Halo: The Cole Protocol
Encyclopedia
Halo: The Cole Protocol is the sixth novel adaptation of the Halo
science fiction franchise. The book was written by Tobias S. Buckell
and published on November 25, 2008. The Cole Protocol focuses on the fate of "Gray Team," a group of SPARTAN-IIs who were on an isolated mission during the events of the Halo video games.
instead. While a first-time Halo novelist, Buckell was an avid Halo fan.
In October 2008 it was announced that The Cole Protocol would be released simultaneously in print and in audiobook format on November 25, 2008, and the final version of the cover was unveiled.
possible origin as the Covenant Supreme Commander of the Fleet of Particular Justice, and events leading to Jacob Keyes's promotion from Lieutenant to Commander.
At the Rubble, Delgado looks for clues, suspecting that someone within the Rubble's Security Council is attempting to sell the navigation data to the Jackals in order to broker a peace with the Covenant. Delgado learns of the Kestrel, a ship under the command of Bonifacio, a known smuggler and also on the Security Council. He meets Adrianna again in a small bar, where they are attacked by Insurrectionists, who overhear a mention of the Kestrel. After being saved by Adrianna, he is taken to the Spartan's ship to meet her fellow Gray Team members, Jai and Mike. Jai explains that Gray Team has been working to destroy any navigation data as per Cole Protocol and cause general havoc in the Insurrectionist ranks. As Delgado leaves, he is instructed to find out more about the Security Council leak. On the Midsummer Night, Keyes attempts to enforce the Cole Protocol on a civilian frieghter. When the Lieutenant and a group of soldiers known as ODSTs board the freighter, the captain detonates a bomb. Keyes and the ODSTs leave the ship by exiting through a hull breach as the Insurrectionists on the freighter attempt to blow up the ship to kill as many of the escaping UNSC forces as possible. Keyes is recovered at the expense of "many good soldiers".
Meanwhile, on Sangheilios, the homeworld of the Sangheili (called Elites by the UNSC), the Elite leader or Kaidon Thel 'Vadamee wakes from his sleep to be attacked by assassins sent by the Elite council to test their leader. The Kaidon dispatches the assassins and meets with the council, disposing of the elder who ordered his death. Thel informs the council he has been sent by the ruling caste of the Covenant, the Prophets, to a human colony known as Charybdis IX. Midsummer Night arrives at Charybdis in order to prevent a group of Insurrectionists from acquiring a cache of Covenant weapons. Keyes and fellow soldier are ambushed by rebels on the surface, but Keyes is extracted shortly before a Covenant fleet arrives and vitrify the planet, bombarding the surface with plasma that turns Charybdis' surface to molten glass. The High Prophet of Regret sends Thel on a new mission to stop humans from modifying Covenant weaponry. Midsummer Night follows the Kestrel back to the Rubble, but due to one of the bridge crew being a traitor, Zheng is killed and the ship is taken by the Insurectionists. Thel's ship is betrayed by his escort ship, captured by Jackals and confined. Bonifacio acquires the navigation data from Delgado and leaves him to die, but Delgado activates a beacon Adriana gave him and Gray Team rescues him. Working with Juliana, the Rubble's artificial intelligence, they rescue Keyes and the imprisoned ODSTs. Gray Team destroys all sensitive data on the Kestrel with an EMP bomb and corner Bonifacio, who gives them the stolen data and flees in an escape pod. Keyes, the ODSTs, Jai and Juliana travel to a docked Jackal ship called Infinite Spoils and Juliana hacks their computer to discover the Jackals' true intentions.
Thel captures Infinite Spoils and uses it to destroy weapon emplacements across the Rubble, aiding the Jackal invasion force. The Jackals plan to use a massive asteroid turned Insurrectionist ship and the navigation data it contains to discover and attack Earth. As the Jackals prepare to invade the Rubble, the humans evacuate to the asteroid-ship Exodus. Keyes comes up with a plan to blind the Jackal's moon habitat and destroy their antiship batteries in order to allow Juliana to place the remaining Rubble asteroids in the moon's path. When the moon's orbit reaches the Rubble asteroids, they would then rain down on the Jackals and destroy the moon. With the sensors and antiship batteries gone, the Jackals are unable to do anything and the moon destroyed by the pieces of the Rubble. Keyes leads Exodus to another colony where the citizens of the Rubble are evacuated before Exodus breaks apart. For his actions, Keyes is promoted to Commander and is given some time to go home and visit his daughter while Midsummer Night is repaired. Gray Team is given a Prowler and sent on a new mission even further behind enemy lines. The High Prophets and a Covenant fleet arrive shortly after the Exodus escape and rescue a stranded Thel 'Vadamee. 'Vadamee is promoted to Ship Master of a cruiser in the Covenant Fleet of Particular Justice, while Bonifacio's escape pod is destroyed by the Covenant as he tries to be taken aboard.
and Publishers Weekly
trade paperback best sellers lists, respectively. The Cole Protocol also opened 50th overall on USA Today
best sellers list.
Halo (series)
Halo is a multi-million dollar science fiction video game franchise created by Bungie and now managed by 343 Industries and owned by Microsoft Studios. The series centers on an interstellar war between humanity and a theocratic alliance of aliens known as the Covenant...
science fiction franchise. The book was written by Tobias S. Buckell
Tobias S. Buckell
Tobias S. Buckell is a Grenadian science fiction writer. His 2008 novel, Halo: The Cole Protocol, made the The New York Times Best Seller list. He currently lives in Bluffton, Ohio.-Biography:...
and published on November 25, 2008. The Cole Protocol focuses on the fate of "Gray Team," a group of SPARTAN-IIs who were on an isolated mission during the events of the Halo video games.
Background
Author Eric Nylund, who had written three previous Halo novels, had expressed interest in telling the story of Gray Team on his blog. but the task of crafting the next novel fell to Tobias S. BuckellTobias S. Buckell
Tobias S. Buckell is a Grenadian science fiction writer. His 2008 novel, Halo: The Cole Protocol, made the The New York Times Best Seller list. He currently lives in Bluffton, Ohio.-Biography:...
instead. While a first-time Halo novelist, Buckell was an avid Halo fan.
In October 2008 it was announced that The Cole Protocol would be released simultaneously in print and in audiobook format on November 25, 2008, and the final version of the cover was unveiled.
Overview
The main events of the Halo story arc take place during a war between future humanity, led by the UNSC, and a collection of alien races known as the Covenant. Humanity's best weapon against the Covenant are super-soldiers known as Spartans, but there are too few of the expensive soldiers to turn the tide of war. The Cole Protocol centers on a group of Spartans designated Gray Team, and chronicles a previously unexplored conflict in the war. The novel offers an in-depth perspective of the Covenant Jackal or Kig-Yar race. Other events discussed are the Arbiter'sArbiter (Halo)
Arbiter is a fictional ceremonial, religious, and political rank bestowed upon alien Covenant Elites in the Halo science fiction universe. In the 2004 video game Halo 2, the rank is given to a disgraced commander as a way to atone for his failures...
possible origin as the Covenant Supreme Commander of the Fleet of Particular Justice, and events leading to Jacob Keyes's promotion from Lieutenant to Commander.
Plot
The story begins with an attack by Covenant Jackals in the Rubble, an asteroid base constructed as a refuge by anti-UNSC elements known as Insurrectionists. The Jackals attempt to steal navigation data from a human, Ignatio Delgado, and his friend Melko, who is killed. A Spartan named Adrianna saves Delgado, but orders him to keep the presence of Gray Team in the Rubble a secret. Later, the UNSC naval officer Lieutenant Jacob Keyes is transferred from a teaching assignment to active duty to enforce the newly written Cole Protocol, which mandates the destruction of navigation data that could lead the Covenant to human colonies or Earth. Keyes is assigned to the stealth frigate Midsummer Night under the command of Dmitri Zheng.At the Rubble, Delgado looks for clues, suspecting that someone within the Rubble's Security Council is attempting to sell the navigation data to the Jackals in order to broker a peace with the Covenant. Delgado learns of the Kestrel, a ship under the command of Bonifacio, a known smuggler and also on the Security Council. He meets Adrianna again in a small bar, where they are attacked by Insurrectionists, who overhear a mention of the Kestrel. After being saved by Adrianna, he is taken to the Spartan's ship to meet her fellow Gray Team members, Jai and Mike. Jai explains that Gray Team has been working to destroy any navigation data as per Cole Protocol and cause general havoc in the Insurrectionist ranks. As Delgado leaves, he is instructed to find out more about the Security Council leak. On the Midsummer Night, Keyes attempts to enforce the Cole Protocol on a civilian frieghter. When the Lieutenant and a group of soldiers known as ODSTs board the freighter, the captain detonates a bomb. Keyes and the ODSTs leave the ship by exiting through a hull breach as the Insurrectionists on the freighter attempt to blow up the ship to kill as many of the escaping UNSC forces as possible. Keyes is recovered at the expense of "many good soldiers".
Meanwhile, on Sangheilios, the homeworld of the Sangheili (called Elites by the UNSC), the Elite leader or Kaidon Thel 'Vadamee wakes from his sleep to be attacked by assassins sent by the Elite council to test their leader. The Kaidon dispatches the assassins and meets with the council, disposing of the elder who ordered his death. Thel informs the council he has been sent by the ruling caste of the Covenant, the Prophets, to a human colony known as Charybdis IX. Midsummer Night arrives at Charybdis in order to prevent a group of Insurrectionists from acquiring a cache of Covenant weapons. Keyes and fellow soldier are ambushed by rebels on the surface, but Keyes is extracted shortly before a Covenant fleet arrives and vitrify the planet, bombarding the surface with plasma that turns Charybdis' surface to molten glass. The High Prophet of Regret sends Thel on a new mission to stop humans from modifying Covenant weaponry. Midsummer Night follows the Kestrel back to the Rubble, but due to one of the bridge crew being a traitor, Zheng is killed and the ship is taken by the Insurectionists. Thel's ship is betrayed by his escort ship, captured by Jackals and confined. Bonifacio acquires the navigation data from Delgado and leaves him to die, but Delgado activates a beacon Adriana gave him and Gray Team rescues him. Working with Juliana, the Rubble's artificial intelligence, they rescue Keyes and the imprisoned ODSTs. Gray Team destroys all sensitive data on the Kestrel with an EMP bomb and corner Bonifacio, who gives them the stolen data and flees in an escape pod. Keyes, the ODSTs, Jai and Juliana travel to a docked Jackal ship called Infinite Spoils and Juliana hacks their computer to discover the Jackals' true intentions.
Thel captures Infinite Spoils and uses it to destroy weapon emplacements across the Rubble, aiding the Jackal invasion force. The Jackals plan to use a massive asteroid turned Insurrectionist ship and the navigation data it contains to discover and attack Earth. As the Jackals prepare to invade the Rubble, the humans evacuate to the asteroid-ship Exodus. Keyes comes up with a plan to blind the Jackal's moon habitat and destroy their antiship batteries in order to allow Juliana to place the remaining Rubble asteroids in the moon's path. When the moon's orbit reaches the Rubble asteroids, they would then rain down on the Jackals and destroy the moon. With the sensors and antiship batteries gone, the Jackals are unable to do anything and the moon destroyed by the pieces of the Rubble. Keyes leads Exodus to another colony where the citizens of the Rubble are evacuated before Exodus breaks apart. For his actions, Keyes is promoted to Commander and is given some time to go home and visit his daughter while Midsummer Night is repaired. Gray Team is given a Prowler and sent on a new mission even further behind enemy lines. The High Prophets and a Covenant fleet arrive shortly after the Exodus escape and rescue a stranded Thel 'Vadamee. 'Vadamee is promoted to Ship Master of a cruiser in the Covenant Fleet of Particular Justice, while Bonifacio's escape pod is destroyed by the Covenant as he tries to be taken aboard.
Reception
The Cole Protocol opened on three bestsellers lists upon release; the book began at the fourth and sixth spots on The New York TimesThe New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
and Publishers Weekly
Publishers Weekly
Publishers Weekly, aka PW, is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers and literary agents...
trade paperback best sellers lists, respectively. The Cole Protocol also opened 50th overall on USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
best sellers list.
External links
- The Cole Protocol product page at Macmillan/Tor Books
- The Cole Protocol excerpt from Bungie.net; IGNIGNIGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
reading of excerpt here