Halo: The Search

Chapter 16

December 2nd, 2552
(Commander Huff)
Victor has been off the radar for awhile now. I hadn't lost hope at all, I just didn't understand how he'd disappeared like that.

After raiding one base we thought Victor was at, it was safe to assume there were more bases scattered around the planet that were Covenant. We ended up being correct, finding a good amount of fortified areas. We never attacked any but we had eyes in the sky on all the outposts that were found.

My crew scanned for signs of human life but never picked up anything, which was strange. Victor couldn't have gotten too far, so where was he?

"Sir we have an incoming transmission?" Garrett's confused voice called me over. I walked out of my quarters and into a room, riddled with all sorts of technology. In the middle was a hologram of planet Venezia, where Victor sat somewhere on this planet. A yellow dot pulsed on the planet, showing where the transmission was coming from.

"D-da...Dad?" The static was pretty terrible but I recognized the voice immediately. I picked up a transceiver, speaking back with a serious tone.

"Victor? Where are you right now, are you alright?"

Alice was discussing something with Garrett about the feed in the background and it took awhile for Victor to answer back. "I'm fi-n-ne. I'm not in any dang-e-er and I have a frien-d-d..." I sighed in relief and felt a tap on my shoulder.

I turned around to see Alice with a poker face. "There's video feed of Victor from whatever he's transmitting from. May we pull it up?" I nodded, not even knowing why she had to ask that.

Garret clicked a few buttons and from the pulsing yellow dot on the planet, a blue rectangular frame was brought up, bringing live video feed of Victor.

Victor was sitting on a tree stump, presumably staring at the camera. His clothes were tattered and dirty. He looked like a mess but he seemed healthy. That's when I saw a Sangeheili behind him.

"Victor, behind-"

"He's a frien-n-d, don't worry!"

I stopped mid-sentence, not quite understanding what I just heard. "That's the elite who had almost killed me that day we were trying to rescue him." Alice's statement made what Victor said even harder to wrap my head around. My jaw was agape as I tried to pull myself back together.

"Victor... I..."

"Look, you're not gonna understand any of this until I give you the full story, okay?" I sighed, rubbing my temples as I stared at the Sangheili, who cooly stood behind Victor like nothing was wrong.

"Look we'll clear this all up when I see you in person, okay? I'm sending someone down there to pick you up."

"I don't want to be picked up." My eyes widened and I just stared at Victor, who plainly stared at the camera.

"Victor, that's out of the question. What do you mean you don't want to be picked up?" I kept myself calm and collected but I felt myself losing hold of my sanity as I felt more and more lost in this conversation.

"As I said, I have a new friend..." he gestured behind him to the elite, who continued to just stand there.

"If I get picked u-up by you, you'll kill, lock up or abandon him, which I don't want. I-I was contacting you to tell you that I'm-m safe and that's all. L-Look, I miss you but... I can't come back, know-w-wing what will happen. It probably doesn't make any se-" 

"Victor stop... just stop." I took a deep breath and stared at the camera for an intense period of time.

"Look... you're right, none of this makes sense but all I know is that I want to see you in person. I don't understand a good amount of things going on right now but I know that I want to see you. Let me pick you and your friend up, okay? He won't be held in custody or well... anything bad. We just need to ask him some questions. Just please... come back." I was gripping the transceiver in my hand like an abused stress ball. My voice had become weak and I felt exhausted. I didn't even know what I had said for a few seconds but I didn't care. I just wanted to see Victor.

"...Okay. We'll be waiting here."  The feed turned off and I stared at the area where Victor had been for a few seconds until Alice tapped my shoulder.

"We have someone going down there to pick him up." I nodded and put the transceiver down, staring at Alice.

"Good... Well it seems we have a lot to catch up on." Despite all the off color things that were happening, I grinned, chortling.

I was going to see Victor.

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(Victor Huff) We had been picked up awhile ago. It took an hour or so and I had no idea where we were but it seemed like we had been traveling upwards forever.

"We are now preparing to board the UNSC Eclipse." I raised my eyebrows in surprise. I knew my dad was a commander but I didn't know he had a flipping frigate! I asked the pilot what type of frigate my dad owned and he claimed it to be a Charon-class light frigate.  I looked over at Vex, who was too big for the human chair he was sitting in. It was an array of chairs built into the wall, designed to hold troops who were about to deploy on missions. I felt the momentum of the Falcon change as we slowed down and landed on ground. I looked at Vex, who uncomfortably stared at the exit.

"You'll be fine. I'll make sure they understand." Vex glanced at me, nodding. His attention went back to the exit in anticipation of our arrival.

A door slowly opened and light poured into the cockpit. My eyes adjusted to the light and one by one, people started appearing. There was a bunch of marines pushing cargo around what looked like the housing space for many falcons and other vehicles I didn't know the names of.

Orange stood at the bottom of the ramp that descended for us and her were arms crossed, not saying a word.

Me and Vex both descended the ramp and I saw that my dad was standing behind Blue and Red with a grin on his face. I broke out into a sprint and he welcomed me with open arms, chuckling. Tears flowed from my eyes as I realized just how much I missed my father.

"I have so much to tell you..." He patted my back, savoring the moment.

"I'll be here to listen to all of it. Now let's get some things straight, alright?" He let go of the hug and I stared up at him, wiping the tears from my face.

"You're going to go get cleaned up and given a new set of clothes first. As for your friend..." He stared at Vex, who just stood there with a steel look plastered on his face, showing nothing.

"We just want to bring him in for some questioning. No bad stuff but we need to clear some things up." I nodded and glanced at Vex. He nodded to me, agreeing with the terms and I looked up at my father, awaiting further directions.

I felt a tap on my shoulder and saw Red standing behind me. "I'm leading you to where you'll be sleeping and showing you where you'll take a shower. My names Garrett." He held a hand out and we shared a firm handshake.

"Wait... you guys have names?"