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 last novel under the contract with Tor Books and has been available to the public since November 25th, 2008.

Press Release
"Halo: The Cole Protocol is 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 is the sixth novel set in the Halo Universe. Tobias S. Buckell, author of Crystal Rain and Ragamuffin has written the novel.

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, most 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 timeline of this book takes place in 2535, though the date is not mentioned.

Summary
The book opens with an attack by Kig-Yar 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. The Jackals want the data because it would lead the Covenant to humanity's home world, Earth. Melko manages to escape the fighting at Delgado's insistence that the last remaining navigation data leading to Earth must be kept safe. Unfortunately, Melko is shot and later dies of his wounds.

While holding off the Jackals, Delgado is almost killed, but is saved by Adriana, 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 Rubble Security Council.

Meanwhile, 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. He returns to his ship with a new pilot, Jeffries, an ONI officer Major Watanabe and Zheng in command.

Back at the Rubble, Delgado looks for clues, suspecting that someone within the Rubble 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 Peter Bonifacio, a known smuggler who is also on the Security Council. While trying to obtain information about the Kestrel, he meets Adriana again in a small bar, Eddie's in the Rock. They are both attacked by Insurrectionists, who overhear the questioning. After being saved again by Adriana, he is taken to the SPARTAN's ship, the Petya, 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 Insurrectionist captain detonates a bomb in a container, killing a number of ODSTs, including their commander, First Lieutenant Canfield. Later, Keyes and the ODSTs are forced to leave the ship by exiting through a hull breach they created because the freighter was rigged to blow the moment the Midsummer Night was within the blast proximity of the freighter. Keyes leaves first, taking the armor of an ODST and jumping into space, using his rifle to maneuver. Keyes is able to contact the Midsummer Night. However, the Insurrectionists on the civilian freighter detonate the ship to kill as many of the escaping ODSTs as possible. Keyes is eventually recovered along with most of the ODSTs, including 2nd Lieutenant Faison, despite the dramatic explosion.

On Sanghelios, the Sangheili Kaidon of clan Vadam, Thel 'Vadamee (the Arbiter in Halo 2 and Halo 3) lies in wait for the inevitable attack of someone who doesn't want him to be Kaidon. He soon gets what he is waiting for as three assassins attempt to dispatch him. He quickly eliminates the first two Sangheili with his energy sword. The third Elite attempts to escape in an act of cowardice, but learns that Thel has been very prepared for his arrival and blocked all means of escape. In a final act of desperation he attempts to charge at Thel energy sword drawn. Thel quickly dispatches him with a well aimed shot from his plasma pistol to his head. He then orders the alert guards outside his door to call in a meeting with all the elders. When the elders finally assemble Thel discusses the recent attack that has happened to him. He first shows the elders that the attack clearly failed as he had no scratch on his body. He then explains that he killed the first two assassins with relative ease, but lies and claims that he let the third assassin live in order to learn who sent the attack. He almost immediately noticed the stirring of one of the elders, Koida 'Vadam. Knowing the person responsible he calms down and explains his supremacy to all the elders. He then confronts Koida who foolishly tells Thel that he has sent the assassins. Thel then kills him. Soon after the execution, he grants his lineage the right to live but no longer live in the Vadam keep. Thel then tells the elders that he is to be sent to a human colony, Charybdis IX, by the Hierarchs.

The Midsummer Night arrives at Charybdis in order to prevent a group of Insurrectionists from gaining a shipment 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 rioters. Major Watanabe is killed, and Keyes barely escapes the planet. As they escape the system, a Covenant fleet led by the Prophet of Regret eliminates 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 traveling 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 is heresy. He orders 'Vadamee to track down the weapons, which he believes originated in 23 Librae from Jackals that may be trading with humans. He also tells 'Vadamee that the Jackal 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 involvement but is happy that he has received the promotion and may be on the way to becoming a Fleet Master. After 'Vadamee leaves, the Prophet states that the Hierarchs did not expect that the humans would be 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.

After a slightly uneventful voyage to Hesiod, the Jiralhanae and the Kig-Yar Ship Mistress betray 'Vadamee, destroying his ship, killing his crew, and taking him and his Zealots prisoner while he was unconscious.

Aboard the Midsummer Night everyone was on edge as a Covenant vessel was on radar and they had to be careful of detection. They followed the Kestrel to Hesiod to discover that the rebels were using asteroids as a hideout. They drifted closer and discovered that they were all connected as well as Jackal ships navigating through the asteroids. The Midsummer Night was brought up to battle ready status and began to make stealth maneuvers to avoid any patrolling ships.

Inside the Rubble, Thel 'Vadamee and his bridge crew had been captured by the Kig-Yar. Jora 'Konaree having thrown himself, unarmed, against the boarders had been wounded and asks Thel to kill him for his shame. After slamming a spike from a nearby bed into Jora's head, the remaining Zealots, led by 'Vadamee, decide to find out a way to strike at the Humans from inside the Rubble. Realizing that the Kig-Yar intended to gain a ransom for their captives, Thel and his warriors decide that while the Jiralhanae wanted the credit for finding the humans themselves, they decide to go after Bonifacio whom they believe is their leader. The Sangheili trick their Unggoy guard, kill him, the rest of the guards, and escape.

On the Midsummer Night, Commander Zheng discovers that the leaders of the Rubble know of their presence. The Rubble begins a bombardment of the ship, and Zheng orders that they head out to open space. However, the engines are taken offline via sabotage, and on the bridge Lieutenant Badia Campbell shoots Zheng fatally, and wounds Lieutenants Kirtley and Li before Keyes tackles her. She says that the "we" (the Insurrectionists) will win eventually before shooting herself in the head. With the engines out of commission and Zheng dead after locking down the nuclear warheads (rendering them unusable to the rebels), Keyes has no choice but to surrender the ship to the Rubble.

Keyes and his crew are taken aboard the Rubble and are permitted to join the population. Keyes gives a short speech urging them not to, and some stay with him, including Faison, Kirtley, and Li. Many others join the population. Keyes asks Faison why a number of ODSTs are joining, too, and Faison reminds him that ODSTs are first in everything, implying that they're going to be undercover in support of them.

Meanwhile, upon Delgado's return to the Rubble, he is detained by Bonifacio's private forces. The Council suspects him for dealing with the Kig-Yar for the NAV data, since he was the only one apart from them who knew its location. While conversing with a guard, Delgado learns that Bonifacio's smuggling ship, the Kestrel, was sabotaged by the SPARTANs and its NAV data was destroyed; as a result, Bonifacio needs Delgado's data in order to continue his smuggling operations back to the Inner Colonies. Delgado is subsequently taken to meet with the Security Council, where he learns of the existence of the Exodus Project. While the Council refuses to tell Delgado what the Exodus Project is, Diego Esquival reassures Delgado that it is for the good of the Rubble and requires NAV data. This convinces Delgado to retrieve the data for the Council. Diego and Bonifacio decide to accompany him to retrieve the data from Delgado's ship, Distancia.

However, on the ship Bonifacio betrays Diego and Delgado. He forces Delgado to hand over the NAV data so that he can give it to the Kig-Yar, and when Delgado resists he shoots Diego. Bonifacio then makes off with the data and sabotages the ship's airlock, so that Delgado cannot inform the Rubble of Bonifacio's treachery. As his ship runs out of air, Delgado sets off the SPARTANs' beacon.

Thel and his Zealots, meanwhile, hijack a Kig-Yar ship and use it to kidnap Reth, the leader of the Kig-Yar. Reth reveals to the Sangheili that he is also working on a mission assigned to him by the Prophets, which greatly confuses one of Thel's most trusted soldiers and de facto second in command, Zhar. Reth subsequently escapes with the aid of some Unggoy which he converted.

The SPARTANs arrive and save Delgado, but are too late to save Diego who dies of his wounds. They decide that with the NAV data, the Kig-Yar will no longer value the Rubble and will attack it. They need to briefly capture one of the Kig-Yar ships to find their plans. However, even three SPARTANs would not be able to capture a Covenant ship; they decide to liberate the captured ODSTs from Midsummer Night and use their help to secure the ship. With the help of the Rubble's A.I., Juliana, the SPARTANs are able to liberate Keyes and many of his men from prison.

Delgado joins the main UNSC forces as they assault the Kig-Yar ship Infinite Spoils in an attempt to find information on the Kig-Yars' true intentions. The humans have the element of surprise and manage to capture it; however, Faison is wounded in the leg during the battle. He insists that Delgado leave him, but secretly Delgado asks for help. Lieutenant Keyes sends Jai to rescue the ODST. Meanwhile, Thel and the surviving Sangheili also desire the Kig-Yar vessel and board it. They encounter Faison, who manages to injure Zhar with a sidearm before being killed. At this point Zhar treads on the edge of heresy by admiring the human's act of staying behind; however, they are interrupted by Jai's arrival. Jai and Thel fight each other, with neither gaining any ground; Jai leaves when he sees Faison's body. Thel himself barely survives the encounter and wonders what the human was.

During this time, Adriana sneaks up onto Bonifacio in the Distancia and fires at it, disabling its engines and allowing her to board it. Bonifacio escapes in an escape pod, and forces Adriana to allow him to escape by withholding where he kept the NAV data taken from Delgado. Adriana subsequently finds the NAV data and returns to the Petya.

With the information from the Kig-Yar vessel, the humans determine that the Kig-Yar are in fact planning a massive attack on the Rubble with the hundreds of thousands of Unggoy he has been allowing to breed unchecked on Hesiod's moon, Metisette. Reth plans to capture the Rubble and use the NAV data to take the Exodus Project, which in fact is a giant asteroid habitat planned to transport the entire population of the Rubble away from both the UNSC and the Covenant, to Earth and capture it. This would earn the Kig-Yar much more favor in the eyes of the Prophets than the Sangheili. Lieutenant Keyes devises a plan to stop this; while they take the recaptured NAV data to the Exodus asteroid and begin evacuating the citizens of the Rubble, the humans would also bombard Metisette, the Kig-Yar moon base, with unneeded pieces of the Rubble. To do that, however, Julianna informs them that the Kig-Yar surface defenses must be destroyed. She outlines two main objectives: an anti-air battery and a sensor station. The destruction of these will allow her to drop pieces of the Rubble onto Metisette, effectively destroying the Kig-Yar base there.

UNSC forces use a daring maneuver to drop ODSTs and the Spartans to the surface. Jai and Adriana aid the Marines with their objectives, laying charges on the AA battery and planting a remote nuke on the sensor station. The nuke, in addition to destroying the sensor station, also damages a large portion of the Kig-Yar base and wipes out much of their fleet.

Without the sensor station or the AA battery, the Kig-Yar are powerless as Julianna systematically bombards their base with the Rubble. Reth is among the dead. Thel, aboard his ship stolen from the Kig-Yar, sees this and decides to send the last of the Unggoy aboard on an abortive attempt to capture the Exodus Project. The attack fails, and the Rubble's citizens successfully evacuate into the Exodus Project. It and the Midsummer Night jump to slipspace and set a course back to UNSC-held territory - the Rubble engineers realized that they would not have enough supplies to reach their original intended destination, and Lieutenant Keyes convinces them that for the good of the Rubble's citizens, they must return to the UNSC.

Bonifacio witnesses the bombardment of Metisette, when suddenly a massive Covenant fleet jumps out of slipspace. He attempts to hail them, and is momentarily glad to watch them turn towards him, but is horrified when a cruiser effortlessly vaporizes his pod.

Thel and Zhar meet with the Prophet of Truth, who has arrived in the system with a large fleet. It is revealed that Truth and Regret have been working separately, leading to the confusion between Reth, commissioned by Truth, and Thel, sent by Regret. Zhar believes that they will be executed, and activates his energy sword to attack the Prophets. Thel is horrified but draws his own sword and stabs Zhar through the neck. Regret is visibly shaken and leaves, but Truth tells Thel that he survives but will speak nothing of what he has learned to anyone. Truth then proceeds to grant Thel a ship in the Fleet of Particular Justice, hinting that he will eventually become its commander and much later the Arbiter of Halo 2 and 3.

The Exodus asteroid and the Midsummer Night arrive safely at 18 Scorpii, and the asteroid's inhabitants are safely evacuated before the asteroid shakes itself to pieces while in orbit around Falaknuma.

Back on Sanghelios, Lak 'Vadamee discusses with Thel about the reorganization of the fleets and what is to come of this "strange new age".

Lieutenant Keyes returns and meets with Admiral Cole, and expects to receive a court-martial for his actions but instead is congratulated and thanked by the Admiral. Cole then promotes Keyes to Commander. Commander Keyes leaves and the Spartans enter; during the battle the Petya was abandoned, and they are looking for a new Prowler. Cole grants them the ship and gives them new orders, describing them as more dangerous than ever, to the satisfaction of Gray Team. Delgado enlists in the UNSC Navy. Soon after, Keyes returns to his apartment and his daughter, Miranda.

United Nations Space Command

 * Lieutenant Jacob Keyes
 * Adriana-111
 * Jai-006
 * Mike (SPARTAN-II)
 * Major Akio Watanabe
 * Commander Dmitri Zheng
 * Major Faison

Covenant

 * Kaidon Thel 'Vadamee
 * Zhar
 * Veer
 * Reth
 * Chur 'R-Mut
 * Jora 'Konaree
 * Saal

Insurrection / Other

 * Jason Kincaide
 * Peter Bonifacio
 * Ignatio Delgado
 * Diego Esquival
 * Maria Esquival
 * Juliana

United Nations Space Command

 * Admiral Preston Cole
 * Vice Admiral Jean Mawikizi
 * Lieutenant Badia Campbell
 * Lieutenant Rai Li
 * Lieutenant Dante Kirtley
 * Miranda Keyes
 * Captain Corinthia Hansen
 * ONI Agent Josh Smith
 * Petty Officer First Class Finlay
 * Petty Officer Jeffries
 * Corporal Markov
 * Lieutenant Canfield
 * Private Tom Gerencer

Covenant

 * Koida 'Vadam
 * Deacon Pipit
 * Lak 'Vadamee
 * Pellius
 * Prophet of Regret
 * Prophet of Truth

Insurrection/Other

 * Melko Hollister
 * Eddie Underwood
 * Owen

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.


 * The visors on MJOLNIR helmets typically possess a golden color, but the visor pictured on the cover is almost mirror-like.


 * If one looks carefully at the SPARTAN on the new cover of The Cole Protocol, the torso armor pads seem similar to the CQB variation.


 * In the original cover of the book, the SPARTAN has a combat knife on his chest. When Jai-006 fought Thel Vadam, Thel saw Jai pull out a "primitive knife from his chest". This implies that the SPARTAN from the original cover might be Jai.


 * 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 in the Halo series, the Marathon symbol is clearly visible, in the correct lighting, right in between the "A" and "L" of Halo.

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.


 * 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 Catherine Halsey in Halo: The Fall Of Reach.


 * This book is the only novel that doesn't feature an Assault Rifle from the MA5 series. The BR55 is the weapon that is featured by human forces almost exclusively. This is a minor contradiction, since in First Strike it is said that the BR55 first got into the field in 2552, though it is is possible that it may be a prototype like the one Johnson used on Harvest.


 * The Cole Protocol is the protocol that dictates what action ships are supposed to take in the event of a Covenant presence.


 * Amazon.co.uk released Halo: The Cole Protocol several days earlier than the official release date.


 * The "smart" A.I., Juliana, is noted as being over seven-years-old and yet not rampant. This is in part explained by the fact that the A.I. was mentally fully occupied in those years with maintaining the Rubble. This may mean that if a smart A.I. 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. Although, as mentioned in the book, seven years is not a deadline for rampancy, but instead the UNSC's mandatory life allowance for A.I.'s because of the fear of rampancy. As seen with Cortana, the more information available to process makes it harder for A.I. to continue as normal. Completing only menial tasks for long periods of time may extend an A.I.'s "life-limit". It is mentioned that Juliana did not wish to part with the Rubble and in fact chose to "die" with it.


 * Before the space battle of Charybdis IX, 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 passed, or this is just an oversight by the author.


 * On page 281, in the 6th paragraph, last sentence; Zhar uses the term "years" when the correct term should have been units or cycles. It could be supposed that this was another piece of Halo unique to the book, as Tobias S. Buckell uses U.S. measurements and also human measurement in the Covenant.


 * Grunts are said to have purple blood, rather than blue once in the beginning of the book.


 * In Chapter 71, the author describes a room occupied by Prophets discussing the previous events. The room is said to be filled with "drug-smoke". There are multiple references to Prophets using narcotics and not being "sober".


 * Out of all the Halo novels, this book has nearly four times as many chapters as in other novels.


 * It is the first canon source to call a plasma grenade a "sticky grenade", which is a common nickname for it on Xbox LIVE.


 * The MJOLNIR Mk. IV armor depicted on the cover strongly resembles the MJOLNIR Mk. V "redux" seen in The Art of Halo 3, as both were done by the same artist, Isaac Hannaford.


 * The book reveals that Mongooses can be dropped from support HEVs.


 * Several times in the book Marines and rebels alike (except for Keyes) will refer to Covenant species by their Covenant names (e.g. Jackals are called Kig-Yar). Interestingly, although the humans of the Rubble only have dealings with Jackals and Grunts, they refer to them by the Sangheili names for them rather than their own (unknown) names for themselves.


 * In Halo: The Flood, according to one of his memories while being consumed by the Flood, Captain Keyes first killed a human with a pistol. However it is revealed in Halo: The Cole Protocol that he first killed a human with a modified plasma rifle.


 * Author Tobias S. Buckell has confirmed that the events of the Halo: The Cole Protocol took place in 2535.


 * Multiple times throughout the book, Marines use the term "hoo-ah", which is a modern-day Army term. This could be a mistake by the author, because Marines in the other Halo novels use the term "oo-rah".


 * The design of the MJOLNIR Mark IV on the cover is different from that of the ones in Halo Wars, because of limited coordination and communication between Bungie and Ensemble, leading to a contradiction between which version is correct. This has caused a recent controversy, because the Halo Wars version was created by a third party, and the image from the book is from the original developer. Though it seems that the Ensemble version is more like the Mark IV from Halo: The Fall of Reach.