“Scar” is episode fifteen of season two of the new Battlestar Galactica.
Starbuck and Kat are patrolling an asteroid thicket near the colonial mining ship Majahual, looking for a Cylon Raider nicknamed Scar. Kat is trying to remember the name of Riley’s girlfriend and Starbuck is warning her that this is where BB and JoJo bought it.
94 hours ago, and the pilots are clearing away Riley’s stuff; Starbuck says Scar spooked him. He was a little short of guts but a good stick. Someone comments that Beano had plenty of guts, with gallows humour. Kat tries to remember the girlfriend’s name. Two more pilots, Baxton – BB – and Clark – JoJo – show up. They’ve just finished Viper training on the Pegasus and are ready to kick Cylon butt. They are told that Beano was as well. Who’s Beano? The dead pilot whose bunk one is sitting on.
88 hours ago, and they’re asked how Scar took out an experienced pilot like Beano. Kat says Scar hides and Starbuck goes into more detail. One of the nuggets thinks Scar is a coward. Starbuck says that this is war. You never want to fight fair. Scar understands that. And so does she, which is why she’ll kill him. Kat doesn’t think much of Starbuck’s drinking; one Tigh in the fleet is enough. And Kat places a bet that she will nail Scar and Starbuck will fill her the Top Gun mug.
On patrol and Kat thinks she’s found Scar. It isn’t; Scar comes out behind them. Starbuck realises something is wrong and flips to check behind. She sees Scar but her Viper is damaged.
81 hours ago, and Roslin tells Tigh and Adama in CIC that there’s good news and bad news. The bad news is that the mining ship will be there for eight more days; they’ve found enough ore to build two entire squadrons of Vipers. The good news is that Pegasus just turned out the first combat-ready Viper so they begin replacing their losses. Tigh asks if they can replace the pilots too.
Starbuck is briefing the Viper pilots on protecting the miners. She says they are in groups of four; Kat says the briefing says in pairs. It does. Afterwards, Starbuck heads to see Boomer. Boomer explains that Scar has probably died a dozen times and Starbuck may have faced him before. Raiders are like trained animals. With the destruction of the Resurrection Ship, this time when they die, they are really dead. So, the Raiders will no longer mount mass attacks. They will be more careful. It takes months to train a nugget and when they are killed their experience, knowledge and skills are lost. death is a learning experience, but dying is a painful and traumatic experience. Scar hates Starbuck as much as she hates him.
JoJo is being spun around in a ball to see how good a shot he is afterwards. Not very. The record is held by Starbuck. Kat wants to have a try. She does even better.
Starbuck’s issues, especially those regarding Ansel, are having even more of an effect on her than usual and she’s drinking a lot. Kat is constantly riding her, having come through her stim problem with an uptick in cockiness. The episode switches between the events leading up to them hunting Scar and the hunt itself.