The Fall of Reach

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The Fall of Reach

Author:	Eric Nylund
Publisher:	Del Rey
Release date:	October 30, 2001

Plot

The story starts off as Dr. Catherine Halsey and Lieutenant Jacob Keyes visiting John. They watch John actively seem superior in strength and speed to the other children around him. That is when Dr. Halsey tells Keyes that John is one of 150 children that are genetically superior, making them suitable for the Spatan II program. The Spartan II program is a program that was trying to create "Super Soliders" for the UNSC. Seventy-five of the children are kidnapped and flash cloned, to lessen accusation of the UNSC. From there, the children are outrageously trained and educated day in and day out. Their trainer is Franklin Mendez. After a successful mission in which John led the children, he is promoted as leader of a squad. Fast forward a little, John plus the other children are injected with special chemicals to change them into super soldiers that no normal human could match. Only about half of the original seventy-five survive the hazardous chemical injections. Soon the Spartans are sent on secret missions to eliminate the Rebel threat, but their priorities change when the Covenant rose to exterminate humanity. John's first encounter with the Covenant ended up causing one of his squad mates to be killed. This showed that the Covenant are a force to be reckoned with. The new threat ended up rushing the creation of the MJOLNIR Armor. The new armor is technologically advanced to any thing Humanity or the Covenant can provide. The Spartans prove to the most effective weapons and soldiers the Humans have. Although they can be the best soldiers on the ground, the Covenant still have a higher level of technology, which proves to be Humanity's downfall in space. Human ships usually have to outnumber Covenant ships three to one to win. The war is going poorly for Humanity, and the story switches over to the perspective of Jacob Keyes. He successfully destroys a Covenant fleet on his own. The fleet consisted of four Covenant ships, which Keyes resorted to a crazy stunt to destroy the fleet and escape. For his heroics Keyes was promoted to the rank of Captain. Soon a space battle occurs where the Humans repel a Covenant attack at a costly destruction of most of their ships. Keyes finds an encrypted message and heads toward Reach. Unknowingly, a tracking device is attached to Keye's ship. This reveals the location of the UNSC's last defensive base before Earth. When Keyes is given a new ship, he is given a mission to capture a Prophet of the Covenant. The Spartans are also assigned to the mission, but before it can start, the Covenant arrive at Reach. The Covenant arrived with the most colossal fleet ever seen by Humans, and the UNSC launched a desperate attempt to defend Reach. While this is occurring, a NAV chip was not erased of memory. It had data still on it about the location of Earth. John decides to send most of the Spartans to defend Reach, and handpicks a group to destroy the chip. The Spartans fought valiantly but could not defend the MAC cannons defending Reach. During the defeat, John was able to destroy the chip, but witnesses the fall of Reach as the title implies. The Spartans were supposedly all killed except John. Cortana(the smart AI that tags along with John) Slipspaces away Keye's ship to a random location. They end up landing in a place with the ring-world of Halo in it. This sets up Halo: Combat Evolved and the events that follow it.