- x Lai Tasha x
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- Exalted Mythic Member
Phoenix is dead, long live Phoenix!
Is it?
Since I've read to many threads from people who obviously haven't read the books, here is a brief synopsis.
In Halo: The Fall of Reach (FoR from now on) and Halo: First Strike (FS from now on) The planet Reach features very heavily in it. Now we know that this is a prequel, so can people stop calling it Halo 4. Proof of Halo: Reach being a prequel and from the Hint that we got "From the beginning, you know the end", we can summarise that it most probably lies in the timespan of FoR, however I'll briefly discuss FS here for more information on the ground battle.
From HalopediaLocated in the Epsilon Eridani system in FLEETCOM Sector One, Reach was one of the most important headquarters for the UNSC and the main supplier of military and civilian spacecraft. HIGHCOM, FLEETCOM and the UNSC Marine Corps had headquarters on Reach, as well as many primary ONI bases, which included CASTLE Base. It was the most populated planet after Earth in the UNSC.
After the Battle of Reach, the planet was completely uninhabited and mostly glassed. When UNSC forces finally abandoned the planet, a small Covenant occupation fleet remained in the system.
Originally colonized for its rich titanium deposits, Reach had mines throughout it running thousands of meters deep. ONI's secret CASTLE base was located in one of these mines underneath Menachite Mountain. ONI commandeered the mine after it breached a secret area beneath Reach's surface containing a Forerunner artifact that was highly desired by the Covenant. The fact that this artifact was so valuable to them is perhaps the main reason anyone survived Reach at all, as the Covenant were afraid of destroying it. This facility was also the birthplace of the legendary SPARTAN-II Program.
Despite its position as the UNSC's largest naval base, strategic headquarters, and second-largest population center, the Epsilon Eridani system was wracked by Insurrectionist activity throughout the early 26th Century. Reach's sister planet, Tribute, was one of the fronts for the UNSC's anti-terrorist campaign, Operation: TREBUCHET. In 2525, mere months prior to the outbreak of the Human-Covenant War, Reach was the site of a major terrorist bombing against the luxury liner National Holiday. A taxi filled with explosives was crashed into the liner, resulting in the deaths of all aboard.
I'm just going to explain the part of the books that I believe might be relevant.
Also from Halopediaa massive Covenant fleet of over 300 ships enters the Reach System. Captain Keyes orders the Pillar of Autumn back towards Reach [it was about to leave on a mission which required most the Spartan II's participation], but the Master Chief convinces him to allow the Spartans to continue their mission by finding a damaged Covenant ship to capture and take to Covenant space. Reach's fleet, about a hundred ships and twenty Orbital Defense Platform on hand, engages the Covenant fleet, but takes massive losses. However, the Super MAC platforms manage to repulse the initial Covenant assault.
The Covenant return and land troops on Reach with the objective of destroying the generators for the Super MAC Cannons, the only things which are stopping the Covenant. At the same time, the UNSC realizes that the Circumference, a Prowler, is still docked at a station orbiting the planet of Reach just before its fall and has not initiated the Cole Protocol [wiping the co-ordinates of Earth and the Inner Colonies from its database]. John takes Linda and James to deal with the Circumference, while the rest of the Spartans were sent down to the planet to defend the Orbital MAC generators.
John's team crashlands their Pelican on the station which the Circumference is docked on, and they move towards the NAV data. However, James's thruster pack for maneuvering in vacuum is hit by a Needler shard and explodes, sending James flying uncontrollably into space. John and Linda proceed to the Circumference, where they find Sergeant Johnson and his Marines, including Jenkins and Bisenti, also fighting to wipe the data. With John's help, the Marines are successful, but tragically Linda is shot by five seperate plasma blasts. The humans fall back to the Autumn, but Linda dies of her extensive wounds and is placed in a cryotube. The humans are also unable to locate James.
The surface of Reach is also overrun. The Spartans which John sent to the surface are presumably overrun and all slaughtered. Without the generators, the Super MAC Cannons fall silent and are destroyed by the Covenant, who soon proceed to begin glassing the planet. The remaining UNSC ships are all destroyed, except for the Pillar of Autumn, when Cortana plots an exit vector in compliance with the Cole Protocol, though not completely at random. She had decrypted Forerunner glyphs found by the Master Chief on Sigma Octanus IV. The NAV coordinates led the Pillar of Autumn to what the Covenant had been searching for: Halo Instillation 04.
In FS, which is after Halo: Combat Evolved, The Master Chief returns to Reach to discover that the planet has not been entirely glassed, that there are Spartan's still alive down their, I'll now give you what Halopedia saysThe prologue begins before the Battle of Reach flashing back to Chapter 34 in Halo: The Fall of Reach where Captain Keyes informed the Master Chief of the matter of the unsecured NAV database. Frederic-104 is made the leader of Red Team and ordered to take the other SPARTAN-IIs down to Reach to protect the generators powering the orbital MAC guns.
The narrative then follows Red Team as they ride a Pelican down to the surface, but are forced to make a supersonic hard landing to the ground after the pilot gets hit by plasma fire from Seraph Fighters. The impact killed four of the Spartans and leaves many more seriously injured. Most lost their weapons and ammunition, Fred-104 and Kelly-087 improvise using rocks until they were able to police Covenant weapons from a group of Jackals they had killed. The Spartans then grouped up with the remaining four Marines in Charlie Company. The Marines summarized how the battle had gone, saying that they were the only ones who survived the entire battle.
Vice Admiral Whitcomb contacts Fred and orders him and the Spartans to extract him and his staff claiming that he was the current officer in charge of the defense of Reach. Fred takes Kelly and Joshua-029 on a mission to destroy a large Covenant camp in a valley near the bunker Charlie Company once occupied. Taking three Banshees, they delivered a Fury Tactical-Nuke into a Covenant ship. Joshua's Banshee slipped under enemy fire described as a large needler round and is presumed dead. Fred and Kelly completed the mission without complications.
Despite their efforts, however, the Covenant managed to overrun the reactors on Reach. The Covenant Starships began glassing Reach, even though they glassed only the poles. Fred however, refuses to sit around and die comes up with a plan. He and Kelly take their captured banshees, and together they fly away from the scene.
The narrative then returns to Reach where Kelly and Fred after destroying the Covenant ship, crash-landed their Banshees into a pair of Hunters, confusing one and disabling the others gun. They then steal a pair of Wraith tanks, and blasted their way into Castle Base under Menachite Mountain. There, they met up with the surviving Spartans of Delta team, the injured Spartans, including Isaac-039 , Vinh-030 and Will-043. They met up with Doctor Halsey, who treats their injuries, and sends them to retrieve some new weapons, which in Halo 2 appear as the Battle Rifle and the M6C Magnum Sidearm.
At the lab, Dr. Halsey discovered Colonel Ackerson's plans, which were extensive lists on "Her Spartans", a star chart reference, and a third file labeled "King Under the Mountain". Before she could access these, however, a UNSC AI appeared and attempted to stop her by threatening to kill one of the Spartans. She destroyed it using a bypass code she herself had programmed, but caused some concern with her personal AI. The Covenant then invaded the base, and the Spartans and Doctor Halsey escaped to the old Titanium mines beneath Castle Base, right before it's destruction, which destroyed their only exit. Having no other alternatives, the Spartans and Dr Halsey venture deep into the tunnels.
In the tunnels, the Spartans received armor upgrades and Fred discovers several symbols which ultimately led to a huge tunnel that led into an even larger room. In the center of the room, they find a crystal. The Spartans and Halsey found that if they walked straight towards it, it would bend the space around them and, if brought to Slipspace, would allow them to travel further using the same amount of energy used in the same vessel. They retrieved the crystal, but the Covenant found them due to emission of radiation from the crystal. They landed forces inside the giant room using reversed gravity lifts, forcing the humans to retreat. Fred ordered Isaac and Vinh to stay behind to form a rearguard action, but they were overwhelmed and killed. The remaining Spartans and Dr. Halsey continued to flee through the tunnels, but as the Covenant followed them, they ran into a dead end.
There is more, but that should be enough.
I hope this clears up some confusion and busts some theories... Thank you to Halopedia (go there for more information).
Also go here, to discuss the Halo: Reach artwork.
[Edited on 06.25.2009 8:22 PM PDT]