August 18, 2552, 11:10 a.m...
Today was the second day of the Battle of New Alexandria. The raging flames of war had spread from dozens of miles outside the city all the way to its outskirts. At that moment, large numbers of UNSC Marines, Army troops, a small number of Orbital Drop Shock Troopers, colonial garrison forces, city police, and other units had all been ordered into the tense and brutal urban combat unfolding against the invading Covenant forces around the city.
Dramatically, it was only now—only after explosions, fire, smoke, and the constant roar of guns and artillery had reached the center of this enormous city, and stray bullets and shells had occasionally flown into it—that many New Alexandria citizens, who had been kept completely in the dark, finally realized in shock that Reach's situation had become this dire. The Covenant had already reached their doorstep, and had even fought their way onto this supposedly heavily defended military fortress world known as the "Gateway to Earth" and the "Stronghold of the Inner Colonies"?!
Thus, once the fighting began in the outskirts, large numbers of quick-witted or influential people hurriedly began making arrangements to evacuate. However, they soon discovered that the battle in space was also raging, and even UNSC warships were at a disadvantage. There was now not a single vessel capable of safely carrying them into space and away from this increasingly deadly planet.
Immediately afterward, New Alexandria inevitably descended into chaos...
Large numbers of civilians fled by whatever means they could find. To them, even if they could no longer board a ship and escape into space, far from Reach, which had become a battlefield, it would still be enough if they could temporarily get away from New Alexandria.
However, how many of those blindly fleeing officials,