Halo: The Cole Protocol
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| Halo: The Cole Protocol | ||||
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| Attribution information | ||||
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Author(s): |
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Cover artist(s): |
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Audio book narrator(s): |
Jonathon Davis | |||
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Publisher: |
Tor Books (original) | |||
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Publication date: |
November 25, 2008 (original) | |||
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Media type: |
Print (Paperback), Audiobook | |||
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Pages: |
358 pages (original) | |||
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ISBN: |
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| Part of Gray Team series | ||||
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Halo: The Cole Protocol is the fifth novel based on the Halo universe. It is written by Tobias S. Buckell and was released on November 25, 2008.[1]
Official summary[edit]
| “ | 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. |
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Plot synopsis[edit]
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 Covenant 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 homeworld, 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 SPARTAN Adriana-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 the colony of Chi Rho, Lieutenant Jacob Keyes meets with Commander Dmitri Zheng and is transferred from teaching at the Luna OCS Academy to enforce the newly written Cole Protocol with the stealth frigate, the UNSC Midsummer Night. 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 data to the Jackals, which would cause the Insurrectionists to outlive their usefulness to the Covenant. 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 SPARTANs' ship, the Petya, to meet Jai-006 and Michael-120 who have been secretly receiving help from the Rubble's AI, Juliana.
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 Orbital Drop Shock Troopers 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 applying Newton's 3rd law. 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. The ODSTs later "kidnap" Keyes and give him a Helljumper tattoo, simultaneously hazing the naval Lieutenant for his audacity in seizing command of the Marines and rewarding Keyes for his heroism and leadership as a show of their respect.
On Sanghelios, the recently appointed Sangheili kaidon of clan Vadam, Thel 'Vadamee lies in wait for the inevitable attack by someone with doubts as to his capability as kaidon. He soon gets what he is waiting for as three assassins attempt to dispatch him; however, he quickly slays all three of the assassins. He then orders an assembly with all of his clan's elders. 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 sent the assassins. Thel then kills him and banishes his lineage from 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 with the help of the ODSTs. In the process, the Kestrel is discovered to be the source of the weapons. As they escape the system in pursuit of the smuggler ship, a Covenant fleet led by the High 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 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 the 23 Librae system 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 is not 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 Shipmistress 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 to avoid 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 observing 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