Prologue
Reach had fallen to the unparalleled might of the Covenant Empire. All but one member of Spartan Fireteam Noble were killed in action, defending their home. Noble Five was the first to lay down his life for his home. The only Spartan II on Noble Team detonated an improvised bomb. The bomb was based on speculation and not anything concrete, and also one of the most expensive pieces of equipment in the UNSC, a Slipspace Drive. Noble Two was killed not long afterward as the Covenant glassed New Alexandria. After the failed attempt to defend New Alexandria, she and the rest of Noble rendezvous at the base of Olympic Tower.
Shortly after Noble's newest member arrived, the Covenant started to glass the planet. Noble Two had stepped away from the group and out into the open to get a better link to Colonel Holland, and a Covenant CCS-Class battlecruiser fired its glassing beam just five meters from her position. She was vaporized by the extreme heat.
The rest of Noble Team had lost shields due to the large amounts of radiation from being in such close proximity to the glassing beam. The remaining 4 members were sent back to Sword Base for what they were led to believe was a torch and burn operation to prevent sensitive information away from the Covenant. Deep in the bowels of Sword Base, Noble encountered a hallway with no visible doors. Noble was then contacted by Dr.Halsey who revealed the true nature of their mission to Sword Base. They were required to deliver an AI fragment to the UNSC Pillar of Autumn, an old but extremely well maintained Halcyon-Class Light Cruiser.
Noble One ordered Noble 3 to escort Dr.Halsey to Castle Base not knowing it had already fallen to the Covenant. He then had Nobles Four and Six set up in the back of a Pelican Dropship as a rear defence. Five minutes from the Pillar of Autumn, three Banshee Fighters and a Phantom Dropship found and chased the Pelican. Noble One ordered Four and Six to drop out onto a mesa and make a run for the Aszod Shipbreaking Yards where the Pillar of Autumn was moored.
They jumped and were not noticed by the Covenant forces giving chase. A Scarab was called to eliminate the Pelican as the air forces were diverted to a Covenant staging ground. Noble One realized he didn't have the firepower to take down a Scarab but he needed to destroy the Scarab before it saw his team running for the shipyards. As he flew closer to the Scarab, it turned its top mounted cannon on the Pelican and melted it to slag.
Noble Four told Noble Six to make a break for the Autumn while he would try to destroy the Scarab from the inside. As Noble Six ran for Aszod, Noble Four clambered onto the top of the Scarab and ventured down into the depths of the mobile weapons platform. Noble Four killed the Elite Major commanding the Scarab and its crew. In his dying breath, the Major sent out a distress call to all nearby forces claiming that there was a Demon in a Scarab.
The Covenant, fearing what a Spartan might be able to do with a Scarab, sent four Elite Zealots to eliminate the Spartan. A Phantom dropped off the four Zealots on the Scarab as Noble Four set plasma grenades of the Scarab's reactor. Two of the Zealots cloaked while the other two took the Spartan head on. As Noble Four turned around he was met with the snarling face of a Zealot weilding an energy sword. The Zealot swung from left to right nearly gutting the Spartan. Noble Four unsheathed his kukri and stabbed the Elite so that the blade curved up from its gut through its lower chest.
The Zealot keeled over, dying and a second Zealot fired twin Plasma Rifles at the Spartan, draining his shields and injuring the Spartan, The two cloaked Zealots saw that the Spartan hadn't intended on controlling the Scarab and instead wanted to destroy it. They decided that the loss of two Zealots to a Demon was reasonable enough and left to the Phantom and speed away. The last remaining Zealot on the Scarab never got the chance to kill the Spartan as the Plasma Grenades blew the reactor and destroyed the Scarab as well as any living thing in or on the Scarab. Noble Six, now the last remaining member of Noble Team, Noble 3 having died from Hunter Bond Brothers protecting Dr.Halsey, arrived near the Pillar of Autumn. He saw that the landing pads were controlled by Covenant forces and quickly dispatched them to make way for Captain Keyes to take the AI fragment.
Keyes landed on one of the pads in a Pelican Gunship with a squad of marines to receive the fragment. As the AI was being handed over, a CRS-Class Light Cruiser was seen passing over a nearby mountain. Noble Six quickly stepped back from the Pelican and dashed for the ground-based MAC turret. Noble Six cleared the immediate air space for the Pelican to return to the Autumn while he waited for the Covenant Cruiser to get into minimum effective range.
As soon as the Cruiser was close enough, Noble Six fired a round into the beam emitter on the ventral side of the ship, crippling it and sending it down to the ground. As Noble Six was climbing out of the firing cab, two Elite Zealots jumped onto it. Noble Six grabbed the SPNKr he picked up from the security office near the landing pads and sent one missile at each Zealot, Killing them. He watched the Pillar of Autumn cast off and take to the stars. Noble Six left Aszod and went to look for UNSC survivors, wherever they might be. He made his way to Castle Base and found that it had enough Covenant troops to invade a large city. Unbenounced to him, a cloaked Sahara-Class Prowler was approaching Castle Base to rescue Dr.Halsey.
Noble Six found Noble Three's body and grabbed his sniper rifle. As Noble Six spotted Halsey through the scope, the Prowler decloaked and opened fire on the base, providing enough of a distraction for Six to sneak in and grab Dr.Halsey, and get out.