The year is 2552. Planet Earth still exists, but overpopulation has
forced many of her former residents to colonize other worlds. Faster-than-light travel is now a reality, and Earth's unified
government, through the United Nations Space Command, has put its full weight begind the colonization effort; millions of
humans now live on habitable planets in otehr solar systems. A keystone of humanity's colonization efforts is the planet Reach,
an intersteller naval yard that builds colony ships for civilians and warship's for the UNSC's armed forces. Conveniently
close to Earth, Reach is also a hub of scientific and military activity.
Thirty-two years ago, contact with the outer colony Harvest was lost. A battlegroup sent
to investigate was almost completely distroyed; only one badly damaged ship returned back to Reach. Its crew told of a seemingly
unstoppable alien warship that had effortlessly annihilated their forces.
This was humankind;s first encounter with a group of aliens they eventually came to know
as the Covenant, a collective of alien races united in their fanatical religious devotion. Covenant religious elders declased
humanity an affront to the gods, and the Covenant warrior caste waged a holy war upon humanity with gruesome diligence.
After a series of crushing and obilerated colonies, UNSC Admiral Preston COle established
the Cole Protocol: no vessel may inadvertenly lead the Covenant to Earth. When forced to withdraw, ships must avoid Earth-bound
vectors-even if that means jumping without proper navigational calculations. Vessels in danger or capture must self-destruct.
On Reach, a secret military project to create cyborg super-soldiers takes on newfound
importance. The soldiers of the SPARTAN-II project rack up an impressive record against the Covenant in test deployments,
but there are too few of them to turn the tide of the war.
Existing SPARTAN-II soldiers are recalled to Reach for further augmentation. The plan:
board a Covenant vessel with the improved SPARTAN-II's and learn the location of the Covenant home world. Two days before
the mission begins, Covenant forces strike Reach and annihilate the colony. The Covenant are now on Earth's doorstep. One
ship, the Pillar of Autumn, escapes with the last SPARTAN-II and makes a blind jump into deep space, hoping to lead
the Covenant away from Earth.
