Timeline of the Fall of Reach
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This is a timeline of the events slightly before, during, and slightly after the Fall of Reach. Officially, the Fall of Reach took place between July 25 and August 30, 2552.[1] Though notable skirmishes and engagements took place before and after this timeframe. Concurrently with these events, the Battle for Tribute as well as skirmishes for Site 17 in the Oort cloud of the Epsilon Eridani system were taking place.
July 2552[edit]
July 23[edit]
- Fireteam 3 Charlie, along with other special warfare fireteams under command of Colonel Holland, are sent to investigate Visegrad after contact with the comms relay is lost.[2]
July 24[edit]
- 0728 Hours: Noble Team is ordered to investigate a possible Insurrectionist activity at the disabled Visegrád Relay. Shortly after, the team learns that the Covenant are responsible for the attack on the relay. After retaking the relay, Noble Team discovers a data module on one of the dead staff. WINTER CONTINGENCY is declared.[2]
July 26[edit]
- 1128 hours: A Covenant corvette attacks ONI SWORD Base. Noble Team is deployed to secure the base and surrounding outposts. After the corvette is destroyed by orbital bombardment, Noble Team meets up with Dr. Catherine Halsey and hands over the data module retrieved from Visegrád Relay.[3]
July 27[edit]
- Commander Ádám Virág receives a memorandum concerning the shipment of H-165 target locators sent to SWORD Base.[4]
August 2552[edit]
August 1[edit]
- Half of Battle Group Leviathan, including its flagship UNSC Leviathan, arrives in the Epsilon Eridani system under command of Vice Admiral Michael Stanforth; the other half of the battlegroup remains at Sigma Octanus to defend it further. Stanforth files a report to Margaret Parangosky noting his arrival and expressing his concerns about Parangosky's plan to use Reach as bait for Operation: RED FLAG.[5] Between this date and August 14, Battle Group Leviathan engages the Fleet of Valiant Prudence across the Epsilon Eridani system, focusing on a series of engagements in the system's Oort cloud for control of Site 17.[6]
August 5[edit]
- Part of Cortana is copied in order to continue her mission with Blue Team, as well as translate Forerunner data.[7]
August 11[edit]
- 2630 hours Two members of Noble Team, Noble Six and Noble Three, investigate a Covenant-held "dark zone" in the Viery Territory, which UNSC instruments are unable to penetrate. The pair pushes into the zone, encountering moderate Covenant resistance, and locates a Covenant stealth pylon. After rigging the pylon with explosives, Six and Three push further into the zone and discover that the Covenant have covertly established a large landing zone, with at least three Corvettes and many ground assets.[8]
August 12[edit]
- 0800 hours: UNSC forces begin a full-scale assault on the Viery Territory. Noble Team is sent to gather intelligence of Covenant-occupied sites and to destroy an EMP-emitting Covenant tower. It is later discovered the tower served as a teleporter linked to a cloaked Covenant supercarrier. The UNSC Grafton is destroyed by the supercarrier's energy projector.[9]
- UNSC Iroquois and presumably the rest of Battle Group Leviathan return from Sigma Octanus IV to Reach.[10]
- 1100 hours: John-117 returns to Reach where he is debriefed by ONI at Camp Hathcock. [11]
August 13[edit]
- 2007 hours: Covenant invasion of Reach is fully underway. Noble Team begins developing a plan to destroy the enemy supercarrier with a Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine used as a makeshift bomb. Auntie Dot informs Noble Team that 60% of the UNSC fleet is en route to Reach, with the first battlegroup set to enter the system in 48 hours.[12]
August 14[edit]
- 1248 hours: Covenant forces once again attack SWORD Base and occupy the site.[12]
- 1248 hours: Noble Team assaults and retakes the Sabre launch facility and uses it as a staging point for Operation: UPPER CUT. Noble Team disables and boards one of the Covenant corvettes to use it as a delivery system for their improvised slipspace bomb. Due to a malfunction with the triggering mechanism, a member of Noble Team is forced to detonate it manually. The supercarrier is destroyed just as a larger Covenant fleet arrives above Reach.[12] Simultaneously, Operation: LEFT JAB took place, distracting