Raid on Visegrád Relay

"We're going to introduce ourselves to whoever took it out, then Kat's going to get it back online."

- Carter-A259

The Raid on Visegrád Relay was the first engagement of the Fall of Reach, between the UNSC and the Covenant.

Background
The UNSC was losing the Human-Covenant war. The Covenant were pushing further and further into the Inner Colonies. Reach was at this point at an 87.2% probability of being found by the Covenant. On top of this, reports were pointing to the People's Occupation planning to do something on Reach.

All this tension culminated on the night of July 23rd, 2552, when the Visegrád Relay was shut off. The UNSC thinking it is an Insurrectionist plot, sent out the Army team 3 Charlie. 3 Charlie was very quickly declared MIA, and the UNSC feared the absolute worse. Noble Team was preped and sent out, despite objections from the Office of Naval Intelligence.

As Noble Team arrived at Visegrád, they were cut off from the rest of the UNSC. They began to investigate plasma burns and question the locals who were still alive. With this, they realised, it was not a rebel attack.

Battle
"Contacts? It's the damn Covenant!"

- Jorge-052

While walking through a farming compound, Noble Team were engaged by the Covenant, beginning the fight. Noble Team fought through several more squads of Covenant. Realizing the importance of the getting the Relay to work, Carter-A259 ordered Catherine-B320 to get it back to working order, and Emile-A239 to assist. After Kat and Emile departed for the Relay, Carter-A259, Jorge-052, SPARTAN-B312 acquired a Spade and began to clear the valley.

While driving through the valley, Jun-A266 got wind of the last remaining members 3 Charlie. Carter, Jorge, and Noble Six moved to assist as the Covenant began attacking them. Noble Team saved the troopers and had them evacuated. From there all the members of Noble Team reassembled at the Relay as the Covenant counter-attacked it.

Noble Team secured the exterior of the Relay and began to properly investigate the interior. They discovered the body of an ONI scientist, Laszlo Sorvad, his still living daughter Sára Sorvad, an Army trooper, and a data packet. Just as they were discovering all of this, a Sangheili Field Marshal, and two Sangheili Zealots dropped down, and attempted to run past the team. They succeed but take the Army trooper as a hostage, only to kill him when out of view of Noble Team. Jorge and Noble Six pursued and fought the Covenant reinforcements and the Zealots, finally securing the whole facility.

Aftermath
In response to the Relay being taken down, the Army sent forces to Pálháza and potentially other cities.

The Relay's communications components were very badly damaged, and it would've taken roughly two weeks to fix.

Knowing now that the Covenant were on Reach, the UNSC prepared for the worst. The Fall of Reach began. Two days later, Sword Base was attacked and the data packet that was discovered on Laszlo Sorvad was handed over to Catherine Halsey.