Starbuck (TOS)

Lieutenant Starbuck (Dirk Benedict) was a Galactican Warrior who served in the Colonial Fleet as a Viper pilot. Attached to Galactica at the end of the Thousand Yahren War, Starbuck survived the Battle of Cimtar and went on to be an instrumental part in the defence of a rag-tag fugitive fleet led by Galactica in the search for Earth. In his private life, Starbuck earned a reputation as a fumarello-smoking womaniser in his attempts to court both his two interests, Cassiopeia and Lt. Athena.
==Biography==
=== Early life ===
Starbuck was raised as a war orphan following a Cylon raid on Caprica in the later years of the Thousand Yahren War, having been separated from his father, Chameleon. Consequently, Starbuck had no family to call his own and entered military service with nowhere else to go.Battlestar Galactica, episode: "The Man with Nine Lives". He soon became an ace Viper pilot, and was attached to Galactica's Blue Squadron under Cpt. Apollo, himself the son of ship's CO, Cmdr. Adama.
When the Cylon Empire sued for peace, Galactica and the other remaining battlestars departed for Cimtar to take part in the signing of a peace treaty. Celebrations took place across the fleet, leaving the battlestars ill-prepared to defend themselves when it became clear it was a trap. Starbuck himself was originally to fly with Apollo on a routine patrol, but feigned illness to not get in the war of drinking with the other pilots.Battlestar Galactica, episode: "Saga of a Star World". The trap was soon uncovered, however, but Starbuck and the other pilots scrambled for their Vipers like any other battle. With the other battlestars slow to act on the trap, these Viper pilots formed most of the defence against the Raider attack force. Galactica itself would abandon the fleet for its own reasons, allowing the Raider force to destroy the other battlestars without serious threat. Starbuck survived the battle in spite of these massive losses.
It is after the assault that Athena breaks off the relationship with Starbuck, not wanting to lose him to the Cylons like she did Zac. But Starbuck's eyes immediately wandered somewhere else after rescuing Cassiopeia from the Gemonese freighter and they bond at the life station. Athena soon catches both of them making out in the launch bay and she vents steam from the catapults on them. As the fleet finds brief respite in Carillon, Starbuck (joined by Boomer) makes his way to its casino where he not only gambles but also finds himself between Athena and Cassiopeia and even flirts with one of the singers. Joined by Apollo, Starbuck then discovers the truth behind the planet's prosperity - The natives of Carillon, the insectoid Ovions, have set up the gambling resort to lure humans to them to serve as living food for their hatching larvae in their underground chambers. They are also secretly in league with the Cylons and mine the tylium solely for their purposes in exchange for their freedom, and they are cooperating in the Cylons' efforts to eradicate the human fugitives. During a subsequent fight with Cylon soldiers, the laser fire from both parties sets the tylium mines on fire, threatening to destroy the planet once the fire rages fully out of control. But Adama has a trap of his own: the Cylons, believing that all of the pilots are at the banquet, launch a fighter attack against the Galactica in orbit, but Adama is ready to spring his trap. Once the Cylon fighter contingent is fully engaged with the Galactica, Adama recalls all his Vipers from the surface of Carillon, taking the enemy by surprise. During the fight, Apollo and Starbuck disengage from the battle and find a Cylon basestar hidden on the far side of Carillon. In defiance of Commander Adama's recall order, they decide to attempt to destroy it, in order to enable the refugee fleet to elude pursuit, and use fake radio chatter to fool the basestar into thinking it's under attack by multiple Viper squadrons. The basestar descends into Carillon's atmosphere to avoid detection, and is destroyed when the planet finally erupts in a massive tylium explosion.
==The Tombs of Kobol==
Sometime later, Apollo is set to marry Serina which doesn't sit too well with Starbuck as he feels that the marriage is the end of his close friendship with Apollo. Both soon join Boomer and Jolly on patrol. Apollo ventures out to investigate the void and Starbuck keeps track of Apollo so they won't get lost. After they got back from patrol, they learn that Boomer and the other pilots have fallen ill and are to be placed in cryo-sleep and they have to train new pilots - majority of whom are female (the two of them being Serina and Athena). They lead these new pilots into an asteroid and fought the Cylons there. The mission was a success, enabling the medical team to find the source of the infection that inflicted the veteran pilots.
After visiting a recovering Boomer in the Life Station, Apollo and Starbuck feel left out (being the only male pilots who are not sick) and they begin discussing domestic duties, much to Serina's amusement. They are soon pulled by Tigh for a mission but Serina informs him that that she is Apollo's wingman much to Apollo and Tigh's surprise. Starbuck wishes them well but instead of heading back to quarters he heads for the launch bay followed shortly by Apollo and Serina. He launches in Apollo's viper but is soon captured by the Cylons and taken to a basestar. There, he strikes a friendship with Baltar's subordinate Lucifer despite being enemies. Starbuck is soon released, and then informs Apollo that the basestar he is freed from is just outside their sensor range. He leads the female warriors into battle but they are soon joined by the male warriors as they defend Kobol. Starbuck and one of the female pilots, Deitra, return to the planet just in time to witness Apollo, Adama and Serina coming out of the tombs but Serina soon winds up mortally wounded despite the warriors returning fire. Back on the Galactica, Starbuck offers to watch Muffit so that Serina's young son Boxey can say goodbye to his dying mother.
==The Long Patrol==
Starbuck and Boomer offered Boxey to spend the night with them in the Bachelor Officer's Quarters where they play pyramid using some candy, then launch to rescue the stranded Apollo as soon as Boxey had to go to bed.
Sometime after, Starbuck has volunteered to test a new prototype Viper fitted for extended-range reconnaissance and soon embarks on his mission after spending some time juggling between Athena and Cassiopeia aboard the Rising Star. Starbuck dons a generic black flight suit/uniform (so as not to be identified as a Colonial warrior by potential Cylon allies) and flies off in the new fighter – which has superior speed and maneuverability, but at the lack of weaponry. The ship is also equipped with a flirtatious computer called CORA. Running recon ahead of the fleet, Starbuck encounters an old starfighter chasing a small cargo shuttle. Starbuck intervenes by distracting the fighter so that the shuttle can escape. The fighter breaks off and Starbuck follows the shuttle to a nearby world where he discovers the pilot is a smuggler hauling crates of ambrosia – a very expensive beverage and a favorite of Starbucks. While Starbuck admires the drink, the shuttle pilot strikes him from behind and knocks him out. The Smuggler then steals the Viper. Starbuck regains consciousness, and seeing his Viper gone, takes off in the smuggler's shuttle. Upon reaching orbit, he is attacked by the same fighter he drove off earlier. The fighter pilot calls him "Robber", but Starbuck eventually convinces him that he is not the man he thinks he is. The fighter orders Starbuck to follow him to a nearby planet. Upon landing, guards inspect the shuttle and find the ambrosia. They arrest Starbuck for bootlegging despite his pleas of innocence. He is thrown in a cell and given the new name of "Bootlegger 137". After conversing with other prisoners – who are likewise named for their crime and a number (such as Embezzler 10, Murderer 7 etc.) – Starbuck learns they are actually the descendents of the original inmates and being held for the crimes committed by their ancestors. He then realizes he is on a long forgotten Colonial penal colony called Proteus. The prison uses penal labor to manufacture munitions and large amounts of ambrosia for the Colonial military, but Colonial government eventually lost contact with the colony and assumed it destroyed. Starbuck also learns that there is a sizable stockpile of ambrosia that has been sitting on the docks for over a century and he dreams of the money it could bring. He soon causes an uprising after discovering that the prisoners were duped into being slaves by making ambrosia. Apollo and Boomer, along with the smuggler who had stolen his advanced Viper, rescue Starbuck and he is reunited with CORA. They are now aware that a Cylon patrol has intercepted the old merchant signal from the advanced Viper and are on their way to Proteus. The three warriors engage the Cylons, who then destroyed all the ambrosia when they attacked the docks - robbing Starbuck of his dreams of being rich. Once the fleet arrives at Proteus, Starbuck's safe return is celebrated with a dinner aboard the Rising Star. There Boxey presents his father, Apollo, with a drawing of Earth's solar system as described to him by his grandfather Adama. When Starbuck sees the "map" he notices it is similar to a drawing he saw in his cell at the prison. The smuggler friend, who also attends the dinner, says the drawing in the cell was made by "the silent one" – a mysterious prisoner that had long since died. Adama wonders if the man had found Earth.
==Gallery==
Boomer and Starbuck.jpg
== Sources ==
Category:Humans (TOS)
Category:Males
Category:Pilots