2535: Difference between revisions

In the course of four short years, Cole's forces are hammered, despite his excellent leadership and tactical brilliance. It is simply a matter of being outgunned; [[Covenant]] kill ratios tend to top three to one in ship-to-ship combat. By 2535, virtually all of the Outer Colony worlds have been destroyed by the [[Covenant]]. The [[Cole Protocol]] is established by military order: all [[human]] vessels must ensure that [[Covenant]] forces do not find [[Earth]]. Human ships must-when forced to withdraw-not move on to an Earth bound vector, even if that means jumping without proper navigational calculations. If blind jumps are not possible, the ship's [[captain]] must order self-destruction if capture is imminent. In addition, it is also imperative that the powerful ship [[A.I.]] data cores not fall into [[Covenant]] hands, so part of this protocol involves either the removal or destruction of the ship's [[A.I.]] in extreme situations.

[[John-117]] and his team of [[Spartans]] deploy in a [[Pelican]] dropship to fight against ground forces on [[Jericho VII]] in the [[Lambda Serpentis system]] <ref> The Fall of Reach, P. 6 </ref>

Despite overwhelming success on the ground, the [[UNSC]] forces take heavy losses and retreat. [[Jericho VII]] falls. [[John-117]], safely on board the [[UNSC]] [[Destroyer]] [[Resolute]] under [[Captain de Blanc]], is allowed to view as the [[Covenant]] fleet [[glass]]es the planet.