It is late June of the year 2552.  Humanity is at war against a coalition of multiple alien species known as the Covenant, who for religious purposes, are fighting a genocidal war against the combined forces of humanity, the UNSC The alien threat has now invaded an inner colony planet, Ballast, which is close to our last remaining untouched planets, including our ever precious Earth. The battle has been effectively lost. For whatever reason, however, we have been allowed to rally against the surface forces of the Covenant, with their superior naval fleet nowhere in sight.  We are now locked in mortal combat with the remaining forces, in a fight for survival.