Vekhta

Vekhta
Titles	None (current) Arc New Order (formerly) Warmaster Yuzari Culture (formerly)
Formal Name	Charlia Aban An-Vekhta
Aliases	Vekhta Lena Ishikawa
Species	Yuzari
Gender	Female
Homeworld	Bendu
Family	Fatima Aban El-Arkhan     Sister (Deceased) Kyriah Aban An-Kardias     Father (Deceased)
Enemies	Sefer Yetzirah
Factions	Espritu Santo (current, tenuous) New Order (former) Yuzari Culture (former)
Status	Alive
Home Reality	Reborn Universe

“ Besides - Recently, I've gotten rather good at pretending to be someone I'm not. ”

—Vekhta, BZPB: Resurgence #114

Vekhta, formerly known as Arc Vekhta, is a Yuzari warrior. Once an Arc of the New Order, Vekhta defected after discovering that she had been mentally reconditioned by Sefer Yetzirah and given a false identity in order to ensure her loyalty to the Emperor. Now a free agent, she travels the galaxy seeking to oppose Sefer, as well as to determine a new meaning for herself given the complete destruction of her own civilization.

Biography

Appearance

Vekhta possesses an appearance suggesting a human woman in her mid-to-late 20s, though as Yuzari age differently to humans, her actual age is unknown. She has tanned skin, dark brown hair, and possesses a mechanical forearm and hand on her right arm, cast in a dark red color; her original forearm was shot off by Lilith Heyerdahl.

Vekhta has red eyes as a result of her reconditioning, and temporary genetic enhancements, at the hands of Sefer Yetzirah.

Personality

Owing to the false memories implanted in her, Vekhta's personality is in something of a state of flux; a few consistent personality traits are that she possesses a strong sense of justice, and that she is also a confident fighter, bordering on cocky at times. During her alliance with Espiritu Santo, her combative personality drew her into conflict John Shepard, with the latter coming to essentially despise her.

History

Early Life

Vekhta was born Charlia Aban An-Vekhta on Bendu to the illustrious House Aban, rulers of the Yuzari Culture. Like her older sister Arkhan, Vekhta would prove to be a prodigious swordsman, with the two constantly sparring against one another throughout their childhood and into their adult lives.

Arkhan and Vekhta would eventually both be given the title Warmaster, given charge of the vast thinking machine legions and levy troop infantry of the Yuzari military.

Takemikazuchi-Yuzari War

The rise of the Takemikazuchi Empire after their victory in the Takemikazuchi-Tanari war did not go unnoticed by the Yuzari, who recognized Sefer as a growing threat to galactic stability. When a diplomatic solution could not be reached, a conflict between the two forces erupted which rapidly turned in favor of the Yuzari forces. The Takemikazuchi navy, still not quite recovered from the conflict against Allman, was decimated by the Yuzari navy which eventually pushed through to Shangri-La itself.

Arkhan and Vekhta lead the final push of the war themselves, entering the Takemikazuchi capital to personally demand the surrender of Sefer; when the latter refused, a duel ensued. Whilst the combined strength of Arkhan and Vekhta narrowly outclassed Sefer, they were ultimately defeated when Sefer had Lilith, who had been lying in wait, snipe Vekhta partway through the duel. Arkhan was killed, whilst Vekhta lost her right forearm as was knocked unconscious by the attacks.

In the aftermath of Arkhan and Vekhta's defeat, the Yuzari Culture was effectively annihilated by both an AI rebellion instigated in their thinking machines by Arc PLUTUS, as well as a conventional campaign of orbital nuclear bombardment.

The New Order

Sefer was interested in the potential advantage a loyal Yuzari would give her, and so had Vekhta's life spared, instead deciding to mentally recondition her. Vekhta was given a false composite memories, drawn from those Sefer had taken from John Shepard, a former apprentice of hers who had since defected. Vekhta was led to believe that she was Lena Ishikawa, a human from Liquid Metallicon, who had escaped slavery and had risen through the ranks of New Order military, eventually becoming an Arc. In this false version of events, Vekhta believed she had originally lost her forearm during a battle during the Takemikazuchi-Tanari war.

Vekhta fought in a number of crucial engagements throughout the rise of the New Order, including the subjugation of Vykon and the capture of Long Shortman, who had turned traitor. She also assisted Kakamu during the investigation of a psychic disturbance on the latter's homeworld of Nil'nara.

Vekhta was later earmarked to lead the invasion of Liquid Metallicon. When the pirate lords caught wind of the proposed invasion, they gathered at the Lucky Money club to discuss their options. They accepted a proposal put forth by a mysterious bounty hunter - who unbeknownst to them was actually John Shepard in disguise, and who was pursuing his own agenda - which would see Baze Ishikawa, a local syndicate leader, used as bait to draw her out into an unwinnable engagement.

Falling for the trap, Vekhta eventually wound up aboard Ishikawa's ship, the Cormorant, and was confronted by Drake, an assassin in the employ of Ciro Maddigan. It was here that Shepard revealed himself, using Baze Ishikawa's presence to break Vekhta's mental conditioning by revealing that her identity was a lie - and that her memories were actually Shepard's. In an extremely confused emotional state, Vekhta was no match for Drake, and it was only the intervention of Shepard that saved her from certain death; he disabled Drake using advanced Espiritu Santo martial arts techniques, then took Vekhta's unconscious body and fled.

Espiritu Santo

Shepard's plan to recruit Vekhta would eventually backfire on him.

Shepard took Vekhta to Vesa Qatoria, where Blackout performed an intense mental interrogation that stripped away many of the layers of false memories Sefer had implanted. Now aware of her real identity, Vekhta allied with Blackout and Espiritu Santo to strike a devastating blow against the New Order by destroying the Narayanstra superweapon and capturing Lilith Heyerdahl.

It was during this time that Shepard, who had hoped to curry favor with Blackout by presenting him with a powerful new apprentice, began to resent Vekhta who seemingly now occupied the spot in the Espiritu Santo hierarchy that Shepard once had. Vekhta, too, began to question her association with Espiritu Santo; whilst she was grateful to Blackout for undoing Sefer's mental conditioning, she found that the revenge Blackout had promised had brought her neither comfort nor answers.

Realizing that only justice, not revenge, would satisfy her vendetta against Sefer, Vekhta set off into the galaxy again to find the one individual she still felt anything resembling a genuine connection to; Kakamu, the Arc who she had fought alongside on Nil'nara and who, in her approximation, was likely in a situation very similar to the one she had been in.

Equipment

Former

• Blade of Avalon - during her time as Arc Vekhta, Vekhta was permitted to wield the Blade of Avalon, Sefer's personal weapon, capable of annihilating any material (or concept) its blade came into contact with. After her defeat at the hands of Drake, this weapon eventually found its way back to Sefer.
• Qui Zhen Dhu Relic Blade - Arkhan and Vekhta both wielded glowing orange relic blades, which were enough of a match for the Blade of Avalon that the two were able to duel Sefer in Shangri-La.

Abilities & Powers

• Antipsychic powers - Like all Yuzari, Vekhta possesses the ability to change the inherent nature of any psychic energy in her proximity, effectively turning those powers back on their users. She cannot generate any psychic energy of her own, however.
• Red Lightning - Vekhta possesses powerful lightning abilities which were able to inflict permanent, irreparable damage on Sefer Yeztirah's body. These powers generally manifest as a single, powerful bolt of lightning rather than a constant stream of energy as seen more commonly throughout the galaxy.

Trivia

• Like a lot of early BZPB: Resurgence concepts and characters, Vekhta draws inspiration from the Star Wars universe; in particular, Vekhta's current character arc resembles the story of Darth Revan as portrayed in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, albeit in an inverse fashion.