Ben Stark

Ben Stark, who died in 1942, was a Caprican student and terrorist who became involved with a breakaway faction of the Soldiers of the One. He was responsible for the suicide bombing of a Caprica City Maglev train, an attack that killed his girlfriend, Zoe Graystone, along with hundreds of others. He was the son of Natalie Stark.

Athena Academy and conversion#

As a teenager, Stark was educated at the prestigious Athena Academy, though it is uncertain whether his parents were wealthy or whether he gained admission through a scholarship programme. He was in the same year group as his friends Zoe Graystone and Lacy Rand, and by their second year he and Graystone were in a romantic relationship, which at her insistence was kept hidden from her parents.

Stark and Graystone were drawn into Monotheism through their headmistress, Sister Clarice Willow, and the two soon converted Rand as well. The three joined the Soldiers of the One, a Monotheist organisation which in the previous decade had abandoned terrorism in favour of peaceful methods. From there they developed hostile views toward Holoband technology, which they regarded as driving cultural decadence.

The Avatar Program and the bombing plan#

During this period Stark became aware of a scientific breakthrough achieved by Graystone, which she called the Avatar Program. The program created a sentient artificial duplicate of herself, Zoe-A, which she intended to take to Gemenon as part of a secret project for Willow. When the time came to carry the program away, Stark obtained fake passports for himself, Graystone, and Rand so that they could run away together.

Ahead of the planned escape, however, Stark was ordered by Barnabas Greeley to kill himself in a suicide bombing instead. As the three reached the Caprica City Maglev station, Rand dropped out of the plan. As the train set off, Stark opened his coat to reveal a suicide vest. Shouting that the One True God would drive out the many, he detonated it, killing himself, Graystone, and some 498 others.

Aftermath#

In the wake of the bombing, Athena Academy established the Graystone-Stark Memorial Scholarship Fund to help enrol students from lower income families. The Global Defense Department investigation found circumstantial evidence linking Stark and Graystone to the attack, including an e-message that Graystone had sent to her mother, Dr. Amanda Graystone, which investigators regarded as suspect. Graystone's apparent involvement was addressed on live broadcast, which redirected the investigation toward her rather than Stark. Although the discovery of his 1941 arrest helped advance the case, the department's priorities remained focused on the Graystones, and Stark's responsibility for the bombing went unreported.