Shadows of Reach
October 2559. It has been a year since the renegade artificial
intelligence Cortana issued a galaxy-wide ultimatum, subjecting many
worlds to martial law under the indomitable grip of her Forerunner
weapons. Outside her view, the members of Blue Team—John-117, the Master
Chief; Fred-104; Kelly-087; and Linda-058—are assigned from the UNSC Infinity to make a covert insertion onto the ravaged planet Reach.
Their
former home and training ground—and the site of humanity’s most
cataclysmic military defeat near the end of the Covenant War—Reach still
hides myriad secrets after all these years. Blue Team’s mission is to
penetrate the rubble-filled depths of CASTLE Base and recover top-secret
assets locked away in Dr. Catherine Halsey’s abandoned
laboratory—assets which may prove to be humanity’s last hope against
Cortana.
But Reach has been invaded by a powerful and ruthless
alien faction, who have their own reasons for being there. Establishing
themselves as a vicious occupying force on the devastated planet, this
enemy will soon transform Blue Team’s simple retrieval operation into a
full-blown crisis. And with the fate of the galaxy hanging in the
balance, mission failure is not an option…
Authored by Troy Denning
