Fall of Reach

Project page on Daybreak's version of the Fall of Reach.

August 30

 * 0447 Hours: The remote scanning outpost Fermion detects more incoming Covenant vessels. An emergency message is relayed to FLEETCOM. The outpost then self-destructs per the Cole Protocol due to an unsecured science library and nearby Covenant forces.


 * 0500 Hours: The Covenant's Combined Fleet of Righteous Immolation, comprised of 315 vessels, exits slipspace on the edge of the Epsilon Eridani system.


 * 0517 Hours: Admiral Roland Freemont, FLEETCOM Sector One Commander, issues a general order to all vessels in the Reach planetary system. All vessels and stations are to initiate the Cole Protocol and rush to Rally Point ZULU in high orbit above Reach.


 * 0534 Hours: Covenant vessels make pinpoint slipspace jumps attempting to destroy any incoming or outgoing human vessels before they can regroup. A Covenant carrier targets the UNSC Pillar of Autumn but is destroyed.


 * 0545 Hours: The Covenant vessels begin a frontal assault. As the Covenant and human fleets engage above Reach, it seems to be a stalemate, as Covenant ships take out UNSC ships, while the UNSC ships and MAC cannons take out an equal number. The first salvo by the UNSC vessels destroys a third of the remaining Covenant fleet. A Covenant ship henceforth referred to as a supercruiser destroys several UNSC ships while outside human weapons range.


 * 0558 Hours: Station Gamma Dockmaster AI Doppler is unable to implement the Cole Protocol on the UNSC Circumference, an ONI prowler docked at Reach Station Gamma, due to measures taken to maintain the secrecy of Operation: HYPODERMIC. Doppler sends priority message to FLEETCOM concerning this violation. Covenant intrusion software detects this oversight, and the Covenant deploys troops to seize the NAV database aboard the Circumference.


 * 0616 Hours: The Spartan-IIs are dispatched from the Pillar of Autumn. John-117, Linda-058, and James-005 form Blue Team and go aboard the Dock to destroy the Circumference, while the remainder form Red Team and head to the surface of Reach to defend the power generators for the MAC guns. James goes MIA when a Needler hits his thruster pack and propels him into space during combat. Blue Team continue through the station, rescuing Staff Sergeant Johnson, Private O'Brien, Private Bisenti, and Pvt. Wallace A. Jenkins from Kig-yar and Sangheili.


 * 0620 Hours: Most of the Covenant fleet retreats from Reach's orbit after deploying more dropships toward the surface, focusing on FLEETCOM Heaquarters in the Highland Mountains. The UNSC fleet fires on the ships, destroying many although hundreds still land on Reach.


 * 0621 Hours: The boarding craft are landed and the FLEETCOM armory is overrun; the Covenant fleet re-enters Reach's orbital space. The Covenant split their 150+ remaining ships. One fleet attacks the UNSC ships, while another takes out the MAC cannons and send in troops to land on Reach. The UNSC try to split their 50+ remaining forces to engage the Covenant, but there are too many platforms to cover and too many casualties. The supercruiser continues to destroy UNSC ships, allowing the other ships to attack the MACs. Eventually, the supercruiser is destroyed by the Pillar of Autumn, but the UNSC fleet is practically decimated so it is too late to do any good.


 * 0631 Hours: Red Team's Pelican, Bravo 001, is shot down. They have no choice but to jump from the crashing Pelican and make a "hard landing" on the ground. This results in four Spartans dead and six seriously injured.


 * 0637 Hours: John-117, the clinically dead Linda-058, and the Marines board the Pillar of Autumn.


 * 0647 Hours: Captain Keyes of the Pillar of Autumn orders the vessel to retreat from the system. Pursued by a dozen Covenant vessels — the surviving vessels of the Fleet of Particular Justice, under the command of Fleetmaster Thel 'Vadamee — the Autumn retreats from the system, heading for Installation 04.


 * 0649 Hours: Red Team sets up defenses around ODG Facility A-331.


 * 0711 Hours: Fred-104, Joshua-029, and Kelly-087 plant a nuclear warhead through the gravity lift in a Covenant cruiser holding position above Longhorn Valley, leaving Joshua-029 MIA, (presumed KIA) in the process.


 * 0720 Hours: The Covenant destroys ODG Facility A-331 by aerial bombardment, though some Spartans escape. The surviving MAC guns are now offline and are quickly destroyed by plasma torpedoes. Remaining UNSC vessels have no choice but to retreat. The Covenant warships are split into two groups: five-ship teams that hunt down the surviving UNSC vessels and a group of ships that align themselves in formation and begin to glass Reach.


 * 1530 Hours: UNSC Naval reinforcements arrive from nearby systems. Fleet engagements continue.

August 31

 * Battle at Szurdok Ridge: the UNSC launches a large-scale counter-offensive on Covenant operations in the Viery Territory.

September 2

 * Operation: UPPER CUT: the Covenant supercarrier Long Night of Solace, flagship of the Combined Fleet of Righteous Immolation, is destroyed by an improvised "slipspace bomb". However, more Covenant ships arrive shortly afterward, making the victory short-lived.

September 3

 * The conclusion of the Battle of New Alexandria.

September 4

 * Lieutenant Wagner returns to Earth aboard a prowler and reports on the evident destruction of Reach to the UNSC Security Council (Colonel James Ackerson, Fleet Admiral Terrence Hood, and Major General Nicolas Strauss) at HIGHCOM Facility Bravo-6 in Sydney, Australia. Hood determines that the location of Earth is compromised and decides that all ONI theatres of operation must be relocated. The Security Council also begins planning for the final defense of Earth.

September 5

 * UNSC fleet actions in the Reach Defense Coordination Zone conclude.
 * All remaining naval forces are consolidated into a single command grouping: the UNSC Home Fleet.

September 7

 * 0002 Hours: The Spartan Red Team survivors and Dr. Halsey, after days of walking through the abandoned Titanium mines below CASTLE base, reach a vast subterranean Forerunner installation. Pursued by Covenant forces, Red Team and Dr. Halsey are subsequently stranded in a section of the Forerunner facility. Vinh-030 and Isaac-039 are presumed dead while covering the rest of the group's escape.

September 7-11 (?)

 * The survivors of the Battle of Installation 04 arrive at Reach, having experienced a temporal anomaly caused by a Forerunner crystal, sending them nearly two weeks into the past. They rejoin with the survivors at Menachite Mountain and escape to slipspace aboard the hybrid ship Gettysburg-Ascendant Justice with a Forerunner slipspace crystal from the ruins under Reach.