Kara Thrace

This article discusses the Re-imagined Series character with the pilot callsign of "Starbuck." For more on Kara Thrace's counterpart in the Original Series, see Starbuck (TOS).

Kara Thrace
Name	{{{name}}}
Age
Colony	Caprica
Birth place	{{{birthplace}}}
Birth Name	Kara Thrace
Birth Date	{{{birthdate}}}
Callsign	Starbuck
Nickname	{{{nickname}}}
Introduced	Miniseries
Death
Parents
Siblings
Children
Marital Status	Married to Samuel Anders (Formerly engaged to Zak Adama)
Family Tree	View
Role	Unknown, Formerly: Commander Air Group, Battlestar Galactica (The Captain's Hand)
Rank	Captain
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 "Starbuck" Thrace, serial number [?]T-462753, 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, 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. She was a very talented pyramid player (Resistance), and received a scholarship to the Fleet Academy to play pyramid. During this time, she injured her knee and was no longer able to play pyramid at a professional level. During that time, however, she discovered a passion and skill at being a fighter pilot (Podcast:The Hand of God). 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 Thrace broke her cardinal rule of flying and fell in love with a young recruit, Zak Adama. Despite his mediocre performance as a pilot, Thrace's love for Zak Adama (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, despite failing three of the required maneuvers (Act of Contrition).

Already engaged to Zak Adama at the time she passed him for flight status, Thrace was unable to marry him, as he was killed during a routine mission shortly after graduating. At the time, Lee Adama, Zak's elder brother, blamed their father for Zak Adama's death. In her guilt, Thrace did little to alter this idea. She did, however, meet William Adama shortly after the accident, and the two struck up such a strong rapport that they stood together at the funeral (Act of Contrition).

Following the funeral, Thrace resigned from flight school as a instructor and transferred as an operational pilot aboard battlestar Galactica under the command of William Adama, where she served for some two years prior to the Cylon attack on the Twelve Colonies. Before the Cylon attack, she was second in command of the remaining pilots, subordinate to the CAG, Jackson Spencer.

During her time aboard Galactica, Thrace's flying skills proves her as one of finest pilots in the Colonial Fleet, but her attitude quickly runs her afoul of other senior officers on-board ship, notably Colonel Saul Tigh, Galactica's Executive officer. Tigh and Thrace 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 leads to the point where blows are exchanged, with Thrace ending up in the brig (Miniseries).

While in the brig, Captain Spencer is killed in a Cylon slaughter of Galactica's last Viper squadron. With her incarceration, Lee Adama, who joins Galactica, is given the senior pilot title. Apparently, Thrace approves of Adama's assignment: "Not a big enough dipstick for the job," she says about herself (Miniseries).

At the time of the Cylon attack she has an run-down apartment in Delphi that overlooks a parking lot. She was also a very avid painter, and her flat is cluttered with her paintings (Valley of Darkness).

Post-Cylon Attack

Following the Cylon attack on the Twelve Colonies, Thrace returns 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 the escape from Ragnar Anchorage (Miniseries). 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.

Starbuck as acting CAG with Boxey as assistant in Bastille Day. (C. Sci Fi Channel)

Thrace aides in assembling a rescue mission on the Astral Queen during a hostage situation involving Lee Adama. Surprisingly, Thrace gets the backing of Tigh himself and the acknowledgment that she is the best sharpshooter in the Fleet. Following the successful mission, Thrace tries to mend fences between herself and the XO with a toast (consisting of water), apologizing in much the same way as Tigh himself had tried after their initial escape from Ragnar Anchorage. But this time it is Tigh that rejects Thrace's apology, stating that her flaws are professional, while his flaws were personal (Bastille Day).

Having partially admitting her role in Zak Adama's death to Lee Adama (Miniseries), Thrace confronts her past head-on when a freak accident on Galactica's hangar deck kills 13 Viper pilots and puts a further seven pilots in sickbay. Charged with finding and training new pilots ("nuggets" in pilot slang), Thrace faces up to past mistakes, and eventually admits her secret to William Adama himself, an act that brings their close friendship almost to the breaking point (Act of Contrition).

Shortly after, Thrace engages a fight with eight Cylon Raiders while leading a training flight from Galactica, Thrace orders her training cadets to return to Galactica and engages the enemy fighters. One cadet, Hot Dog, disobeys Thrace and fights as her wingman long enough to distract the Raiders sufficiently to where Thrace's odds of survival are increased. Starbuck's remarkable flying destroys almost all the Raiders, but a final Raider critically damages her Viper just as she shoots the Raider. Both ships lose control and tumble towards a small red moon with an unbreathable atmosphere. With her Viper in a fatal flat-spin, Starbuck is forced to eject from her Viper (You Can't Go Home Again).

The crash prompts Galactica to conduct a system-wide search for Starbuck, led by Adama and his son, each reacting to his guilt at his response to her admission about Zak Adama. 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 the downed Cylon Raider and get it flying again before using it to return to Galactica, which provides Adama with vital intelligence on Cylon fighter technology.

Taken off the pilot's active duty roster as a result of her injured leg, Starbuck sees her role become more desk-bound. She is recognized by Commander Adama for her unconventional thinking, and he asks her to plan a special attack on a Cylon tylium refinery. The tactical planning role is not something she relishes, and she frequently shows resentment towards others for her condition (The Hand of God).

Thrace interrogation of a Cylon prisoner, a copy of a known Cylon agent named Leoben Conoy is a task Thrace does not particularly wish for. She uses some drastic acts to try to extract the information from the Cylon agent (Flesh and Bone).

Off-duty, Thrace maintains her cocky persona by playing cards and gambling for money. Her devil-may-care attitude brings her to the attention of Doctor Gaius Baltar (Water). She becomes quite interested in Baltar at first, but she quickly comes to despise him for reasons not quite clear. Despite her reckless approach to life, Thrace hides the fact that she is deeply spiritual. She frequently prays (or talks) to the Lords of Kobol, particularly Aphrodite and Artemis in times of need (Miniseries, "Flesh and Bone", "You Can't Go Home Again").

The Arrow of Apollo

Starbuck retrieves the Arrow of Apollo in Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II.

Being the only qualified pilot to fly the Cylon Raider, Thrace is assigned to plant a nuclear device on board a basestar in orbit around Kobol. Before the assignment, Laura Roslin calls a meeting with her and convinces Thrace to jump to Caprica to retrieve the Arrow of Apollo. Disobeying orders, disillusioned after confirming that Commander Adama fabricated that he knew the actual location of Earth, she Jumps to Caprica in the Raider (Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part I), landing in Delphi. Upon recovering the unusual Arrow in the Delphi Museum of the Colonies, she is violently attacked by a copy of Number Six. Despite being heavily outmatched in the fight, Thrace luckily defeats the Cylon, who was mortally wounded after being impaled with a piece of jutting debris as the two women fell to a bombed-out lower level.

At the museum, she discovers Helo, whom she thought dead. She also discovers a second copy of Sharon Valerii and realizes instantly that the woman is a Cylon. Thrace attempts to shoot her, but Helo stops Thrace and reveals to Starbuck that the "Caprica" Valerii is pregnant with his child, adding more to Thrace's stress level to the point where she sobs (Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II). To make matters worse, Valerii, fearing for her child, steals Thrace's Raider. Starbuck hears the whine of the fighter's engines but is too late to stop the Cylon's escape. In exasperation, Starbuck could only mutter: "Bitch took my ride" (Scattered). Like Helo, Starbuck was left with no way to return to the Fleet unless she could find her Raider or another Cylon spacecraft, as enemy FTL engines were the only ones sufficently powerful to reach the Fleet.

Starbuck is not sympathetic to Helo's love for the Caprica copy of Valerii, and berates him for his stupidity. Thrace makes a pit stop from the fighting and leads Helo to her old apartment in Delphi. There she digs up a stash of fumarellos, dons an old military fatigue jacket she apparently wore around her home, and starts up a battery-powered music player. The piano music she listens to is something recorded of her father's, a pianist. Throughout the dusty, but intact apartment were paintings Thrace had made, some fascinating, but many eerie in tone. Helo has little luck in finding food, but Thrace finds the keys of her surplus military utility vehicle in her jacket. Thrace has a ride again, if only to move more efficiently about Caprica (Valley of Darkness).

Thrace and Helo are initially attacked by a resistance movement on Caprica. In a standoff, (Resistance) Thrace and the Resistance leader, Samuel Anders, sufficiently convince each other that neither of them are Cylon agents. Thrace and Anders strike up a rapport as fellow pyramid players and end up as lovers. During planning to steal a Heavy Raider, Thrace is shot in a military action, waking up in a hospital on Caprica. Thrace is told by her doctor, Simon, that Anders died from wounds he suffered in getting Thrace to safety.

But Thrace's instincts about her doctor nag her, particularly after some mysterious surgeries by Simon. Her suspicions are confirmed when she discovers that Simon is working with a known Cylon agent. She overhears that the next day he plans to extract her ovaries for use in the Cylon's attempts to study and create a hybrid Cylon/human embryo. Simon also makes the mistake of calling Thrace by her callsign, Starbuck, which she had never revealed. Staggering and in pain, Thrace kills Simon and manages to escape to the front of the hospital, but not before clocking a Six copy with a fire extinguisher and destroying the local farm power supply, mercy-killing Sue-Shaun and several other women in the facility.

Another Simon copy reappears in front of Thrace at the exit to the hospital just as the Resistance attacks the facility. The second Simon, now revealed as a Cylon agent himself, is immediately killed by the Resistance, but a squad of Cylon Centurions appear and pins the Resistance down. Luckily, Helo's copy of Sharon Valerii swoops in with a stolen Heavy Raider, destroys the Centurions and flies the Resistance and Thrace out of harm's way.

Thrace promises to Anders that she'll return with a rescue mission for the remaining survivors, leaving him her identification tags as a promise and friendship token. Anders returns the Arrow of Apollo to Thrace, which he hid on the resistance grounds for safekeeping (The Farm).

Thrace, Helo and the pregnant Valerii land on the Astral Queen in the Heavy Raider. Finding the Laura Roslin faction in orbit of Kobol, Kara is reunited with Lee. He kisses her impulsively, catching Thrace by pleasant surprise, but a tense standoff follows when Adama discovers that another Valerii copy has returned with them. Roslin helps defuse the situation, and Thrace 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 Adama playfully teases Kara by stealing a pyramid ball she took from Caprica. Adama 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 Thrace's mood to the point where she teased him back about his slip.

With a team led by Laura Roslin, Lee Adama, and, later, joined by the recovered Commander Adama, Thrace enters the Tomb of Athena and successfully uses the Arrow of Apollo to activate a hologram that shows constellations of the Twelve Colonies' ancient symbols.

Billy Keikeya: Uh... where the hell are we?

Laura Roslin: I don't know. Tomb of Athena, I think.

Commander Adama: I thought we were already in the tomb.

Kara Thrace: I think that was the lobby.

Thrace realizes that they are on a recreation of Earth, and realizes they are seeing, in a sense, what their brothers would see in Earth's sky. Together with Lee Adama, they locate the Lagoon Nebula, a celestial body known to Commander Adama and Lee Adama, and gather sufficient information to begin an actual course to Earth (Home, Part II).

Thrace and Lee Adama continue to appear more and more comfortable in their working and off-duty friendship. They compliment each other often when in live-fire encounters (Home, Part II) as well as off-duty practice (Flight of the Phoenix). Thrace never fails to playfully tease Lee Adama when she can, showing off the impressive stealth abilities and her flying skills of the new Blackbird fighter in her maiden flight (Flight of the Phoenix).

Enter Pegasus

With the initially welcome discovery of another Colonial battlestar, Pegasus, Admiral Helena Cain summarily assigns Thrace (and Lee Adama) to Pegasus after digesting the reports of Galactica's officers, which is a source of irritation for Commander William Adama.

After critically commenting against Pegasus CAG Captain Cole Taylor's plan to recon the unknown Cylon ship tracking the Fleet, Taylor removes Thrace from the mission. Lee Adama, also miffed by Thrace's and his change in seniority, secretly tells her to use the newly built Blackbird stealth craft to take recon photos of the Cylon Unknown. Adama believes that the stealth craft has a better chance of taking reconnaissance photos due to its stealth abilities; like Thrace, he believes that Vipers and a Raptor wouldn't be an effective recon force. (Pegasus)

Thrace is away on her covert recon mission, unaware of the showdown between Commander Adama and Admiral Cain over Cain's totalitarian command style in her quick conviction of Helo and Galen Tyrol for the accidental death of "Cylon interrogator" Lt. Alistair Thorne.

Upon return from her very successful mission, the Blackbird's lack of a Colonial transponder is mistaken for a Cylon Raider on DRADIS, and Starbuck is nearly confronted and shot at by Vipers from Pegasus and Galactica. After narrowly avoiding certain death by declaring herself a friendly, Thrace transmits her recon photos to Pegasus and Admiral Cain.

Cain is so impressed with Starbuck's performance that Cain promotes Thrace to Captain and Pegasus CAG. Cain initially wanted to place Lee Adama in the brig for his part in the unauthorized recon operation, but she chose to take Adama off of flight status. Thrace is assigned the task of planning the joint attack on the Resurrection Ship, but successfully asks to have Adama on her team, restoring him to flight status. Cain hears of Thrace's desire to return to Caprica to rescue members of the Caprica Resistance there, but Cain suggests the idea of returning to the Colonies in an effort to beat the Cylons and win their homeworlds back. Thrace indicates approval, but her card face might have been showing. Later, Lee Adama meets with Thrace as she works on the battle plan. He complains that she appears to be working as if nothing has happened, as if the tensions between Commander Adama and Cain didn't exist. Thrace replies that while Cain was in command, there is nothing to do about the situation.

After she briefs Cain and Commander Adama on her battle plan, Adama asks her to stay behind to discuss more of the plan. In reality, he asks Thrace to assassinate Cain after the battle is complete and her fighters are accounted for. Adama fears that if Cain continues to command, he will be killed, leaving no one to stop Cain from inflicting the same fate on his Fleet as she did to a civilian fleet that Pegasus stripped for resources and left for dead in space (Resurrection Ship, Part I).

Before the attack, Thrace meets with Lee Adama, who comforts her on the task that Commander Adama asks of her.

Thrace's battle planning, as before on the tylium mine, works to near-perfection, with the Resurrection Ship destroyed and its supporting basestars. However, the plan to kill Cain is left with a serious hitch; Lieutenant Adama, who takes the Blackbird out to destroy the FTL drive on the Resurrection Ship, is missing in action, in need of rescue in space after a collision destroys the Blackbird. As such, Thrace is left without backup as she walks to the Pegasus CIC, obviously afraid and apprehensive. When Commander Adama calls, Thrace slowly moves her hand to her sidearm but, to her relief, Adama does not give the kill order and cryptically instructs her to stand down.

Thrace visits Lee Adama in pilot's quarters on Galactica after his rescue. He appears dazed and impassive. She dismisses his apology on not being able to back up Thrace on her aborted kill mission, saying that it was good for both of them just to make it back alive once more. But young Adama surprises her by saying that he didn't want to make it back alive. Nearby, Anastasia Dualla, who has shown more than a passing interest in Lee Adama, eavesdrops on the conversation and leaves equally worried.

Starbuck and Kat are involved in the protection of a mining operation from periodic Raider attacks. One Raider, nicknamed Scar, fuels an intensive rivalry for the pilot's "top gun" honor. Thrace, still depressed over her inability to convince Fleet command to initiate a rescue for Samuel Anders and his resistance, drinks heavily and obsesses over removing Scar from the sky, even at the cost of her life. Fortunately, Starbuck realizes the futility of her actions, and works together with Kat to destroy the remarkably dangerous Raider (Scar).

A few weeks later, Thrace takes leave on Cloud Nine when she was dragooned into rescuing Lee Adama and several other Galactica crew and residents after terrorists take them hostage in exchange for the incarcerated Sharon Valerii. Thrace gathers intel on the situation, but her cover is blown. In the retreating firefight, Lee Adama is caught in the crossfire. After the situation is resolved, Thrace intended to sit at Adama's bedside, only to discover that Dualla beats her there (Sacrifice).

Later, Thrace is assigned to Pegasus as a flight trainer. Though the pilots like her, Commander Barry Garner does not, eventually confining her to quarters for "insubordination." Following the ill-fated rescue and retreat from a Cylon ambush (where Thrace leads the fighters), Thrace informs new Pegasus Commander Lee Adama that she was taking over his CAG post aboard Galactica (The Captain's Hand).

Starbuck's Burden

Kara Thrace one year later

Thrace gets her wish: The Caprica rescue is approved, and she leads a large Raptor squadron to the planet. The group soon met up with Anders, who reports that their HQ had been destroyed and Thrace's timing was just perfect. A squad of Centurions ambush and pin down the group moments later (Lay Down Your Burdens, Part I).

Still pinned down from attack fire, Starbuck and Anders agree to kill each other to avoid capture and interrment at a farm. But the attack stops, and a man appears, praising the Gods as he announces that the Cylons not only have ceased fire, but are abandoning the Twelve Colonies. Starbuck isn't really surprised to discover that the man, known as Brother Cavil, was a Cylon upon their return to the Fleet.

Starbuck and Anders proceed to get drunk, and host a disastrous visitation with Lee Adama. This apparently led to a rift between the two comrades.

In the following year, Thrace marries Anders, and the two move to New Caprica City. Life on New Caprica tempered Thrace, and she often behaved in ways Starbuck never would have, including hugging Colonel Tigh and pampering Anders and his bout with an illness. She watches in horror at the sudden arrival of hundreds of Cylon ships in the sky over New Caprica. A few of Galactica's former crew gather near Thrace, looking to her for guidance. Starbuck responds the only way she knew how: "Fight 'em until we can't" (Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II).

Notes

• On the Sci-Fi Channel's preview for season 2.5 (US), Katee Sackoff is quoted as saying that Starbuck is "the best Viper pilot...EVER."
• 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. Thracians were considered by most to be the most ferocious fighters and were often highly paid mercenaries for Greek kings.
• After auditioning for the role of Dualla, Grace Park was asked by director Michael Rymer to audition for the role of Starbuck, and she was actually one of two finalists up for the role (the other being Katee Sackhoff, who got the part). Ultimately Park was cast as Sharon "Boomer" Valerri.
• In a TV Guide photo shoot at the BSG studios, Katee Sackhoff explained that the tattoo that Starbuck bears on her left arm is a wing and a circle that matches a mirror image tatto on Anders' right arm. When the two of them hold each other with their respective arms crossing, the 2 tattoos come together to form an image of a single ring with 2 wings that is supposed to represent their union. According to Sackhoff, Kara and Anders had the tattoos done around the time of their wedding.

Preceded by: Cole "Stinger" Taylor	Commander, Air Group of the battlestar Pegasus	Succeeded by: (unknown)
Preceded by: Lee "Apollo" Adama	Commander, Air Group of the battlestar Galactica	Succeeded by: (unknown)