• Light cascaded off the eastern hills of the once prominent colony of Reach. The bright blue aura of Epsilon Erandii glimmered off of the planet's surface, now turned to glass.

    Above the western continent, the ONI sanctioned cruiser NOSTRADAMUS exited slipspace and slowly approached the planet. Captained by an ONI Section Three officer, Sauldron, the ship came to a dead halt. Ahead, what will forever after be known as "The Tombs of Reach" The remnance of a collection of brave souls who fought to reclaim the place the vast majority once called home. These sons and daughters of Reach now lay frozen; their ships gutted through. Left to float like ghostly tombs in the darkness.

    Sauldron said a silent prayer for his fallen comrades. It seemed fitting. When the Nostradamus left earth for this mission five weeks prior, he was assigned the task of recon and surveying the grounds for habitability. Looking for survivors, also listed as a main priority. Like hell, he thought, there's no way anything could have survived this.

    As he further reviewed the Lost AI's report to NavCom, he strode to the pilots, "break for high orbit." The pilots aknowledged and returned to their consoles. The rubberized command deck floor began to lightly vibrate as the ship maneuvered into an orbital pattern. The ship's on-board AI, Peridot, took over these maneuvers, however. Broke for a similar orbit to the now dormant MAC guns above Reach. She chose this orbital pattern to avoid enemy detection, should unexpected visitors arrive.

    Once the 1100 meter Goliath was in place, the captain made an announcement to his crew. "Ladies and Gentlemen, we have entered into the heart of darkness. We have arrived at Reach. As we speak, the tombs of our brothers and sisters lay forever silent above this planet. Children of Reach who gave up their lives to keep their home safe. Still, it fell to the Covenant. But here we are, back on hallowed ground. Why are we here? To look for any survivors. To find out what transpired here so that it will not happen twice. To honor those lost by recolonizing this fallen world as a memorial to the Children of Reach!"

    "Marines, ready your gear. At 1530 you are dropping in. Squad leaders to command deck for briefing. Sauldron out."

    Five minutes after his voicecom, four squad leaders of the UNSCs finest strode forth into the command dek. Staff Sergeants Micheals, Galbridgth, Brooks, and Vinyard stood at attention before the captain.

    "Alright men. Staff Sergeant brooks, you will be leading Recon Alpha.Your mission is to secure the landing zone for our ground operations. Once we have the go ahead from you and your men, Staff Sergeant Vinyard and his men will drop in four pelican dropships loaded LRVs and any equipment you need. you will be securing the remains of the ONI Command Center located 17 clicks west of the LZ until our engineers arrive to salvage anything we can."

    "Michaels. You will be tasked with reconning the shipyard 30 clicks south. We have intel from the planet's fallen AI that there has been Significant Covenant interest in this area and we want to know why."

    "Galbridth. You will drop down with your ODSTs in the event that we come into contact with something we don't like. Make no mistake, gentlemen. The covenant great interest in this planet and I find the thought of them up and leaving to be ludicrous. Those scaly bastards wouldn't just desert their new prize. If you see anything on that rock that isn't human, you put two in the chest and one in the head. Then, just to be sure, put two more in the sons of bitches."

    He stared at his men. Looked into their eyes and saw the fire burning hotter than Epsilon Erandi itself. These men, these Marines, were eager to make right what the Covenant had done wrong. And they would stop at nothing to see that it happened. The captain stood tall, saluted, and said quietly, yet firmly, "Semper Fi."