It was 06:08 on the morning of August 30, 2552.
In space above Reach, the Covenant fleet still had more than 150 ships of various types, vastly outnumbering the remnants of the UNSC human fleet and its orbital defense platforms! That left them with plenty of ships to spare: some continued attacking and harassing the UNSC fleet, while others turned to the surface and kept dropping large numbers of troops!
This left the badly battered human UNSC fleet struggling to cope. They did their best to attack the landing craft the Covenant had launched toward Reach, but had no capacity to spare even a single warship to support the fighting on the planet's surface.
The UNSC could barely protect itself. All it could do was make a last stand...
So, after certain decision-makers realized that their fanciful "Operation: RED FLAG" had no chance of success, they finally gave up and ordered the Spartan-IIs, who had been standing by aboard the Pillar of Autumn, to begin carrying out combat missions entirely unrelated to the original plan.
Soon, Master Chief John-117, Linda-058, and James-005, who had been assigned to Blue Team, were ordered to clear the navigation data from the prowler Circumference at Gamma Station, so it could carry out the Cole Protocol in its place! The remaining Spartans—the powerful Spartan-IIs, the supersoldiers designated Red Team—were tasked with landing on Reach and protecting the generators so vital to the orbital defense platforms, preserving what little dignity the UNSC had left.
It certainly seemed foolish. The UNSC and ONI were so desperate that they had sent their precious Spartans—assets of immeasurable value to ONI—to carry out a defensive mission that would do nothing to make use of their true capabilities?
Soon, the Covenant ground forces began their full-scale assault on Reach almost simultaneously,