Chapter Text
Timeline of Events
1,000,000,000 – 150,000 BCE
The Precursors are the preeminent species in the galaxy, moving beyond sentience into practical godhood. They can traverse galaxies in seconds, control evolution, and create life. They reach an advanced understanding of Mass Effect physics and are responsible for the development of the Mass Relay network, known to them as “Star Roads.” At its heart is the Citadel, the Relays’ hub and the heart of the Precursor civilization.
The Precursors seed the Milky Way with life, looking to raise a species worthy of carrying on their stewardship of the galaxy: The Mantle of Responsibility. They create the Forerunners and seek to elevate them to rule the galaxy, but eventually deem them unworthy of the Mantle. They prepare to elevate humanity over the Forerunners to claim the Mantle. Enraged, the Forerunners attack their creators.
The Precursors, driven insane by the Forerunners’ rebellion, create the Flood as a last-ditch bid at vengeance against the Forerunners.
150,000 BCE: RISE OF THE FORERUNNERS
The Forerunners have colonized much of the Milky Way thanks to Precursor technology. They are now a peaceful race and help elevate undeveloped races.
The first generation of humans begins colonizing the galaxy using more technology left over from the Precursor era. Their civilization grows to rival that of the Forerunners.
109,000 BCE: THE FALL OF MAN
Humanity and the San’Shyuum make first contact with the Flood. Desperate, the allies destroy several Forerunner worlds in the hopes of creating a “no-man’s-land” between them and the Flood. The Forerunners mount a counteroffensive. Humanity retreats from Forerunner space, leading to a Forerunner invasion.
The Forerunner general known as “The Didact” leads his people to victory against humanity after the Human-San’Shyuum Alliance is betrayed. Humanity is devolved into several different subspecies and landlocked to its cradleworld, Erde-Tyrene—what later generations will call Earth.
Unbeknownst to the Forerunners, the human-San’Shyuum alliance had successfully driven the Flood from the galaxy at the expense of victory against the Forerunners.
BETWEEN 109,000 AND 101,300 BCE: THE PRELUDE TO WAR
The Forerunners learn of the Flood and begin planning construction of the Halo array as a weapon of last resort. The Didact opposes construction of the Halo array and is sentenced to imprisonment on the newly-primitivized Earth where his wife, the Librarian, makes her home. Construction of twelve Halo rings begins, together with Shield Worlds intended to protect organic species from the Halos’ devastating firing effect. The Librarian begins archiving species from across the galaxy, placing samples of every species in sarcophagi on the Ark, far outside the Halos’ effect.
100,300 BCE: THE FORERUNNER-FLOOD WAR
Forerunners make first contact with the Flood on planet G617g1. The investigating team are killed and the Flood escapes. The Forerunner-Flood war begins. The Librarian hastens her work.
100,043 BCE: MENDICANT BIAS
Forerunners create the ancilla Mendicant Bias to combat the Flood. It is placed in command of Halo 07 and tasked with hunting the Flood Gravemind. Halo 07 is test-fired, freeing the last surviving Precursor sealed away millennia earlier by Humanity. He is recaptured and imprisoned on Halo 07. Mendicant Bias begins questioning the last Precursor on Halo 07. Their conversation lasts 43 years.
100,000 BCE: THE BEGINNING OF THE END
The Didact is freed by the Forerunner Bornstellar after 1,000 years of imprisonment. Manipulated by the last Precursor, Mendicant Bias returns on Halo 07 and turns on its creators, smashing the Forerunner capital. The new Didact takes control of the Forerunner military. Mendicant Bias seizes control of five of the twelve Halos. The Forerunners destroy them, leaving only seven. A Forerunner artifact bridging Earth and the Ark is buried in Africa by the Librarian. The Forerunners create the ancilla Offensive Bias to counter and fight Mendicant Bias.
100,000 BCE: THE END OF EVERYTHING
The following plays out in hours:
Mendicant Bias and the Flood fleet breach the Forerunners’ defensive line and move against the inner Forerunner colonies, with the majority of their forces sent towards the Citadel. Mendicant Bias commands a fleet of almost five million ships against Offensive Bias’ tens of thousands.
The Didact fires the Halos. All sentient life within three radii of the Milky Way’s center dies.
Mendicant Bias’ organic Flood ships are destroyed by the Halo array. Offensive Bias now outnumbers Mendicant Bias 6-1 and the battle swings in Offensive Bias’ favor. Four minutes later, the Forerunner-Flood war ends. Mendicant Bias’ AI is shattered by Offensive Bias. Parts are hidden on the Ark and on the San’Shyuum home-world.
SOON AFTER 100,000 BCE: A FRESH START
Species archived by the Librarian on the Ark and various Shield Worlds are returned to their home planets by the surviving Forerunners. The Forerunners exit the galaxy. Humanity is given the genetic ‘key’ to the Halo Array in the Forerunners’ absence, in the hopes that they will be able to improve upon the technology to avoid another complete holocaust should the Flood ever return. Specimens of Flood subtypes are secured aboard all surviving Halo installations, their Monitors charged with researching the parasite to potentially develop a less destructive means of destroying them.
30,000 BCE: HUMANITY RETURNS
hom*o sapiens rise to become the dominant human species, eventually killing off the other reseeded human species on their journey out of Africa. The Neanderthals are among the last to die out.
13,000 BCE
The turians of Palaven begin to develop civilization around this time.
8,500 BCE
The second generation of human civilization emerges on Earth.
2100 BCE: CIVIL WAR
The San’Shyuum fight a bloody civil war over the Forerunner Dreadnought. The Reformers defeat the Stoics and retreat to the stars in the Dreadnought.
1900 BCE
Tuchanka, the krogan homeworld, enters the nuclear age. In a global conflict, weapons of mass destruction are released, triggering a nuclear winter. In the resulting devastation, krogan society devolves into a collection of warring clans.
938 BCE: THE SANGHEILI-SAN’SHYUUM WAR
Elsewhere in the galaxy, the Sangheili already have vast interstellar empires thanks to knowledge inherited from the Forerunners. Following contact with the San’Shyuum, their differing beliefs regarding treatment of Forerunner artifacts leads to war.
876 BCE
Through the Forerunner dreadnought, the San’Shyuum gain numerous victories over their foe. Preferring abnegation to annihilation, the Elites abandon their beliefs and begin studying Forerunner artifacts, accelerating their technological development.
852 BC: THE COVENANT
The San’Shyuum/Sangheili War ends, and the two species form a union named “The Covenant.” The Covenant adds further races over the next millennium as they colonize the galaxy, in search of Forerunner artifacts-in particular, the Halo rings.
580 BCE
After developing Slipstream Space capabilities based upon Forerunner technology, the asari begin to explore the Mass Relay network, and eventually discover the Citadel at a hub of many Mass Relays.
520 BCE
The salarians discover the Citadel and open diplomatic relations with the asari.
500 BCE: THE COUNCIL IS FORMED
The Citadel Council is formed. The asari and salarians together colonize the Citadel and establish it as a center of the galactic community, led by the Council. This year is also known as 0 GS, the beginning of the Galactic Standard (GS) timeline. As a gesture of openness with their new asari allies, the Salarian Union opens the records of the League of One. Under threat, the League responds by assassinating every member of the Union's inner cabinet; Special Tasks Group operatives then hunt down and eliminate the League.
~300 BCE
The volus begin exploring and colonizing the stars shortly after discovering Slipspace travel. First contact is made shortly thereafter. Eventually, the Citadel Council commissions the volus to draw up the Unified Banking Act, which establishes a standard galactic currency known as the credit and links all galactic economies.
The turian Unification War occurs. The increasingly isolated and xenophobic colonies on the frontiers of turian space go to war with each other. After years of fighting, the turian Hierarchy sweeps in and pacifies the remaining factions. Animosity between turian colonies continues for decades.
The Council grants the volus the honor of being the first non-Council species with an embassy at the Citadel, rather than a Council seat.
First contact is made with the batarians. They are granted an embassy a century later.
The asari discover the elcor home system and help the elcor locate and activate their nearest mass relay. “Within one elcor lifetime” they establish a regular trade route to the Citadel and are granted an embassy.
First contact is made with the hanar and the quarians. Both races are later granted embassies.
1 CE: The Rachni Wars
The rachni, a species of highly intelligent hive-minded insects, are discovered when a Citadel expedition opens a dormant mass relay leading to their star systems. The rachni prove to be hostile and begin a war with the rest of the galaxy. Negotiation with the rachni queens is impossible because they cannot be contacted in their underground nests on the toxic rachni worlds.
80 CE
The Rachni Wars continue. The salarians make first contact with and uplift the primitive krogan, manipulating them into acting as soldiers for the Citadel Council. The krogan prove able to survive the harsh environments of the rachni worlds and pursue the rachni into their nests, systematically eradicating queens and eggs.
300 CE
The rachni are declared extinct. In gratitude for their aid during the Rachni Wars, the Council rewards the krogan with a new homeworld. Free of the harsh environment of Tuchanka, the krogan population explodes.
300 - 700 CE
The krogan begin to expand exponentially, colonizing many new worlds. Growing concerns about their expansion lead to the founding of the Special Tactics and Reconnaissance (Spectre) branch of the Citadel government.
693 CE
Beelo Gurji, a salarian STG operative, is appointed the first Spectre by the Citadel Council.
700 CE: The Krogan Rebellions
Krogan warlords leverage veterans of the Rachni Wars to annex territory from other races in Citadel space. Eventually the Council demands withdrawal from the asari colony of Lusia, but the krogan refuse. A preemptive strike is made on krogan infrastructure by the Spectres. The Krogan Rebellions begin.
The Citadel Council makes first contact with the turians around this time and persuades them to aid in the war. After the krogan respond to the initial turian offensive by devastating turian colonies with weapons of mass destruction, the turians vow to stop the krogan from ever becoming a threat again.
Some time after the turians join the galactic community, the volus are accepted as a client race of the Turian Hierarchy.
710 CE
Realizing that the krogan will never give in as long as they can replenish their numbers, the turians unleash a salarian-engineered bio-weapon known as the genophage on the krogan. The krogan population starts to decline.
800 CE
The Krogan Rebellions end, though scattered krogan insurgent actions continue for decades. The turians fill the military and peacekeeping niche left by the decimated krogan. The Citadel Conventions are drawn up in the wake of the conflict.
900 CE
The turians are granted a seat on the Citadel Council in recognition for their service in the Krogan Rebellions.
1380s CE
Extensive and unchecked industrial expansion on the drell homeworld Rakhana begins taking a significant toll on the planet's environment.
1776 CE
The United States Marine Corps is founded. It will be the precursor to the UNSC Marine Corps.
1858 CE
The oldest geth log is time-stamped around this time, on quarian creator year 2463, third day of Fal'tash, Waxing Moon.
1873 CE
The oldest geth audio-visual log dates from approximately this time, 15 years after their oldest log. On quarian creator year 2485, 18th day of Lun'shal, New Moon, the geth record the first instance of their creators growing frightened when a unit inquires if geth have souls.
1895 CE: The Geth Revolt
The geth become self-aware. Fearing a geth uprising, the quarians begin dismantling them. The geth revolt against their quarian masters. In the resulting conflict—known to the geth as the Morning War—the geth systematically drive the quarians from their own worlds. The surviving quarians are reduced to living as spacefaring nomads aboard the Migrant Fleet. Contrary to expectations, the geth do not venture outside the former quarian systems into wider Citadel space, instead isolating themselves from the rest of the galaxy behind the Perseus Veil. As punishment for creating the geth, the Citadel Council closes the quarian embassy on the Citadel.
1914-1918 CE: THE GREAT WAR
Humanity’s first industrial World War is fought. It results in casualty rates unlike any previous conflict in recorded human history.
1921 CE
The geth begin construction of a megastructure designed to house and simultaneously run every geth program in existence. Completion of the megastructure, which would allow the geth to maximize their collective processing capacity, is the long-term goal of geth civilization.
1933-1945 CE: WORLD WAR II
Humanity’s second industrial World War is fought. It results in unprecedented death tolls, and is one of the few conflicts in recorded galactic history where the civilian death rate is higher than the military death rate.
16 JULY, 1945 CE: THE NUCLEAR AGE
The first human atomic bomb is exploded in Los Alamos, Nevada, the United States of America. The Cold War between communist East and capitalist West begins shortly after.
1961 CE
April 12: Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becomes the first human in space in 100,000 years.
1969 CE
July 20: Apollo 11 lands on Luna. American astronaut Neil Armstrong becomes the first human to walk on Luna, and the first human to walk on an astronomical object other than Earth, in 100,000 years.
1980s CE
The hanar make first contact with the drell. With their homeworld Rakhana severely depleted and no spaceflight capability, the drell were poised for a massive population crash by 2025 CE. Agreeing to help, the hanar mount a large-scale rescue operation and evacuate approximately 375,000 drell to their own homeworld, Kahje, over the following decade. The remaining 11 billion drell on Rakhana gradually perish, warring over the last reserves of food and water.
1985-1992 CE
The Cold War concludes.
Giotto — First European Space Agency deep space mission; first ESA mission to intercept an asteroid (Halley & Grigg-Skjellerup).
1990 CE
Launch of the Hubble Space Telescope.
1997 CE
Sojourner touches down at Ares Vallis, becoming the first rover to explore Mars. During its three months of operation, the rover captures more than 550 images of the Red Planet.
2015 CE.
SpaceX successfully lands and recovers the first stage of its Falcon 9 rocket after delivering 11 communications satellites to orbit. This represents the first-ever orbital class rocket landing, and humanity’s first major shift towards sustainable space travel.
2069 CE
July 20: Armstrong Outpost at Shackleton Crater is formally founded as the first human settlement on Luna, on the 100th anniversary of the first lunar landing.
2070 CE
Billionaire Victor Manswell, frustrated with the pace of official human space exploration, begins funding his own private spaceflight expedition.
2075 CE
The Manswell Expedition successfully launches from Earth en route to the Alpha Centauri system with 300 colonists aboard in cryogenic stasis. Communications with the vessel are lost soon after.
2080-2140
The Sol system is extensively colonized under the purview of the United Nations, which is granted extraordinary powers by its member states following the loss of the Manswell Expedition.
2140: THE JOVIAN MOONS CAMPAIGN
United Nations peacekeeping forces clash with separatist Friedans, a neo-fascist movement centered on Europa, and the neo-communist Kosloviks. The conflict is then the largest spaceborne military action in the recorded history of the Sol system, and demonstrates the inability of Earth’s divided nation-states to maintain an cohesive interplanetary empire.
FEBRUARY 2142 - SEPTEMBER 2143: THE RAINFOREST WARS
A nineteenth month long conflict in South America between the United Nations, the Friedans, and the Kosloviks leads to dramatic death tolls and a major famine on Earth.
2144
Humanity forms the United Nations Space Command.
A UNSC expeditionary force puts down Koslovak and Friedan rebels on Mars. This marks the first offworld deployment of the UNSC Marine Corps.
2148 CE: Humanity Discovers Mass Effect Physics
A UNSC exploratory team discovers a small cache of highly advanced Forerunner technology hidden deep beneath the surface of Mars in the south polar region of Promethei Planum. Building on the remnants of this long extinct race, humans quickly explore the science of Mass Effect fields and other technology, leading to the development of early Slipspace travel and beginning detailed exploration of the Sol system.
2149 CE
Following information from the translated data cache on Mars, humans discover that Charon, Pluto's moon, is actually a massive piece of dormant Forerunner (in reality Precursor) technology, a Mass Relay, encased in ice. Once activated, Jon Grissom leads the first team of explorers through the relay, which instantaneously transports them to another relay in Epsilon Eridani, 36 light-years away. The explorers discover that the Relays are part of a vast network, making travel across the galaxy possible.
2150 CE
The Colonial Authority begins the first surveys for colonization prospects outside the Sol System. One of these surveys discovers the planet Reach.
2151 CE
To defend its expanding territory, humanity begins constructing a massive fleet and space station in Epsilon Eridani, the nexus of several key Mass Relays, even though they have yet to encounter another intelligent spacefaring race.
An accident at Singapore International Spaceport exposes hundreds of humans to dust-form element zero. Roughly 30% of the children born in Singapore after element zero exposure suffer from cancerous growths.
2152 CE
The Colonial Administration begins settlement of humanity's first extrasolar colony on Epsilon Eridani II—the planet Reach. Later that year, additional colonies are founded on Eden Prime and Terra Nova. Reach becomes the founding world of the Inner Colonies.
2157 CE: THE FIRST CONTACT WAR
Humanity makes violent first contact with another spacefaring race: the turians. The turians observe human explorers attempting to activate a dormant Mass Relay, a practice forbidden by galactic law after the Rachni Wars, and attack. Over the next three months, a brief but tense conflict known by humans as the First Contact War and by turians as the Relay 314 Incident ensues.
The First Contact War culminates in the turian siege and occupation of Shanxi, the first human world to fall to an alien race. Admiral Kastanie Drescher leads the UNSC Second Fleet in battle against Shanxi's occupiers one month later, catching the turians by surprise and evicting them from the planet.
The turians prepare for a full-scale war against humanity, but this draws the attention of the Citadel Council. The Council intervenes before hostilities escalate further, revealing the existence of the greater galactic community to humanity and brokering a peace between them and the turians.
2161
The Mortal Dictata Act is passed by the UEG Parliament.
2162
Humanity is inducted as an official member of the Citadel Races.
2170
Humanity is granted a reprieve of the AI ban, citing ongoing peaceful coexistence between humans and AIs. Human AI technology allows mankind to become a major superpower in Citadel space.
2276
The Skyllian Blitz. Batarian slavers strike the human colony world Elysium in the Skyllian Verge. They are fought off by planetary militia forces, Colonial Military Authority peacekeepers, and off duty UNSC Marines, but large numbers of human civilians are taken as slaves. At the urging of human diplomats, the Council disbars the Batarian Hegemony from the Citadel.
2278
The Battle of Torfan. Forces belonging to the UNSC and the Turian Hierarchy attack the batarian colony world Torfan in retaliation for the Skyllian Blitz and more recent attacks against human and turian worlds, bombarding it with nuclear weapons. Ground operations result in total human victory, with Marine Captain Jonas Heller being awarded the Colonial Cross for Valor due to his actions against batarian ground forces. Stories that Heller’s unit committed war crimes against the batarian population are suppressed by ONI, but Heller earns the nickname “The Butcher of Torfan.”
2278-2283: THE TERMINUS CONFLICT
Following the Battle of Torfan, the batarians launch assaults on dozens of human and turian worlds in the Terminus Systems. The Citadel alliance responds, launching a major invasion of batarian space. The effort is spearheaded by the UNSC Fifth Fleet. Dozens of batarian worlds are taken in months, and those which are deemed too difficult to take are subjected to nuclear bombardment. The Hegemony agrees to an armistice in 2283, and is forced to emancipate all slaves, pay an indemnity of nine trillion credits to all races affected by batarian piracy, and confine its borders to systems already controlled by the Hegemony. The baratians initially refuse the peace, but a nuclear strike launched by a force of UNSC prowlers on Kar’Shan’s naval foundries forces the government’s hand. Batarian slavery continues within batarian space, but no government-sponsored raids are launched again.
2292: REPRESENTATION
Humanity is granted a seat on the Citadel Council with the support of the turians as recognition for their service against the batarians. This is strongly protested by the krogan and several other races.
2300-2490
Tensions between Earth and the colonies slowly begin to grow.
2490: EMPIRE
Humanity has colonized over eight hundred worlds, including the planets Reach and Harvest.
2492
The human colony world Far Isle is razed by nuclear bombardment following a major revolt. Tensions between Earth and the Outer Colonies are strained to the breaking point. The UNSC is condemned by the asari and salarians for their overreaction.
2494: INSURRECTION
The Colonial Insurrection begins in earnest. Large numbers of human biotics are noted among Insurrectionist forces.
2496-2497
Operation CHARLEMAGNE results in UNSC victory, retaking Eridanus II from Secessionist Union forces under former Marine Colonel Robert Watts.
2506
The UNSC abandons Project Orion – the first generation of super soldiers – because of expense and time.
2511
The future Master Chief Petty Officer John-117 is born.
2513
Operation TREBUCHET is launched in the Eridanus and Epsilon Eridani systems.
2517: THE SPARTAN II PROGRAM
75 children are abducted and conscripted into the UNSC’s Spartan II program. John is among them, and becomes a squad leader shortly after training begins.
2525: THE COVENANT WAR
The fourteen year-old Spartan IIs undergo extensive cybernetic and genetic modification. Thirty die, twelve are disabled.
SPARTAN Blue Team is deployed for the first time and successfully captures Colonel Watts aboard the Insurrectionist freighter Laden.
The human agricultural world Harvest is glassed by a Covenant warship. Humanity is informed that the Covenant intends to wage a war of annihilation. All UNSC and CMA assets are called for service. The Citadel Races are obliged to join the war, but are unable to curb the might of the Covenant. The Citadel-Covenant War begins.
The Spartans, newly equipped with MJOLNIR Mark IV armor, engage the Covenant above Chi Ceti IV, boarding and destroying a Covenant capital ship with the loss of only one man.
Operation TREBUCHET is indefinitely suspended.
2526
March 1: The Second Battle of Harvest. The lone Covenant battleship orbiting Harvest is destroyed, in exchange for thirteen UNSC ships. Vice Admiral Preston Cole is hailed as a hero for his victory, and the casualty reports are hidden by ONI.
Amasa, Asmara, Bliss, and Circinius IV are glassed.
2526-FEBRUARY 5, 2531: THE HARVEST CAMPAIGN
UNSC and turian forces engage Covenant troops on Harvest. The campaign lasts five years and ends in a pyrrhic Citadel victory. As the Covenant continues to push through the Outer Colonies, Harvest loses strategic value and the Citadel military pulls out.
2529
Madrigal and Hat Yai are glassed.
2531
Troops from the UNSC Spirit of Fire engage Covenant troops on the partially-glassed planets Harvest and Arcadia. A Mass Relay opened from Arcadia leads Spirit of Fire to an isolated Forerunner Shield World where humanity makes first contact with the Flood. Sergeant John Forge detonates Spirit of Fire’s slipspace drive and destroys the planet. The Spirit of Fire escapes and begins its long journey home, with her crew in cryosleep. The ship and crew are listed as “Missing, Presumed Lost.”
2532: SPARTAN III
The first 300 volunteer Spartan IIIs enter training. Cheaper and weaker than Spartan IIs, the IIIs are to be produced in much greater numbers with far fewer training casualties.
Selvos, Cyone, and Rocam are glassed.
2535
Jericho VII is glassed.
2536
Gellix and Xerceo are glassed.
2537
Sanctum, Terra Nova, and Demeter are glassed.
2540
Horizon, Eden Prime, and Bostra are glassed.
2542
Palaven, Alluvion, Irune, and Phoros are glassed.
2543
18-year old John Shepard enlists in the UNSC Navy.
APRIL 18, 2543: ADMIRAL COLE’S LAST STAND
Vice Admiral Cole, the hero of Harvest, is presumed dead after detonating one hundred SHIVA-class nuclear warheads in the core of the gas giant Viperidae. Over three hundred Covenant ships are destroyed.
JULY 9, 2544
Ilium is glassed.
February-July, 2545
The Batarian Hegemony is destroyed. Few batarians survive the campaign, and are reduced to begging for Citadel aid. Most surviving batarian soldiers blame humanity for alienating them from the Council and begin a campaign of terrorism against the UNSC.
2546
New Llanelli is glassed.
2547
Desperate for a propaganda victory, the UNSC makes the Spartan II program public. Spartan IIs become legendary. When killed, they are listed as Missing in Action to maintain the image of their invincibility.
2550
Thessia, Tevura, Magna, and Minab are glassed.
The quarian Migrant Fleet is discovered by the Covenant Fleet of Particular Justice in the Kepler Verge. Nearly all quarians in the galaxy die during the two hour-battle. Only a handful of surviving ships manage a blind slipspace jump in accordance with the Cole Protocol; less than 4,000 quarians remain alive in the whole Milky Way galaxy.
September 9-22, 2550: THE CITADEL FALLS
The Citadel Defense Fleet is unable to defend the Citadel and is defeated by a Covenant fleet ten times its size. The Citadel is occupied by the Covenant, who consider it a “holy relic.” A month-long ground war between the Covenant and Citadel Security follows, resulting in the total extermination of the Citadel’s population of 13.2 million beings. Humanity becomes the de facto leader of the Citadel Alliance.
2551
MOST CITADEL COLONY WORLDS HAVE BEEN GLASSED BY THE COVENANT. TRILLIONS OF BEINGS ARE DEAD. HUMANITY IS THE LAST CREDIBLE MILITARY POWER LEFT IN THE CITADEL ALLIANCE.
August 2552: THE FALL OF REACH
The Covenant discover Reach, humanity’s last remaining stronghold before Earth.
August 14: SPARTAN Noble Team destroys a Covenant Supercarrier at the cost of Chief Warrant Officer Jorge-052. It is immediately replaced by hundreds more.
August 23: Noble Team helps evacuate the city of New Alexandria. The city is subsequently glassed. Lieutenant Commander Catherine-B320 is killed by a Covenant sniper in the midst of the bombardment.
August 30: Lieutenant B-312, Warrant Officer Emile-A239, and Commander Carter-A259 die evacuating Cortana’s AI core to the UNSC Pillar of Autumn. The Pillar of Autumn, joined by the Prowler UNSC Normandy, makes a slipspace jump using secret Forerunner data entrusted to Cortana. No one besides Cortana is aware the jump is not blind. Reach is subsequently glassed.
SEPTEMBER 19, 2552: HALO
Cast of Characters
- UNSC Pillar of Autumn (C-709)
Captain Jacob Keyes, UNSC Pillar of Autumn commanding
Major Antonio Silva, Autumn ODST contingent, commanding
Lieutenant Melissa McKay, ODST
Cortana, CTN 0452-9; Autumn shipboard AI
Master Chief Petty Officer John-117
Staff Sergeant Avery J. Johnson, UNSC Marine Corps
Private Wallace A. Jenkins, UNSC Marine Corps
- UNSC Normandy (SR-1)
Commander John Shepard, Normandy commanding
Lieutenant Charles Pressly, Normandy XO
Edie, EDI 0927-2; Normandy shipboard AI
Flight Lieutenant Jeff Moreau, helmsman
Marine Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko, Normandy Marine contingent commanding
Gunnery Sergeant Ashley Williams, UNSC Marine Corps
Garrus Vakarian, turian Commander, acting gunnery officer
Tali’Zorah nar Rayyah, quarian civilian refugee, acting engineering officer
Liara T’soni, asari civilian refugee, acting science officer, UNSC Normandy
Urdnot Wrex, krogan Battle Master; attached to Marine contingent, UNSC Normandy
