History and challenges of planet Reach

Reach was a human colony world in the Epsilon Eridani system, located within the Inner colonies. At 10.5 light years from the Sol system, it is located at Earth's metaphorical doorstep. Reach is the fourth largest planet in the Epsilon Eridani system, and second closest to the star Epsilon Eridani.

Forerunner Era and Pre-Colonization

The Forerunners once had some sort of presence on Reach circa 100,000 BCE. At that time, Reach only had one moon; Csodaszarvas. They built at least one structure beneath Menachite Mountain. A large Forerunner star ship also crashed on Reach.

Reach's second moon, Turul, was captured in Reach's gravity, somewhere between 80,000 BCE and 70,000 BCE.

First confirmations of Reach's existence to Earth's humans were in the early 21st century.

It was originally colonized in 2362, by the Odyssey for its rich titanium deposits. The mines all over the planet, ran thousands of meters deep. ONI's CASTLE Base was located in one of these mines underneath Menachite Mountain. The Office of Naval Intelligence commandeered the mine after it breached a secret complex beneath Reach's surface containing a Forerunner artifact that was highly desired by the Covenant. The fact that this artifact was so valuable to them is perhaps the main reason anyone survived the aftermath of the Fall of Reach at all, as the Covenant were afraid of destroying it. This facility was also the birthplace of the legendary SPARTAN-II Program.

The Spartan-IIs were trained and housed on Reach. It was said by Fred-104 that Reach was their home, and every Spartan-II would fight to the death to defend her. It was hinted that Reach was more important to the Spartans than Earth, the home world of humanity.

The Insurrection

Despite its position as the UNSC's largest naval base, strategic headquarters, and second-largest population center, the Epsilon Eridani system was wracked by Insurrectionist activity throughout the early 26th Century. Reach and its sister planets, Tribute and Circumstance, became notorious for the increasingly-sophisticated bombing campaigns by Insurrectionist groups which killed thousands in 2524 alone, and the increasingly-harsh reprisals by the UNSC in Operation: TREBUCHET which only exacerbated the situation. Public opinion of the two planets reached an all time low by 2524, with their general population being from the liberal pro-secession circles, was now used as a reactionary slogan by people who saw a total UNSC abandonment of the star system as more practical than continuing the fight.

In 2525, mere months prior to the outbreak of the Human-Covenant war, Reach was the site of a major terrorist bombing against the luxury liner National Holiday. Two taxi-shuttles filled with explosives were rammed into the liner, resulting in the liner losing control and plummeting into the atmosphere, incinerating everyone on board as well as burning the paint off any ship in a 2 kilometer radius.

Between November 2530 and May 2531, Blue Team came to Reach to break up a saboteur ring.

At some point during the Insurrection, Operation: CLEAN SWEEP took place on Reach.