Socus awoke in darkness once more, unfortunately this time was much colder. He could feel the bindings holding him down, and, to make matters worse, his prosthetics had been taken from him! He tried to charge his biotics as much as he could in an attempt to free himself, but it was painfully evident that he couldn't break free.
It wasn't overly long before he was almost blinded by the lights in this small room coming on, and the sound of the door opening drew his attention.
"So this is the one who has been so disruptive to our work..." came an almost feminine kett voice. "You were foolish to remain in one location for such an extended period of time. Now you have given us the opportunity to examine the effects of your "biotics" within a member of the Turian species. Not a particularly vast group to examine I might add."
"All this for some pathetic excuse for a biology lesson?" Socus asked. "You idiots haven't even gotten that much from our stolen records?" he snapped before feeling a significant jolt of electricity run through him, causing him to yell in pain.
"A biology lesson this is not." the Kett Ascendant said with a sickening grin. "We shall learn everything we can about your primitive species, then attempt to gift you with exaltation."
"That pathetic excuse for reproduction you force on the Angara?"
"It is a holy procedure that you shall be most grateful to receive, assuming you survive that is..."
...
...
...
-.Weeks Later.-
"Pathfinder, we're receiving information that the Kett may be readying a show of force." Tiran Kandros relayed to Scott over coms. "Be ready; you may be seeing a great deal more out there."
"Thanks Kandros." Scott replied, getting a nod from the Turian who then ended the call. "Uhhh... these guys just won't give up..." he groaned before leaving his quarters. He walked into the cargo bay to check the nomad over before they landed on Kadara, and noticed something odd... the doors had been opened recently, and repairs on it had yet to be finished. He opened the door to see if anyone was inside, and sure enough, he saw a form in the back seat and could hear sniffling. "Vetra?" he asked. "Are you alright?"
"Go away..." came the muffled reply.
"If you don't want to talk to me, maybe you'll prefer talking to Lexi?" he said, waiting for a response.
"I've lost him again..." she managed to get out with a few sobs.
"What? What happened?"
"The Krogan are giving up the search. They can't find a sign of him anywhere on Elaaden. The Kett must've got him... And now I'll never get to see him again." she said before breaking down again.
"We'll find him, Vetra. Even if we have to fight every kett out there, we'll find him."
"Uh, Pathfinder?" Kallo said over coms. "We have an incoming transmission, and you aren't going to believe where it's coming from..."
...
Scott, Drack, Cora, and Vetra (with obvious oxidation on her facial plates) stood on the bridge when Kallo activated the transmission. On the main viewscreen was the Kett Primus with a sickening grin on her face.
"We meet again, Pathfinder." the Primus said in greeting.
"So we do... Contacting us directly is a bit atypical of you."
"Indeed, though I believe it was necessary for what I must inform you of."
"And what would that be?" Scott asked.
"Only this latest development..." she said as she stepped aside, causing several members of Scott's crew to gasp, and a single one to exclaim in sadness; "Oh, Soc..."
...
...
...
The berserker was led into a room flanked by several anointed. He was one of a kind, if still imperfect. He still had non-Kett body parts, which he was informed would disappear when the blessed exaltation was perfected for him. Worse was the visions... Memories he could not fully remember, but he was told such things would pass with time. He strode forward to where he was told to stand, and stood as tall as he could, though several of his limbs had yet to feel fully his.
He waited for several minutes before he was gifted by the sight of the Primus walking into the room, to whom he bowed respectfully, as did every other Kett in the room. "Arise my glorious creation." She said to him. "You have been brought here to be used in a most glorious way to aid our occupation of the Helius Cluster. You're very presence shall spread the holy word of our occupation to the highest echelons of our enemies, and bring a swift end to this unnecessary conflict." she finished before turning to a console.
The Berserker waited patiently as the Primus began contacting the enemy, and after a while, the image of the enemy "Pathfinder" appeared. Behind him stood other figures, one of which was almost familiar. As the Primus stepped aside, the Berserker got a better look at the familiar figure, and heard her voice over the call as clearly as the first time he heard it centuries prior.
"Oh, Soc..."
With that voice came a flood of memories, years of them, all chock full of her. Rage built up within him as winked at her image, and let loose a biotic pulse knocking over most of the Anointed AND the Primus herself. Socus extended his new claws and began tearing apart every kett nearby as he let out nearly primordial screeches from his partially malformed vocal cords. Within moments, the entire complement of Anointed were laying in pieces on the floor, when he looked to where the Primus was knocked to, only to see she had escaped in the confusion. He let out more screeches of rage and began tearing through the rest of the dreadnought for victims for his pleasure...
...
"Sam, can we get the location from this?" Scott asked the AI in his head.
"I have been working on that since the communication began, Pathfinder. I have successfully determined the location of the dreadnought this transmission is coming from."
"Scott, we have to save him!" Vetra cried out.
"And we're going to do it!" Scott declared as he turned to Kallo. "Set a course for the dreadnought, Kallo, as fast as possible!"
"Already on it, Pathfinder!" the amphibian pilot exclaimed as the ship began moving through space at a rapid pace.
...
...
...
The Kett were frightened. They kept finding room after room with their brethren's head's hanging from the ceiling by the ends of their spines. This had been going on for two days now... The Primus had left the ship with a large complement of troops via the shuttles, but that still left a good many on board with a monster that was decimating them. They were jumping at every sound so far, assuming their deaths were around every single corner.
...
Socus was watching the last remaining group of Kett jumping at every shadow in the barely lit hallway. He had disabled most systems within the ship in his rampage, leaving just a splattering of lights active to help unnerve the Kett he killed. He almost should thank the Primus for gifting him back his missing parts, even if it cost him weeks of torture, and genetic mutation...
He approached the group stealthily and began picking them off one by one. Slicing throats with his claws to keep them from screaming and revealing his presence until he was on the last one. He waited until it was about to step into the light before pulling it back into the darkness as it screamed and killed it too.
Now with his current task completed, he was unsure of what to do. He was untrained to pilot a kett dropship, much less this dreadnought, but he knew he had to find his Vetra. Though he was unsure how to at the moment... He contemplated this puzzle for some time before being alerted to the sounds of footsteps in the halls, as well as lights shining through the mostly dark hallways. He waited in the shadows, unsure if he missed some Kett on board, or if the ship had been boarded by more. He was quite patient as the lights drew closer until he finally saw who came into his halls...
...
"This place is a mess." Scott said as he stepped over bodies and under hanging heads.
"It's been centuries since I seen a massacre like this..." Drack grumbled as he almost tripped for the fourth time.
"Most of these are fairly fresh, that could mean he's close!" Vetra said as she walked around a corner. As she turned, the lights from her armor shined on a form hunched over in what was just a shadow covered portion of the hallway, and saw it start moving towards her at a rapid pace. Before she knew what was happening, she was laying on her back with the form wrapped around her as he pulled her into a hug. "Soc... Is that really you?" she asked as the partial Kett hybrid nuzzled her slightly larger form. She broke down into tears as she held him close to her and whispered how much she loved him, missed him, and all the sweet nothings she wanted to say to him over the weeks he was gone.