UNSC Everest

The UNSC Everest was the flagship of Preston Cole's fleet.

Background
A Super-Heavy cruiser, potentially a modified Marathon-class Cruiser, it commanded the fleet in battle against the Covenant in the Epsilon Indi, Alpha Aurigae, XI Boötis A, Groombridge-1830, and Psi Serpentis star systems.



It eventually was presumed destroyed with all hands, including Vice Admiral Cole, at the Battle of Psi Serpentis while taking out over 300 Covenant vessels by causing planet Viperidae, a brown dwarf, to undergo artificial fusion and ignite temporarily as a star. In commemoration of her and her commander's efforts, a painting was hung in HIGHCOM called "Admiral Cole's Last Stand."

Postwar, there has been speculation among the UNSC that the Everest and Cole actually survived the Battle of Psi Serpentis. One theory is that the ship lost to the Viperidae was actually the UNSC Io, an irreparably damaged cruiser used by Cole as a decoy while the Everest escaped. In any case, the Everest- and Cole- were never seen again.

Trivia

 * A Sangheili survivor from the Battle of the Great Bear was held in the Bio-Hazard Unit of the UNSC Everest.
 * It was on the Everest that Admiral Cole wrote the first drafts of the protocol that is well known by his own name, the Cole Protocol.
 * The UNSC Everest is probably named after either Mt. Everest, Earth's highest mountain, (currently standing at 8840 m tall), or George Everest, who Mt. Everest was named after.