Reach takes place in a futuristic science fiction setting; the year is 2552, shortly before the events of the video game Halo: Combat Evolved,and during the events of the novel Halo: The Fall of Reach. Humans, under the auspices of the United Nations Space Command (UNSC), have been waging a long war against a collective of alien races known as the Covenant. By the events of Reach, almost all of humanity's interstellar colonies have fallen. Reach itself is an Earth-like colony that serves as the UNSC's main military hub. The colony is home to over 700 million civilians in addition to the military presence.
The game follows the actions of "Noble Team", a UNSC special operations unit composed of elite supersoldiers known as Spartans.[16] Players assume the role of a new addition to the team identified by the call sign Noble Six. Noble Team's leader is Carter-A259, a no-nonsense soldier. His second-in-command, Catherine-B320 (referred to by other team members as "Kat"), has a bionic arm; together, Carter and Kat are the only remaining original members of Noble Team. The other current members include heavy weapons specialist and surviving Spartan-II Jorge-052, assault specialist Emile-A239, and marksman Jun-A266.
