Battlestar Galactica Season Three, Episode "Maelstrom", Page 6
Her mother starts off with, "So, you really did it? First person in the family to become an officer." Young Starbuck smiles and says, "What is the world coming to?" Her mother continues, "Kara? They tell me, that you are the best natural pilot, they've ever seen." Young Starbuck perks up proudly and says, "The first time I got into that cockpit, I just ...felt like I belonged.", but her mother turns cold, with her reply, "All that natural ability ...and still, you only graduated 16th in your class." The camera pans over to show Starbuck shaking her head in disappointment, then back to Young Starbuck, who says, "16th out of 117 cadets, mom." Her mother is mean with her reply, "Why are you proud of that? You should have been number one. They tell me, that you have left a trail of demerits from here to Aerelon. You're undisciplined, you have no respect for authority." Young Starbuck shakes her head in discontent and replies, "It's none of your business, anymore." Her mother replies, "You have a gift, Kara. I've always known that, here in my gut and I'm not going to let you piss that away. You're special, don't you understand that?", to which Young Starbuck yells her reply, "No, I'm not! Would you let go of that stupid dream of yours? Look, I am sorry as hell, that you never made officer and all you have to show for a life of dedication, is this crappy apartment and that Fracken medal on the wall, but I will not make up for it all! I can't!"
Her mother lights another cigarette and replies, "Yeah, because you're a quitter. You always have been." As Young Starbuck lowers her head, she notices a letter from a doctor and says, "You went to an aucologist(sp?)?" and her mother yells, "Hey! Put that down! Don't touch that!" As Young Starbuck reads the letter she asks, "What are you going to do about this?" and her mother replies, "Nothing! There's nothing to do, it's metastasized. The game is over.", as she takes another puff from her cigarette. The camera pans over to Starbuck, who has tears in her eyes and can only look away, because of the painful memory she is forced to relive. The camera pans back to Young Starbuck, who wants to comfort her mother by holding her hand, when she says, "I'm sorry, momma.", but as soon as she tries, her mother jerks her hand away and says, "I don't want your pity." Then, Young Starbuck has had enough of the cold shoulder and angrily says, "You haven't got it.", but her mother pours on the mean, by saying "If you want to feel sorry for someone ...feel sorry for yourself! You'll have to find another way to motivate your ass ...I'm not going to be around to do it any longer." The camera pans over to show tears forming in Young Starbuck's eyes and her mother continues with the mean, "Oh, don't tell me you're going to cry about it now!" With those words, Young Starbuck speaks in a choked up voice, "You know, I don't need this, anymore.", as she gets up from the table. Then, she stands there and yells, "I'm gonna walk out that door and you can look at it every Fracken, miserable, day you have left and know that I am NEVER going to come back through it, again!" As Young Starbuck storms off, her mother calls out, "Kara!? Kara!?"
The camera pans over to show Leoben turning to face Starbuck, when he says, "You kept running didn't you? For blocks." You can see heavy tears of sorrow, across Starbuck's face, because she missed a chance to tell her mother she loved her and to say goodbye. The scene, quickly switches, from showing Young Starbuck run off, to her mother putting another cigarette out in a full ashtray.
The scene fast forwards a bit, to hear Leoben guide Starbuck even further, "She waited here ...five weeks, hoping you 'ld come back ...she died alone. Starbuck finally speaks up and says, "I was afraid, I couldn't watch." As the camera zooms in, Leoben says, "It's not too late ...She's waiting, still." Starbuck looks up at Leoben, then looks toward the bedroom door, before walking over to slide it open to see her sickly mother, lying in her death bed. She whispers, "Momma?" and her mother, with barely enough strength to turn her head and show her happiness, whispers the reply, "You came back." As Starbuck looks down at her bed, her mother had placed all of Starbuck's childhood things, there for her to see. Starbuck is speechless when she says, "I can't believe, you kept all of this." Her mother whispers to Starbuck, "Everything ...Always." As Starbuck flips the scrap book over, she is stunned to see the image of the supernova, that she drew as a child, then she asks, "Momma? Something's about to happen. You know that thing, that you were trying to prepare me for? I don't know if I can do it.", but her mother encourages her the way only a mother can, "Oh, yes you can, Kara." and Starbuck asks, "How can you be sure?" and with her mother's last breath she smiles with the whisper, "Your my daughter ..."
Starbuck holds her dying mother's hand, as tight as she can, while letting loose a wave of tears, that has been pent up inside her, all her life. While Starbuck is pouring her heart out with tears, Leoben says, "See? There's nothing so terrible about death ...When you finally face it ...it's beautiful." and after a short pause he says, "You're free, now ....to become who you really are. Starbuck looks up at him and says, "You're not Leoben." and he answers, "Never said, I was ..." and after short pause he says, "I'm here to prepare you to pass, through the next door ...to discover what lies in the space, between life and death." Suddenly, a gust of wind passes through her hair and she finds herself back in the cockpit of her Viper, careening toward the eye of the storm.
Maelstrom Recap: Scene 13
As she comes out of her hallucination, she awakens to the Viper's alarms going off. There is a large bullet hole through the canopy of the cockpit and air is rushing in. As she gets her bearings, the ship is being tossed to and fro and she hears Apollo on the radio, "Starbuck? Apollo. Lost you on Dredis ...I say again, I've lost you! I can't get a fix on you! Kara!!" Suddenly, Starbuck radios, "Lee? I'm not afraid, anymore." Apollo doesn't understand, so he radios, "Say again?" Starbuck replies with, "I'm not afraid, anymore."
The scene quickly switches to the CIC, where Colonel Tigh says, "She should be afraid. She's damn close to the hard deck!" Helo replies, "Apollo, is not far behind. The pressure will crush them both." Admiral Adama looks with all the hope in his heart and says, "Come on, Lee! Get her out of there!" Then we hear Gaeta report, "90 seconds to hard deck!"
The scene switches back to the action, where Apollo radios, "Alright, Kara. Listen, to me. Forget the damn toaster! Climb now, or your dead!" Starbuck, is in a trance and does not answer the message. Apollo tries to catch up to and radios, "We can still pull out, if we haven't gone past the point of no return! Kara!!?"