Devon Starke was a terran ghost (#25876) working for Dominion Heir Apparent Valerian Mengsk. Short and slight with thinning brown hair, Starke had an unremarkable narrow face—an asset in his profession. His deep musical baritone voice draws attention, however, so he was generally silent.[1]
Biography
Inducted into the Ghost Program at a young age, Starke had a neural inhibitor implanted deep in his brain during his youth, suppressing his memories and true identity. When Arcturus Mengsk "overhauled" the Ghost Program (by setting up fully half of his government's ghosts for execution) Starke also ended up in prison, as his abilities weren't currently useful.
The order almost coincided with Valerian Mengsk's birthday, and Valerian convinced his father to give him one of the ghosts slated for execution in order to help with his research. Valerian noticed Starke's psychic abilities while looking at the files of imprisoned ghosts, and chose him for that reason.
Valerian Mengsk had his neural inhibitor removed, which enabled Starke to remember his previous identity. Valerian also made sure that Starke knew who spared him, and why. The result was that Starke was very loyal to Valerian.[1]
The Hunt
Starke accompanied Valerian Mengsk's fleet to Dead Man's Rock, which was attempting to retrieve Jake Ramsey, an archaeologist who held a startling secret in his mind – a protoss preserver named Zamara. However, Ramsey used a mind-meld technique to distract and delay the fleet long enough to escape, along with his ally, ex-mercenary Rosemary Dahl. Stark reported the unusual psychic phenomenon to his employer. Valerian recalled him so they could personally discuss the matter, which meant he avoided the subsequent zerg attack. After exposure to Jake Ramsey's mind-meld ability, he became obsessed with it. He hoped to experience it again, and hoped Valerian Mengsk could experience it as well. [1]
Starke assisted Valerian in the hunt for Ramsey and Dahl. When the two surfaced at the Brontes system to make a planned jump, they figured out their destination, Aiur, based on the direction of their jump and on Starke's discerning of Zamara's intent to rejoin her people.[1]
Valerian gathered together a small fleet from the Dominion's scarce resources and put Starke in charge of it. They arrived at Aiur in time to rescue Ramsey, Dahl and their protoss allies from an ambush by an infested Ethan Stewart. Starke telepathically contacted Ramsey and tried to convince him of Valerian's sincerity. However, Ramsey knew it was possible to lie in a telepathic link and refused to believe him. Dahl hijacked the dropship sent to pick them up and fled towards Aiur's warp gate. Forced to choose between letting Ramsey escape through the warp gate or leaving him to be destroyed by Ulrezaj, a powerful protoss attacker, or zerg attackers, Valerian ordered Starke to protect Ramsey. Valerian lost contact with Starke soon afterward.[1] By the time contact resumed, Starke had taken a hawk to meet Valerian in his ship, the Illustrious.[2]
The Sacrifice
Near the end of the hunt, Jake Ramsey and Rosemary Dahl were captured by Valerian on Ehlna under orders from his father. Starke used a power to knock Ramsey and Dahl unconscious and copied a selection of Ramsey's memories and acted as a decoy to buy time for Ramsey and Dahl to be hidden, despite the knowledge that the Dominion's methods of extracting the borrowed memories would almost certainly be fatal.[2]
Abilities
Starke had the unusual psychic abilities of psychometry and remote viewing, but was weak in the area of telepathic manipulation and termination of targets. Starke didn't much care to implant suggestions of murder or suicide into opponents' minds and doesn't like to kill with his own hands, but was certainly capable of it. He also had the ability of telepathic communication.[1]
Notes
According to StarCraft: The Dark Templar Saga: Shadow Hunters, Valerian Mengsk rescued Devon Starke from Arcturus Mengsk's "ghost purge" on his twenty-first birthday, approximately one year before Shadow Hunters. According to the StarCraft II: Heaven's Devils timeline, that would mean Starke was rescued in approximately 2502. However, the Heaven's Devils timeline puts the ghost purge in 2500.[3]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Golden, Christie (November 27, 2007). StarCraft: The Dark Templar Saga #2: Shadow Hunters. Simon & Schuster (Pocket Star). ISBN 978-0-7434-7126-8.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Golden, Christie (June 30, 2009). StarCraft: The Dark Templar Saga #3: Twilight. Simon & Schuster (Pocket Star). ISBN 978-0-7434-7129-9.
- ↑ Golden, Christie (November 27, 2007). StarCraft: The Dark Templar Saga #2: Shadow Hunters. Simon & Schuster (Pocket Star). ISBN 0-7434-7126-1. The timing of this event is 2500 according to the StarCraft II: Heaven's Devils timeline, although Shadow Hunters suggests it takes place only one year prior to The Dark Templar Saga.