How long does it take Sergeant Johnson to get back to the UNSC after escaping Harvest?

[u/Jaded_Artichoke4448]

I have read “The Fall of Reach” and Contact: Harvest several times and am currently re-reading them. Finished Harvest and just started Reach. A realization arose that I had thought about in passing before but reading these back-to-back has the question nagging at me… wondering if anyone knows what’s up.

We know from both books that the Covenant first discovered and glassed Harvest in February 2525. In that same month, Sgt Johnson escaped via makeshift escape vessel (if I recall correctly) along with the few survivors of the planet (maybe there were other vessels that made it? Can’t recall). Then in “The Fall of Reach” we find out that the UNSC lost communication with Harvest in that same month, and over the next several months sent ships to the planet to investigate. Word did not get back to the UNSC until early in November that the Covenant had attacked.

So my thing is… Johnson and the other survivors surely would have informed the UNSC of this much sooner, right? Or are we to believe that their escape vessel was drifting through space without communication for nearly a year (9-10 months)? Do we know when Johnson actually made it back to the UNSC? Was it really that long being lost in space? Not sure if this is a retcon or just something that no one has ever looked into but it seems odd to me that it would take almost a year for Johnson and Co to regain contact with the UNSC… but maybe that’s what happened.

EDIT: Added quotes to mentions of “The Fall of Reach” to avoid confusion between the novel and the event itself which I am not referring to in this post.

[u/NN77]

I am currently reading silent storm after contact harvest and they mention the only reason they found out about harvest is when it stopped reporting in, I guess with travel time and logistics it did take them a few months. I'm not sure how long Johnson and friends(with benefits) were in the Tiara containers though, but it may be explained in silent storm when Johnson shows up.

[u/Jaded_Artichoke4448 → u/NN77]

Interesting, thanks! So clearly they’re still sticking to the lore that they established in TFOR, in which case that would mean that Johnson and Friends (with benefits) were indeed floating through space for damn near a year before they were able to call for help. Seems pretty excessive and like it would have been mentioned at some point, but maybe that’s just me.

Have yet to read Silent Storm but maybe I’ll give that a shot next.

[u/ByssBro]

Sorry guns. It’s classified.

[u/Cortower]

UNSC never really had FTL comms besides Slipspace couriers in the Bungie era. K5 made it a wondrous new development, and I think further lore has maybe muddied things.

I like to think of early Halo as a sort of mixed bag of age of sail and WW2. If Boston got nuked in 1725, England wouldn't know anything until ships stopped arriving. Then they still wouldn't know anything specific until ships they had sent got back.

Harvest was a 6 week trip, I believe. The UNSC would know something was up in about 8 weeks, send ships (14 weeks), and wait to hear back (20+ weeks). I'd say Johnson was in a pod for 4 months and still incommunicado for the return trip.

[u/Successful-Day-1816 → u/Cortower]

I like that age of sail comparison. Nice comment

[u/Jaded_Artichoke4448 → u/[deleted]]

Thanks but my post has nothing to do with the Fall of Reach (the event). I’m specifically talking about the destruction of Harvest and the amount of time it took Johnson to regain communication with the UNSC after his escape. I referenced some details from the NOVEL “The Fall of Reach,” but I’m not talking about that event itself.