Halo: The Cole Protocol

Looking for the Cole Protocol, a military law of the UNSC?

Halo: The Cole Protocol is the sixth novel based on the Halo Universe. It is written by Tobias S. Buckell. The Cole Protocol is the the last novel under the contract with Tor Books and has been available to public since November 25th, 2008.

Press Release
"Halo: The Cole Protocol will be the sixth novel set in the Halo Universe. Tobias S. Buckell, author of Crystal Rain and Ragamuffin will write the novel, which reveals the location of the Spartan Gray Team and "puts readers into an unexplored conflict of the Human-Covenant War where unlikely alliances are formed and shattered..."

From The Author's Website
"Buckell continues an excellent tradition that's now a solid aspect of the Halo novels, bringing a fresh new perspective to a limitless universe and bringing his prodigious writing talents to bear in ways that will surprise and engage fans of the series and newcomers alike."

- Frank O'Connor.

Halo: The Cole Protocol will be the sixth novel set in the Halo Universe. Tobias S. Buckell, author of Crystal Rain and Ragamuffin will pen the novel.

Bungie expatriate and Microsoft’s Franchise Development Director Frank O'Connor had this to say on the upcoming book, which is slated for release on November 25, 2008.

Plot
"...which reveals the location of the Spartan Gray Team and "takes readers into an unexplored conflict of the Human-Covenant War where unlikely alliances are formed and shattered..."

- The Cole Protocol Announcement

''In the first, desperate days of the Human-Covenant War, the UNSC has enacted the Cole Protocol to safeguard Earth and its Inner Colonies from discovery by a merciless alien foe. Many are called upon to rid the universe of lingering navigation data that would reveal the location of Earth. Among them is Navy Lieutenant Jacob Keyes. Thrust back into action after being sidelined, Keyes is saddled with a top secret mission by ONI. One that will take him deep behind enemy lines, to a corner of the universe where nothing is as it seems.''

''Out beyond the Outer Colonies lies the planet Hesiod, a gas giant surrounded by a vast asteroid belt. As the Covenant continues to glass the human occupied planets near Hesiod, many of the survivors, helped by a stronghold of human Insurrectionists, are fleeing to the asteroid belt for refuge. They have transformed the tumbling satellites into a tenuous, yet ingenious, settlement known as The Rubble–and have come face-to-face with a Covenant settlement of Kig-Yar. . . yet somehow survived.''

''News of this unlikely treaty has spread to the warring sides. Luckily for the UNSC, this uneasy alliance is in the path of the Spartan Gray Team, a three man renegade squad whose simple task is to wreak havoc from behind enemy lines in any way they see fit. But the Prophets have also sent their best—an ambitious and ruthless Elite, whose quest for nobility and rank is matched only by his brutality... and who will do anything to secure his Ascendancy and walk the Path.''

The time line of this book takes place primarily in between 2535 and 2536, though the date is not mentioned frequently in the book, as it was in older Halo novels.

Summary
The story begins with an attack by the Jackals in the Rubble, an Insurrectionist asteroid base which was constructed as a refugee base during the Siege of Madrigal. The Jackals are attempting to steal navigation data from Ignatio Delgado and his friend Melko Hollister. Melko manages to escape the fighting at Delgado's insistence that the last remaining navigation data leading to Earth must be kept safe. While holding off the Jackals, Delgado is almost killed, but is saved by Adrianna, SPARTAN-111, of Gray Team. She hands him a beacon, which will send a signal to her team to retrieve the data if he should no longer be capable of keeping it safe. She then orders him to keep Gray Team a secret from the Security Council.

Later, at Chi Rho, Lieutenant Jacob Keyes meets with Commander Dmitri Zheng and is transferred from teaching at the Academy to enforce the newly written Cole Protocol with the stealth frigate, the Midsummer Night. He returns to his ship with a new pilot, and Zheng in command.

Back at the Rubble, Delgado looks for clues, suspecting that someone within the Rubble's Security Council is attempting to sell the navigation to the Jackals, which would cause the Covenant to no longer require the Insurrectionists. Delgado learns of the Kestrel, a ship under the command of Bonifacio, a known smuggler and who is also on the Security Council. While trying to obtain information about the Kestrel, he meets Adrianna again in a small bar, Eddie's in the Rocks. They are both attacked by Insurrectionists, who overhear the questioning. After being saved again by Adrianna, he is taken to the Spartan's ship to meet Jai and Mike.

Jai explains that Gray Team has been working to destroy any navigation data as per the Cole Protocol, and that they are causing general havoc against the Insurrectionists. As Delgado leaves, he is instructed to find out more about the Security Council leak.

Back on the Midsummer Night, Jacob Keyes attempts to enforce the Cole Protocol on a civilian freighter. When the Lieutenant and a group of ODSTs board the freighter, the civilian captain detonates a bomb in a container, killing many ODSTs. Later, Keyes and the ODSTs are force to leave the ship by exiting through a hull breach they created because the freighter was rigged to blow the moment the Midsummer Night is within the blast proximity of the freighter. Keyes leaves first, taking the armor of an ODST and jumps into space, using his rifle to maneuver. Fortunately, Keyes leaves and is able to contact the Midsummer Night. However, the Insurrectionists on the civilian freighter blow up the ship to kill as many of the escaping ODSTs as possible. Keyes is eventually recovered and along with most of the ODSTs despite the dramatic explosion.

Meanwhile, on Sangheilios, a Sangheili Kaidon, Thel 'Vadamee (the Arbiter in Halo 2 and 3) wakes from his sleep to be attacked by assassins sent by the Vadam Keeps' Council to test their leader. The Kaidon easily disposes of the assassins and meets with the council, demanding to know who sent the assassins. Thel then disposes of an elite elder, who attacks him. After the quick fight, Thel then tells the elders that he is to be sent to a human colony, Charybdis IX by the Prophets.

The Midsummer Night arrives at Charybdis in order to prevent a group of Insurrectionists from gaining a crate of plasma rifles and plasma pistols. Lieutenant Keyes and Major Watanabe go planetside to meet with an ONI group in order to complete their mission. However, the mission goes bad as the UNSC group gets attacked by Insurrectionists and protesters. Major Watanabe is killed, and Keyes barely escapes the planet. As they escape the system a Covenant fleet led by the Prophet of Regret destroys the three destroyers defending the planet and starts to glass the surface.

Meanwhile, the future Arbiter is called to meet with the High Prophet of Regret, who was travelling with the fleet to witness the burning of another Human world. Regret shows 'Vadamee a modified plasma rifle and says that such modifications of Covenant weaponry by any other than the prophets was heresy. He orders 'Vadamee to track down the weapons, which he believes orgininated from Libre 23 from Jackels that may be trading with humans. He also tells 'Vadamee that the Jackel ship A Psalm Every Day, along with a contingent of Brutes, will go with him on the mission. 'Vadamee isn't happy about the Brute involvment but is happy that he has received the promotion and may be on the way to becoming a fleetmaster. After 'Vadamee leaves, the Prophet states that the Hierarchs did not predict that the humans had been spread out on so many worlds. This may be the reason why the Covenant lingered so long around Harvest instead of trying to find other human worlds.

United Nations Space Command

 * Lieutenant Jacob Keyes
 * Adriana-111
 * Jai-006
 * Mike
 * Major Akio Watanabe
 * Lieutenant Badia Campbell
 * Lieutenant Rai Li
 * Lieutenant Dante Kirtley
 * Commander Zheng
 * Lieutenant Jefferson
 * Corinthia Hansen
 * Agent Josh Smith
 * Commander Faison
 * Petty Officer Jeffries
 * Lieutenant Canfield

Covenant

 * Kaidon Thel 'Vadamee
 * Zhar
 * Veer
 * Elder Koida 'Vadam
 * Deacon Pipit
 * Reth
 * Chur 'R-Mut
 * Lak 'Vadamee
 * Jora 'Konaree
 * Saal

Other

 * Jason Kincaide
 * Peter Bonifacio
 * Ignatio Delgado
 * Melko Hollister
 * Diego Esquival
 * Maria Esquival
 * Owen
 * Eddie Underwood
 * Juliana

Observations From Cover



 * The Spartan is wearing the Mark IV MJOLNIR armor. However, this is not because Grey Team is stationed so far away that they cannot receive the new models. Rather it is because those models have not come out yet. The new Mark V armor was released just before the fall of Reach, a great deal of time after the Cole Protocol had gone into effect.
 * The Spartan's armor is Gray, signifying the Gray Team as a separate SPARTAN-II Group.
 * There is a piece of The Rubble in the background, and there is what appears to be an explosion is emanating from the structure, possibly a structure that Gray Team tried to destroy.

Trivia

 * The Cole Protocol is the only book that does not give the current military time at the start of every chapter. This makes it somewhat difficult to keep track of time when the setting shifts radically.
 * The Arbiter's real name is revealed in this book: Thel 'Vadamee.
 * Gray Team is the designation for a mysterious team of three SPARTAN-IIs that are called Adriana-111, Jai-006 and Mike. They are said to be "On battlefields too distant to be easily recalled" by Chief Petty Officer Mendez in Halo: The Fall Of Reach.
 * Gray Team wears MJOLNIR Mark IV armor because when they were deployed, the newer models had not been developed.
 * The Cole Protocol is the protocol that dictates what action ships are supposed to take in the event of a Covenant presence.
 * There are several notable differences between the original cover and the final version, such as the shoulder device, the presence of a second Spartan in the background, and the weapon the cover's main Spartan carries.
 * Amazon.co.uk released Halo: The Cole Protocol several days earlier than the official release date.
 * There are what seem to be seven thin but discernible beams of light in the background, possibly another seven reference. As with all the books the Marathon symbol is clearly visible, in the correct lighting, right in between the "A" and "L" of Halo.
 * Despite being set several years before The Fall of Reach, UNSC personel encounter Sangheili forces during their fight in the Rubble. This contradicts The Fall of Reach in which only vague rumors of a "field commander" caste existed within the UNSC. The Master Chief clearly had never seen an Elite before his fight with one inside the space dock orbiting Reach. However, since the only human then known to have survived a close-up fight with a Sangheili was a member of Gray Team, knowlege of the Elites' existence may have remained classified due to the then-secret nature of the SPARTAN-II Program.
 * In chapter 11, page 103, the ODSTs say "Hoo-ah", which is an Army term. Because ODSTs are Marines, they usually say "Oorah".
 * Oddly, the Spartans do not play a large role in the story, which instead focuses more on Lieutenant Keyes and Ignatio Delgado.
 * In recognition of his achievements, Lieutenant Keyes receives a promotion to commander. Since the UNSC Navy's ranking system seems to closely mirror that of the older US Navy, it seems that Keyes has been jumped straight past the next highest rank, Lieutenant Commander.
 * The 'smart' AI, Juliana, is noted as being over seven-years-old and yet not rampant. This is in part explained by the fact that the AI was mentally fully occupied in those years with maintaining the Rubble. This may mean that if a smart AI is kept occupied mentally or has something (perhaps a person or object) which they can focus on, then perhaps rampancy can be held off for longer then the seven year limit. It is mentioned that Juliana did not wish to part with the Rubble and in fact choose to 'die' with it—this could mean that Cortana may continue to remain non-rampant as she has a focus to remain stable (the Master Chief). This could be confirmed by the fact that she comes back from the depths of rampancy when rescued by John-117 in Halo 3.
 * This is the only book in which we see Admiral Cole.
 * Oddly the Marines throughout the book use the term "Hoo-ah". This could be a mistake from the author.
 * Before the space battle of Charbydis XI, it is stated that Cole's fleet is still near Harvest, but at the end of the book, he is back inside the inner colonies. Due to the absence of dates at the start of chapters, it is difficult to confirm whether a great deal of time has past, or this is just and oversight by the author.