Celest Devaneaux (top) and Kieran.
Captain Celest Clarice Devaneaux, Starfleet Military Operations (Full title: Her Imperial Majesty the Empress of the Imperial Reydovan Empire) (born Celest Clarice Taylor, February 16, 2358 in New Valley Forge, Reydovan Prime; died April 3, 2402, U.S.S. Moonfire) is a fictional character created by Joshua Underwood in the Star Trek universe. Celest is Underwood's first female character and is also his lead female character, and has been portrayed by his main female Phantasy Star Online character since her inception in 2002.
Origins[]
Celest Devaneaux was one of only two people with dual citizenship in the United Federation of Planets and the Imperial Reydovan Empire (the other was Jeremiah Neill, the Count of Easthaven and commander of the Starfleet Marine Corps). The daughter of Admiral Ian Taylor, the commander of the Grand Fleet of the Chancellor, Celest grew up with Taylor's strict military upbringing. Though she resented it at first, Celest grew to accept it as her own standards. In December 2374, General Artimus Devaneaux murdered the Minister of State and attempted to escape Reydovan Prime before Imperial authorities caught him. Before Artimus could make his escape, Celest - in an act of youthful brashness - confronted him as he made his preparations. Laughing wickedly, Artimus responded by pluching her right eye completely out of its socket and crushing it under his boot. At her request - not wanting to feel like a "freak" with cybernetic enhancements - her father's physicians fused the eyelids shut. She has worn an eyepatch ever since. Afterwards, Celest served as an aide-de-camp to her father during the campaign to hunt down Artimus and the Separatists. It was during that campaign that she met 20-year-old Kieran Devaneaux...
During the campaign in January 2375, Kieran was a Captain-Lieutenant (Lieutenant Commander) and chief of staff to Grand Admiral Joshua Underwood, the Imperial Chancellor and commander of the Imperial Navy. Kieran and Celest met onboard Underwood's flagship, the Stryker Annihilator. Both had suffered the pain of losing their right eye - Kieran had been slashed across the face by his father nearly three months earlier. They fell in love, and in March - following Artimus' apparent execution - Kieran asked Admiral Taylor for permission to marry her. (The age of consent in the Reydovan Empire is 16.) Taylor, believing that Kieran was destined for great things and seeing his desire to restore the Devaneaux name after his father ran it into the ground, gave his blessing. They married on April 4, 2375, in a private ceremony officiated over by Emperor Kiran Joshmaul I. Their first child, Kieran II, was born in January 2376.
Kidnapped![]
On June 9, 2376, while returning to Earth after visiting the Emperor, the Imperial flagship Absolution was ambushed by the renegade starship Mount Saint Helens - the treacherous Federation Solicitor General, Dawson Crenshaw, had escaped from custody. On orders from his master, Demon-Kieran Devaneaux, Crenshaw's vessel played the part of a ship in distress long enough for Gorak'nar renegades under former High Inquisitor Jaeden'laek to attack the Imperial flagship. Both Chancellor Underwood and Celest's father, Admiral Taylor, were critically injured in the attack. The Gorak'nar troops beamed to the St. Helens, which immediately went under cloak and accompanied the two attack ships to Defileron.
Celest was held in the Palace of the Defiler Eternal, the citadel of Demon-Kieran, on Defileron until the Battle of Defileron in November 2376. Celest joined Kieran in leading Imperial and Federation troops into Demon-Kieran's inner sanctum, and managed to escape alive.
Starfleet Service[]
Celest graduated the accelerated tactical program on December 28, 2376, at the rank of Lieutenant Junior Grade. She was immediately assigned as the tactical officer of the starship Bill of Rights, commanded by Captain Andrew Waverleigh. She served in that capacity for several years as she rose through the ranks. In 2383, at the rank of Lieutenant Commander, she was involved in a battle in the Briar Patch against the Tholian Assembly. The following year, Captain Waverleigh was promoted to the Admiralty and he turned over command of the Bill of Rights to Celest, promoting her to the rank of Commander. She was promoted to Captain two years later.
Awards[]
- Purple Heart, 2383
- Silver Star, 2383
- Christopher Pike Medal of Excellence, 2383
- Romulan Campaign Ribbon, 2379
- Defense Superior Service Medal, 2383
- Kragite Order of Tactics, 2383