Noble Six meets the rest of Noble Team, shortly before they are dispatched to investigate why a communications relay has gone offline. They discover Covenant forces have invaded Reach. The team is relocated to defend Sword Base, an Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) installation, from a Covenant assault. After repelling the attack, Noble Team meets Catherine Halsey, a scientist and the mastermind behind the Spartan program and their MJOLNIR powered armor. Halsey enquires about Noble's engagement at the relay, suspecting that the Covenant were attempting to retrieve highly classified ONI data from the site.
