Battlestar Galactica: Transcripts: S03E17: Maelstrom
Starbuck: Previously, on Battlestar Galactica…
“Flesh & Bone”
Adama: Leoben’s a very clever Cylon. He’s gonna try to get into your head.
Leoben: We haven’t been properly I introduced. I’m Leoben.
Roslin: I want this Cylon interrogated.
Starbuck, waterboarding Leoben: Do it.
Leoben: This is has happened before, and all of it will happen again. Your destiny’s already been written.
“The Farm”
Simon: I saw your x-rays. A lot of old fractures from childhood… Children of abusive parents often fear passing along that abuse to their own children.
Starbuck: Get out!
New Caprica Detention Center
Leoben: I’m trying to help you, Kara. I only want you see the truth of your life. The reason why you suffered, the reason why you’ve struggled for so long.
Starbuck’s Rack
Anders: There’s something to what Leoben said about you and a special destiny?
Starbuck: “Kara Thrace and her Special Destiny”? That sounds more like a bad cover band, Sam.
CIC
Adama: I think the nova does look like the mandala inside this temple. Maybe it was a road sign, showing the direction that they headed to next.
Starbuck’s Rack
Helo: Curious about something. Those paintings you did your apartment on Caprica… This? Was on the temple. Where’d you get the idea to paint yours?
Starbuck: That was just something I’ve been doodlin’ since I was a kid, I liked the pattern.
Helo: Well, they built the temple 4,000 years ago.
(Kara gets weird.)
Helo: What is it?
Starbuck, angrily: Just something Leoben said once. That I had a destiny, that it had already been written.
TEASER
Starbuck’s Rack
(Kara sleeps, breathing heavily, dreaming of the mandala. In her apartment on Caprica, she paints over the Eye, and then Leoben appears. They make love and the Eye reappears through the paint; she wakes up gasping.)
Hotdog, grinning: What’s up?
Starbuck: Nothing, go back to sleep.
Pilots’ Head
(Starbuck washes her face, gasping.)
Helo: You’re up early.
Starbuck: You too.
Helo: Yeah. Hera gets these nightmares. Wakes up crying and shaking. By the time we calm her down and get her back to sleep I’m wide awake. All that crap she went through on New Caprica really left its mark on her.
Starbuck: Yeah, I know just how she feels. I wish you never would have shown me that picture of that frakkin’ mandala. I dream about it and that bastard Leoben every Godsdamned night. I feel like I’m losing my mind here.
Helo: You know Kara, there’s a, um, a psychiatrist aboard Incron Vale. We’ve made an appointment for Hera. Maybe you should think about seeing her.
Starbuck: Are you kiddin’ me? Most shrinks are more frakked than their patients are.
Helo: You know, you might want to check out that oracle camped at Dogsville.
(Kara sees a young blonde girl, older than Kacey, who disappears.)
Helo: People say she interprets dreams. Sees things in them. Predicts events.
Helo: Hey. You okay?
Starbuck, smiling: I don’t know.
Dogsville: Oracle’s Tent
Starbuck: Hello?
(Kara sees a goddess figurine: a woman with wings for arms.)
Brenna, one eye showing: The goddess Aurora. Take it, it’s yours.
Starbuck: What the hell am I gonna do with this?
Brenna: You’ll know when the time comes. (Holding out her hands.) Sit.
(They kneel across an altar; Kara takes the Oracle’s hands. A ceremonial bowl sits between them, filled with water. The sound of dripping.)
Starbuck: I, u uh…I can’t sleep. I have these nightmares.
Brenna: About the Cylon? The one who held you captive on New Caprica. Leoben.
Starbuck: I know that he was just f…
Brenna: — He knows you better than you know yourself, Kara Thrace. He sees the truth about you. About your destiny…
Starbuck, pulling back: You don’t…
(The Oracle doesn’t let go.)
Starbuck: Enough of that. The only destiny I have is as a world-class frak-up.
Brenna: Who hurts everyone she cares about. That was your mother’s gift to you, wasn’t it? You were born to a woman who believed suffering was good for the soul, so you suffered.
Brenna and Leoben: Your life is a testament to pain. You want to believe it, because it means that you’re bad luck. You’re like a cancer that needs to be removed, because you hear her voice everyday.
Leoben, in memory: And you want her to be right.
Starbuck: Somebody told you what Leoben said to me?
Brenna: Did you ever tell anyone about that? You learned the wrong lesson from your mother, Kara. You confused the messenger with the message.
(Kara runs from Socrata’s house.)
Brenna: Your mother was trying to teach you something else.
Starbuck: You don’t know crap about my mother.
Brenna: Leoben does. He sees the patterns.
(Young Kara crying.)
Brenna: How it all fits together.
Starbuck: Shut up.
Brenna: He’s coming for you.
(The door slamming on young Kara’s hand.)
Brenna: Soon.
Starbuck: Shut the frak up.
Brenna, light reflecting on her face from the water: You can’t stop him. And he will show you the way.
CREDITS
41,000 survivors
ACT onE
Starbuck’s Rack
(Sam getting dressed.)
Anders: I’m on a shuttle in a half an hour. Ask for your leave. With me. You could use the down time.
Starbuck, naked under the covers: That sounds tempting.
Anders: So do it. No strings, okay? We don’t even have to talk about our relationship.
Starbuck: I’ll think about it.
Anders, standing: Which means no. You know I hate to say this, but that whackjob Oracle, she’s got a point. Your mother frakked up your head long before Leoben ever got to you.
Starbuck: She was dealing with a lot, Sam. She told me that I was different from other kids, that I needed to be a warrior like her. Taught me that fear gets you killed, and anger keeps you alive.
Anders: Well, she gave you plenty to be angry about, didn’t she? Split your head open with a broomstick handle because you didn’t make your bed?
Starbuck: Did I ever tell you how I got back at her?
Anders: No.
Starbuck: During the first Cylon war, she was stationed with the first Marines on Medra. Stinkin’ jungles you wouldn’t believe. Had this phobia of insects for the rest of her life, hated the damn things. So I go out and I buy a bunch of rubber bugs, and I slip into her closet, and I put ’em all over her shoes.
Starbuck: She screamed her frakkin’ head off. I go in, and she’s trying to smash them with her shoes, but that’s just making them bounce around even more.
Anders: You must have caught hell for that.
Starbuck: She grabbed my hand, held it in the doorjamb and slammed the door.
Anders: Oh, frak me.
Starbuck, grinning: It was worth it though.
CAP: Fleet Refueling, Day Four
Man: Catbird, Galactica. We’ve had a couple of valve failures. We’re restarting the unrep.
Starbuck: That’s just great. Hotdog, settle in. We’re gonna be out here another three hours.
Later
(Hotdog flies around, having fun.)
Starbuck: Hotdog, what the hell are you doing?
Hotdog: Enjoying blue skies again. About the only thing I miss about New Caprica.
(They fly the CAP; Kara finally spots a heavy Raider across the sky.)
Starbuck: Galactica, Starbuck. Showtime. Bogey, my right-one. In the soup at 45. Committing.
Hotdog: Starbuck, Hotdog. No joy. Press!
CIC
Adama: Abort the unrep. Unhook those fuel lines immediately.
Dualla: Refueling ships, Galactica. Immediate. Cease all underway replenish ops.
Gaeta: Sir, we got both Starbuck and Hotdog on dradis, but no contact on the bogey.
Tigh: We’re lucky we can see anything. That planet’s synchrotron radiation has been kicking the crap out of every dradis in the Fleet since we got here.
Adama: Price you pay for a good place to hide and refuel the Fleet.
Tigh: Looks like it’s also a good place for hiding a Cylon Raider.
CAP
Apollo: Starbuck, Apollo. What do you got?
Starbuck: Apollo, we got one turkey playing hide and seek in the clouds, no sparrows, engaging offensive.
CIC
Tigh: one heavy Raider, no fighter escort.
Gaeta: Still no bandits on dradis.
Tigh: If that bastard jumps, the Cylons could be all over us in minutes.
Adama: Alert the Fleet to stand by for an emergency jump.
CAP
Hotdog: Starbuck, Hotdog. No visual on your Raider, and I’m losing you. Damn it Starbuck, blind! I say again, I lost you in the clouds.
(Kara spots the mandala in the clouds.)
Apollo: Starbuck, we have no dradis contact on your bogey. Do you have visual?
Starbuck: Affirmative, he’s hiding in the clouds. He just ducked into the storm system.
Apollo: Do you see him? Do you see him?
Starbuck: Galactica, Starbuck. Tally, weapons hot.
(She shoots, dives; the Raider turns and hits her; alarms.)
Starbuck: Damn it. Galactica, Starbuck. Took a hit, still flying.
Apollo: Starbuck, are you nominal?
Starbuck: Caught me under the chin but everything’s…
CIC
Adama: Where the hell is that Raider?
Gaeta: Sir. Starbuck’s dropping close to the planetary hard deck. If she stays on course, the atmospheric density will keep her from reaching orbit again.
Tigh: Then the pressure will crush her like a cheap soda can.
CAP
Apollo: Starbuck, you’re getting too low. Break off and climb. I repeat, Starbuck, you’re getting too low, break off and climb. Starbuck? Starbuck, pull out before you don’t have ? to regain orbit! Starbuck! Come in!
(She sees a man outside, her Viper in a white room, as the lightning illuminates them.)
CIC
Adama: Where the hell’s she going?
CAP
Apollo: Starbuck, get out of there. Starbuck, come in. Can you read? Starbuck, you’re getting too low. Break off and climb. Get up.
Apollo: Hotdog, do you have a visual on Starbuck? Starbuck, come in. Do you read? Starbuck, pull out! That is an order. Pull out.
(She snaps out of it, and climbs above the storm again.)
Starbuck: Son of a bitch. Apollo, Starbuck. Wilco. Come on!
(She sees the Raider down in the center of the storm, again.)
ACT TWO
Hangar Bay
Starbuck: Where did I take the hits, Chief?
Chief: I’m afraid nowhere, Captain.
Starbuck: What? I felt the impact. Damn Viper felt like I hit a brick wall.
Chief: Well, we’ll keep checking, but so far, not a scratch.
(Kara checks for the damage; can’t find it.)
Bonus Scene
(Kara finds a leak and some fluid under her Viper.)
Chief: Something wrong, Captain? Captain?
Starbuck: What the frak is this, Chief?
Chief: Just a little hydraulic fluid, nothing to worry about.
Starbuck: No? While you’re in the Tool Room sucking back moonshine, I’ll be up in this bird. If that gear buckles when I trap, I’ll be splattered like fracking roadkill.
(Pilots and deck hands staring.)
Chief: All of these ships leak hydraulic fluid. The seals are old, we don’t have enough to replace them…
(Apollo enters, Figurski fills him in.)
Starbuck: Chief, I’m not interested in lazy-ass excuses, I want the seals replaced!
Apollo: Hey, Kara. Hey! Come on.
Briefing Room
Starbuck: Godsdamn it, it has to be there.
Athena: We watched it twice already…
Starbuck: Then this isn’t my gun camera film.
Athena: No one else pulled trigger all day.
Helo: We checked Galactica’s dradis records against the ones in our Raptor. There was no paint on your Cylon at all.
Starbuck: And we all know that dradis can be wonky near this planet, Karl.
Apollo: Maybe the Raider jumped away before you opened fire?
Racetrack: Or maybe it never existed to begin with.
Starbuck, standing: It was there.
Adama’s Office
Adama: Gonna ground her?
Apollo: Cottle says she’s physically fit, but an emotional basket case. In peace time, he’d ground us all.
Adama: So it falls back on you.
Apollo: Yeah. Even screwed up, she’s still the best Viper driver I’ve got.
Adama: Sometimes it’s hard to admit that the best of us can burn out. You think she has?
Apollo: I don’t know. I think her identity as a steely-eyed Viper jock is the only thing holding her together. So then if I ground her…
Adama: Everyone gets rattled sometimes. But the bottom line is when the bullets start to fly, can she handle it?
Wall of Remembrance
Starbuck: So where do you want to go when you bite the big one? I wanna go right there, next to Kat.
Apollo: A water-walking Viper jock.
Starbuck: Royal pain in the ass, but a hell of a stick to have on your wing.
Apollo: You can put me right here, next to Duck and Nora. Good card players. Nice way to spend eternity.
Starbuck: Okay, so whoever croaks first, the other one makes sure that their picture goes in the right place. Deal?
Apollo: Deal.
Starbuck: So what did the old man have to say about my combat report? “Starbuck’s finally gone off the deep end”? “Unfit for duty”?
Apollo: He said I’m the CAG, it’s my call.
Starbuck: Ah. (He looks down, she swallows.) And what do you say?
Apollo: Well I say I trust your eyes over dradis any day of the week. Something could have been there, vanished in the cloud cover.
Starbuck: So you don’t think I’m nuts?
Apollo: I didn’t say that. You’re a raving lunatic, as demented and deranged as the first day I met you.
Starbuck, grinning: And you’re a bastard.
Apollo: Look, um. Stress has made us all twitchy.
(The candle wax drips, forming an Eye.)
Apollo: After what that Cylon put you through on New Caprica you’ve had more than your share. Get some rest. Or you will start seeing things.
Starbuck: …Yeah.
Galactica Corridor
Adama: …That leaves six civvies in line to refuel.
Roslin: So we have another ten hours and we’re done, yeah?
Adama: Starbuck?
(The lights go out all around her; she turns without noticing.)
Adama: What do you hear?
Starbuck: Nothing but the rain.
Adama: Well then, grab your gun and bring in the cat.
Starbuck: Wilco, Admiral. Madame President.
Roslin: Captain. How is it out there?
Starbuck: Hell of a view.
Adama: We’re almost to the finish line, then we can jump the hell out of this system.
Starbuck: So say we all.
(She turns, holding out the Aurora.)
Starbuck: Um. actually, sorry. Boss, I have something for you. I thought that it would be a nice figurehead for your model ship.
Adama: Aurora. Goddess of the dawn.
Starbuck: Yeah. Brings the morning star and a fair wind. A fresh start.
Adama: Thank you. Good hunting.
Starbuck: Thank you.
(He holds the figure up for Laura.)
Hangar Bay
Chief: Harness assembly?
Starbuck: Lap and shoulder retaining pins installed. Traction reel correct, disconnect block lock and indicator yellow flag visible.
(She sees the little girl in the cockpit. Her nose is bleeding.)
Chief: You all right, Captain?
Starbuck: Uh… Give m me a minute here, Chief.
(Chief leaves, Kara and the girl look at each other.)
(In her Eye is Socrata, lighting cigarettes, smoking over the sound of screaming, the hand in the door, her painting as a child, as an adult, the mandala in the Temple, in the nova.)
(Kara, back in the Hanger Bay, is very worried.)
ACT THREE
Hangar Bay
Chief: She’s just sitting there.
Apollo: Well, did you talk to her?
Chief: You talk to her.
(He approaches and sits silently.)
Starbuck: Feeling sorry for me?
Apollo: Kara, everyone gets rattled. Even the best.
Starbuck: I’m not going back out there. I don’t trust myself.
Apollo: Hmm. So trust me. I’ll fly your wing.
Starbuck: The CAG flying my number two?
Apollo, lovingly: Whatever it takes.
(They are silent.)
Starbuck, looking away: How are things with you and Dee?
Apollo: Uh, you know, good. No, better than good. Best they’ve ever been.
Starbuck: I’m happy for you. Really. It’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’ll ever be now, huh? Hmm.
CAP
Apollo: Starbuck, Apollo. How we doing?
Starbuck: Copacetic.
Apollo: Another thirty minutes and we head back to the barn.
(He smiles at her, proud; she smiles and then spots the Raider through his canopy.)
Starbuck: Damn it. Apollo, one turkey, my right-three level at ten, ducking in and out of the clouds. Engaging.
CIC
Apollo: “Starbuck, Apollo. No joy.”
Dualla: Starbuck, Galactica. No dradis contact on your Cylon.
CAP
Starbuck: Apollo, Starbuck. Weapons hot. Committing. This time I’m gonna drag him back and dump his sorry ass on the hangar deck.
CIC
(Tigh and Adama worry.)
Adama: Set the Fleet at condition one. Uncouple the hoses.
Storm
Apollo: Starbuck, Apollo. I’ve lost you on dradis. I’m blind. Starbuck, Apollo. I repeat, I got no sign of you or the Raider. Starbuck, report! Starbuck, report!
(Kara ignores him, going after the Raider.)
Apollo: This is Apollo. Do you read me? Starbuck, report! Starbuck!
(She’s hit in the canopy and starts to pass out, flying down into the storm.)
Apollo: Starbuck, I have zero visibility. Starbuck, are you out there? Kara!
Delphi: Kara’s Apartment
(The alarms become a clock radio alarm.)
Radio: Good morning, Delphi. Got another hot one in store for you today! Time to head for the beach. Weatherman says we can expect…
Leoben, switching it off: Rise and shine.
(He sits and caresses her hair.)
Leoben: We have a big day ahead of us. Come on.
Later
Starbuck: I’m not here. I’m out cold on a Cylon ship, and you drugged me to play your frakkin’ mind games…
Leoben: No games, Kara. It’s about your destiny.
(She throws a bottle at the Eye on the wall without looking away from him.)
Starbuck: I write my own destiny.
Leoben: I didn’t paint that symbol, Kara. You did.
(She stands and moves away from him.)
Leoben: In the clouds, didn’t you? You didn’t tell anyone else. Because you’re drawn to it. You feel its pull. You want to fly into it. You want to cross over but you’re afraid.
Starbuck: Afraid of what, a frakkin’ cloud?
Leoben: 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, then dance away again. But you never rely conquered your fear. You’ve been afraid ever since that day.
Starbuck: What day?
(Dozing in the Viper; sound of thunder. Flash to Socrata, smoking a cigarette, reading her letter from the doctor with a Colonial medal on the wall.)
Socrata’s Apartment
Leoben: All of this has happened before, and will happen again.
(Kara almost cries; there’s a knock on the door.)
Socrata: It’s open.
Starbuck: Hello, momma.
Leoben: It’s hard to believe it’s only six years ago. You look so much younger.
Starbuck: I was.
Socrata: So, you really did it. First person in the family to become an officer.
Starbuck: What is the world coming to?
Socrata: Kara, they tell me that you’re the best natural pilot they’ve ever seen.
Starbuck: The first time I got in that cockpit, I just … felt like I belonged.
Socrata: All that natural ability, and still you only graduated sixteenth in your class.
Starbuck: Sixteenth out of 117 cadets, momma.
Socrata: 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.
Starbuck: That’s none of your business anymore.
Socrata: You have a gift, Kara. I’ve always known that, here in my gut, and I am not going to let you piss that away? You’re special, don’t you understand that?
Starbuck: 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 frakkin’ medal on the wall. But I will not make up for it all. I can’t.
Socrata, lighting a cigarette: Yeah, because you’re a quitter. You always have been.
Starbuck: You went to an oncologist?
Socrata: Hey, put that down! Don’t touch that!
Starbuck: What are you gonna do about this?
Socrata: Nothing. There’s nothing to do, it’s metastasized. Game is over.
Starbuck: I’m sorry, momma.
(Starbuck sits gingerly and without looking, reaches for her mother’s hand.)
Starbuck: I’m sorry, momma…
Socrata: — I don’t want your pity!
Starbuck: You haven’t got it.
Socrata: You wanna feel sorry for someone? Feel sorry for yourself. You’ll have to find another way to motivate your ass, I’m not gonna be around to do it any longer. Oh, don’t tell me you’re gonna cry about it now.
Starbuck, freaking out: You know, I don’t need this, I’m … I’m gonna walk out that door and you can look at it every frakkin’ miserable day you have left, and know that I am never gonna come back through it again.
Socrata: Kara! Kara!
Leoben: You kept running didn’t you? For blocks.
(Young Kara runs and runs; upstairs Socrata smokes her cigarette; the clock ticks. The tray is full of butts.)
ACT FOUR
Socrata’s Apartment
Leoben: She waited here. Five weeks, hoping you’d come back. She died alone.
Starbuck: I was afraid, I couldn’t watch.
Leoben: It’s not too late. She’s waiting, still.
(Kara slowly slides the bedroom door back: Socrata lying in the bed, weak and small.)
Starbuck, sitting: Momma.
Socrata, softly: You came back.
(Kara looks down at her mother’s scrapbooks: pictures, essays, stories.)
Starbuck: I can’t believe you kept all this.
Socrata: Everything. Always.
(She turns the page: a picture of the Eye.)
Starbuck: 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.
Socrata: Oh, yes you can. You can.
Starbuck: How can you be sure?
Socrata: You’re my daughter.
(She takes her daughter’s hand; Kara cries and holds her face against it. Socrata dies.)
Leoben: See, there’s nothing so terrible about death. When you finally face it, it’s beautiful. You’re free now. To become who you really are.
Starbuck, realizing: You’re not Leoben.
Leoben, smiling: Never said I was. I’m here to prepare you to pass through the next door. To discover what hovers in the space between life and death.
(The wind on her exhilarated face becomes the hole in her cockpit canopy: Kara wakes, lightning everywhere.)
Storm
Apollo: Starbuck, Apollo. Lost you on dradis. I say again, I’ve lost you. I’ll try and fix on you. Kara!
Starbuck, hand on the eject lever: Lee. I’m not afraid anymore.
Apollo: Say again?
Starbuck, hand in her mother’s: I’m not afraid anymore.
CIC
Tigh: She should be afraid. She’s damn close to the hard deck.
Helo: Apollo’s not far behind, the pressure will crush ’em both.
Adama: Come on, Lee, get her outta there.
Gaeta: 90 seconds to hard deck.
Storm
Apollo: All right, Kara, listen to me. Forget the damn toaster. Climb now or you’re dead.
(Surrounded in light, Viper soaring down into the storm, calm.)
Apollo: Godsdamn it, Kara, pull up now. We can still pull out of this, we haven’t gone past the point of no return. Pull up!
CIC
Gaeta: Sixty seconds to hard deck.Dee, vector red section to Apollo’s last known, set alert Vipers to ready one.
Dualla, nodding: Hotdog, Hex, divert to 715…
Storm
Apollo: Gods damn it, where are you?
(He spots her.)
Apollo: Visual. Visual. Okay. Kara, I’m coming to get you.
Starbuck: Lee… I’ll see you on the other side.
Apollo: Kara, please, listen to me! Come back.
Starbuck: Just let me go.
Apollo: Godsdamn it, Kara! You come back! Come back!
Starbuck: It’s okay. Just let me go. They’re waiting for me.
(Kara closes her eyes, smiling. Young Kara smiles, closing her eyes. Her ship explodes in the air like fireworks.)
Apollo: No! No!
CIC
Adama: Apollo. Get out of there, abort! Abort!
(Lee cranks his ship away from the accident.)
CIC
Adama: Lee, do you have her in sight? Can you see her?
Apollo: Negative, she … went in. She went in.
Adama: We’re sending in the search and rescue birds right now. We’ll find her.
Apollo: No, Dad, it’s no use. Her ship’s in (voice breaks) pieces. Her ship’s in pieces. No chute. We lost her.
Adama’s Quarters
(Adama completes his model ship, affixing the Aurora fetish to her prow. He begins to cry and shake, and then destroys the ship, weeping.)
Transcript taken by Ryan Bechtel
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