Editing Defiant to the End

{{Status|RealWorld}}
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'''Defiant to the End''' is a short [[Halo universe|''Halo'' universe]] documentary uploaded to [[Halo Waypoint]] in [[2011]].{{Ref/Site|Id=Blog|URL=http://halo.xbox.com/en-us/intel/featured/video/defiant-to-the-end/f2595044-7e26-4928-a24b-8e1a2db3ce45|Site=Halo Waypoint|Page=Defiant to the End|D=21|M=03|Y=2011}} The short is predominantly focused on the release of the [[Defiant Map Pack]] for ''[[Halo: Reach]]'', and a look at the in-universe settings for the maps in the pack - based on the novels ''[[Halo: The Fall of Reach]]'' and ''[[Halo: First Strike]]''. To help cement the maps' settings within the context of the novels, the video predominantly uses footage of ''[[Halo: Reach]]'' multiplayer, with green [[MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor/Mark V|Mark V]]-clad Spartans running around the maps to represent [[Blue Team]] and [[Red Team]].

==Text transcript==
The following is a transcript of the original blog posted to [[Halo Waypoint]] to serve as context for the video.{{Ref/Reuse|Blog}}
{{Article quote|The story behind the Defiant maps: Condemned, Unearthed, and Highlands}}

Each of the Defiant maps is based on a location in the Halo universe, on and around the planet [[Reach]].

[[Condemned]] takes place aboard [[Gamma Station|Orbital Station Gamma]], a massive [[space station]] high in orbit above the planet Reach. Prior to the [[Covenant]]'s overwhelming [[Fall of Reach|invasion]], Orbital Station Gamma provided long range communications for UNSC fleets and a vital lifeline between Reach and [[Earth]]. During the Battle of Reach, the station suffered terrible punishment at the hands of the Covenant but a few fortified sections remain intact, fully pressurized, and ready for combat.

[[Highlands]] takes place on the top-secret [[Military Wilderness Training Preserve]] on Reach. The Preserve is a large, wooded area where Spartan super-soldiers [[SPARTAN-II training|trained]] long before the war with the Covenant began. During the Battle of Reach, the Preserve was the site of key battles between the alien invaders and a group of Spartans who used their familiarity with these UNSC training grounds to significant tactical advantage…but not everyone who enters these woods makes it out alive. Highlands expands the fight with massive-scale engagements for 8 – 16 players in [[Big Team Battle]], Team [[Slayer]] and Team Objective.

[[Unearthed]] takes the battle for Reach to a [[Unidentified BXR titanium mine|large Titanium mine]] and refinery located in the [[Viery Territory|Viery civilian sector]] of the planet. This particular mine was built to take advantage of the exposed [[titanium]] inside a massive meteor crater. The titanium produced here is used in much of the UNSC hardware, from the chassis of the [[Warthog]] to the meters-thick [[Titanium-A armor|armor plating]] of [[capital ship]]s like the [[UNSC Pillar of Autumn]]. While this facility was quickly abandoned when the Covenant arrived on Reach, it still has significant tactical (and economic) value and it won’t be long before both humans and Covenant return to battle for control.

==Video transcript==
As the finality of [[2552#August|August 30th, 2552]], became clear to the [[United Nations Space Command|UNSC]], the [[Covenant]] continued to bombard [[Reach]] - obliterating whatever was left of the planet's population without hesitation or mercy. This ritualistic and genocidal effort, however, would not go unchallenged. At key sites on and around Reach, a brave few would stand against the Covenant's barbarity; fortifying their defences and calling upon whatever reserves of courage they had left. 
:''[Stock footage shows of the map [[Condemned]]]''
High above the planet's surface, the orbital known as [[Gamma Station|Reach Gamma Station]] bore witness to one of [[Space engagements over Reach|these battles]]. During the Covenant's final push for military supremacy, the enemy ruthlessly targeted this station. The aliens were intent on finding humanity's homeworld and to this end, had discovered that an [[Office of Naval Intelligence|ONI]] [[prowler]], the {{UNSCShip|Circumference}}, had failed to delete its [[Navigation computer|navigation database]] - placing the information it carried at risk of capture. The Master Chief, [[John-117]], lead Spartans [[Linda-058]] and [[James-005]] onto the station to safely secure the NAV data and temporarily stave off the Covenant's relentless forces. Though they were successful, both James and Linda were casualties in this mission and Gamma Station would eventually be torn apart by the Covenant, with only debris left in their brutal wake.
:''[Stock footage shows of the map [[Highlands]]]''
Intent on defending Reach's [[orbital defense generator]]s, twenty-two [[Red Team|other Spartans]] would fearlessly leap out of a doomed [[D77 Pelican|Pelican]], hard dropping into the alpine mountains of the [[Viery Territory]] at the heart of the [[Military Wilderness Training Preserve]]. The Spartans to the fight to the Covenant, making their way to the generators which powered the planet's [[Erőd-class orbital weapon platform|orbital MAC guns]] in an effort to support the UNSC fleets overhead. The outlying forests and a nearby training complex would become the battleground for this fight, the Spartans using their familiarity with the territory to deal with the Covenant's encoruaching threat. The handful of soldiers to survive this encounter found their way to the base of [[Menachite Mountain]], home to the top-secret [[CASTLE Base|CASTLE facility]] and a decades-old [[titanium]] mine, just as the Covenant focused their forces in this specific area.
:''[Stock footage shows of the map [[Unearthed]]]''
Elsewhere in the area was another titanium mine, and yet another site in the struggle for the planet's survival. Mining the titanium reserves since the early years of Reach's colonisation, [[BXR Mining Corporation|BXR industries]] had set up facilities throughout the enormous ridges and canyons which lined the planet's supercontinent. Although the aliens' interest in this site may never be fully known, the UNSC would defend it to the end, putting some of their best soldiers on the front lines only to find defeat eventually. The Covenant would overrun the mining facility, wiping out what was left of the human resistance both here and elsewhere across Reach.

And as the planet was burnt to cinder and ash, the UNSC's remaining forces would amass near [[Earth]], fortifying the last stronghold that humanity had in its posession. But this battle would be a reminder of the courage, bravery, and defiance of the men and women of the UNSC who fought and died not only on the planet Reach but for the hope of their species' survival - and this same hope would serve as a bastion of inspiration for those who [[Battle for Earth|would fight]] on Earth, defying the Covenant one last time and bringing an end to the war.

==See also==
*[[Archive:Halo Waypoint/2009 to 2014/Universe/Events]]

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20110321202843/http://halo.xbox.com:80/en-us/intel/featured/video/defiant-to-the-end/f2595044-7e26-4928-a24b-8e1a2db3ce45 ''Halo Waypoint'' - Defiant to the End]
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jh7Q3fjIIwc ''YouTube'' - Defiant to the End]

==Sources==
{{Ref/Sources}}
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[[Category:Halo Waypoint universe documentaries]]