Kara Thrace
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| Kara Thrace | ||
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| [[Image:File:Bsg-starbuck-1.jpg|200px|Kara Thrace]] | ||
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Name |
{{{name}}} | |
| Age | 28 | |
| Colony | Caprica | |
| Birth place | {{{birthplace}}} | |
| Birth Name | Kara Thrace | |
| Birth Date | {{{birthdate}}} | |
| Callsign | Starbuck | |
| Nickname | {{{nickname}}} | |
| Introduced | [[{{{seen}}}]] | |
| Death | ||
| Parents | ||
| Siblings | ||
| Children | ||
| Marital Status | Single (Formerly engaged to Zak Adama) | |
| Family Tree | View | |
| Role | CAG's Second in Command (Bastille Day), Pilot Battlestar Galactica, Flight Training Instructor | |
| Rank | Lieutenant | |
| Serial Number | {{{serial}}} | |
| Portrayed by | Katee Sackhoff | |
| Kara Thrace is a Cylon | ||
| Kara Thrace is a Final Five Cylon | ||
| Kara Thrace is a Human/Cylon Hybrid | ||
| Kara Thrace is an Original Series Cylon | ||
| Related Media | ||
| @ BW Media | ||
| Additional Information | ||
| [[Image:|200px|Kara Thrace]] | ||
Biography
Background
Kara Thrace is a gifted pilot - and knows it. This has tended to give her an attitude that has at times thwarted her career advancement.
In an unhappy childhood, in which she was so frequently beaten by her mother that she came to accept pain as a way of life (Flesh and Bone). Her father was a pianist (Valley of Darkness), suggesting that her formerly broken finger bones on both hands had been intentionally broken by a parent using her father's piano (The Farm). Kara left home to join the military. On graduating from Colonial Flight School, she undertook a period of active duty before returning to flight school as an instructor.
It was in this role that she broke her cardinal rule of flying and fell in love with a young recruit, Zak Adama. Despite Zak's mediocre performance as a pilot, Thrace's love for him - and the fact that she could see emulating his father was so important to him - caused her to pass him on his final flight examination, even though he flunked 3 of the required manoeuvres (Act of Contrition).
Already engaged to Zak at the time she passed him for flight status, she was unable to marry him - Zak was killed during a routine mission shortly after graduating. At the time, Lee Adama, Zak's elder brother, blamed their father for Zak's death, and Kara did little to alter this idea. She did, however, meet William Adama shortly after the accident, and the two struck up a rapport - so much so that they stood together at Zak's funeral (Act of Contrition).
Following the funeral, Kara resigned from flight School as a instructor and transferred as an operational pilot aboard the Battlestar Galactica under the command of William Adama, where she served for some two years prior to the Cylon attack on the 12 Colonies. Before the Cylon attack, she was 2nd to the C.A.G. While she was temporarily in the brig for fighting with Colonel Tigh, the C.A.G. was killed in a Cyclon dogfight. Because of her incarceration, Apollo was given the position. Apparently, she approved of Apollo being assigned the leadership role.
During her time aboard the Galactica, Kara's flying skills proved her to be one of the best pilots in the fleet, but her attitude quickly ran her afoul of other senior officers on-board ship, notably Colonel Saul Tigh, the Galactica's Executive officer. Tigh and Thrace seemed to take an instant dislike to each other, perhaps each seeing a similar level of failure in the other: Tigh with his drinking problem, and Thrace with the knowledge that she caused Zak Adama's death. Their open mutual dislike of one another has lead to the point where blows were exchanged, with Thrace ending up in the brig (Mini-Series).
At the time of the Cylon attack she had an apartment in Delphi. It overlooked a parking lot and had a broken toilet. She was also a very avid painter, and her flat was cluttered with her paintings. (Valley of Darkness).
Post-Cylon Attack
Following the Cylon attack on the 12 colonies, Thrace is returned to flight status, where she quickly proves her worth as a remarkable pilot - right down to using her own Viper to rescue Lee Adama when his ship is disabled in a firefight (Mini-Series). This action brings her grudging respect from Colonel Tigh, but she is unable to accept his offer of the olive branch - an act that will have repercussions for her later.
After the Galactica suffers a drastic loss of water reserves due to an act of sabotage (Water), a hostage situation errupts on a prison transport ship, involving Lee Adama (Bastille Day). While Captain Adama is being held hostage, Lt. Thrace serves as interim CAG in the briefing room. Her behavior as acting CAG is criticized by Tigh. This scene also includes Boxey once again following Kara around indicating that Lt.Thrace might be serving in a role-model capacity for him. During Bastille Day Kara also aides in putting together a rescue mission, in which she surprisingly gets the backing of Tigh himself and the acknowledgement that she is the best sharpshooter in the fleet. Following the successful mission, she tries to build a bridge between herself and the XO, only to have her overtures rejected.
Having partially admitted her role in Zak Adama's death to Lee Adama (Mini-Series), Kara is forced to confront her past head-on when a freak accident on the Galactica's hanger deck kills seven of her pilots and puts a further 13 in the sickbay. Charged with finding and training new pilots - or nuggets in the Colonial slang - Thrace has to face up to past mistakes, and eventually admit her secrets to William Adama himself, an act that brings their close friendship almost to breaking point (Act of Contrition).
Shortly after this, Kara engages a flight of Cylon Raiders while leading a training flight from Galactica, and is forced to eject from her critically-damaged Viper after it makes a forced entry into the atmosphere of a small moon (You Can't Go Home Again). The crash prompts a system-wide search for her, led by Adama and his son - both reacting to their own guilt at their reactions to her. While the search and rescue operations place the fleet at extreme risk, they nevertheless keep the fleet in the star system long enough for Thrace - nursing a damaged knee - to repair a downed Cylon Raider and get it flying again before using it to return to the Galactica - and provide Adama with vital intel on Cylon systems.
Taken off the active duty role as a result of her injured leg, Starbuck has seen her role become more desk-bound, helping to plan important missions (The Hand of God) and also undertake the interrogation of Cylon prisoners (Flesh and Bone). The tactcial planning role is not something she relishes, and she frequently shows resentment towards others for her condition (The Hand of God).
The interrogation of Leoben Conoy is a task that she does not particularly wish for, especially when the situation - a nuclear device allegedly hidden on one of the ships in the fleet - pushes her into some drastic acts to try and extract the information from him (Flesh and Bone).
Off-duty, Kara maintains her cock-sure personna by playing cards and gambling for money. Her devil-may-care attitude brings her to the attention of Doctor Gaius Baltar, whom she is initially intrigued by (Water), but whom she quickly comes to despise. However, the devil-may-care approach hides the fact that deep down, she is religious, and frequently turns to the Lords of Kobol - particularly Aphrodite and Artemis - in times of need (Mini-Series, Flesh and Bone) - even if it is sometimes half-joking (You Can't Go Home Again).
The Arrow of Apollo
Being the only qualified pilot to fly the Cylon Raider, Kara is assigned to plant a nuclear device on board a basestar in orbit around Kobol. Intending on this, she is called to a meeting with Laura Roslin, who convinces Kara to jump to Caprica and retrive the Arrow of Apollo. Disobeying orders, she jumps to Caprica (Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part I) and lands in Delphi. Upon recovering the mythological arrow, she fights a version of Number 6, defeating the Cylon -- who was mortally wounded after being impaled with a piece of jutting debris.
At the museum, she discovers Helo, whom she thought dead. She also discovers that Boomer is a Cylon and attempts to kill her, only to be thwarted by Helo -- who reveals to Starbuck that the "Caprica" Boomer is pregnant with his child, much to Kara's chagrin. (Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II)
Sometime later, she and Helo fall in with the Caprica resistance movement. (Resistance) Kara is shot in a military action, waking up in a hospital on Caprica. Mysterious surgeries by a doctor named Simon lead her to suspect his motives. She discovers that Simon is a humano-Cylon agent, working with a copy of Number Six, and that the next day he is planning to extract her ovaries for use in the Cylon's attempts to study and create a hybrid Cylon/human embryo. Staggering and in pain, Kara later kills Simon and manages to escape to the front of the hospital, but not before clocking a Six copy into unconsciousness with a fire hydrant and destroying the local farm power supply, which kills Sue-Shaun and several other women in the facility. (The Farm) Another copy of Simon appears just as the Resistance attacks in order to free Kara. The second Simon is immediately killed by the resistance, but a squad of Centurions appears and pins the resistance down. Luckily, the Caprica Sharon Valerii swoops in with a stolen Cylon Heavy Raider, destroys the Centurions and flies the resistance team and Kara out of harm's way.
Kara promises to Anders that she'll return with a rescue mission for the remaining survivors, leaving him her dog tags as a promise and friendship token. Anders returns the Arrow of Apollo to Kara, which he hid on the resistance grounds for safekeeping.
Kara, Helo and the pregnant Valerii land on the Astral Queen in the Raider. Finding the Laura Roslin faction in orbit of Kobol, Kara is reunited with Lee. He kisses her impulsively, catching Kara by pleasant surprise, but a tense standoff follows when Apollo discovers that Valerii, a copy of the Cylon who he saw shoot his father, has returned with them. Roslin helps defuse the situation, and Kara delivers the Arrow of Apollo to the President.
Temporarily removed from the protocol of military discipline a few hours before their departure to Kobol's surface, Lee playfully teases Kara by stealing a pyramid ball she took from Caprica. Lee senses her depression about Caprica and tells her that he'd be happy to hear about any problems she had. He also let slip that he loved her, which brightened Kara's mood to the point where she teased him back about the gaffe.
The Pegasus
In a later time, Admiral Nelena Cain summarily assigns Thrace (and Lee Adama) to the Pegasus after digesting the reports of the Galactica's officers, which is a source of irritation for the recovered Commander William Adama.
Due to the comments she made regarding Captain Cole Taylor's plan to recon the unidentified Cylon ship tracking the Fleet, Taylor removed Thrace from the mission -- although Adama, secretly, told her to use the newly built Blackbird stealth craft to take recon photos of the Cylon Unknown. Adama believed that the stealth craft had a better chance of taking recon photos, due to its stealth abilities; like Thrace, he likely believed that Vipers and a Raptor wouldn't be an effective recon force. (Pegasus)
Notes
According to SkyOne, Thrace was born on Picon but raised all over the Twelve Colonies. Her mother was a Sergent Major in the Colonial Marines and a decorated veteran of the Cylon War. Her father was named Dreilide, and is described as a "frustrated" musician.
Here is SkyOne's summary of Thrace:
- Starbuck is Commander Adama's best pilot, as well as flight partner and closest comrade to Apollo, Adama's estranged son.
- Kara Thrace was born on the Picon Colony, but raised all over the 12 Colonies. Her childhood was spent bouncing from one military outpost to another. Her mother was a sergeant major in the Colonial Marines, and a decorated veteran of the Cylon war. Her father, Dreilide, was a frustrated musician.
- Kara was a tough minded-child who dreamed of playing Pyramid in the big leagues someday. her mother wanted her to pursue a career in the military...Kara did not want this, so signed up to the academy to pursue her love of sports.
- Her future as a sports star ended when she was seriously injured, shattering her right knee. Most surgeons felt her knee would never be the same. Depressed, Kara applied to various post-graduate posts, but doubted she would be accepted. To her surprise, she scored the highest academic record for a flight-training exam. Kara soon discovered a love of flying.
- She would be a pilot for life - unless she got kicked out first, as Kara hated taking orders and military protocol. If that wasn't enough, Kara drank and gambled too much. While her academic and personal life was not first class, it couldn't be disputed that she was destined to fly.
- Kara served her first tour aboard the Battlestar Triton, but she was not admired by all, and soon found herself shipped back to where she started.
- This is where she met Zak Adama, and fell in love. Tragedy struck when Zak failed a key flight test and his plane crashed. Kara was devestated. She then spent two years on the Galactica - concentrating on her flying.
As this information has not appeared on the Scifi.com series website or on screen, it has yet to be confirmed.
Additional Notes
- Thrace was a region in south-eastern Europe that was heavily influenced by the ancient Greeks and was eventually conquered by Phillip II of Macedonia.