Matt-038 (Halo Fanfiction)

Chapter 12: Reassigned

Author's Note: If you have any tips writing tips, please feel free to comment.

Again, I gratefully accept constructive criticism as a means to help me develop my skills further as a writer.

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Chapter 12: Reassigned

Location: UNSC Point of No Return, Location Classified

November 29, 2531

0600 hours

Matt sat cross-legged with his eyes closed on the floor of His quarters. He had arrived on the UNSC Point of No Return a few weeks ago, but he was never told why he was here. He was practicing Zen as he usually did most of the time whenever he had spare time or if he wasn't on a mission. Suddenly, he saw something. He saw the same nightmare he'd been having since he was 6 years old. He snapped his eyes open, gasped and leaned back against the bunk behind him, breathing heavily. He had sweat dripping down his face.

"What the hell? Why do I keep seeing that same fucking nightmare over and over again?" he thought. He sat there for a few minutes before getting up and going to the refreshers a few meters down the corridor. Once there, he pushed the tap on the sink and water came out. He took his hands and cupped them together, put them under the water spray, then splashed water on his face. He stared back at his bleary-eyed and tired face for a few minutes as water droplets fell from his face. He then took a towel off of a nearby towel rack and dried his face off, shut the water off and returned to his sat on his bunk with his face between his legs. He sat there for what felt like hours until he heard a knock on the door.

"Come in," he said.

The door opened to reveal a balding man dressed in a UNSC Army uniform. The man wore the eagle insignia of a Colonel. His dark eyes were trained straight on Matt.

"Sir!" Matt stood and saluted.

"At ease, soldier," the Colonel said.

Matt frowned. He started to open his mouth to correct the Colonel's error, but he closed it and fell silent. Navel NCOs were never called "soldiers," but in Matt's experience, officers, Army or otherwise, never appreciated correction unless their lives were at stake.

The Colonel's continued stare started to make Matt feel uncomfortable and uneasy. For some unknown reason, this Army officer looked strangely familiar. The man standing in front of him looked like someone he had seen a very long time ago but he couldn't put his finger on who this officer reminded him of. Also, a few things more were contributing to the unease he felt. He was on a UNSC ship, but he didn't know why he was on the ship, and why was an Army Colonel interested in him?

"I am James Ackerson," the Colonel said. He then did a strange thing: he held out his hand, indicating that Matt should shake it.

This was a rare occurrence. Usually, no one wanted to touch a Spartan, let alone shake their hand.

Matt took Ackerson's hand and gently squeezed it.

Ackerson. Matt knew that name. There had been conversations between Dr. Halsey and Chief Mendez. Ackerson's name had come up a dozen times, and from their influence and body language, Matt had concluded that he was not their friend.

Matt was aware that everyone in the UNSC has the same basic goal: protecting humanity from all threats. Not everyone, however, agreed on how that mandate should be executed... which led to internal conflict. Matt understood this the way he understood basic precepts of a Shaw-Fujikawa translight engine. He grasped the underlying theoretical principles, but the nuances and the actual application of that knowledge remained a mystery to him.