UNSC Everest

UNSC Everest was the flagship of Admiral Preston Cole's fleets. In 2525 it was the fleet command cruiser of UNSC Battle Group X-Ray and in 2543 UNSC Battle Group India.

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, Leonis Minoris, 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 super-gas giant, to undergo artificial fusion and ignite temporarily as a brown dwarf star. In commemoration of her and her commander's efforts, a painting was hung in HIGHCOM Facility Bravo-6 on Sydney, Earth called "Admiral Cole's Last Stand."

Post-War
Codename: SURGEON speculated in his report, Historical/Psychological Analysis of Cole, Preston J., that Cole actually survived the Battle of Psi Serpentis. SURGEON's theory, supported by UNSC AI's, was that the ship lost at Psi Serpentis to the Viperidae micronova was actually the, an irreparably damaged cruiser. Postulating that Cole used Io as a decoy while the Everest escaped. In any case, 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.

List of appearances

 * Halo Wars: Genesis
 * Halo: Evolutions - Essential Tales of the Halo Universe
 * The Impossible Life and the Possible Death of Preston J. Cole