Long Night of Solace (level)

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

Upon completing the level on Normal, Heroic, or Legendary difficulties, the player will earn the "You Flew Pretty Good" achievement and 10 Gamerscore.

Summary
The Covenant invasion of Reach is in full force, and Catherine-B320 has come up with a plan to take the fight to the enemy. Noble Team, minus Emile-A239 and Jun-A266, are dropped off to a beach by a UH-144 Falcon, and they must fight their way to the Sabre Program Launch/Research Range, which is under attack by Covenant ground and air forces.

Once they fight their way inside, SPARTAN-B312 and Jorge-052 enter a YSS-1000 Sabre that is immediately launched into the planet orbit, along with at least four other Sabres.

Once in space, they join the other UNSC forces in defending the station Anchor 9 and assist the in attacking a Covenant corvette. Jorge is then dropped off at the station Anchor 9. Noble Six and the remaining Sabres take out the corvette's engines just as it positions itself for a refuelling course above a Covenant Supercarrier. After boarding the corvette, Noble Six and his forces defeat the crew and lock the ship. Jorge arrives in a Pelican carrying a "Slipspace Bomb". It was planned that the bomb would be detonated in the corvette's hanger in order to destroy the Supercarrier when they get close enough. Covenant forces arrive to destroy the bomb, and the Spartans and troopers defend it. The Covenant forces are successfully neutralized. However, damage was done to the Pelican and the bomb, so the Spartans were grounded, and Jorge had to stay behind and detonate the bomb manually. Noble Six was spared when he was shoved out of the corvette by Jorge, just before the bomb was detonated. The bomb destroys Jorge, the corvette and the supercarrier. For several seconds, it was believed that the Covenant attack force in Reach was entirely neutralized, but a massive Covenant Fleet -the real attack force- shows up just moments later.

Transcript
''View opens on the surface of Reach, showing a large UNSC base beside a body of water, surrounded by mountains. The camera turns downwards and shows a UH-144 Falcon landing on the beach. Jorge-052, Catherine-B320 and SPARTAN-B312 jump out of the craft and the camera moves to Noble Six's first-person perspective. The team stands ready, with Carter-A259 on the lead as the Falcon takes off and flies away.''


 * Jorge-052: "Bit of a hike to the launch facility."


 * Carter-A259: "Anywhere closer's too hot to land."


 * Catherine-B320: "Copy that, Commander."


 * Carter-A259: "Move up the beach, Noble."

''The screen flashes white as the player is given control. Carter and Kat take point''. ''The team move up the beach and onto a small hill. ''


 * Jorge-052: "Is there any place the Covenant isn't?"

Orbital Insertion Pods hit the ground near Noble Team.


 * Carter-A259: "We've been engaged!"

Trivia

 * This level was the first campaign level of Halo: Reach to be unveiled to the public. A shorter version of the level was first showcased in the Halo: Reach E3 Campaign Demo during the Microsoft press conference at E3 2010.
 * At the beginning of the space battle, the Banshees, Phantoms and Seraphs are seen exiting Slipspace. As these vessels are not equipped with Slipspace drives, it is possible that they were deployed from a parent vessel while still in Slipspace, as with the Long Range Stealth Orbital Insertion Pod and the modified Spirit used by the SPARTANs during Operation: FIRST STRIKE.
 * A section of the level, the Sabre launching pad, appears as the multiplayer map Countdown. The maps Zealot and Corvette are also derived from this level.