Raid on Reach

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Raid on Reach
Conflict:	Human-Covenant War
Date:	September 23, 2552
Location:	Reach
Outcome:	UNSC victory Spartan-117 and the rest of the survivors from Halo rendezvous with Spartan survivors and Dr. Halsey. Cortana inflicts heavy casualties to the Covenant fleet around Reach. The Forerunner crystal is captured by the UNSC.
Details Belligerents United Nations Space Command Covenant Commanders Lieutenant Haverson Vice Admiral Whitcomb Master Chief John-117 Unknown Strength Ascendant Justice (later coupled with UNSC Gettysburg) One Spirit (piloted by Sheila Polaski) One Marine Sergeant Johnson One ODST Corporal Locklear Vice Admiral Danforth Whitcomb One ONI agent Lieutenant Haverson Dr. Halsey Nine SPARTAN-IIs John-117 Kelly-087 Frederic-104 William-043 Li-008 Grace-093 Anton-044 Isaac-039 Vinh-030 One AI Construct Cortana Over 20 capital ships 13 heavy cruisers 3 carriers 2+ light cruisers 217 scavenger craft Thousands of soldiers Sangheili Mgalekgolo Kig-yar Unggoy Shades Casualties Four SPARTAN-IIs Anton Li Isaac Vinh Spirit, including Sheila Polaski Heavy damage to the Ascendant Justice 5 ships directly from Ascendant Justice Several others from Slipspace anomaly Moderate amount of troops

The Raid on Reach was a series of skirmishes conducted by the UNSC survivors of the Battle of Installation 04 against the Covenant fleet in the area around the glassed Reach, trying to find a viable way to return to UNSC-controlled space. It turned into a rescue operation when they determined that Spartans were still alive and on Reach.

The battle was a testing ground for multiple improvements Cortana had made to Covenant technology and resulted in the destruction of over a dozen Covenant capital ships and many of their ground forces, at the cost of four SPARTANS and heavy damage to their captured ship.

Background

Fall of Reach

Unlike most of their operations, Covenant forces had chosen to only selectively bombard Reach rather than glass the planet. The reason for this was that they were particularly interested in Forerunner artifacts, particularly a Forerunner crystal that they called the "Holy Light" which was located under ONI's Castle Base. As a result, at least two (if not more) groups of survivors remained on the planet.

The Installation 04 survivors

Having captured the Covenant flagship Ascendant Justice, they were in a position where they could not return to Human controlled space due to Article 7 of the Cole Protocol. The article required that a captured Covenant vessel be thoroughly searched for any tracking devices that would alert the Covenant to a new human-controlled system before that vessel could enter a System that the Covenant weren't aware of.

The decision was made to set course for Reach for several reasons: Reach was a known system to the Covenant, so it would not be in violation of the Cole Protocol; there may be a functional warship after the Fall of Reach that they might be able to use to get to UNSC controlled space, and there was a chance of survivors being found.

During the Fall of Reach, 3 Spartans (Li-008, Grace, and Anton) joined up with Vice Admiral Danforth Whitcomb. After planting a NOVA bomb inside the Covenant ranks, they spent the next week performing guerrilla attacks upon occupational Covenant forces on Reach. However, they were stranded on the planet with no means of escape.

Underneath the ruins of CASTLE base, Dr. Halsey and 5 Spartans (Frederic-104, Kelly-087, William-043, Vinh-030, and Isaac-039) had spent 5 days combing the remains of a Forerunner complex and an additional 5 days trapped in a hallway inside the ruins by Covenant forces. They managed to retrieve the Forerunner crystal the Covenant were seeking, but it emitted a burst of radiation which alerted the Covenant to their presence. Vinh and Isaac fell at the hands of overwhelming Covenant forces, and the others escaped by blowing the hallway down behind them.

The Battle

Arrival at Reach

The Ascendant Justice arrived seven hundred thousand kilometers from Reach where its crew assessed the situation. They noticed several ships in orbit along with an orbital docking station and that the planet had mostly been glassed. However, a small spot that had not been destroyed perked the interest of both John-117 and Lieutenant Haverson, the former because it meant that there might be survivors from the Spartan team, the latter because of the Covenant's obvious interest in that spot.

When they arrived at Reach, they sent all the standard responses to indicate that they were still Covenant controlled. The Ascendant Justice was supposed to have a high ranking person on board so the Covenant did not question their authority to be there and thus, the charade succeeded. From here, they were able to determine that the enemy fleet consisted of 13 heavy cruisers, a pair of light cruisers and a trio of Ruma-pattern light carriers along with hundreds of smaller ships. They also spotted a pile of debris where all the leftover Covenant and UNSC ships that had fallen in the Fall of Reach were being kept. They also picked up a weak transmission for the Master Chief, which was the Oly Oly Oxen Free signal. From this, he knew that there were Spartans alive on the planet.

Rescue

John-117 convinced the team to go to the surface while Cortana continued to pilot the ship. Cortana determined a hole in the Covenant patrol pattern and used it to determine an extraction point.

Once the team left, Cortana started analyzing as much data as she could. However, she quickly realized that she wasn't running at optimal capacity and had spread herself too thin. Before she could rectify this problem, the Covenant AI took advantage of her distraction and stunned her before taking over the communications system and signaling the nearby fleet of the Ascendant Justice's capture. Cortana was able to recover in time to dismantle and assimilate the renegade AI, but not before the damage had already been done.