Editing Preston Cole

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{{Human Character Infobox
|name=Preston Cole
|image=[[Image:Cole at his residence.png|300px]]
|homeworld=
|birth=
|death=
|rank=[[Admiral]]
|species= [[Human]]
|gender=Male
|height=
|weapons=
|equipment=
|vehicles=
|hair=
|eyes=
|cyber=
|era=
|types=
|notable=Established the [[Cole Protocol]], retook Harvest from the Covenant.
|affiliation=[[UNSC]] [[UNSC Navy|Navy]]
}}
<center>''Looking for the [[Halo: The Cole Protocol|The Cole Protocol]], the sixth Halo novel'' ''or [[United Nations Space Command Emergency Priority Order 098831A-1|the Cole Protocol]] the emergency priority order?''</center>
'''[[Admiral]] Preston Cole''' was a [[UNSC]] [[UNSC Navy|Naval]] [[commissioned officer|officer]] during the [[Human-Covenant War]]. He is best known for his role in creating the [[Cole Protocol]], a central UNSC law of the Human-Covenant War.

==Biography==
===Early Career===
Not much is known of Preston Cole's early military career, save that he retired as a [[Vice Admiral]]. By [[2525]], he was living alone in his apartment. He had gone through three divorces, and his health was worse for the wear: he had two heart attacks and had a cloned liver implanted<ref name="Genesis">[[Halo Wars: Genesis]]</ref>.

===Battles against the Covenant===
Despite his poor health, Cole returned to the military in 2525. After the {{UNSCShip|Heracles}} returned to [[Reach]], badly damaged from first contact with the [[Covenant]] <ref>''[[Halo: The Fall of Reach]]'', page 98</ref>, the [[Office of Naval Intelligence]] requested that Cole return to service to lead the largest battle group in human history (including at least three Frigates and ten Cruisers) to [[Harvest]] in hopes of defeating the extraterrestrial threat<ref name="Genesis"/>. He reluctantly accepted their request, and his old rank of Vice Admiral was restored.

Cole fought the [[Second Battle of Harvest]] in [[2526]], due to Cole's use of intelligence gathered during the [[Battle of Chi Ceti]]. Although his fleet defeated the vessel, thirteen UNSC ships were destroyed during the fight.<ref name="Genesis"/>

The news of his promotion to full [[Admiral]] was announced on UNSC-controlled television. However, ONI had removed information of the Covenant and replaced the battle information with that of a communications satellite captured by insurgents, in which Cole was "ordered" to destroy. The worlds of [[Second Base]] and [[Green Hills]] were initially reported as attacked by Insurgents, but were in fact glassed, and their combined population of two million killed. The abandoning of [[Chi Ceti IV]] was kept secret.

Due to the impossibility of keeping the war a secret, ONI's Section II went public and gave Cole command of the majority of their warships.<ref name="Genesis"/> Cole continued the fight throughout the [[Outer Colonies]] for five more years.

The [[Battle of Alpha Aurigae]] in the [[Origami Asteroid Field]] in October [[2526]] had a total of 107 UNSC vessels defeated the Covenant's 12 (at least three were Assault Carriers), thirty-seven UNSC ships were lost.<ref name="Genesis"/>

Xi Boötis A in 2528 saw the loss of thirty out of the UNSC's seventy to the Covenant. The [[Battle of Groombridge-1830|Battle of the Great Bear]] at [[Groombridge-1830]] in [[2530]] saw eleven destroyers out of the fleet of seventeen destroyed by three enemy ships.

Upon the recovering of a [[Sangheili]] survivor, Admiral Cole began writing the [[Cole Protocol]]. Knowing now that the Covenant had little knowledge of Humanity, he realized that secrecy would be advantageous against the Covenant.

Cole would return to Harvest in [[2531]], removing the Covenant forces that had again [[Third Battle of Harvest|encroached]] on the [[Epsilon Indi System]].

===The Cole Protocol===
{{main|United Nations Space Command Emergency Priority Order 098831A-1}}
[[Image:ColeWritingProtocol.png|thumb|right|250px|Preston Cole creating the Cole Protocol.]]

United Nations Space Command Emergency Priority Order 098831A-1, better known as the Cole Protocol, was a law to prevent the Covenant from finding the location of Earth. Essentially, it is an order forbidding the Covenant to gain any opportunity to retrieve data regarding the location of Earth, and forbids retreating vessels from setting a direct course to Earth, as the Covenant are able to track [[Slipspace]] vectors and use them to locate the destination. 

The policy also states that to prevent capture, any UNSC or Human vessel is to self destruct, after wiping all data matrices, to prevent the advance of the Covenant, and make sure they can not find [[Earth]].

The first use of the Cole Protocol occured during the [[Battle of the Rubble]] in [[2534]], where [[Lieutenant (UNSC)|Lieutenant]] [[Jacob Keyes]] used it to escort 1 million people to [[Falaknuma]] using Section 4.<ref>''[[Halo: The Cole Protocol]]''</ref>

===Later Career===
His ultimate fate is unknown, but the presence of a painting in the [[HIGHCOM]] Security Committee Headquarters entitled ''[[Admiral Cole's Last Stand]]'' implies that he was killed in battle.<ref>''[[Halo: First Strike]]''</ref>

==Trivia==
*The Cole Protocol was an effective law of the United Nations Space Command up until [[2552|October 20th, 2552]], when the Covenant found Earth during the [[First Battle of Earth]], thereby rendering the Protocol useless. <ref>''[[Halo 2]]'', level ''[[Cairo Station (Level)|Cairo Station]]''</ref>.
*He promoted Lt. Keyes to the rank of Commander, for his protection of 1 million people in the book ''[[The Cole Protocol]]''.

==Sources==
<references/>
[[Category:UNSC]]
[[Category:Humans (Characters)]]
[[Category:UNSC Naval Personnel]]
[[Category:Characters|Cole, Preston]]