Editing Cole Protocol

{{Era|HCW}}

<center>''Are you looking for [[Halo: The Cole Protocol]], the sixth Halo novel?''</center>

{{Quote|It would take ''years'' to ram this down the throats of the politicians, but as far as my battle group was concerned it was ''law''.|Admiral Cole on his first draft of the Cole Protocol.<ref name="HWG">'''Halo Wars: Genesis''', ''page 8''</ref>}}

'''Emergency Priority Order 098831A-1''', also called '''General Order 098831A-1''' and known commonly as the '''Cole Protocol''', was a command enacted by [[Admiral]] [[Preston Jeremiah Cole|Preston Cole]] to prevent the [[Covenant Empire|Covenant]] from finding the location of [[Earth]] or any of the other [[Inner Colonies]]. In practice, it was intended to prevent Covenant's retrieval of data that contained the location of Earth; it forbade retreating vessels from setting a direct [[Slipstream space|slipspace]] course toward any human population center, as the Covenant were able to track slipspace travel vectors and calculate the evacuating ship's destination. The policy also stated that to prevent capture, any [[United Nations Space Command|UNSC]] or civilian vessel, in the event of an emergency evacuation, was to self-destruct, after wiping all data matrices, to prevent the advance of the Covenant.

All UNSC personnel were commanded to read the Cole Protocol each day "by the letter" under an [[UNSC Emergency Priority Order 098831A-1 (transmission)|emergency transmission]] issued by the [[UNSC Naval Command]]. The Cole Protocol ensured that in nearly twenty-seven years of interstellar warfare, the Covenant never discovered the human presence on Earth, and only found other population centers either by accident, by tracking devices left aboard ships,<ref>'''Halo: The Fall of Reach''', ''page ???''</ref> or by the presence of [[Forerunner]] artifacts.<ref>'''Halo: First Strike''', ''page ???''</ref> Unfortunately, the Cole Protocol ceased to be effective when, on [[2552#October|October 20, 2552]], Covenant forces invaded Earth; however, the protocol presumably remained in effect for the other remaining Inner Colonies.

[[File:Genesis1.jpg|thumb|250px|Preston Cole writing Hypodermic-FXT-J.]]

Hypodermic-FXT-J contained the basic instructions set in the final draft of the first articles of the Cole Protocol.<ref name="HWG"/> The report's contents are as follows:

[[Admiral]] [[Margaret Orlenda Parangosky|Parangosky]]/Office of Naval Intelligence/Routing Sequence: Hypodermic-FXT-J<br />

#All UNSC and civilian which come in contact with alien assets must have NAV computer/AI erased--destroyed if necessary--to prevent capture of core world locations.

#ONI Section II to immediately begin Slipstream space attenuated broadcast of pre-recorded human carrier signals from antiquity to prevent triangulation of Earth.<ref>'''Halo: Evolutions''' - ''The Impossible Life and the Possible Death of Preston J. Cole'', ''page 468''</ref>

:'''From:''' UNSC/NAVCOM Fleet [[H.T. Ward]]

:4. If retreating from Covenant forces, all ships must enter Slipstream space with randomized vectors NOT directed toward Earth, the Inner Colonies, or any other human population center.<ref group="note">Following the [[Fall of Reach]], [[Wagner|Lieutenant Wagner]] defied Article 4, initiating a slipspace jump straight to Earth in order to warn HIGHCOM of Reach's fate as quickly as possible. No punitive action was taken against him.</ref>

:5. In case of imminent capture by Covenant forces and boarders, all UNSC ships '''MUST''' self-destruct.

:Violation of this directive will be considered an act of TREASON and pursuant to UNSC Military law articles [[JAG 845-P]] and [[JAG 7556-L]], such violations are punishable by life imprisonment or execution.

Article 2 mandates the procedure for erasing a ship's data, primarily navigation data, as well as all backups, in case of potential compromise by the Covenant. In such situations, a ship-board [[artificial intelligence]] must be secured; if extraction is not possible, the AI must be purged. It is possible that Article 2 also governs protocol in terms of abandoning a vessel.

Subsection 7 dictates that captured Covenant matériel and ships may not be taken back to human-controlled space due to concerns that they might contain tracking devices; as such, it is likely part of Article 4. Bringing a Covenant weapon back to any UNSC installation or Inner Colony is considered an act of treason.<ref>'''Halo: The Cole Protocol''', ''page 99''</ref> [[SPARTAN-III Program|SPARTAN]] [[Emile-A239]] possessed a large collection of contraband Covenant equipment which he acquired in the field. While possessing this matériel was a gross violation of Subsection 7, his superior, [[UNSC Army]] [[Colonel]] [[Urban Holland]], refused to report the Spartan; Holland claimed that the Army does not need to follow Navy protocol. The SPARTAN-IIs had standing orders from the [[Office of Naval Intelligence]] to seize Covenant weapons and technology whenever possible.<ref>'''Halo: The Fall of Reach''', ''page 192''</ref>

Few have even heard of Subsection 7; it was little more than a technicality before ''[[Ascendant Justice]]'' was captured by SPARTAN [[John-117]] and his team soon after the [[Battle of Installation 04]]. This was due to the chances of capturing even a severely crippled Covenant ship being minuscule, as the ship's crew would usually activate their self-destruct function before the completion of such attempts. Because ''Ascendant Justice'' could not be thoroughly searched, John-117 and ONI [[Lieutenant]] [[Elias Haverson]] instead planned to take the ship to Reach, which had already been compromised by the Covenant, and then try to return with a better prepared team.<ref>'''Halo: First Strike''', ''pages 93-94''</ref>

<references group="note"/>

File:ColesInterrogationAtGreatBear.png|The interrogation that inspired the Cole Protocol.

File:ColeWritingProtocol.png|Preston Cole writing Hypodermic-FXT-J, the progenitor of the Cole Protocol.

<references/>

[[Category:UNSC Protocols]]