[red-beard]

I re-watched the Starbuck episode and I have a theory....

Starbucks mom was in the first Cylon War. She was a cylon host mother. Starbuck is an early generation cylon-human hybrid. She has a "destiny" with the cylons because she is partially one. She didn't "die", she ejected and was scooped up by the cylon ship. It didn't look like a raider, it looked like a cylon transport. Plus, it was real. Apollo saw the ship in front of Starbuck.

Starbuck and Baltar are early generation Cylon-Human hybrids. They are the only ones doing "projection", like the rest of the cylons. They have to be partially human, or they would not have survived the cylon plague and they would have had problems in the armorment station in the Original mini-series.