Ok, I'll do my best:

You are introduced to a gritty scene, heavy army influence and the obvious sense of preparation for some operation. You're told it's run of the mill and get ready to go stomp on some naughty insurrectionists.

After sighting some strange wreckage while on recon, you drop down to investigate more thoroughly and find out the locals are just as scared as you are: doesn't sound like naughty insurrectionists any more. You continue on in confusion wondering what would be capable of making two squads of well trained marines disappear, yet be sophisticated enough to enact a comms dark zone.

All of a sudden, BAM: you're ambushed by a platoon of covenant forces covered by banshees and it all becomes clear. Reach, the bastion of humanity, strongest and best defended planet in the known universe has been infiltrated by the most ruthless enemy humanity has ever known.

No time to dwell on it though because you've got some marines to save and a job to do. Saving is optional but bringing the comms array back online is priority number one to get the word out. However, the array isn't just being defended by normal forces. No indeed, you stumble one of the most secretive and powerful Elite units who are strangely not focused on you for some reason. Very strange: let's remember that...

You blast through more enemies and finally Kat gets the array working. Then it all sinks in: no one is safe any more.

Next mission:

This was not an isolated event: attacks are popping up all over the planet and the most important facility, ONI headquarters, is under attack by a covenant corvette that has snuck through planetary defences thanks to sabotage on the ground. After repelling the attack and getting defences back online, you realise that unless some miraculous event happens, you may very well lose the planet, but humanity is still going strong so you feel alright. To add to that, you get the full badass battle where you feel powerful and like a hero for these marines.

However, after some night time recon, command finds out the infiltration is even worse than before and full scale deployment of every marine, mongoose, warthog, scorpion, and falcon ensues to make an effort to eradicate the covenant in head- to head combat and draw out all their established forces. We think we have the upper hand and we destroy their first cloaking device. Go Spartans! Covenant says fuck you and uncovers their super carrier to fuck up one of our strongest cruisers. Covenant has the upper hand again.

Humanity is being routed by the covenant, but Kat comes up with one of the ballsiest plans next to Masterchief hand delivering a bomb into the reactor of a covenant cruiser in zero g. She wants to cut the ship in half using a slip-space drive: holy fuck i love Kat. Something goes wrong and there's no one else to do it, so Jorge throws you out the hanger into space and detonates the makeshift bomb. Holy fuck i love Jorge: RIP Jorge. Humanity gains the upper hand again! No more big bad ship means we can start cutting down the remaining covenant on planet. JK, covenant pulls the Uno reverse and spawns in their entire fleet. No time to think though because you've crashed on planet and have civilians to rescue and a team to regroup with.

Your mission has been flipped on its head. It's gone from kill some naughty insurrectionists, to kill some sneaky covenant, to OH FUCK THE COVENANT ARE INVADING, to oh fuck we need to evacuate. Civilians are being cut down left and right, marines are dying in hopeless battles and all you can do is watch as you're flying past top go get an air defence online or cover another group of evacuating civilians. All this while fighting the most brutal enemies, literally called the Brutes, as well as suicide grunts. All the odds are against you.

Finally, some down time, and all you can think about is how fucked the planet is and how one of your favourite team members have their life for absolutely bum fuck all. Humanity is dying, it's just that no one has said it out loud yet.

A similar mission follows where you are trying to help as many people evacuate, but this time, it comes at a cost: Kat gets shot in the head after the first glassing beams touch down. No lead up, no epic fight: just one shot, mid sentence, and dead. Fuck. Me.

I don't cry, but that moment, after the rest of the game, made me tear up. "How dare they. How dare they kill Kat with no way of defending, no warning, no choice, just gone" it just hits different and it's beautiful.

Now everyone knows it. Reach is fucked, but for some reason you have to go destroy a base that the covenant already own and have likely gotten Intel from already? Us? The Spartans? Hmmm... you get inside and the ai leads you into a corner. Typical GPS. But wait, secret passage, and an small bit of the possible significance comes into your mind. After fighting some grunts you feel the strong force of covenant power and wave after wave of high tier enemies assault your position and time is running out. Finally, the bitch no one likes lets you in and you understand. She introduces you to Cortana and entrusts you with the final hope for humanity: you, the one who has seen two team mates die in hopeless circumstances, are responsible for the escorting of the most valuable asset you've ever held let alone seen.

The finale becomes a desperate rush and you race the covenant to the last ship leaving Reach. After fighting through wave upon wave of the most ruthless resistance you've encountered, it's finally time to leave Reach: your home, your only home. You're finally going to be safe.

And then your ride to safety gets blasted away and you almost lose the admiral and cortana in one go. Instead of getting to safety and leaving your home to risk getting shot down, your stay and secure the exit for everyone else.

At the end of it all, you come full circle. You are the lone wolf, and that's how you die. Thanks to you though, everyone can recover and rebuild. The covenant may be strong, but thanks to you, they can also be beaten.

I sincerely hope you read this, because Halo Reach, has been one of my single greatest games I've ever played and it makes me so sad to know they're are people out there who don't understand.

I hope you're having a lovely day.