Halo: T.O.Z.O.A. Ch. 1

Chapter 8

After Tozoa stepped out of the pod, the landscape shocked him; it was like he'd been here before. They had just taken down three large thugs though without the armed UNSC marines surrounding him. "T-T-Tozoa," Carter said with a stutter. "We have authorization to escort you to the UNSC Scientific research and training base." Tozoa looked at Carter, he had a moment of Deja Vu Carter was a tall man, roughly 6' 10", though Tozoa still towered over all of them, Carter was missing his left arm and leg, both replaced with mechanical prosthetics, "You see this man." The female voice was back. "You've seen him before, when you were human" Tozoa's mind clicked, this was the officer who had showed up at his arcade! Tozoa felt a surge of anger, he held it back, but couldn't help him clinching his fist, he hopped it went unnoticed. Tozoa rasped coldly. "Take us, now."

Dan, Pace and Tozoa were all waiting in a small room. Carter had ordered several Marines to make sure they stay there until he arrived from his other duties. Dan looked at both Tozoa and Pace. Pace seemed to be losing his patience (as he was, also) and Tozoa had a very angry air about him. Dan decided not to say anything, and General Carter arrived through the doors after a few more minutes of waiting.

"Sorry to keep you, gentlemen. I had a lot of business that I really needed to get done," Carter announced; seeming to have gotten over his shock from before.

"Don't mention it," Tozoa growled.

Carter ignored him and turned towards Pace.

"Hmmm, you look like a tough guy. Where did you serve?" Carter asked.

"New Mombasa," Pace replied.

"A down-to-earth guy, eh?" Carter said with a smile. One of the marines pretended to chuckle. Then Carter went over to Dan.

"Your armor is dented, must've been in a fight, I suppose."

"I was taken down by a brute and held hostage on one of their ships," Dan replied. "I served on the Bounty of Loyalty before the Covenant captured me and destroyed my ship."

"A good ship, she was," Carter replied. "I'm sorry about that. And you," he said, turning around toward Tozoa. "I don't need to ask you anything."

"Are you sure you don't want a welcome hug?" Tozoa sneered.

"Look, I need to be going, soon. A war's not an easy thing to deal with. Marines take them to their rooms for the night and I'll talk to them tomorrow. Whatever you do, DO NOT LET THEM ESCAPE. Understand?" Carter asked.

"Sir, yes, sir!" the Marines replied in unison.

Tozoa stood in his room, his armor sat on the floor next to him, he was still wearing the cabin uniform from the Main, and he noted through the camera in the back of his long curved neck, that a marine was staring at him through the slit in the door, Tozoa didn't mind, "So, do you remember him?" The voice was back, and more sincere. "Yes." Tozoa said coldly. "Well, that's a good thing; I wanted to welcome you home... Roy." The voice said. "So," Tozoa said as he picked up his helmet, the marine jumped outside the door, "I'd like to ask you some questions..." "Shoot" She said with a slight sense of humor "Who are you, really?" Tozoa asked. "Like I said," her voice was still sincere. "I am your memory; I am... specifically... the memory of your life, before Tozoa..." "Why are you a female voice?" he asked. "It was your wife's... I chose it when I fragmented from your main AI; it was the most prominent memory." She answered. "So... it's true then..?" He said with a sigh. "Yes." she answered coldly. Tozoa stood up, a fire in his eye. He was tricked from the start, he was used by the UNSC, they implanted something into him when he was human, and something that caused his heart to stop. "I was used." Tozoa coughed with a rasp. "They'll pay... They'll ALL pay." Dan was sitting in his bed clicking the stopwatch on his mission clock repeatedly. He usually got to sleep pretty quickly, but tonight he had a lot on his mind. Many questions filled his head.

"What do they want with us? Why are the guys from OUR side virtually holding us hostage? How do Carter and Tozoa know each other? Who can I trust right now?"

The last question stuck to Dan's mind like a needier spike.

"In this time of war, who can you honestly trust besides yourself? Come to think of it, can you even trust yourself?"

Dan shook his head. He needed some sleep, so he lay on his bed and closed his eyes. As he slowly lost consciousness, he wondered;

"Can I even trust the morning to come?"