A Twist In the Wound

Vek Aiur'keev


Previous Affiliation: Fleet of Particular Justice / Artifact Retrieval (The "Heretics").

History: From son to father, and father to ancestor, Vek's lineage held some of the many who had fought and died on the very front lines of battle. Having no extensive hand or audience into Covenant politics or any significantly heavy weight in highly-ranked military positions, his ancestors had amounted to many feats of milestone discovery and technological advancement not within Covenant council chambers and hearings, but upon battlefields and missions of galactic conquest. Impossible victories in battle, discovery of lost technology of the Forerunner, and many other accomplishments not meant to be claimed in the name of mere battle pawns to a higher singularity. Such milestone achievements were to be the doing of a trusted, revered warrior of heroic decent and high stature; not by footwork, no-named Sangheili sent in to test the waters as lowly bait. It was understood by his ancestors, as it was by he. They were not to be of legend. They were not to be heroes. Their only glory, honor, and victory, was to die fighting in the name of the Covenant, or the "Gods".


Warriors whose names would never be remembered...


In the early days of the Human-Covenant war, Vek had trudged along the very bottom of the chain of command as a youthful, minor, and expendable asset of battle. He did not mind it, however. The rush of battle intrigued him, though he never did quite attain a true lust for blood as his comrades had even if only due to his barely ripened age. At times, he even commanded his own Lance of Unggoy, and took great pride in their success, even if ever so slight. Moreso than battle, however, it was the awe of the world he had sought. Forerunner worlds, to be more precise. The Forerunner, their artifacts, glyphs, structures, their "Mantle". It all brought wonder, horror, and grave confusion to his heart. It was most certainly not faith that kept him onward. Vek was not the first to inwardly question The Great Journey, but most certainly not the last.

Mission after mission, world beyond world, glyph beside glyph. None of it had brought him any closer to the answers he'd sought. After many years of service, and very little recognition of his many successes, Vek's place as a warrior in the battlefield was halted, and he was brought into an outfit of special operatives, if not for his inaccurately small track record, then his grave enthusiasm and drive toward the goal of his newly assigned position.

During the discovery of the first holy ring (Installation 04), Vek served within a team of Elites charged with the duty of Forerunner artifact retrieval. During their investigation of a Forerunner gas mining facility in the upper-atmosphere of the gaseous planet Threshold, the neighboring Alpha Halo was shattered and destroyed, leaving them fatefully surviving the dreaded doom that many of their Brothers had clearly fallen to. In the days following, the team eventually made their most important discovery of all. They had come upon 'The Oracle' (monitor of Alpha Halo, 343 Guilty Spark) amidst the wreckage of the destroyed installation, and were soon fed the unclouded truth of the real design of these 'holy rings': The destruction of all life.

Their beliefs crumpled and burned away, the Great Journey no longer lingering a glimmer in their eyes, they threw their loyalties to the Covenant into the vacuum of space and did not look back. Ancient oaths of blood and fealty that had for ages been handed down had suddenly vanished in a single moment of undeniable truth. Anger raged amongst the most of them. Vek, as well as the others, unclad the brand of the Covenant, and donned the armor of their newly reformed coalition, all led by one Sangheili commander, Sesa 'Refumee; leader of the Elites branded as "Heretics".

Vek's experiences during and after the silencing of the Heretics by the "Blade of the Prophets" is currently unknown, though his survival is proof of at least one remaining Heretic soldier. Following the Great Schism, it is unclear whether Vek took up arms against the Covenant alongside the Separatists. Now, however, the only vow of loyalty Vek still carries is a bond shared amongst his three older Sangheili Brothers; the first, and the last thing he would ever truly fight for. Even die for.

And the one thing to dare leave his name in Legend.