Fall of Reach

"We knew this day would come. They have found our fortress among the stars. The Covenant are on Reach. They will burn this planet, kill millions, and when Reach falls—and fall it will—there will be nothing left to stand between them - and Earth."

- Dr. Catherine Halsey

The Fall of Reach, also known as the Battle of Reach and Reach Campaign, was one of the largest and bloodiest engagements in the Human-Covenant War. It was fought on and around the human colony world of Reach in the Epsilon Eridani system, between the United Nations Space Command and the Covenant from July 25 to August 30, 2552.

Initial skirmishes began on July 23, 2552, when a small Covenant task force led by the Long Night of Solace covertly established a foothold on Reach. The Covenant began to solidify their hold and began searching for Forerunner relics as the UNSC counter-attacked, attempting to drive the Covenant off the surface before reinforcements arrived. Ultimately, the UNSC was unsuccessful, and substantial Covenant reinforcements under Thel 'Vadamee arrived in the system. After hard fighting, the Covenant breached the orbital defense grid and overran the UNSC's planetside forces. After overwhelming the defenders, the Covenant glassed the planet. Isolated skirmishes between UNSC remnants and the Covenant forces continued until their recovery by a small rescue party led by John-117.

Though the battle was a clear defeat for the UNSC, Noble Team preventing the Cortana fragment from falling into enemy hands subsequently led the Pillar of Autumn to Halo Installation 04, where they engaged the Covenant in a decisive battle. The experience gleaned on Installation 04, and the subsequent political schism within the Covenant while attacking Earth, would be invaluable to the ultimate defeat of the Covenant.

Background
At some point before July 19, 2552, the Office of Naval Intelligence ran a series of calculations that predicted the future movement of the Covenant force sweeping throughout the galaxy. Based on these calculations, ONI determined that there was an 87% probability that the Epsilon Eridani system would be discovered by the Covenant within five months. Admiral Margaret Parangosky, the head of ONI, debated with Vice Admiral Michael Stanforth about using Reach as the stage for the planned Operation: RED FLAG; the pair considered that the presence of large-scale Forerunner artifacts on the planet would be a source of Covenant interest in the planet. The rest of the UNSC, however, was given no warning of the predicted attack.

ONI's prediction came true less than a week after Admiral Parangosky sent her message. Following his victory against the humans in the Beta Eridani system, Supreme Commander Rho 'Barutamee of the Fleet of Valiant Prudence was able to secure a Luminary that informed him of Reach's location. 'Barutamee cared little of the humans in the Epsilon Eridani system, and did not know the significance of Reach to the UNSC.

Pre-invasion
By July 23, the Fleet of Valiant Prudence consisting of s, s, s and a, Long Night of Solace, arrived at Reach following the Luminary retrieved at Beta Eridani. The Luminary marked the presence of the Forerunner Rate of Builders across the system. After arriving at Reach, the fleet clandestinely deployed a large ground force to the Viery Territory. This invasion force was cloaked from UNSC sensors by sophisticated stealth pylons deployed around it. The Covenant also sent a small Sangheili Zealot strike team, of the Devoted Sentries, led by a Field Marshal to recover a Forerunner artifact from an excavation site near the Visegrád communications outpost. "ONI thinks it might be the local Insurrection. Five months ago, they pulled a similar job on Harmony. Hit a relay to take out our eyes and ears, then stole two freighters from dry dock. That cannot happen here. Reach is too damn important. I want that relay back online, NOBLE One."

- Colonel Urban Holland

The strike force disabled the communications array at Visegrád, cutting off communications from the northern parts of Alföld to the larger communications hubs further south, leaving a large portion of Reach isolated from the rest of the UNSC. This operation, however, went unnoticed by the UNSC and it was surmised by the Office of Naval Intelligence that the local insurrectionist organization, an ultra-radical cell of the People's Occupation, was responsible for the loss of contact with the facility.

In response, the Army was deployed into Pálháza, with several fireteams including 3 Charlie sent to investigate the matter. Contact with these fireteams was lost shortly thereafter.

Winter Contingency
"Colonel, this is NOBLE One. There are no rebels. The Covenant are on Reach."

- Carter-A259

The day after the Visegrád Relay was disabled, Spartan NOBLE Team was sent to investigate the disturbance in lieu of the missing Army fireteams. The group had been conducting anti-insurrection operations in the region, and were thus on-hand to assist. Upon landing in Visegrád and scouting the surrounding countryside, NOBLE Team quickly discovered that insurrectionists were not responsible for the attack; a small Covenant advance force had found Reach and landed at Visegrád, with the intent of disabling Reach's communications with other UNSC colonies. After wiping out the advance force, NOBLE Team proceeded to the relay station, where they were ambushed by a group of Sangheili Zealots, a team sent to hunt down vital data on a Forerunner artifact. WINTER CONTINGENCY was then declared on Reach.

Following the declaration of the WINTER CONTINGENCY, several ONI field agents were given supplemental orders to secure or - if necessary - terminate UNSC astronavigation personnel to ensure their knowledge would not fall into the hands of the Covenant.

Opening skirmishes
"WINTER CONTINGENCY has been declared, all units mobilized and ready."

- UNSC officer

Operating using cloaking technology and stealth tactics, the Covenant had created a fortified landing zone on Reach, with anti-air guns around the perimeter of their staging area in the Viery Territory where they had covertly inserted a large amount of forces, including several corvettes.

Two days after the skirmish at Visegrád, the Covenant attacked SWORD Base in an attempt to overrun the ONI facility and access the Forerunner structures there. However, these forces were repulsed after NOBLE Team reinforced the base and brought its M71 Anti-Aircraft Guns and communications back online. The Covenant corvette attacking it was forced to retreat and was destroyed by an orbital defense platform's Magnetic Accelerator Cannon.

UNSC counterattack


"We are now under attack across the Viery territory, including orbital defenses. As per the WINTER CONTINGENCY, we are countering on every front."

- Auntie Dot

Over two weeks after the defense of SWORD Base, the UNSC sent reconnaissance teams into Covenant-controlled territory in preparation for a counterattack and to investigate the enemy positions and forces they would be facing. With a Covenant staging ground on Reach, the UNSC Army, Marine Corps, and Navy launched a joint offensive in an attempt to defeat the Covenant forces before reinforcements could arrive. The assault was spearheaded by the Army and NOBLE Team, who attacked Covenant anti-air weapons to make way for GA-TL1 Longswords and s to make bombing runs. The attack, though initially successful, was thwarted when a cloaked, Long Night of Solace, appeared over the area, attacking the UNSC frigates and reinforcing the Covenant troops. Meanwhile, Covenant forces made another strike on SWORD Base, this time with much greater success. Around this time, sixty percent of the Fleet was recalled to Reach from existing deployments; these reinforcements were scheduled to arrive by August 15.

While the battle began on the ground, Rho's forces in space began to enagage UNSC Naval forces across the system, engaging light battlegroups composed mainly of s and a in space. Following the declaration of WINTER CONTINGENCY on Reach, the personnel of Teller Station - a research laboratory working at Site 17 in the system's Oort cloud - prepared to evacuate after being ordered to condense their last dig into barely a fortnight. These activities awakened the senescent Forerunner systems there, alerting the Fleet of Valiant Prudence to the site. Rho deployed a "significant portion of his fleet" there consisting of SDV-class corvettes and CCS-class battlecruisers, only to be engaged by more frigates and heavy cruisers deployed by UNSC admiral Michael Stanforth. The Covenant forces were able to overrun the defences there, though the humans were able to successfully extract Site 17's artifact. The Covenant attempted to board the human flagship to retrieve it, though Stanforth intended to use the artifact to lure the Covenant into a trap near Reach itself. The battle group was able to fight free of their pursuers, and Stanforth was able to vector in reinforcements to stop the pursuing Covenant squadrons.

The battle begins
"Air Control (COM)"

- AI Auntie Dot (COM)

The arrival of the supercarrier led to the UNSC concocting an audacious plan known as Operation: UPPER CUT, in which NOBLE Team were to use FSS-1000 Sabre starfighters and the corvette Ardent Prayer to deliver an improvised slipspace drive "bomb" to the supercarrier and destroy it. The team were deployed to fend off an attack at the Sabre research site at Farkas Lake, before deploying to refit station Anchor 9 in the fighters to prepare for the operation. Spartan-B312, Jorge-052, and a team of Army pilots, with the aid of the frigate Savannah, boarded the Ardent Prayer and took control of it.

By this time, Supreme Commander 'Barutamee now realised the threat of the human presence on the surface and the importance of the planet he was attacking. If this wasn't enough, the Ministry of Resolution had deployed a much larger fleet to the planet, and his artefact-hunting teams were still bogged down on the surface. If the commander wasn't able to produce something of value soon, he might be forced to retreat or face the wrath of the Hierarchs for his ineptitude. Stanforth had managed to spread his fleet thin, probing his defences from all sides. The UNSC fleet at large initiated a massive attack known as Operation: LEFT JAB to distract the supercarrier, allowing NOBLE Team's operation to go unnoticed following the jamming of their target corvette's communications. With the Covenant fleet stretched thin, UNSC task forces were able to pounce on cut-off Covenant scout fleets.

Noble Five then sacrificed himself to destroy Long Night of Solace. However, just as the supercarrier was destroyed, the Ministry of Resolution's massive fleet of warships exited slipspace in orbit over the planet. The supercarrier's wreckage landed near New Alexandria, killing Barutamee in the process. Shipmaster Kantar 'Utaralee assumed command of what remained of the now-splintered Fleet of Valiant Prudence, leading them once again to recover the Site 17 artifact, now relocated to a station near Turul.

Despite the mission's success, the destruction of the supercarrier was an inadvertent setback for Operation: RED FLAG. The Operation called for a "Class-Five" Covenant vessel such as a or a CSO-class supercarrier to be boarded by the Spartan-IIs. Colonel Holland informed Admiral Stanforth of the destruction of the supercarrier around August 27, several days following its destruction. The Admiral relayed his frustrations at the Special Warfare Group's "trigger happiness", as the operation would now need to find a new target vessel.

Further engagements


"Your report will have to wait, Lieutenant. The Covenant are jamming all comms to Command. Kat needs your help running a counter-op."

- Commander Carter-A259

Over the next week, Covenant ground forces landed on the planet and Covenant ships began glassing targeted areas. A major siege lasting between August 18–23 broke out in the city of New Alexandria, with large numbers of civilian evacuation transports being shot down by Covenant air and ground forces. Members of NOBLE Team assisted UNSC forces in clearing evacuation zones, succeeding in damaging a Covenant corvette in the process. Though the UNSCDF succeeded in clearing the city of Covenant troops, Covenant naval assets began to glass the city, and while retreating Catherine-B320 of NOBLE Team was killed by sniper fire. Elsewhere, the evacuation stations in Manassas and Esztergom were attacked and eventually stopped responding.

However, most of the planet's population, both civilian and military, (particularly those assigned to Operation: RED FLAG), were kept unaware of the invasion, as the Army repeatedly insisted they had the ground battle under control. HIGHCOM withheld major counteroffensives on the far side of the planet in the hope that a Class-5 Covenant vessel, which was needed for the operation, would be drawn in and make itself vulnerable for capture. Millions perished as a result of this relative inaction.

Due to his tendency to jump head-first into the action, Captain Jacob Keyes was left in the dark about the Covenant attack, as to ensure that he wouldn't engage before a target could make itself known. At some point following August 27, the Captain was informed of the ongoing battle, though under strict orders to keep the 's crew in the dark. Keyes felt these blackout orders to be ineffective due to the ability to look out of the window to see the battle raging on the surface, and wished to tell the crew to ensure they knew that Reach would likely no longer exist when their mission was complete. As the battle went on to August 30, the ship was stationed over Lábatlan, with the R. Abiad noticing an explosion over Eposz and William Lovell noticing strange electromagnetic readings coming from Turul. ONI used the downed Visegrad relay as an excuse to keep the Pillar of Autumn parked on the side of the planet not currently hit by the Covenant.

As the situation on the ground deteriorated, NOBLE Team and a small force of Orbital Drop Shock Troopers were ordered to destroy the Covenant-occupied SWORD Base in a "torch-and-burn" operation known as Operation: WHITE GLOVE. Proceeding into the base, the team encountered Dr. Catherine Halsey, who enlisted their help in defending her laboratory amid the ruins of a Forerunner complex from advancing Covenant forces. Halsey ordered Noble Six, Carter, and Emile to transport a fragment of the AI Cortana to the, while Jun-A266 escorted her to CASTLE Base elsewhere on Reach.

Final space battle
"Fermion Remote Sensing Outpost"

- Reach Station Gamma

As August 30 dawned, the Pillar of Autumn began making its way out-system to begin RED FLAG when a massive Covenant combined fleet — including Supreme Commander Thel 'Vadamee and his Fleet of Particular Justice — was detected exiting slipspace on the edge of the system. The fleet was first detected in slipspace by remote scanning outpost Fermion, who initially mistook the tightly knit formation as a large planetoid that had somehow entered slipspace. The station's commander, Chief Petty Officer McRobb, sent an emergency message to FLEETCOM and ordered self-destruct to prevent the station's data from falling into enemy hands. This fleet had been drawn to the system following a tracking device placed on the during the earlier Battle of Sigma Octanus IV with the intent of using it to find human colony worlds. When the Iroquois returned to Reach, the human presence - and its extent - was revealed to this new Covenant faction.

A few minutes later, 315 Covenant ships exited slipspace at the edge of the Epsilon Eridani system. Admiral Roland Freemont issued UNSC Alpha Priority Transmission 04592Z-83, ordering all ships in the Epsilon Eridani system to rendezvous at Rally Point Zulu near Reach in preparation for the coming assault. The Covenant moved in on the orbital defenses before the UNSC fleet fully consolidated. Fifty-three belated UNSC ships, including the, ran a gauntlet of screening Covenant warships as they attempted to link up with the main fleet. At this time, only about a hundred UNSC ships were readily available to defend Reach. Spartan John-117 recognised the battle as a potential opportunity to board a Covenant warship, and ordered the preparation of a Pelican dropship to potentially blast their way into a hull if needs be. The Autumn was able to fend off the encroaching Seraphs with its point-defense guns, before managing to destroy a Covenant carrier. Meanwhile, a hundred ships were already gathered at Rally Point Zulu; destroyers, frigates, three cruisers, two carriers and three refit stations.

The main Covenant force moved in on the orbital defenses. The initial salvo of plasma torpedoes was mostly absorbed by the sacrifice of three refit and repair stations, allowing the defenders to return fire. The orbital defense platforms and four nuclear mines combined to take down a full third of the Covenant fleet. The vaporized Titanium-A armor of the refit stations also served to block incoming plasma torpedoes. The UNSC force began to scatter, with fifty more ships falling to the trailing plasma torpedoes, while the MAC platforms were able to secure a further sixteen Covenant kills. The Covenant maneuvered for clear shots around the titanium dust cloud and moved in for the kill, with a further eighteen falling to the MAC guns, followed by yet another six. The final six were able to let loose a salvo of plasma rounds before their destruction, which were able to destroy five orbital guns. A previously unknown warship type, armed with a powerful energy projector, revealed itself and destroyed the and four other ships before withdrawing temporarily.

The rest of the Covenant fleet withdrew to regroup after deploying hundreds of dropships to the surface. The opening attack had shattered the UNSC defenders, taking almost a hundred ships out and leaving only twenty ships left. Despite their surprise retreat, Captain Keyes ordered scans of the planet, realising that the Covenant had instead deployed dropships to Reach's poles to begin invading the planet. The Super MACs and remaining fleet split into two groups - one for each pole -and fired upon the smallcraft, each MAC shot managing to destroy dozens of transports. Hundreds of dropships were able to get through and disgorged thousands of troops. The Fleet Command Headquarters was quickly attacked and destroyed by the renewed ground attack, while the Covenant fleet began another assault.

Some ships made pinpoint slipspace jumps, putting them within the UNSC formation. This left them vulnerable for a short time but allowed them to strike the ODPs directly. Almost immediately following the departure of the Spartans aboard their Pelicans, a Covenant frigate jumped in behind the Pillar of Autumn, prompting the cruiser to turn around to face the ship. Two more frigates exited slipspace to flank the first, before the first was taken out by a Super MAC round. The Pillar of Autumn then engaged the starboard vessel, while the other was taken down by a second Super MAC. The two frigates were able to loose a salvo of plasma bolts, taking down a further two platforms and reducing the total number of MACs to thirteen. The remaining Archer missiles were used to take out a number of boarding craft heading to stop John-117 on Gamma Station.

Meanwhile, the Covenant "sniper" vessel returned and destroyed the and  from beyond ODP range. The engaged the warship, firing a salvo of missiles followed by MACs to impact at the same time and take down the vessel's shielding. The ship fired back, hitting the Autumn and causing severe damage. The Autumn launched a Shiva nuclear device timed to explode on impact, and began to back away, with the nuclear weapon detonating inside the warhip's now-recharged shielding and reverberating off the shields and disintegrating the vessel. The Pillar of Autumn withdrew to Beta Gabriel to slingshot back into the system while more Covenant ships exited slipspace. By this point, the orbital defense generators were being overrun.

Following this engagement, the Pillar of Autumn managed to execute a Class-L flash-dock and land at the Asźod ship breaking yards, the last-remaining off-world extraction point, as it awaited the arrival of NOBLE Team.

Attack on the orbital defense generators
"There are thousands of them. Grunts, Jackals and their warrior Elites. They have tanks and fliers. Christ, they've breached the perimeter. Fall back! Fall back! If anyone can hear this: the Covenant is ground-side. Massing near the armory!"

- UNSC Marine

On the final day of the battle for Reach, thousands of Covenant ground forces landed on Reach in an attempt to destroy the orbital defense generators, and were intercepted by Marine forces who were able to defend against the first few waves of Covenant forces while sustaining heavy casualties. While three Spartans (led by John-117) deployed to Gamma Station, the remaining supersoldiers were designated Red Team, and deployed to Orbital Defense Generator Facility A-331 to assist in the defense of the station. Their Pelican transport, Bravo 001, was escorted by several GA-TL1 Longsword strikecraft, with three of the four eventually peeling off to hold off some pursuing Seraphs. The Pelican was advised by "Golden Arrow" to head for Mount Törött, though the now badly-damaged Pelican was unlikely to be able to make its way back to the shipyard where the Autumn was docked. Bravo 001 had to explain that the Pelican was carrying Spartans, which consequently changed Golden Arrow's tone. The Pelican was eventually shot down, however, crash-landing in the Military Wilderness Training Preserve in the Highland Mountains. The Spartans were forced to jump out of the doomed Pelican, resulting in the deaths of four Spartans (including Malcolm-059), and some others were wounded as well. Due to their familiarity with the terrain, the Spartans were able to put up a meaningful resistance against the Covenant.

Near their crash site, the surviving Spartans discovered the shell-shocked remnants of Charlie Company's Gamma 1. Charlie Company had been assigned by Vice Admiral Danforth Whitcomb to recover prototype NOVA bombs from a base in the region. They were forced to help defend the orbital defense facilities on their way to their objective with Gamma 1 at Generator A-331. Unfortunately, as the Covenant neared the orbital defense generators, someone at HIGHCOM panicked and ordered Longswords to bomb everything within 500 meters, resulting in the destruction of the Covenant ground forces in that location, but also catastrophic friendly fire: Charlie Company was reduced to four men, and its leaders: Lieutenants Jake Chapman and Buckman were cut off from their subordinates.

The Spartans, after being briefed on the situation by Charlie Company, responded to a distress call from Whitcomb, who requested immediate evacuation. Frederic-104, commander of the Spartans, split the remains of Red Team into four groups: Team Alpha (Frederic-104, Kelly-087, and Joshua-029), which was tasked with eliminating an encampment of 10,000 Covenant and their hovering cruiser (without doing anything that could damage the orbital defense generators as the EMP from a nuclear weapon would render them inoperative and accomplish the Covenant's objective for them), Team Beta, tasked with defense of the orbital defense generators, Team Gamma (Li-008, Anton-044, and Grace-093), ordered to retrieve Whitcomb, and Team Delta (the Charlie Company Marines and six wounded Spartans which included William-043, Isaac-039, and Vinh-030), ordered to secure the Spartans' fallback point at CASTLE Base.

Team Alpha hijacked three Banshees and approached the Covenant encampment (they were ignored by the Grunt Zawaz, who assumed they were Elites on a secret mission) and used Fury Tactical Nuclear Weapons within the shields of the Covenant ship, destroying the encampment and negating the EMP effect that would have disabled the orbital defense generators. Joshua was killed in the process by mass light weapons salvos from the 10,000 Covenant ground forces encamped around the Cruiser. The remaining Spartans of Team Alpha then fell back to CASTLE Base, blasting their way through the remaining Covenant in the area with two commandeered Wraiths. Team Gamma accomplished its mission and fell back to Camp Independence with Whitcomb, where they survived the partial glassing of the planet.

Team Beta-Red were left to defend Generator A-331 alone, while Gamma 5 were holed up at Generator A-412. A-412 was attacked by two divisions of Covenant, who eventually managed to destroy the facility leaving only fourteen survivors. The remnants of Gamma 5 proceeded to mount up in two Warthogs and a radio van to rendezvous with Gamma 1. Recon 43 provided scouting for Gamma 1, initially spotting three Ghosts and twenty-four infantry. They were warned not to engage, but did so anyway upon realising that the small Covenant force was merely the advance of a massive armour convoy.

With a gargantuan ground force now closing on Facility A-331, Beta-Romeo Actual ordered her team and the remnants of Charlie Company to leave once the Covenant was distracted. The team set up automated turrets, while thirty-two Wraith tanks and six-hundred infantry began to close in. Gamma 5 observed the action through the lens of a drone as the fight started. The Spartans of Beta-Red went "hand to hand" with the enemy lines, and Team Delta and Charlie Company departed the site.

With Team Delta retreating alongside the remnants of Charlie Company, they contacted an operator with callsign "Iron Fist". Iron First informed the group that they were en route the extract Beta-Red, even as three Covenant cruisers dropped out of the sky and prepared to glass the area. Team Beta was unable to stop the Covenant, who attacked in swarms of thousands. The orbital defense generators were compromised, and the Covenant, after eliminating the powerless, immobile ODPs in geosynchronous orbit around the planet, began the glassing of Reach. A member of Beta-Red was able to get off one last communication to Fred-104 that the generators were overrun. Eventually, the destroyer was brought in by Alpha 20 and authorised to fire on the Covenant cruisers at Generator A-331, likely resulting in the deaths of Team Beta-Red. The blast of the orbital strike was felt by Charlie Company, who had narrowly managed to escape the blast. Team Delta fell back to CASTLE Base, but in the process lost the remaining Charlie Company marines and every Spartan save for Vinh, Isaac, and William. When the remnants of Team Alpha and Team Delta arrived at CASTLE Base, they found Catherine Halsey there.

Elsewhere, the Covenant attacked a BXR titanium mine.

The planet, having been steadily weakened during the invasion throughout the prior weeks, had fallen with relative ease to the might of the Covenant invaders.

Mission to Gamma Station


During the space battle, the AI Doppler, controller of Reach Station Gamma, was unable to destroy the vital information on board the, an ONI Prowler involved in Operation: HYPODERMIC. As the Covenant deployed troops to the station, Doppler reported this violation of the Cole Protocol to the Pillar of Autumn before self-destructing himself to keep from further violation. In response, Captain Jacob Keyes sent John-117, James-005, and Linda-058 to the station. They accomplished their task and destroyed the NAV database on board Reach Station Gamma, but at the cost of James and Linda. While on board, they rescued some Marines on board the station: Staff Sergeant Avery Junior Johnson and Privates Wallace Jenkins, Bisenti, and O'Brien. They were then evacuated by Pelican back to the Pillar of Autumn. Linda-058 was clinically dead, but there was still a chance of saving her, so she was placed in a cryo chamber. John-117 asked Lieutenant Hall to scan for James (who had been blown into space) but they were unable to find him.

Battle at Asźod


With the battle for Reach now nearing its conclusion, the Pillar of Autumn set down at the Asźod ship breaking yards for repairs as well as to receive the fragment of Cortana that Halsey had tasked NOBLE Team with delivering to Keyes. Covenant forces soon descended on the shipyards and began landing troops. Although the docked Autumn managed to hold off the Covenant attackers, most of the facility and the surrounding area was occupied.

The remnants of NOBLE Team, consisting of Carter-A259, Emile-A239, and Spartan-B312, arrived on the outskirts of the facility. Carter sent Noble Six and Emile to deliver the package to Keyes. He then sacrificed himself to destroy a Scarab. Six and Emile fought their way to the shipyards, where they linked up with some surviving UNSC ground troops. Keyes then contacted the Spartans and ordered them to clear Landing Platform Delta so that he could pick up the package. Upon arriving at the platform, Emile took charge of a mass driver and used it to provide cover fire for the Autumn. Six, meanwhile, cleared the platform of Covenant troops. With the platform cleared, Captain Keyes arrived in a Pelican and personally took possession of the package from Noble Six. Just then a appeared and started heading toward the Autumn. Keyes ordered Emile to take out the cruiser before it destroyed the Autumn. Emile, however, was attacked by a pair of Sangheili Zealots. The Spartan killed the Zealots but was also killed, leaving the mass driver cannon unmanned. With the cruiser closing in on the Autumn, Noble Six volunteered to stay behind to take charge of the gun.

Keyes returned to the Autumn with the package and prepared the ship for take off. Meanwhile, Noble Six took control of the mass driver and destroyed several Phantoms and Banshees before the Covenant cruiser came within range. As the cruiser prepared to destroy the Autumn with its energy projector, Six fired directly into the ship's exposed glassing port. The resulting explosion crippled the cruiser.

With the skies cleared of hostiles, the Autumn took off and escaped Reach. Once in space, it made a slipspace jump away from the planet. A dozen Covenant ships pursued, while the remaining vessels stayed behind to finish glassing Reach. Back at the shipyards, the stranded Noble Six continued fighting against the Covenant invaders. Eventually, the lone Spartan was overwhelmed and killed by a swarm of Sangheili warriors.

Aftermath
"We are not wasting a single UNSC ship to confirm what we have already seen a dozen times before: Reach is gone. Everything on it is blasted to bits, burned, glassed over, and vaporized. Everyone on Reach is dead. Dead. Dead. Dead."

- Colonel James Ackerson

The Fall of Reach was devastating for both sides as millions died and hundreds of starships were destroyed or rendered irreparably damaged. Many forces fled during the battle, ending up in various parts of space.

While Reach was the Covenant armada's main target, the other colonies in Epsilon Eridani would also come under attack. Tribute was besieged by Covenant forces for several months, ending only when the Great Schism caused the Jiralhanae and Sangheili to turn on each other. The small colony on Beta Gabriel was destroyed when Valorous Salvation deserted the Covenant fleet at Reach and fled there; ODSTs arrived shortly thereafter and killed all the Covenant deserters without incurring losses.

As for Reach itself, the planet would be glassed heavily, to the point that the burning could be seen from orbit. After this burning ceased, several missions took place on the planet, including a pioneer mission in 2553 and Operation: WOLFE in 2559. However, the damage to the surface and atmosphere caused by the initial glassing would stay for nearly 30 years with the planet only really becoming green again in 2589.

The Pillar of Autumn would actually arrive at Installation 04, a Halo ring. The Autumn would also confront its pursuers, devolving into a protracted battle on and around the ring. The survivors of the battle would eventually come back to Reach searching for survivors.

Engagements
The UNSC engaged the Covenant across Reach over a long period of time. Battles were fought across the Vierry Territory. Other engagements included fighting at Manassas, Siófok, and Quezon.

Timeline
Officially, the Fall of Reach took place between July 25 and August 30, 2552. However, UNSC forces actually engaged Covenant forces as early as July 24, with Noble Team's deployment to the Visegrad area. UNSC fleet actions in the Reach Defense Coordination Zone also ceased several days after August 30, on September 5.

Participants
The Fall of Reach had some of the largest deployments of personnel and materiel in the Human-Covenant war. By August 30, there were 315 Covenant ships and 152 UNSC ships at Reach. Numerous Spartans of multiple generations, Marines, Army soldiers and Navy personnel also took part in the battle.

Several notable figures that participated include Dr. Catherine Halsey, Captain Jacob Keyes, John-117, Rho 'Barutamee, and Thel 'Vadam.

Trivia

 * Chief Petty Officer McRobb compared the Fall of Reach to the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. He noted that, like Reach, Pearl Harbor was once thought too strong to attack.
 * At the time of the invasion, at least one hurricane was raging on the surface of Reach.

List of appearances

 * Halo: The Fall of Reach
 * Halo: Combat Evolved
 * Halo: The Flood
 * Halo: First Strike
 * Halo 2
 * Halo: Ghosts of Onyx
 * Halo 3: ODST
 * Halo Legends
 * Origins
 * Halo: Evolutions - Essential Tales of the Halo Universe
 * Dirt
 * The Return
 * Halo: Reach
 * Halo: Fall of Reach
 * Invasion
 * Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary
 * Halo 4
 * Infinity Briefing Packet


 * Halo: Broken Circle
 * Halo 2: Anniversary
 * Terminals
 * Halo: New Blood
 * Halo: Fleet Battles
 * Halo: The Fall of Reach - The Animated Series
 * Halo 5: Guardians
 * Limited Edition dossiers
 * Halo: Ground Command
 * Halo Mythos
 * Halo: Fractures
 * Breaking Strain
 * Halo: Envoy
 * Halo: Retribution
 * Halo: Official Spartan Field Manual
 * Halo: Lone Wolf
 * Halo: Outpost Discovery
 * Halo: Shadows of Reach
 * Halo Infinite