When did the Autumn land

Community Halo Universe
1

Sorry if this has been already said.

And I thought about this and got to the same conclusion as Nihilus, you can see my post at HaloSpain were I wrote this same solution before even coming to this forum.

So don’t say I copied Nihilus or Nihilus copied me because we got to the same answer without even knowing about eachother’s existence.

Well, here it is, from The Fall of Reach: The Definitive Edition (there is no change with the 2001 edition)

>>Chapter 36
>>0616 hours

Right at the final line of the chapter (about 0620), Captain Keyes orders an Evac op for the Spartans on the ground while Master Chief is in the Station. But we don’t see any actions being taken.

>>Chapter 37
>>0637 hours

Tells about Master Chief until his arrive at the Autumn. When he gets abroad (let’s suppose at around 0650), Keyes appears much more frightened and considers Reach lost.

Nothing is said about that Evac operation.

So, the Pillar of Autumn had around 30-40 minutes to land, take Cortana’s part from Six, and try to rescue the S-II (though they don’t appear).

In fact, that explains what the yoink happens with that Evacuation. Even in the very first edition of the book, Keyes orders the evac operation but nothing more it’s said about it.

Nothing.

And has always been a 30-40 minute span. And that’d coincide with the time The Pillar of Autumn, the level of Halo: Reach, happens.

Halo Reach is canon. And so, this is the best answer I know of for the appearance of the Pillar.

2

Wow. I never even noticed that line in the book (to be honest I haven’t read it in a couple of years). It makes sense too because Keyes would have no reason to talk about it. That’s why his launch timer had no abort too.

It seems like everything is starting to fit together.

3

never noticed that even though i only read it a couple months ago

4

I would like to point out that the Spartans were expected to get into orbit on their own. The passage does not imply that the Autumn was to land for evac operations regarding the S-IIs.

To quote a passage from chapter 37:

‘Sir,’ the Master Chief said, ‘when will the Pillar of Autumn rendezvous with my planetside team?’
Captain Keyes turned from the Master Chief and stared out into space. ‘We won’t be picking them up,’ he said quietly. 'They were overrun by Covenant forces. They never made orbit. We’ve lost contact with them.

Indeed, even on the last line of chapter 36 Keyes says “Tell them to evac ASAP” not “orders an evac op” as you say OP. There’s a rather distinct difference between the two.

The “never made orbit” line is rather key here as it indicates that Keyes only ordered for the Spartans to evacuate the planet themselves with the Autumn picking them up from space. No implication that Keyes was ordering the Autumn to personally pick anyone up planetside within the pages of The Fall of Reach.

5

> I would like to point out that the Spartans were expected to get into orbit on their own. The passage does not imply that the Autumn was to land for evac operations regarding the S-IIs.
>
> To quote a passage from chapter 37:
>
> ‘Sir,’ the Master Chief said, ‘when will the Pillar of Autumn rendezvous with my planetside team?’
> Captain Keyes turned from the Master Chief and stared out into space. ‘We won’t be picking them up,’ he said quietly. 'They were overrun by Covenant forces. They never made orbit. We’ve lost contact with them.
> ---------------------
>
> Indeed, even on the last line of chapter 36 Keyes says “Tell them to evac ASAP” not “orders an evac op” as you say OP. There’s a rather distinct difference between the two.
>
> The “never made orbit” line is rather key here as it indicates that Keyes only ordered for the Spartans to evacuate the planet themselves with the Autumn picking them up from space. No implication that Keyes was ordering the Autumn to personally pick anyone up planetside within the pages of The Fall of Reach.

While what the OP said is pretty smart, I never noticed the time difference and it does seem to fit in together so kudos, this guy has a good point. The S-II’s were meant to get off the planet on their own, not get picked up by a Halycon class cruiser. Also you should keep in mind that a Halycon class cruiser is not meant to fly in-atmosphere. Landing the Autumn in-atmosphere would be difficult to say the least, probably suicidal. So how did the Autumn successfully land in a dry dock without any outside assistance, considering that the UNSC were fully occupied with fighting the Covenant in orbit. Even if they wanted to, they couldnt spare even one ship to help the Autumn land.

6

I haven’t read all the comics yet but looking into them the third arc of the Fall of Reach comic series may explain it seeing as that set isn’t out yet and it is actually titled, at least according to Halo Nation/Pedia one of the two as the PoA o-o So here’s to the future?

7

> I haven’t read all the comics yet but looking into them the third arc of the Fall of Reach comic series may explain it seeing as that set isn’t out yet and it is actually titled, at least according to Halo Nation/Pedia one of the two as the PoA o-o So here’s to the future?

Yea thats what I’m wondering, the first one Boot Camp, gave some extra info that was not in the book.
So maybe the Final one will give answers. So all we have to do now is wait.