Reach

From ILB

Reach is Earth's primary naval base and shipyard in the Haloverse, a prosperous colony of Earth. The planet orbits Epsilon Eridani. It is 10.5 light years from Earth.

Immediately before the events in the game Halo, Reach was attacked by the Covenant with overwhelming force. The Pillar of Autumn escaped under the assumption that Reach was going to be glassed, which led to the events of Master Chief and Cortana on Halo.

The Covenant, however, desired a Forerunner artifact known as the Holy Light and made the rare decision to launch a major ground offensive. Most everyone on Reach was killed during the assault.

Reach is mentioned in one of Melissa's monologues, as a port where her ship receives maintainance:

"drift off from station, Reach burning in the darkness like a lantern of hope, dockyard after dockyard buzzing with worker /// drones, someone crawling over the back doing detail work on the hull, the warm touch of a welding torch like little licks from a cat's tongue and"

Melissa was created on Reach, according to her axon Question/Answer for the week of October 19.

Reach's destruction is in-game as well. From reach_is_gone.wav (http://transmit.ilovebees.com/outbound/reach_is_gone.wav): "We just got word that the Fleet Base at Reach...the Covenant...Reach is gone."

The Spartans were assembled and trained on Reach. The loss of Reach makes Gilly a bit crazy. Reach is not totally destroyed. Still, a soldier named Joe that Rani meets on the train had his wife Maggie killed on Reach. The fact some people survive on Reach is the reason Tommy, Rani's father, builds a survival bunker.

The fall of Reach happens after the crash of the Apocalypso. The order seems to be: Troy is glassed, then the Apocalypso crash, then Reach falls, then Coral is glassed.