Major Ivana Deering - CO


Major Deering enlisted in CY24 and rapidly rose through the ranks of the Fleet. Unlike many officers of her rank, she never went through pilot training, but displayed a grasp of tactics that allowed her rise to continue. Meleager is her first command, and is considered by all to be a stepping-stone to a larger responsibility. No one in the Squadron is really sure where she served previously; despite all the digging everyone could do, nothing more about her could be found out. Her crew have gotten used to her over the last three years, including the fact she can apparently 'appear' out of nowhere. It should be noted, however, that with her grasp for strategy and tactics, she should have had a command nearly a decade ago, and a position on a Battlestar as at least an XO in the last couple of years. It is known that when Colonel Biers has tried--with increasing effort--to get her transferred to a command she deserves, he has encountered overwhelming resistance. Scuttlebutt holds that the only reason that she is slated to take command of the Spathais because it is considered an 'unlucky' ship and because it is replacing the 'Meleager' in the 24th Training Squadron.

Her crew (aside from a few dedicated 'malcontents', such as her XO) will follow wherever she leads, including against the Lords of Kobol themselves. Jokes of them 'worshipping' her aside, she is the best-liked--and most talented--Skipper in the 24th. Which is why, to even the playing field in the end-of-cycle matches, she gets mostly 'problem' pilots who either have teamwork issues or are barely competent...along with the nuggets Colonel Biers and his instructors want polished as 'leadership material'.

Is currently trying to adjust to being unable to sit thanks to a gunshot graze.