Caleb Dytto (D5)

Caleb Dytto is a Gemonese Colonial Officer and at the time of the Destruction of the Twelve Colonies he was a Colonel and held the post of Executive Officer of the Battlestar Hermes. He is separated from his wife, Veronica.

Early Life
Caleb was born on Gemenon at the end of the First Cylon War. His parents were both killed during the conflict and he lived with his uncle on the northern continent. It was there he befriended Richard Burmeister. Richard was the son of the local Priest and soon they became inseperable friends. Richard's father soon became like a father to Caleb as the two friends became like brothers.

Like Richard, Caleb was a firm believer in the Gemonese faith and during his high school days he became involved in a nationalist movement aimed at giving Gemenon increased independance from the Union of the Twelve Colonies. This lead to several run-ins with the law but were for trivial offences and he wasn't prosecuted for any of them. While Richard was determined to become a Priest like his father Caleb found the Colonial Military an attractive proposition and as a way of getting out on his own.

Military Career
The Military life came easily to Dytto. The strict, regimented lifestyle fitted well with his religious upbringing. What began as a way to start a life of his own quickly turned into what he felt was his true calling and he began to think of his career in the long term. Once graduating from the Academy he applied for flight school and was accepted. He began Viper training and entered the service as a qualified Viper pilot. His callsign was 'Diver' in reference to an incident whereby the wrong command was given to him on a training flight and he began a steep descent into the atmosphere of Canceron without clearance from the traffic control centre.

In the service he was a competent Viper pilot but was considered arrogant by many of his comrades. He tended to look down on people who weren't so in touch with the religious virtues he held so highly and despised anyone who preached a monotheistic way of worship declaring them as 'Lost'. Over time he was promoted to the rank of Major but decided against taking up the post of a CAG to instead give up flying and become the flight operations officer aboard the Battlestar Hermes hoping it would fast track him to his own command that he so desperately sought. While this did lead to him becoming XO of the Hermes his career stalled when he made an enemy of several high ranking officers in the Colonial Fleet. When the former Commander of Hermes decided to retire Dytto was sure that the command would be his. Unfortunately for him it was not to be. His unpopularity meant that Artimus Bowman was to become the new CO of the Hermes.

This event changed Dytto completely. He became bitter and resentful of Bowman's command and the two of them frequiently came into conflict as a result of Dytto's stubborness. He made it no secret that he disagreed with Bowman's appointment to the post and would frequently go out of his way to point out even the smallest of errors on the part of the new Commander. Nevertheless Bowman insisted on keeping him on because he knew that he was capable of 'keeping the house in order'.

Marriage
In his mid twenties he met Veronica Martin. Veronica was from Tauron and like Caleb she was a devout believer in the Gods. Before they were married he swore that he would leave the Colonial Fleet once his tour was up however he couldn't bring himself to do so and this put enormous starin on the relationship. The situation worsened when the Sagittaron Liberation Army (SLA) began their campaign against the Colonial Military. Despite constant pleas from Veronica, Caleb refused to give up the career he cherished so much. Veronica couldn't take anymore and they seperated approximately five years before 'The Fall'. She moved back to Tauorn and married a Lawyer. She was killed in the bombing of that colony.

Friendships
Caleb's arrogance earned him few friends within the Colonial Fleet. Although he was liked by some senior officers he made enemies of others and this ultimately lead to his career stalling at the point of Executive Officer of the ''Hermes. ''Only his friendship with Richard Burmeister proved unshakeable and when Richard and his wife had a daughter, Chloe Buremeister, he became an uncle figure to her. This made him uncomforatble however when Chloe joined the Colonial Fleet and was assigned to Hermes as the Tactical Officer. He became overly protective of the young woman although he managed to keep his biased concerns hidden from the rest of the ship. When he suspected that Chloe was having an illicit affair with another member of the crew he chose to ignore it fearing the repercussions on her career such a scandal would infur.