UNSC Transmission 102482-02

United Nations Space Command Transmission 102482-02 was a classified communiqué sent by Vice Admiral Preston J. Cole to Admiral Harold Stanforth in 2531. It consisted of Cole's thoughts regarding the interrogation of a Covenant prisoner after the Battle of the Great Bear, especially concerning the importance of preventing the enemy discovery of the Sol system and of gaining better military intelligence. Additionally, it contained the directives that Cole had drafted in Hypodermic-FXT-J, which would eventually be codified as the Cole Protocol.

In 2552, UNSC Transmission 102482-02 was included within Historical/Psychological Analysis of Cole, Preston J., an intelligence report filed by Codename: SURGEON to Codename: USUAL SUSPECTS.

Classified communiqué from Vice Admiral Preston Cole to Admiral Harold Stanforth \ May 2531 (Military Calendar)

United Nations Space Command Transmission 102482-02

Encryption code: Red

Public Key: file / Vegas-Anaconda-Mockingbird-Zero /

From: Vice Admiral Preston Cole, Commanding Officer UNSC Everest / (UNSC Service Number: 00814-13094-BQ)

To: Admiral Harold Stanforth, USNC Region One Commander / REACH CENTCOM (UNSC Service Number: 00834-19223-HS)

Subject: safeguarding navigation data - more thoughts

Classification: SECRET (BGX Directive)

Harold,

I've gone over this a dozen times: starting with our capture and interrogation of the alien creature my doctors are calling an "Elite" and ending with my tenuous conclusions and recommendations.

It doesn't make sense. My gut tells me the entire war hinges on something that we have overlooked.

First, and foremost, the Elite was xenophobic. The venom with which it spoke of humanity and its one desire - even as it bled out on the table - to find Earth and burn it to hot ashes... left zero doubt.

With that in mind, I still believe that safeguarding Earth's position is of vital importance. I plan to immediately implement the directives I drafted and sent to ONI for review, namely:

1. ALL UNSC and civilian ships that come into contact with alien assets must have nav computer network/AI erased - destroyed, if necessary - to prevent capture of core world locations.
2. ALL human vessels fleeing alien forces must do so on randomly generated vectors away from UNSC core worlds.
3. ONI Section II to begin slipstream space attenuation broadcast of prerecorded human carrier signals from antiquity to prevent triangulation of Earth.

But, like I said, some things about this do not add up.

First, I do not understand why the aliens DON'T know where Earth is. They have technology hundreds of years more advanced then ours. All one has to do to find Earth is stick a radio antenna into space and triangulate on the source. I suspect something is occurring within the Covenant hierarchy that has prevented Earth from being targeted, or perhaps appreciated... something our captured alien had no knowledge of.

Second, my recommendation for ONI to obfuscate the radio signature in slipstream space (directive 3) might be our best bet to keep rogue elements within the Covenant military from finding Earth and preemptively attacking. Considering the dangers of any energy manipulation in slipstream space, however, I'm going to need your support with Parangosky to use her assets in what she'll consider an "extreme-risk" operation.

Third, I'll need solid intelligence on the enemy. Do they seem to see us as some kind of religious aggressor... following some hitherto unknown ritual that accounts for them destroying our Outer Colonies before Earth? Or another possibility - an anthropomorphic gulf - that we have so many inhabited worlds, some more powerful militarily, economically than Earth - what if they're not interested in our homeworld strategically - but rather for some other, unknowable reason?

I can fight them, Harold, but only so effectively without knowing why they hate us.

I keep thinking of Sun Tzu: "If you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles; if you do not know your enemies but do know yourself, you will win one and lose one; if you do not know your enemies nor yourself, you will be imperiled in every single battle."

I look forward to your thoughts on this, my old friend.

Be well.

Preston

Production note

"UNSC" is misspelled as "USNC" in one instance within the transmission; presumably, this is due to an editing error or oversight. Additionally, the specific day of May 2531 on which the transmission was sent seems to have been omitted.

List of appearances

• Halo: Evolutions - Essential Tales of the Halo Universe
  • The Impossible Life and the Possible Death of Preston J. Cole (First appearance)