Kara Thrace

Kara Thrace or as she is more commonly known by her colonial pilot callsign of Starbuck is a gifted Viper pilot, with an attitude that has hindered her career in the Colonial Fleet. However, William Adama has confidence in Thrace's military skills, and she greatly aids the Fleet inside and out of the cockpit. She is the last Commander, Air Group (CAG) of Galactica, and mysteriously vanishes in a region that will later be known as Tanzania on the second Earth shortly after the Fleet's arrival on the planet

Biography
Thrace's mother Socrata was a former Colonial Marine Corps sergeant major. She beat her daughter so frequently that Thrace came to accept pain as a way of life. Her father Dreilide was a pianist and composer. Kara seems to have been closer to him than with her mother until he left them.

Career as Cadet
Thrace eventually left home to join the military. During her training, she was disciplined for insubordinate conduct towards superior officers.

Career as Officer
One of her early posts was aboard the battlestar Triton. While there, she offended Commander Myron Ruth, who initiated court-martial proceedings against her, but the charges were later dropped. Thrace eventually returned to flight school as an instructor, where she fell in love with one of her students, Zak Adama. Despite his poor performance, she allowed him to pass his final check flight although he failed three of the required maneuvers.

Thrace lost Zak Adama when he was killed during a routine mission shortly after graduating. Lee Adama ("Apollo"), Zak's elder brother, blamed their father for Zak's death, and Thrace, feeling guilty, kept quiet. She met William Adama shortly after the accident, and the two formed a strong rapport and stood together at the funeral. Thrace resigned as an instructor and returned to the Fleet as an operational pilot on the 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 to the CAG, Jackson Spencer.