{{Character Data
|photo= Kat1.jpg
|age=
|colony=
|birthname= Louanne Katraine
|callsign= Kat
|seen= Act of Contrition
|death=
|parents=
|siblings=
|children=
|marital status= Single
|role= Commander Air Group, ''[[Battlestar (RDM)|battlestar]] [[Galactica (RDM)|Galactica]]''
|rank= Lieutenant
|actor= [[Luciana Carro]]
|cylon=
|name=
}}

'''Louanne "Kat" Katraine''' is a young woman with some flying experience. She was selected as a candidate pilot ("[[nugget]]") for Viper training under the command of Lieutenant [[Kara Thrace|Kara "Starbuck" Thrace]] ([[Act of Contrition]]). While she may still be a new pilot, she has a taste for fighting, and is often on the front lines when ''[[Galactica]]'' engages [[Cylon]] forces.

== Biography ==

Katraine is selected from relative obscurity to become one of ''[[Galactica|Galactica's]]'' first intake of trainee pilots after 13 experienced pilots were killed in a freak accident ([[Act of Contrition]]).

Described as a "boonie jumper", Katraine is placed under the instruction of [[Kara Thrace]], alongside nugget pilots [[Brendan Constanza]] and [[Perry]], with whom she forms a friendship.

Thrown in at the deep end - flying [[Viper (RDM)|Vipers]] on their very first day of training, none of the nuggets perform particularly well - Kat in particular fails to make a [[Combat landing|combat landing]] on ''Galactica''. Thrace washes out the entire group of candidates until Commander [[William Adama]] later forces Thrace to reinstate them.

Katraine's training continues until she is selected to fly with [[Lee Adama]] during a raid to secure a [[tylium]] mine from the Cylons ([[The Hand of God (RDM)|The Hand of God]]). Her fellow nuggets [[Perry]] and [[Stepchild]] are killed in this action, but she and [[Brendan Constanza|Hot Dog]] survive and are greeted as heroes on their return to ''Galactica''.

Kat participates in the defense of ''Galactica'' when the battlestar becomes separated from [[The Fleet (RDM)|the Fleet]], and has to face down a Cylon [[Basestar (RDM)|basestar]] in order to relocate it ([[Scattered]]).

After Lee Adama's defection to the [[Laura Roslin faction]], his replacement, the newly promoted Captain [[George Birch]] negligently endangers Katraine during a training exercise. She is almost killed when Birch incorrectly directs her to attack an asteroid target as [[Brendan Constanza|Hot Dog]] fires a missile at the target. Katraine's improving piloting skills save her from a dangerous collision with debris ([[Home, Part I]]).

Kat is later promoted from cadet to the rank of Lieutenant. She becomes increasingly exhausted with the mounting pressures of service in the Fleet with long hours, constant danger, and no possiblity of reinforcement. While trying to combat her fatigue, Kat becomes dependent on [[stims]], of which the effects of their overuse make her emotionally unstable. She "moons" a documentary crew for her "buddies" on [[Freighter 212]], berates Chief [[Galen Tyrol|Tyrol]] for mechanical failures that are beyond his control, and later crashes her Viper into the [[landing bay]], totalling the vehicle ([[Final Cut]], [[Flight of the Phoenix]]). She is pulled from flight status for some time, but is reinstated by the time that the advanced battlestar ''Pegasus'' joins the Fleet , when she flies wingman to [[Lee Adama|Apollo]] on [[CAP]] when first contact is made with ''[[Pegasus (RDM)|Pegasus]]''.

In the wake of Admiral Cain's integration of ''Galactica'' and ''Pegasus''' officers, Kat appears to have been made the acting-CAG of the ''Galactica'' flight team. With Starbuck and Apollo both transferred to ''Pegasus'' and the failure of Cpt. [[George Birch]] as [[CAG]] during Lee Adama's absence, Katraine appears to be the most likely choice to fill the command vacuum. She is flight leader of the Viper wing that stands off against the ''Pegasus'' Vipers. In spite of making repeated requests for firing clearance, she manages to keep the situation from degenerating into a fire fight, and avoids several collision attempts in the fighters' deadly "chicken" game, each attempting to force the other side to fire first ([[Resurrection Ship, Part I]]).

On day 189 of the human exodus, Kat is assigned CAP with [[Kara Thrace|Starbuck]]. Kat's maturity and past insensitivity show growth when Starbuck orders her to stop her small talk about Starbuck's off-hours behavior, which Kat does so without skipping a beat and returns to business by requesting permission to do a weapons check. As Kat test-fires her Viper's guns, an ammo misfire destroys Kat's port gun and sends debris at Starbuck's Viper, cracking her cockpit window. The two declare an emergency and safely return to ''Galactica.'' The cause of the malfunction was soon determined to be sabotage later blamed on a civiilan ammunition worker that is part of the "[[Demand Peace]]" movement ([[Epiphanies]]).

Katraine is more than personally upset with Starbuck's apparent behavior issues--and doesn't really care. While Kat obviously admires Kara Thrace, she tires quickly of Starbuck's drinking and bragging, which is affecting her work, and in turn affecting the pilots, especially the [[nugget]]s. Fed up with Starbuck's lording over the "Top Gun" beer stein as well as the rampaging Raider ace known as "[[Scar (Raider)|Scar]]," Kat makes a bet with Starbuck on who will destroy the morale-sucking Raider first.

Kat manages pilot combat reviews, having become a highly skilled tactical pilot herself. She grimaces at Starbuck's inefficiencies and chimes in often to correct or chide Starbuck, much to Thrace's chagrin. Things come to a head in their rivalry when Kat openly criticizes Starbuck for substituting [[Jo-Jo]] for patrol rather than flying herself (she awoke that morning hungover and unable to fly). Jo-Jo and his wingman are both killed, and Kat is incensed. But instead of Starbuck delivering the first punch, it's Kat that delivers it. Their fight is interrupted by Captain [[Lee Adama|Adama]], who orders them on patrol near the [[Big Spud]]. Kat and Starbuck find Scar, and Starbuck's Viper is damaged in a near-successful ambush. The consummate wingman, Kat continually speaks to Starbuck to get a bearing, although Starbuck resists out of pride rather than working jointly to destroy Scar. When Starbuck realizes that because of [[Samuel Anders]] she doesn't want to die in order to take Scar with her, she guides Kat in to her position, where Kat delivers the killing blow to Scar.

Kat chides Starbuck once more in the pilot's recreation room as she held the Top Gun mug. Starbuck pours champagne in the mug and tells Kat, "You've earned it." Kat's slight smile in response was not only that of smugness, but also that of honor--for Starbuck to tell her that she was (at least for the time being) the best--is pleasing as a master would compliment a student ([[Scar]]). Kat's smugness was short-lived, as Starbuck offered a toast to all the pilots who have died during their flight from the colonies. Overwhelmed with the memory of lost comrades, Kat nearly burst into tears.

==Currently...==

With the majority of [[Colonial Fleet]] officers on the surface of [[New Caprica]], Katraine assumes the mantle of [[CAG]] aboard the ''Galactica'', and as such attends regular meetings with the Command Authority.

==Notes==
*Katraine's first name, Louanne, was revealed in the episode "[[Final Cut]]" during her inteview with [[D'anna Biers]].
*Some of Kat's family may also have survived the [[Fall of the Twelve Colonies]] - Kat shouted "Hi, Mom!" while waving into the camera in "[[Final Cut]]". However, she may have been speaking facetiously.
*In the DVD commentary for "[[Act of Contrition]]", David Eick and Ron D. Moore elaborate on the increased role of the nugget pilots as the series progressed:

:Eick: This young actress playing Kat has proven to be--and there's Bodie Olmos, Eddie's son, in the center there who's Hot Dog, he's also become a recurring character.
:RDM: Well those three in the front, [[Chuckles]], [[Hot Dog]], and Kat, they all became "pilots" to us. And I don't think we really had any expectation of that. The idea was we were going to do "the nuggets", "the new pilots", was just going to be its own kind of story, and ''maybe'' you might see one of these guys again later. And what started happening is the writers just started putting them in, like almost every scene that we dealt with the pilots (of Galactica) so these ''became'' our "recognizable faces".
:Eick: Kat is quite fine. She's someone we're now talking about, and have already, built into a much more prominent character. She's just a really, really talented actor, and she's someone who in a very different way than Katee (Starbuck), just exemplifies that sort of masculine fortitude, despite being a woman, that is required to be a pilot like this. In one of the upcoming episodes ([[Scar]]), we're actually going to deal with the tension between Kara Thrace and Kat.
:RDM: Yeah, what happens when your protege starts outdistancing you. What happens when you train this young pilot, and it's great that she's a hot shot and all that, and then wait a minute, what if she starts being better than you?

{{start box}}
{{succession box|before=[[Kara Thrace|Kara "Starbuck" Thrace]]|title=Commander, Air Group of the [[Galactica type battlestar|battlestar]] ''[[Galactica (RDM)|Galactica]]''|after=Incumbent}}
{{end box}}

{{Characters}}

[[Category:A to Z|Katraine, Louanne]]
[[Category:Characters|Katraine, Louanne]]
[[Category:Characters (RDM)|Katraine, Louanne]]
[[Category:RDM|Katraine, Louanne]]