Long Night of Solace (Halo: Reach level)

This article is about the campaign level. For other uses, see Long Night of Solace (disambiguation).

Prev:	Tip of the Spear
Next:	Exodus
Long Night of Solace
Game:	Halo: Reach
File name (?):	m45
Player:	Noble Six
Date:	August 14, 2552
Location:	On the surface of and in orbit over Reach Sabre launch facility Anchor 9 Onboard the Ardent Prayer
Objective(s):	Push forward to the Sabre launch facility, gain control of a Sabre, and initiate Operation: UPPER CUT
Par Time:	00:25:00 (Master Chief Collection)
Par Score:	45,000 (Master Chief Collection) 20,000 (Halo: Reach)
	Halopedia has a walkthrough guide for this level; see Reach:Long Night of Solace/Walkthrough.

“

Move up the beach and secure the launch facility. Take the battle to the Covenant Super Carrier.

”

Long Night of Solace is the sixth campaign level in Halo: Reach. This was the first level in the Halo series to feature playable ship-to-ship combat in space.

Summary

The level opens a day after the events of Tip of the Spear, with NOBLE Team making their way into a cave at Ütközet. While the UNSC appears to be helpless against the newly emerged Covenant supercarrier Long Night of Solace, Catherine-B320 comes up with a plan to destroy the ship by using a slipspace drive as a makeshift bomb. Requiring considerable support from UNSC fleet assets in the area to safely deliver the bomb to within range of the supercarrier in addition to a military-grade slipspace drive (a very expensive piece of equipment in itself), the rest of the team is skeptical of the plan, but Colonel Holland approves it. NOBLE Team travels to a Sabre launch facility, currently under attack by the Covenant. Once they fight their way inside, Noble Six and Jorge-052 enter a Sabre that is immediately launched into the planet orbit, along with several other Sabres.

In orbit, they join the other UNSC forces in defending the refit station Anchor 9 until its defenses come back online. Meanwhile, the Slipspace drive of the frigate UNSC Savannah is removed in order to be used in the mission, codenamed Operation: UPPER CUT. After the Sabres successfully defend the station from waves of Covenant fighter craft, Jorge is dropped off at Anchor 9, just in time to witness the Covenant glass large areas of the planet below.

Jorge then boards a Pelican transporting the slipspace drive, joining Six, the rest of the Sabres and the Savannah as they move to Covenant-occupied space over Reach to execute the mission. The plan is to board a Covenant Ceudar-pattern heavy corvette, place it on an automated refueling course with the supercarrier, and then activate the slipspace drive inside the corvette's hangar in close proximity of the supercarrier, effectively tearing most of the ship apart. Upon locating the Covenant corvette Ardent Prayer, the Savannah and the Sabres begin their assault on the ship.

After disabling its engines and eliminating its fighter escort, Six and the Sabre crews board Ardent Prayer, disable its communications and make their way into the hangar, allowing the Pelican carrying Jorge and the Slipspace drive into the ship. Six and the Sabre crews then make their way to the bridge of the Ardent Prayer and, after eliminating the command crew, initiate the corvette's refueling run with the Long Night of Solace. Upon returning from the bridge, Six finds Jorge engaged against Covenant forces in the hangar. The Covenant are neutralized, but Jorge soon realizes that the Pelican was damaged in the fighting, leaving it unable to escape the ship. The Slipspace drive is also damaged, and has to be activated manually. Jorge decides to stay behind and activate the drive, sacrificing his own life but saving Noble Six by throwing them out of the corvette and down onto Reach, just before the corvette reaches its destination and the Slipspace drive is activated. The activation generates a Slipspace rupture that engulfs Jorge, the corvette, and the central section of the supercarrier and transports them into oblivion. For a very brief period of time, it is believed that the Covenant naval attack force at Reach was entirely neutralized by Jorge's sacrifice, but a massive Covenant fleet arrives in orbit over Reach just moments later.

Transcript

{Cutscene}

Szurdok Ridge, Ütközet

August 13, 2552 20:07 Hours

Screen fades into a dust cloud as a Scarab walks by. After passing offscreen, it can be heard firing its main cannon.

• Auntie Dot (COM): "Our foe is more devious than we imagined. That spire was indeed a teleporter linked to a cloaked, Covenant supercarrier... A grave threat."

Noble Three, Five and Six arrive at a cave, Jorge carrying a large briefcase. Jun holsters his DMR as he finish securing their six. Noble One sits on the side of cave's opening while Two is standing in front of him.

• Auntie Dot (COM): "Thankfully, help is imminent. Sixty percent of the UNSC fleet is en route to Reach from existing deployments. The first battle group should arrive within forty-eight hours."

Jorge tosses the briefcase at Emile's feet. Emile, sitting on the ground, looks up.

• Warrant Officer Jun-A266: "Forty-eight hours? (removes his helmet) That's imminent?"

Jun brushes off Jorge's shoulder pauldron, which has been charred by a plasma hit.

• Jun-A266: "Uh-oh. Who's your money on this time?"

• Chief Warrant Officer Jorge-052: "Her."

Jorge takes off his helmet.

• Jun-A266: "You always pick her."

• Jorge-052: "She's always had him dialed in."

Kat proposes a plan to take down the Covenant supercarrier.

The two look at Carter and Kat.

• Lieutenant Commander Catherine-B320: "That thing's crushing us, and we're waiting for backup? They'll be backing up a graveyard."

• Commander Carter-A259: "All our nukes are either out-system or went down with the ships that carried them. You're preaching to the converted."

• Kat-B320: "How converted?"

• Carter-A259: "I know that look, Kat."

• Kat-B320: "You can say no."

• Carter-A259: "No."

• Kat-B320: "You don't even want to hear it?"

• Carter-A259: "Fine. I'll hear it."

• Kat-B320: "Remember that accident a couple years back? Colony ship en route to Cygnus. Seven hundred dead?"

• Carter-A259: "Vaguely. A slipspace drive malfunction, right?"

• Kat-B320: "Actually, it worked fine. The drive was mounted improperly after a service haul-out. When it fired, it...teleported half the ship to oblivion."

• Carter-A259: "And this is relevant...how?"

• Kat-B320: "A certain Covenant supercarrier could, with some assistance, suffer the same unfortunate accident..."

• Carter-A259: "Even for you, Kat, that's-"

• Kat-B320: "Inspired?"

• Carter-A259: "Not the word I would use."

Jorge and Emile walk up to them.

• Jorge-052: "What's going on?"

• Carter-A259: "Go ahead. Explain."

Kat reaches for Emile's kukri, but he grabs her hand to prevent her from taking it. Kat is unfazed.

• Kat-B320: "May I?"

Emile allows her to take it.

• Warrant Officer Emile-A239: "Don't cut yourself."

The rest of NOBLE Team listens to Kat explaining her plan.

Kat begins scratching a rough diagram into the dirt floor.

• Kat-B320: "Objective? Destroy Covenant Carrier in geosynchronous orbit above us."

• Jorge-052: "This sanctioned, sir?"

• Carter-A259: "What do you think?"

• Jorge-052: "Oh."

• Kat-B320: "Method? A slipspace drive in lieu of the nukes we don't have. Delivery system? Us. Solvable? Getting us up there. That, and getting our hands on a slip-space drive."

Kat gives Emile back his kukri.

• Kat-B320: "Thank you for sharing."

• Carter-A259: "So... All we need is orbit-capable transport, and the single most expensive piece of equipment made by man?"

• Kat-B320: "As a soldier in the field I couldn't possibly have access to those kinds of re