Battlestar Galactica Season Three, Episode "Maelstrom", Page 5
The scene fast forwards a bit, to show Starbuck is sitting down beneath her Viper, struggling to make sense of it all, when Apollo is heard talking to Chief Tyrol in the distance, "You sure?" and Chief Tyrol replies, "She's just sitting there." Apollo looks over then back to the chief, before asking, "Well, did you talk to her?" and the chief shakes his head, "You talk to her."
When Apollo walks over to sit down beside Starbuck, there is a silent pause, before she asks, "Feeling sorry for me?" and another silent pause, before he replies, "Kara? Everyone gets rattled. Even the best." Starbuck closes her eyes and smiles, before saying, "I'm not going back out there. I don't trust myself." Apollo thinks to himself and says, "Hmmmm ...So, trust me. I'll fly your wing." Starbuck smiles and says, "The CAG, flying my number two?", like it was the most ridiculous thing she ever heard, but Apollo wasn't kidding and it shows in his face, as he says, "What ever it takes."
Starbuck changes the subject by asking, "How are things, with you and Dee?" and Apollo replies, "uhh ...you know, good. No, better than good. Best we've ever been." Starbuck smiles and as she lowers her head, she gives the sincere reply, "I'm happy for you ....Really." Moisture is forming in her eyes and she smiles, before saying, "That's funny though, after all we've been through ...we are right back where we started. You're a CAG and I am your hotshot, problem pilot. I guess that's all we will ever be now, huh?"
Maelstrom Recap: Scene 12
Apollo and Starbuck are out running the CAP, when Apollo radios, "Starbuck? Apollo. How are we doing?" and she replies, "Copasetic." Apollo tries to show her the light at the end of the tunnel by saying, "Another 30 minutes and we head back to the barn." As Starbuck looks over at her wingman, Suddenly, she notices the Heavy Raider maneuvering just over his shoulder and shouts, "Damn it. Apollo! Right turkey, my right through, level at 10, he's ducking in and out of the clouds!" Starbuck, immediately does a barrel roll, over his Viper in pursuit of the Cylon Raider. Apollo radios, "Starbuck? Apollo. No joy."
The scene, briefly, switches to the CIC onboard the Battlestar Galactica and Dee radios, "Starbuck? Galactica.", as she looks toward the admiral, then continues, "No Dredis contact, on your Cylon." Starbuck is heard over the radio, "Apollo? Starbuck. Weapons hot ...committing. This time, I'm going to drag him back and dump his sorry ass on the hangar deck." Admiral Adama considers whether Starbuck is seeing the real thing, or if it is another false alarm, before giving the order, "Set the fleet at Condition One. Uncouple the hoses."
As Starbuck and Apollo go screaming through the sky with their Vipers, the camera zooms in on Apollo's computer screen, where Starbuck's signal starts blinking and then disappears. As soon as that happens, Apollo radios, "Starbuck? Apollo. I've lost you on Dredis. I'm Blind! Starbuck? Apollo. I repeat, I've got no sign of you or the Raider! Starbuck!!! Report! Starbuck, report! This is Apollo, do you read me?" The camera zooms in on Starbuck's cockpit and once again she disobeys protocol and does not answer. Apollo continues to radio, "Starbuck, report!"
Suddenly, the real or imagined Raider goes flying past Starbuck's viper and lines itself up, directly in front of her Viper. Again, Apollo radios, "Starbuck!!"
As she approaches the storm, her Viper starts to experience violent turbulence, but she continues on course, determined to take out the Raider. Suddenly, her ship is struck with something and the alarms go off, as she does a few maneuvers to regain control. Then, we hear Apollo radio, "Starbuck? I have zero visibility. Starbuck! Are you out there! Kara!"
Just then, Starbuck starts to hallucinate, again. This time she is lying on the couch in her apartment, when the buzzer she hears is not the ships alarm, but an alarm clock signaling to her, that it is time to wake up. She reaches over to shut the annoying alarm off, then she hears the a weather station making the morning announcements, before someone reaches over to shut that off, too. That someone greets her with, "Rise and shine.", which startles her to roll over and look up. When she does, Leoben greets her again with, "We have a big day, ahead of us. Come on.", as he coaches her out of bed.
The scene fast forwards a bit, to show the two sitting face to face and Starbuck says, "I'm not here. I'm out cold or onboard a Cylon ship and you drugged me to play your Fracken mind games." Leoben replies with, "No games, Kara."
Starbuck grabs a vase and throws it against the wall, before angrily saying, "I write my own destiny." Leoben, calmly replies, "I didn't paint that symbol, Kara. You did. In the clouds, didn't you? You didn't tell anyone else ...because you're drawn to it. You feel it's pull. You want to fly into it. You want to cross over ...but, you're afraid." Starbuck rudely replies, "Afraid of what? A Fracken cloud?" Leoben slides closer to Starbuck before calmly saying, "Of the unknown ...death ...all of your high wire stunts have been an act ...time after time ...you skip to the edge of the abyss and dance away, again. But, you never really conquer your fear. You've been afraid, every since that day." Starbuck shakes her head and asks, "What day?"
The scene, for one brief second, flashes to reality and shows Starbuck is unconscious in her Viper, then flashes back in time, to show her mother, smoking a cigarette at the table, reading Starbuck's Academy graduation diploma. Leoben, continues to guide her by saying, "All of this has happened before ...and will happen, again."
Just then there is a knock at the door, and her mother says, "It's open.", as a recently graduated Starbuck comes walking in. When she reaches the table, she says, "Hello, momma." As they watch the events of the past unfold, Leoben makes the comment, "It's hard to believe it's only six years, ago. You look so much younger." Starbuck painfully replies, "I was."