August 30, 2552
0447 Hours: The Remote Scanning Outpost Fermion detects incoming Covenant vessels. An emergency message is relayed to FLEETCOM. The outpost then self-destructs per the Cole
Protocol due to an unsecured science library and nearby Covenant forces.
0500 Hours: A fleet of 314[17] Covenant vessels exits slipspace on the edge of the system.
0517 Hours: Admiral Roland Freemont (FLEETCOM Sector One Commander) issues a general order to all vessels in the Reach, Jericho, and Tantalus systems.[18] All vessels and stations initiate the Cole Protocol and rush to Rally Point ZULU.
0534 Hours: Covenant vessels make pinpoint slipspace jumps attempting to destroy any incoming or outgoing human vessels before they can regroup. A Covenant Carrier targets the UNSC Pillar of Autumn but is destroyed.
0545 Hours: The Covenant vessels begin a frontal assault. As the Covenant and Human fleets engage above Reach, it seems to be a stalemate, as Covenant ships take out UNSC ships, while the UNSC ships and MAC cannons take out an equal number. The first salvo by the UNSC vessels destroys a third of the remaining Covenant fleet. A previously unknown Covenant warship, called a Supercruiser by Captain Keyes, arrives and destroys several UNSC ships while outside human weapons range.
0558 Hours: Station Gamma Dockmaster AI Doppler is unable to implement the Cole Protocol on the UNSC Circumference, an ONI prowler docked at Reach Station Gamma, due to measures taken to maintain the secrecy of Operation: HYPODERMIC. Doppler sends priority message to FLEETCOM concerning this violation. Covenant intrusion software detects this oversight, and the Covenant deploys troops to seize the NAV database aboard the Circumference.
0616 Hours: The SPARTAN soldiers are dispatched from the Pillar of Autumn. John-117, Linda-058, and James (SPARTAN-II) form Blue Team and go aboard the Dock to destroy the Circumference, while the remainder form Red Team and head to the surface of Reach to defend the power generators for the MAC guns. James goes MIA when a Needler hits his T-PACK and propels him into space during combat. Blue Team continue through the station, rescuing Sgt. Johnson; Pvt. O'Brien; Pvt. Bisenti and Pvt. Jenkins from Kig-yar and Sangheili.
0620 Hours: The Covenant fleet retreats from the system after deploying dropships. The UNSC fleet fires on the ships, destroying many. Hundreds of dropships land on Reach.
0621 Hours: The boarding craft are landed and the armory is overrun; the Covenant fleet returns to the system. The Covenant split their 150+ remaining ships. One fleet attacks the UNSC ships, while another takes out the MAC cannons and send in troops to land on Reach. The UNSC try to split their 50+ remaining forces to engage the Covenant, but there are too many platforms to cover and too many casualties. The Supercruiser continues to destroy UNSC ships, allowing the other ships to attack the MAC cannons. Eventually the Supercruiser is destroyed by the Pillar of Autumn, but the UNSC fleet is practically decimated so it is too late to do any good.
0631 Hours: Red Team is shot down. They have no choice but to jump from the crashing Pelican and make a "hard landing" on the ground. Results in four dead and six seriously injured.
0637 Hours: The SPARTAN-II team on the Circumference mission returns to the Pillar of Autumn. Only John-117 and clinically dead Linda-058 make it back, with Sergeant Johnson, Private O'Brien, Private Bisenti, and Private Jenkins.
0647 Hours: The Pillar of Autumn attempts to retreat from the system, but remains there for unknown reasons and heads for a drydock at the Aszod ship breaking yards on Reach.
0649 Hours: Red Team sets up defenses around ODG Facility A-331.
0711 Hours: Fred-104, Joshua-029, and Kelly-087 plant a nuclear warhead through the gravity lift in a landing Covenant cruiser, leaving Joshua-029 MIA, (presumed KIA) in the process.
0720 Hours: The Covenant destroys ODG Facility A-331 by aerial bombardment (glassing), though some Spartans escape. The surviving MAC guns are now offline and are quickly destroyed by plasma torpedoes. Remaining UNSC vessels have no choice but to retreat. The Covenant warships are split into two groups: 5 ship teams that hunt down the surviving UNSC vessels and a group of ships that align themselves in formation and begin to glass Reach.
1652 hours: The remainder of Noble Team head to the Aszod ship breaking yards to deliver a fragment of Cortana holding important navigation data to the Pillar of Autumn. Before 20.00, S-B312 successfully delivers the package to the Autumn and allows the vessel to escape by destroying an incoming Covenant battlecruiser. The Pillar of Autumn, pursued by a dozen Covenant vessels, retreats from the system, heading for Installation 04.
2000 Hours: SPARTAN-B312 is one of the few standing survivors at the ship-breaking yards of Aszod. He or she fights off waves of Covenant forces, until overwhelmed and eventually killed by Sangheili warriors.
September 2552
September 7th
0002 Hours: The SPARTAN Red team survivors and Dr. Halsey, after days of walking through the abandoned Titanium mines below CASTLE base, reach a corridor covered in Forerunner symbols.
shortly afterwards: A series of detonations by Covenant forces looking for them cause the deaths of Vinh-030 and Isaac-039.
though I don't own it so I couldn't read everything. 
