Location: White House, Washington D.C, Earth.
Later that day
A frenzy of activity had erupted at the White House. They knew something major had happened at Reach, but they didn't know what. President Samuel was in his office going over reports of what might be the cause for the activity. He was told that a Covenant vessel had attacked Reach with a full force army. Samuel did believe this, but he knew something was wrong about the attack. Why only attack Reach with one vessel? All the other planets the Covenant had attacked were attacked by massive fleets of Covenant ships. So why only one? Just then, a knock came at his office door. Samuel got up, walked over to the door and opened it. A general was standing here. He looked a right mess. He was panting, parts of his uniform were torn at the sleeves and the chest and he had a bandage around his right arm.
"General, what the hell happened to you?" Samuel asked.
"Mr president," the general said, stepping inside the office and closing the door. "Reach was attacked."
"I know Reach was attacked," Samuel replied. "I have a report on my desk saying that a Covenant ship attacked Reach earlier today, but was destroyed."
"No, sir," the general said. "I have just escaped from Reach in the Michigan. We were attacked by a fleet of over seventy Covenant ships. They've killed hundreds of thousands and they have glassed the planet,"
Samuel shook his head. He chuckled slightly.
"No," he said. "No, this can't be true. This has gotta be some sort of joke, right?"
"Excuse me, Mr president?" a woman secretary said as she opened the door to his office. "Excuse me, sir. I…" she trailed off when she saw the general.
"What the hell happened to you?" she asked.
"Don't worry, Chelsea," Samuel told the secretary. "The general here just had a lucky escape from the Covenant,"
"Yeah, your damn right it was a lucky escape!" the general shouted.
"Sssh!" Samuel hissed. "Keep your voice down. Do you want to attract attention to yourself?"
"Is everything alright?" a voice asked.
Two politicians stood in the doorway next to the secretary.
"Jesus Christ, Parker. What the hell happened to you?" one of the politicians asked
"He had a lucky escape from the Covenant," the secretary replied.
"Oh, well loads of people have had lucky escapes as well," the other politician said.
"Not like this!" the general hissed at them.
"Okay, general," Samuel said. "I think you've had your joke,"
"IT'S NOT A JOKE!" the general yelled. "I am telling you, we were attacked!"
The general took several deep breaths to calm down.
"Look, Mr president," he said after a few minutes. "Do you have the task force member mainframe?"
"Yes, why?" Samuel asked.
The general took out a small square object that was no bigger than a keyboard key.
"Could you please get it out," the general said.
Samuel got up and walked behind his desk. He pressed a button at the side of his desk. A small computer screen came out of the middle of his desk. A small tower with a square disk slot rose up out of the desk and stood alongside the computer screen.
The general put the square inside the disk slot. At once, the computer screen sprang to life. Icons began to appear on the computer screen. There were thirteen icons along the top and five that went down the side. Each icon was in the shape of a human.
"This is each member of the task force," the general said. "Their suits were built with a life device. It's kind of like a tracking device, but it doesn't track them. What it does is that it tells us whether the member is alive or dead."
"How can you tell?" Samuel asked.
The general typed in a code. All the icons flashed green.
"That is how we can tell," the general answered. "If they flash green, they're alive. If they don't, they're dead."
"What is they're damaged?" Samuel asked the general.
"Even if they are damaged, the suit will still transmit a signal to tell us whether the member is alive or not." the general answered.
The general typed in another code. This time, none of the icons flashed green.
"And this is today," the general said to Samuel.
Samuel went wide-eyed. He was overcome with shock and confusion. He couldn't believe it. Every single member of the task force had been killed. That task force was the only hope for humanity. And now it was gone. It would only be a matter of time before the rest of humanity would follow.
"Mr president, are you alright?" the secretary asked.
"The general's right," Samuel said. "Every member of the new task force was stationed at Reach. He's right. It's been glassed and the task force has been completely annihilated."
"What are you saying, Mr president?" one of the politicians asked.
"I'm saying, Reach is gone and the new task force is gone as well." Samuel replied. "The Covenant will be heading straight for Earth. Order everyone on the planets in the second Sol to this part of the universe."
"Mr President…?" the general said.
"Get all the defences on all the planets in this Sol ready," Samuel ordered. "There's no doubt the Covenant will bring their entire fleet to witness our defeat,"
"Mr president…?" the general repeated.
"What is it?" Samuel asked the general.
The general pointed to the computer screen. Samuel looked at the screen. The icons were still there.
"What's the matter?" Samuel asked the general.
"Count the number of icons, sir," the general answered.
Samuel thought this was a strange thing to do, but he did so. He began to count the number of the icons. It was only when he got to the last five that he noticed something strange.
Sixty…Sixty one…Sixty two…Sixty three…Sixty four…what the?
"There's only sixty four here," Samuel said to the general.
"That means there must be one out there still." the general replied.
"But I thought you said that their suits would transmit the signal even if they were damaged," Samuel said to the general.
"They do, but I have no idea what's happening here," the general told him.
"Sir!" someone exclaimed.
A worker squeezed past the gap between one of the politicians and the door and ran up to the desk.
"Mr president, we have contact with the Axiom," he said.
"The Axiom," the general said, aghast. "That ship was at Reach."
"It managed to get away just as the Covenant were glassing the planet," the worker told the general.
"Take us to him," Samuel ordered.
The worker nodded and ran out of the office. Samuel, the general, the secretary and two politicians followed. The worker, eventually stopped outside a door. The worker opened and stepped inside the room. The room was another radar room. Workers were either on control panels or going over past reports from other parts of the BnL colonies.
"Mr president!" another nearby worker exclaimed. Everyone got up out of the seats and gave a salute to the president.
"At ease, everyone," Samuel said. Everyone lowered their hands.
Samuel followed the worker over to a control panel. The worker typed in a code on the control panel's keyboard just below a computer screen. Seconds later, a face appeared on screen. It was captain McCrea.
"Mr president," McCrea said, giving a salute. "It's good to see you,"
"Good to see you to, captain," Samuel replied. "I'm glad you managed to escape from Reach,"
"Not only have me, the crew and several hundred soldiers escaped from Reach," McCrea told them. "We also have Eve with us,"
All of a sudden, Samuel felt like light had been shone in a dark place that hadn't seen light for years. Samuel had just heard that McCrea had Eve.
"That's great," Samuel said, happiness inside him again. "We still have a chance. We can…"
He trailed off. Samuel had only just realised that Eve was the last member of the task force alive. Also, he knew that the entire E.R organization was on Reach today. It felt like that he had just come out of the darkness into the light to escape. And then, as quick as it came, that one chance to escape was gone.
"McCrea," Samuel said. "The entire task force had been destroyed, except for Eve,"
"Your kidding," McCrea said, unable to believe what he had just heard. "No. It can't be true,"
Sadly, Samuel shook his head.
"It is true," he said. "Also, the entire E.R organization, including members and command, was on Reach when you were attacked."
"Didn't Eve have loads of friends in the E.R?" McCrea asked.
Samuel nodded. A sad came upon his face.
"How are we going to tell her?" he thought. "She'll be devastated,"
"I'll let her know," McCrea said. Samuel nodded.
"Thank you, McCrea," Samuel replied.