Halo: The Rubicon Protocol

Halo: The Rubicon Protocol
Attribution information
Author(s):	Kelly Gay
Cover artist(s):	William "Pixelflare" Cameron
Publication information
Publisher:	Gallery Books
Publication date:	August 9, 2022
Pages:	352 pages
ISBN:	9781982147884

Halo: The Rubicon Protocol is a Halo novel by Kelly Gay, following surviving members of the United Nations Space Command as they mount a resistance against the Banished following their ambush by them in late 2559. The novel was originally set to be released March 15, 2022, but later was delayed to June 28, 2022, then delayed again to August 9, 2022.

In celebration of San Diego Comic Con between July 21–24, 2022, a few limited copies of The Rubicon Protocol were released early through the Simon & Schuster booth at the convention. Additionally, on the July 8 and 29 respectively, two short previews of the book were officially released by 343 Industries, with a third released in a Canon Fodder on 2 August. The links to these previews can be found at the bottom of this page.

Official summary

“

2560. Humanity finds its back against the wall after the United Nations Space Command flagship Infinity dropped out of slipspace into a devastating ambush launched by the Banished. As this fierce enemy alliance seeks to claim a powerful weapon hidden within the ancient Forerunner ringworld known as Zeta Halo, the surviving UNSC forces now find themselves compromised and its leadership out of reach—with remaining personnel forced to abandon ship and take their chances on the fractured, unpredictable surface of the Halo ring. Now survival in this strange, alien environment—whether for Spartan super-soldiers or those who never thought they would see the battle up close—is measured day-to-day against a relentless and brutal adversary that always has the upper hand. Desperation grows, but the will to keep on fighting and enduring no matter the odds is never in doubt… even as the Banished seek to unleash a frightening new enemy that could doom them all...

”

Plot summary

Halo: The Rubicon Protocol is told from multiple perspectives, with a focus on characters that were, at some point or another, a member of the boat crew: Bonita Stone, Nina Kovan, Lucas Browning, Tomas Horvath, and TJ Murphy.

On December 12, 2559, the UNSC Infinity was ambushed by the Banished as it arrived at Installation 07. Spartan Nina Kovan of Fireteam Shadow evacuated from the flagship on a drop pod; on the surface of the ring, she came to the aid of the occupants of an RLT-85 shuttlepod. Meanwhile, her squadmate Spartan Bonita Stone piloted a Bumblebee, leading its companion lifeboat piloted by TJ Murphy, away from the Infinity to the surface of the ring. Having lost its back section to weapon fire, Murphy's lifeboat spun out of control as it entered the ring's atmosphere; it crash-landed on the surface of the ring, where it was lodged inside a crevice, leaving its occupants trapped. The crew, including Lucas Browning, Isaiah Cameron, and Robin Dimik, took turns transmitting a distress call, which was answered by Spartan Tomas Horvath of Fireteam Intrepid. However, while Horvath made his way to the Bumblebee, Installation 07 suddenly entered slipstream space. Shortly after, an explosion on the ring fractured its surface. The catastrophic event separated Horvath from his fireteam, and disabled his communications system, cutting him off from Murphy's lifeboat. Instead, Spartan Stone rescued Murphy's crew. Stone then led the survivors across region, and rendezvoused with Kovan's group of survivors. Gavin Jo and Erik Bender from Kovan's group, both being support staff, naturally gravitated towards Murphy's crew, which was also entirely made up of noncombatants. Having lost their marine companions in a skirmish, the group—now entirely made up of the "boat crew"—followed Stone and Kovan to the UNSC stronghold at the wreckage of the UNSC Mortal Reverie; they arrived on December 19.

Elsewhere on the ring, Horvath was discovered, then pursued, by Banished forces led by Bloodstar Gorian. The pursuit led to Horvath and his pursuers being stranded on a ring fragment. Without any means to escape the fragment, Horvath and Gorian formed a truce. Together, the two dug out an Aggressor Sentinel out from under Gorian's crashed Phantom to hijack its impulse drive, then used it to fly across the ring's breach to the main fragment. Halfway across the breach, however, Gorian struck Horvath; the ensuing struggle sent the Aggressor slamming into an embankment, and left Horvath severely wounded. Gorian, having mentioned he would best Horvath in a fair fight prior, promised he would kill Horvath fairly the next time they met. Spared by Gorian, Horvath watched helplessly as the Jiralhanae reunited with his Banished allies.

Weeks later, on January 31, 2560, the UNSC forces mounted a defense at the Reverie when the Banished launched an assault on the wreckage. After two days, the UNSC defenses fell to the Banished assault; Browning and Jo were attacked by a Sangheili Enforcer. While Jo was impaled by the Sangheili's energy sword, Browning was saved by Spartan Kovan. As more Banished troops approached, Bender and Browning reluctantly left Jo and fled with other UNSC survivors. The boat crew—minus Browning, who drew Banished away from the group and was captured—hid in a cave from the Banished; they waited until Kovan returned with supplies, then set off on their own. The defeat at Reverie saw the end of any organized UNSC resistance; prisoners, like Browning, were taken to Redoubt of Sundering, then to Chak 'Lok's Tower for torture and interrogation. Browning was forced to interface with a cylix that contained the Harbinger, releasing a member of the Endless from stasis.

With the UNSC forces scattered, the Banished began to consolidate their control of the ring. While tracking down Gorian, Horvath found a heavily-injured Kate Stalling, an Office of Naval Intelligence operative studying Installation 07. Before her death, Stalling told Horvath of Gorian's intent to access the ring's Conspectus network data, which included its galactic coordinates. Horvath vowed to locate the Conspectus network hub and send the ring's location to the UNSC, so Stalling's death would not be in vain.

Over the next month, the boat crew travelled across the region; with the enactment of the Rubicon Protocol, the group disrupted the Banished's efforts where possible; under Kovan's leadership, the boat crew became a capable team of guerilla fighters. After they reunited with Stone, the team noticed an increased air traffic towards the Reverie—now a Banished outpost named after the Chieftain who led the assault on the wreckage—so they decided to investigate. Stone and Kovan found Browning at Outpost Tremonius, but he couldn't be rescued. Browning informed Kovan of the Harbinger, and opted to stay under captivity. During their escape, Stone was separated from Kovan; instead, she decided to investigate the Banished excavation underneath the outpost. Inside, she saw that the Banished were using a human prisoner to extract a data node from the ring's Conspectus network. Stone's attempt to steal the data node led to her death at the hands of Jega 'Rdomnai. As Stone's last act, her AI Ouco corrupted the data node before it was retrieved by Gorian and 'Rdomnai, though both were unaware of Stone's sabotage. Hiding a copy of the data node on her body, Stone died pleased that she had thrown a wrench into Escharum's grand scheme.

The next day, the boat crew found Stone's body and a grieving Kovan retrieved Stone's data chip, which contained the Conspectus network data. When they escaped by venturing deeper into the Forerunner subterranean structure, the boat crew was approached by submonitor 091 Adjutant Veridity, who revealed Stone's data contained the ring's galactic coordinates. The boat crew realized they could transmit the data to the UNSC to summon reinforcements, but doing so required the Installation's monitor 117649 Despondent Pyre's support to decrypt the data. Under Veridity's guidance, the boat crew set out to the monitor's facility, the Conservatory, to free Pyre from Cortana's lockdown.

While en route to the Conservatory, the boat crew linked up with Spartan Horvath. While they caught up on events from the past five months, they decided to use one of the ring's beacon towers as a supraluminal communications array to broadcast the ring's location to UNSC space and summon reinforcements. At the Conservatory's main chamber, Horvath awakened the monitor. Although Pyre was initially uninterested in offering any assistance, upon hearing news of the Harbinger being released, the monitor granted access to the beacon towers. She also gave the boat crew a data key that they must insert into the central plinth of a beacon tower in order to transmit the ring's location and data to human-occupied space. However, Pyre ordered Veridity to remain with her to counter the Harbinger, leaving the boat crew to travel to the beacon tower without Veridity.

Several days later, the team arrived at a beacon tower near the Conservatory. Horvath cleared the beacon's approach, then provided overwatch for Cameron and Dimik, who placed explosives at a wooded ravine leading to the beacon tower. Kovan led Bender and Murphy into the beacon to transmit the ring's data; while Kovan protected the control plinth and interfaced with its panel, Bender and Murphy defended the chamber entrance from Sangheili Enforcers that were guarding the beacon. After Bender ran out of ammo, his chestplate was hit by a plasma round, forcing him to discard the armor before the plasma burnt through to his skin. While Bender was occupied, it left an opening for a Sangheili to fire at the plinth, but Murphy jumped in and blocked the bolts with his body. Kovan then killed the Sangheili while Bender slid to Murphy's aid, only to watch the lieutenant passed with a smile on his face. At the same time, the beacon tower fired its supraluminal message to UNSC space.

Having caught attention of UNSC activity at the beacon tower, Jega 'Rdomnai led a massive number of Banished reinforcements from their nearby excavation site into the Conservatory to the beacon tower. Before he could reach the beacon, Cameron was run down and killed by a Terror Wraith. In the ensuing battle, Horvath was isolated from the rest of the team as he fought Gorian. Horvath used a spike grenade from Dimik to disable Gorian's energy shields, then delivered the killing blow with an energy sword given to him earlier by Bender. However, the Spartan was teleported away because his duel with Gorian left him on a translocation pad, which was then destroyed by a Thrasher missile after its activation.

As the Banished surrounded the remaining members of the boat crew—Kovan, Bender, and Dimik—they were rescued by Veridity, who flew in and fired her focus beam at the Banished forces, then teleported the survivors to another location before disappearing. The three spent the next four days treating their wounds and repairing equipment. As they rested and contemplated their wins and losses at the beacon tower, they agreed their next step would be rescuing Browning from the Tower. Browning, having had multiple meetings with the Harbinger at this point, was left in a hysterical state in which he was involuntarily rambling to himself, unable to recount his experience with the Harbinger.

Horvath was teleported to a partially collapsed mountain facility somewhere far away from the beacon. He collapsed from his injuries and spent the next day comatose—half from exhaustion—before coming to again. Horvath's armor and Spartan augmentations kept him from dying of exposure during this time. Alone again, he explored the area and found the wreckage of one of the Infinity's shuttles and, although there were no survivors, he recovered a week's worth of water, rations and weapons. On May 25, approximately three days before the events of Halo Infinite, Horvath issued a final transmission, announcing his plans to search for survivors, and made an open plea to the Master Chief that they need him now more than ever.

Appearances

Characters Artificial Intelligence Cortana (Mentioned only) Elfie Mouse (First appearance) Ouco 091 Adjutant Veridity 117649 Despondent Pyre Human Erik Bender (First appearance) Lucas Browning Isaiah Cameron Deleke (First appearance) Robin Dimik (First appearance) Douglas-042 (Indirect mention) Foutty (First appearance) Horatio Fry Hudson Griffin Etana Hensler (First appearance) Tomas Horvath M. Jaide (Mentioned only) Gavin Jo (First appearance) John-117 (Mentioned only) Kim (First appearance) Kinney (First appearance) Nina Kovan Thomas Lasky (Mentioned only) Vedrana Makovich Henri Malik Mosley (First appearance) TJ Murphy Owens (First mentioned) Sarah Palmer Panago Park (First appearance) Rosado (Mentioned only) Sarkar Theodore Sorel (Mentioned only) Thompson (First appearance) Kate Stalling (First appearance) Bonita Stone Si Wheeler Unidentified Banished human inspector (First appearance) Jiralhanae Atriox (Mentioned only) Escharum Gorian Hectarius (First appearance) Itacus (First appearance) Tremonius (Mentioned only) Sangheili Chak 'Lok Jega 'Rdomnai Unggoy Glibnub Xalanyn Harbinger Species Flood (Mentioned only) Forerunner (Mentioned only) Gasgira Human Ancestors (Mentioned only) Jiralhanae Kateukal (First mentioned) Kig-Yar Mgalekgolo Sangheili Unggoy Xalanyn Organizations Banished Bloodstars Hand of Atriox Witch's Eye (First appearance) Created (Mentioned only) Covenant (Mentioned only) United Nations Space Command Office of Naval Intelligence UNSC Armed Forces Boat crew (First appearance) Spartan Operations SPARTAN-II program Blue Team (Mentioned only) SPARTAN-IV program Fireteam Intrepid Fireteam Shadow Fireteam Taurus Fireteam Windfall UNSC Marine Corps Orbital Drop Shock Troopers Gravediggers (First mentioned) Hatetriox (First mentioned) Locations Anvil Station (Mentioned only) Milky Way Bhaakto system Alluvion (Mentioned only) Kuyik (First mentioned) Paugary (First mentioned) Vaslo (First mentioned) Ephsu system Installation 07 Cartographer (Mentioned only) Conservatory Outpost Tremonius Redoubt of Sundering Tower House of Reckoning Beacon tower Oth Sonin system Doisac (Mentioned only) Teash (Indirect mention) Warial (Indirect mention) Sverdlovsk system Talitsa (Mentioned only) Events Bow to Stern relay (First mentioned) War First Immolation (Mentioned only) Human-Covenant War (Mentioned only) Post-Covenant War conflicts Created uprising Razing of Oth Sonin (Mentioned only) Battle for Zeta Halo Battle over Installation 07 Battle of the Mortal Reverie (First appearance) Battle of the beacon tower (First appearance)

Vehicles Human F-41 Broadsword FSS-1000 Sabre GA-TL1 Longsword Mulsanne-class light frigate UNSC Mortal Reverie Mongoose M9 Wolverine M9407 drop pod Pelican Scorpion SKT-29 Bumblebee Echo India Bravo 08 Papa Tango Delta 09 Infinity-class supercarrier UNSC Infinity RLT-85 Emergency Shuttlepod Warthog UNSC Relentless Watch (First mentioned) Banished Banished dreadnought Banshee Chopper Dovotaa Workshop Griever Ghost Klavbrig Workshop Shroud Klavrig Workshop Skitterer Phantom Banished Phantom Qavardu Workshop war-skiff Scarab (Mentioned only) Seraph Wraith Terror Wraith Weapons Human BR75 battle rifle Energy bayonet M11 combat knife M395 DMR M41 SPNKR M6 series M85 Scythe M870 Rampart point defense gun M9 fragmentation grenade M965 Fortress point defense network Magnetic Accelerator Cannon MA series MA5 series MA5D assault rifle MA5K carbine MLRS-2 Hydra Mk50 Sidekick MX-10 mini-brick (First appearance) SRS99 series SRS99-S5 AM sniper rifle SRS99-S7 AM sniper rifle Banished Anskum-pattern plasma grenade Erudo'ma'keth-pattern pulse carbine Flaktura Workshop Skewer Ghostpierce Kywasky Workshop Gorespike cannon (Mentioned only) Jiralhanae combat knife Jovokada Workshop brute shot Jovokada Workshop spike grenade Needler Okarda'phaa-pattern plasma rifle Plasma cannon Plasma pistol Plasma mortar Sicatt Workshop shock rifle Thrasher missile (First appearance) Energy sword gravity hammer Ukala Workshop Mangler Veporokk Workshop Ravager Technology and equipment Forerunner Ancilla Monitor Facilitator-class ancilla Halo Array Beacon tower Conspectus network Cylix Light bridge Impulse drive Sentinel Aggressor Sentinel Slipspace portal Teleportation grid Human Active camouflage Artificial intelligence Personal AI Biofoam Energy shielding Forward Operating Base Heads-up display MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor HIVEMIND-class Mjolnir (Mentioned only) MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor (GEN3) ANUBIS-class Mjolnir Mark VII Mjolnir STORMFALL-class Mjolnir TRAILBLAZER-class Mjolnir Motion sensor Overshield Banished Flame-bore Jump pack (Mentioned only) Kig-Yar point defense gauntlet Propaganda tower (Mentioned only) Miscellaneous Bridge Mess hall Sedran red fruit Tossers (Mentioned only)

Production notes

• Despite having narrative connections to Halo Infinite, Halo: The Rubicon Protocol was reported prior to release to stand on its own and would not be "required reading" for fans to understand the game's story. Care was taken to ensure the geographical or positioning details lined up with the game; certain in-game locations, including Outpost Tremonius, the Tower, the Conservatory, and a beacon tower's interior, were depicted in the novel as well. The novel expands on the narrative depicted in the Halo Infinite audio logs, having incorporated events from several logs. As such, previously unidentified characters in the audio logs were given names in the novel, such as Gorian, Ouco, and Elfie. Author Kelly Gay used the audio logs as mileposts of the characters' journeys during the novel, and admitted that doing so posed some challenges to the writing process as the narrative needed to intersect with the chosen logs; occasionally, parts of the novel have changed as Halo Infinite went through development changes. Vice versa, the novel also influenced elements of the game. Notably, Nina Kovan and Tomas Horvath were set to be killed in the audio logs. Kelly Gay, while writing the novel, discussed with 343 Industries to cut the audio logs that depicted their deaths, allowing Gay to expand on the fates of the two Spartans in the novel.
• According to Kelly Gay, the narrative's main theme revolves around friendship and sacrifice, and realizing that even the smallest act might turn the tide of war. This was best exemplified by the boat crew's victory at the battle of the beacon tower, with each member of the team contributing to the Conspectus network data being transmitted and the defeat of Gorian.
• In the novel, Nina Kovan mentions that herself and Bonita Stone had served together for a decade between 2550 and 2560, with the two having first met aboard the warship UNSC Relentless Watch. This would seemingly contradict the birth date given for Stone in the Halo Encyclopedia (2022 edition), in which Stone is established to have been born in 2535. Were this the case, Stone would have been only fifteen years old when she began serving onboard the Relentless Watch.

Gallery

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  Full cover art with logos.

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  Full cover art without logos.

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  Early sketch of the cover art.

External links

Text previews

• Halo Waypoint, Halo: The Rubicon Protocol - Preview 1
• Halo Waypoint, Halo: The Rubicon Protocol - Preview 2
• Halo Waypoint, Halo: The Rubicon Protocol - Preview 3

Audiobook previews

• YouTube, Halo: The Rubicon Protocol – Preview 01
• YouTube, Halo: The Rubicon Protocol – Preview 02
• YouTube, Halo: The Rubicon Protocol – Preview 03