Its been 8 years since the Human-Covenant war ended. Humanity continues to rebuild after the war while looking for available planets to colonize. A young veteran and mute ODST that goes by the name "Rookie" due to his age compared to the rest of his squad is sent on a exploration mission on the UNSC Redemption when the ships AI goes under rampancy and sends the ship into uncharted space and the ships engines destroyed in the process.

The Redemption finds itself in orbit of an unidentified planet that is similar to Earth. They decide to scout the planet to see if they can see if it habitable or maybe even find help. what they find is completely unexpected.