Vekktral

Vekktral is a Dire Wraith from the IDW portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.

Unsatisfied with simply relying on the ancient magics of the Dire Wraiths, Vekktral is something of a maverick who dares to buck the trends of his race. Indeed, he sees himself as something of a scientist—endlessly pushing the evolutionary boundaries of his own species in the search to ensure a victory over the hated Solstar Order. Science and magic make for an uneasy combination, however, and Vekktral exemplifies this: untrustworthy, capricious, cruel, and endlessly willing to sacrifice the lives of his allies to further the outcomes of his twisted "experiments," his unique brand of madness manages to repulse even the most hardened of Decepticons.

Fiction

2005 IDW continuity

Following the destruction of their homeworld at the hands of the Space Knights, pockets of Dire Wraith survivors spread to remote, lightly populated worlds to regroup and rebuild their forces. Vekktral was one such Wraith, who, some two hundred years ago, wound up on the backwater planet of Mato Grosso. He and several other Wraiths attacked a group of Solstar students on their graduation field trip and found that one of their number was an an unusual creature that his instincts told him was both a machine and a child. Shining Armor #1 Intrigued, he attempted to merge with it, Shining Armor #2 but was shot by Nikomi and fled. Shining Armor #1

Five years later, Vekktral had deduced that the creature was Cybertronian in origin. He and a group of Dire Wraiths travelled to the Huni System, which had recently fallen to Decepticons, to met with Starscream and propose a mutual alliance. The Seeker was initially unimpressed by the aliens, but changed his tune when Vekktral revealed the existence of Stardrive; realizing that the order had concocted a means to keep their orphaned Transformer nourished, Starscream agreed to the alliance. Shining Armor #2

The Wraiths and Decepticons caught up with and destroyed a Galactic Council envoy due to meet with the Solstar Order at the space station Orchid Crossing; subsequently, the Wraiths disguised themselves as the Council dignitaries and used Astrotrain as a Trojan horse to gain access to the station by disguising him as a Council shuttle. Shining Armor #2

Arriving at the space station, Vekktral (in the guise of the Council representative) exchanged in some false pleasantries with the Solstar ambassador before dropping his disguise and slaying him, giving the order for the rest of the Decepticons to storm the facility. To Stardrive's horror, she recognized Vekktral as the Wraith who had almost killed her on Mato Grosso. Vekktral then pointed out the promised Cybertronian to Starscream (who could tell for himself which one was Cybertronian). Shining Armor #1

When a trio of Autobots arrived on the station to stop the Decepticons, they ignored the Wraiths entirely in favour of the Decepticons and Space Knights. Vekktral took advantage of the Autobots' unfamiliarity with his species and ordered one of his minions to assimilate Sky Blast; no Wraith had ever merged with a Cybertronian before, and as a result the subsequent fusion quickly mutated out of control to become an uncontrollable monster that tore Doomwings in half. The Wraith leader gleefully watched as his creation ran amok, ignoring Starscream's orders to try and rein in the rampaging beast. Hoping to kill the abomination, Ultra Magnus sabotaged the ravaged space station to send it tumbling into the atmosphere; the Wraiths fled aboard Astrotrain, but not before Vekktral complimented Starscream's aim as the Seeker sniped the Autobot shuttle. As the Decepticons entered the atmosphere of Xetaxxis, he noticed that the hybrid had survived reentry and that they would have to deal with him first. Shining Armor #2

The Decepticons tracked Sky Blast to a nearby Xetaxxian village, where the dying creature rampaged through the settlement before its energies reached critical mass and caused it to burn away to nothing. Eager to recreate the experiment, Vekktral was put out when he learned that the natives were organic and that Starscream was unwilling to sacrifice the lives of his troops to further the cause. Instead, Vekktral was partnered with Astrotrain to spring a trap for the ground-bound Autobots, preying on Bumblebee's sympathy for the natives. When the Autobots and Sata stumbled into said trap, Vekktral rode atop Astrotrain as he ordered his troops to seize the Transformers—and bested Sata in a brief fight—before Ultra Magnus fired a salvo of missiles at him. As Bumblebee and Sata made a break for the wreckage, Vekktral and his forces stayed behind to take down Ultra Magnus. Shining Armor #3 The stalwart Autobot slaughtered his way through a hundred Dire Wraiths before he was overwhelmed; using the knowledge he had gleaned from the demise of Sky Blast, Vekktral was able to fuse with Ultra Magnus to create a powerful yet stable form for himself. He and his Wraiths regrouped with the Decepticons at the wreckage of Orchid Crossing... and immediately backstabbed his one-time allies, hoping to advance the evolution of his kind by conquering and enslaving the Cybertronians. Shining Armor #4

Using his new Cybertronian strength and power, the Wraith-Magnus was easily able to hold off Space Knights, Autobots, and Decepticons alike, shrugging off the struggles of Ultra Magnus inside their shared mind... but in his arrogance, Vekktral had overlooked one crucial detail: Ultra Magnus was not an ordinary Cybertronian, but a tiny "loadbearing" Autobot named Convoy inside a suit of armor. Convoy was able to force open his body's chest compartment, giving Rom the opening needed to fire his Neutralizer at a weak spot and kill Magnus. Meanwhile, Starscream had opted to sabotage the energon synthesizer and escape; Vekktral, down but not out, grabbed on to Stardrive and made one last-ditch effort to ensure that she died with the Wraiths as the synthesizer overloaded and incinerated half the planet. Stardrive was ultimately able to scrape him off her wing as she escaped the planet, and Vekktral was consumed in the subsequent explosion. However, unbeknownst to Stardrive, a small part of him continued to live on as a lingering Wraith infection that tainted her living metal.

Vekktral's demise was later observed and analyzed by a hive of Wraiths, who reached the conclusion that the Dire Wraiths should continue to eschew technology in all forms and continue to rely on their magic. Shining Armor #5