-GMitchell.jpg

The two discovered common ground with their mutual competitiveness which included but not limited to such things as raquetball. An inside joke between them, Mitchell used to claim that Kirk's middle name was 'raquetball', and would frequently call him "James R. Kirk", although Kirk's real middle name was Tiberius.

While Kirk took pride in teaching his friend to conform a little more, Mitchell took pride in helping to make Kirk think a little more creatively and be a little less "by the book". He also took credit for helping his friend Jim feel more comfortable around women.

When James Kirk was given command of the U.S.S. Enterprise, he had requested that Mitchell come aboard as First Officer. Starfleet Command's C.I.C., Hehichiro Nogura declined this request in favor of the first Vulcan in Starfleet, Mr. Spock. As a compromise, Gary Mitchell came aboard shortly after Kirk's first 5-year mission as Second Officer and third in command. Recovering from a near-fatal wound (Gary took a poisonous dart aimed at Kirk on a mission just before Kirk's promotion), Mitchell was unable to board the ship until some weeks after Kirk's departure.

Gary Mitchell died during a mission that saw the Enterprise and its crew attempt to breach the boundary of the known galaxy. During the attempt, the ship encountered an energy barrier of some kind that badly damaged the ship, crippling its warp engines. The energies of the barrier killed nine members of Kirk's crew, and severely affected Mitchell and Dr. Elizabeth Dehner, a psychiatrist recently assigned to the Enterprise: Both developed psycho-kinetic powers -- Mitchell immediately; Dehner was affected some days later. The first effects noticable were Mitchell's eyes: They had turned metallic-silver and seemed to glow.

In a rather startling (to Kirk) admission shortly after he began exhibiting telekenetic powers Mitchell confessed to setting up Kirk with a blonde lab tech while both were still at the Academy, going so far as to outline her entire "campaign". This shocked Kirk, who admitted to Gary that he had almost married this lab tech (speculation here is that the lab tech was Dr. Carol Marcus, who wound up becoming the mother of Kirk's son, David). Mitchell's defense for this action was the revelation of the motto going around the cadets: "Watch out for Lt. Kirk: In his class, you either think, or you sink", further explaining that he figured that such a distraction in Kirk's life would cause him to ease up on his class, and by extension, Gary himself.

Mitchell's powers were growing exponentially, and first Officer Spock grew more alarmed at the changes in Mitchell's personality: He had grown cold, cruel, and more calculating. when Kirk asked Gary what he would do in Kirk's place, Gary replied "Exactly what Mr. Spock is thinking," displaying his ability to read minds."Kill me. While you still can."

In order to deal with the severe ship's damage and effect some important repairs to the engine room, the ship made it to the planet Delta Vega and raided the automated lithium-cracking plant located on the surface. Kirk and Spock took Mitchell with them to the surface with the intention to abandon him there when the Enterprise was repaired enough to leave orbit. While planetside, Mitchell stunned Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock, as well as the ship's doctor and attacked and killed Lee Kelso by using his mind to strangle the Lieutenant with some cable wires. Mitchell then escaped confinement with Dr. Dehner, who by this time was also feeling the effects of the energy barrier.

Feeling responsible, Kirk took off alone to face off against Gary with a phaser rifle beamed down from the ship on Spock's order. He caught up with Mitchell and Dehner as Gary was reshaping the planet into something more comfortable for both him and Dehner. formerly the best of friends, Kirk and Mitchell engaged in a fight that the captain had no hope of winning. At one point Mitchell told his former friend that he was "contemplating the death of an old friend". At this point, Mitchell conjured up a tombstone out of thin air, complete with Kirk's name on it. Showing a tiny spark of his old self, Mitchell had made the inscripted name "James R. Kirk", alluding to the inside joke the two of them shared during their Academy days.

Watching this, and although she had already began to transform, Dr. Dehner was horrified by Mitchell's cruelty, and began attacking him with her new-found powers. The two traded energy shots at each other, and although Mitchell was severely wounded, he was by far the stronger of the two (since his transformation had begun immediately after the Enterprise was hit by the barrier's energy field), and delivered a mortal blow to Dehner. However, the struggle between the two "Godlings" drained Mitchell of his powers long enough for Kirk to take advantage. He managed to grab the phaser rifle he brought with him and cause a boulder that had become dislodged by Mitchell to fall on top of Gary, apparently killing him and burying him in the grave he had dug out and meant for Kirk.

Once back aboard the Enterprise, the Captain's official log listed both Mitchell and Dehner as killed in the line of duty. Kirk reasoned that neither had asked for what had happened to them, and both deserved better. The captain then took the Enterprise back to Earth for Lt. Commander Mitchell's memorial service.

Portrayed by actor Gary Lockwood, the character appeared in one episode, Where No Man Has Gone Before. and in the Pocket Books novels, Strangers From The Sky, and the My Brother's Keeper trilogy, and the Star Trek/X-Men crossover comic.

Information and facts for this article were obtained from the above episode and novels.