History Literature / HaloTheColeProtocol

* AsskickingEqualsAuthority: Sangheili/Elite society is meritocratic, meaning that those who perform great deeds (re: military success) advance in society. Kaidons (feudal lords) accept assassination attempts as tests of their ability to lead, for "a kaidon who cannot defend himself is not a true leader".

* HonorBeforeReason: The Sangheili/Elites are portrayed as this to the [[UpToEleven eleven]], as several examples on this page demonstrate. Understandably, both the Jackal leader Reth and the Prophet of Regret regard them as totally insane.

* BigDamnHeroes: Adriana-111 introduces herself by dropping out of nowhere to save Delgado from a pair of Kig-Yar.

* BarFight: Adriana ends up getting into a big one with an entire dive bar while infiltrating the Rubble.

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[[quoteright:275:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Halo_Cover_Cole_2083.png]]

''Halo: The Cole Protocol'' is the sixth novel set in the ''{{Franchise/Halo}}'' universe, and was written by Creator/TobiasBuckell. It was the last novel published under the contract with Tor Books and has been available to the public since November 25th, 2008. The official plot summary:

"In the first, desperate days of the Human-Covenant War, the UNSC has enacted the Cole Protocol to safeguard Earth and its Inner Colonies from discovery by a merciless alien foe. Many are called upon to rid the universe of lingering navigation data that would reveal the location of Earth. Among them is Navy Lieutenant Jacob Keyes. Thrust back into action after being sidelined, Keyes is saddled with a top secret mission by ONI. One that will take him deep behind enemy lines, to a corner of the universe where nothing is as it seems.

Out beyond the Outer Colonies lies the planet Hesiod, a gas giant surrounded by a vast asteroid belt. As the Covenant continues to glass the human occupied planets near Hesiod, many of the survivors, helped by a stronghold of human Insurrectionists, are fleeing to the asteroid belt for refuge. They have transformed the tumbling satellites into a tenuous, yet ingenious, settlement known as The Rubble – and have come face-to-face with a Covenant settlement of Kig-Yar...yet somehow survived.

News of this unlikely treaty has spread to the warring sides. Luckily for the UNSC, this uneasy alliance is in the path of the SPARTAN Gray Team, a three man renegade squad whose simple task is to wreak havoc from behind enemy lines in any way they see fit. But the Prophets have also sent their best, most ambitious and ruthless Elite, whose quest for nobility and rank is matched only by his brutality... and who will do anything to secure his Ascendancy and walk the Path."
----
!!This novel contains examples of the following tropes:
* AcePilot: Pelican pilot Jeffries, whose skills are so apparent in just one flight that Keyes almost immediately has him join the ''Midsummer Night''[='s=] crew, despite Jeffries' showboat tendencies and lack of discipline.
* AcheyScars: During Keyes's service on the ''Meriwether Lewis'', he suffered a deep plasma burn to the thigh and had to have one of his hands rebuilt. The injuries have mostly healed by the start of the story, but cryosleep causes them to flare up again.
* ActionGirl: Adriana-111, the sole female member of Gray Team, who absolutely wrecks any Covenant and Insurrectionist she comes across.
* ActionPrologue: The book begins with a firefight aboard the Rubble, as locals Ignatio Delgado and Melko Hollister attempt to prevent the Jackals from getting their claws on a chip containing vital navigation data.
* AsskickingEqualsAuthority: Sangheili/Elite society is meritocratic, meaning that those who perform great deeds (re: military success) advance in society. Kaidons (feudal lords) accept assassination attempts as tests of their ability to lead, for "a kaidon who cannot defend himself is not a true leader".
* AsteroidThicket: The Rubble is made up of hundreds of hollowed-out asteroids linked together by docking tubes.
* BarFight: Adriana ends up getting into a big one with an entire dive bar while infiltrating the Rubble.
* BoardingParty: Keyes and the ''Midsummer Night''[='s=] [=ODSTs=] board the civilian cargo hauler ''Finnegan's Wake'' to ensure that it's Cole Protocol-compliant. [[spoiler:It turns out to be an Insurrectionist trap, with the hauler itself set to explode.]]
* BigDamnHeroes: Adriana-111 introduces herself by dropping out of nowhere to save Delgado from a pair of Kig-Yar.
* BullyingADragon: A bunch of drunk locals try to pick a fight with Adriana-111 in a bar at the Rubble. While they didn't know she was a Spartan-II, she still was well over six feet tall and was clearly strong enough to snap a man in half with her bare hands.
* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Charybdis IX is run by one, which gives the Insurrectionists a good way to throw off the UNSC's authority.
* DeathFromAbove: Standard Covenant glassing, [[spoiler:which is what inspires Keyes to use the asteroids of the Rubble as weapons against the Jackals and Grunts on Metisette.]]
* DistressCall: After being ambushed by Insurrectionists aboard the ''Finnegan's Wake'', one of the [=ODSTs=] manages to trigger an emergency beacon to bring in the ''Midsummer Night'' with more reinforcements. [[spoiler:It turns out that the Insurrectionists themselves triggered the beacon to lure the ''Midsummer Night'' into an explosive trap, but Keyes figures out what they're doing and is able to send out a warning in time.]]
* DoomedHometown: Madrigal, which the Rubble inhabitants are survivors of, was glassed by the Covenant in 2528.
* DramaticIrony: Thel kills [[spoiler:his best friend Zhar when the latter tries to kill the Prophets of Regret and Truth with his sword for looking like they're about to execute them for following orders]]. This action spares Thel's life, and he is left wondering who in their right minds would dare to rebel so against their leaders. If you've already played ''VideoGame/Halo3'', then you know that [[spoiler:Thel, after becoming [[HeelFaceTurn the Arbiter]] and leader of the [[DefectorFromDecadence Covenant Separatists]], kills the Prophet of Truth with his own energy sword, the very same Prophet whose life he saved on that day]].
* DrivenToSuicide: Happens twice with Thel 'Vadamee's Zealots.
** [[spoiler:Jora 'Konaree is crippled in a fight, so he decides to kill himself rather than live with the shame. Perfectly justified within Sangheili culture, as living would compel his keep to kill his nephews to prevent the "genetic proclivities of failure" from spreading to future generations. However, he's also too wounded to do it himself, so his commander and friend Thel has to deliver the killing blow instead.]]
** Saal ''wants'' to immediately kill himself as punishment for disobeying Thel, but Thel tells him that he'll only be allowed to commit suicide after the mission is complete if he fights honorably.
* DysfunctionJunction: To suggest that Prophets should disagree with each other is heresy to the Covenant. The {{irony}} is lost on no one.
* ElitesAreMoreGlamorous: Our protagonists include Gray Team, consisting of three of humanity's greatest super-soldiers, and Thel Vadamee's Zealots, who are part of an elite order of {{Warrior Monk}}s. Also, the ''Midsummer Night'''s Marine contingent are all Orbital Drop Shock Troopers of the 105th, humanity's best non-Spartan soldiers.
* GambitPileup: ''Big'' time. Basically, the novel boils down to around a dozen plans colliding at once, and everyone trying to crawl out of the ensuing clusterfuck.
* GunsAkimbo: In the opening firefight, Delgado duel-wields pistols while covering Melko's escape, but it only succeeds in briefly forcing the Jackals to keep their heads down until they can get their shields up.
* FamilyHonor: The story emphasizes multiple times that if a Sangheili performs poorly or acts dishonorably, their entire clan will bear the stigma of their shame. For example, after Thel discovers that Koida was the one who sicced the assassins on him, the only reason Koida's entire family is "merely" exiled instead of immediately executed is because Koida did at least attempt to kill Thel himself.
* HeroicBSOD[=/=]VillainousBSOD: Zhar, one of the Elite Zealots, begins to basically shut down after learning that the Prophet of Truth went behind the Prophet of Regret's back. [[spoiler: He even tries to kill them when it appears that they're going to order his execution, when all he did was follow their commands.]]
* HollowWorld: Thanks to CentrifugalGravity, the Rubble's habitats are set up on the inner surfaces of their respective asteroids. For example, if you looked up inside the Oaks Central Habitat, you'd be looking down on the treetops of the other side of the habitat.
* HonorBeforeReason: The Sangheili/Elites are portrayed as this to the [[UpToEleven eleven]], as several examples on this page demonstrate. Understandably, both the Jackal leader Reth and the Prophet of Regret regard them as totally insane.
* HopeSpot: One set up early in the story, at that; at the end of the prologue, it looks like Delgado's friend Melko has successfully escaped with the navigation chip. The beginning of the third chapter reveals that he ended up succumbing to his wounds.
* InternalHomage: Like in ''Literature/HaloTheFallOfReach'', Chapter 1 begins with Keyes being woken up from cryosleep.
* InterserviceRivalry: Not even the Navy likes the Office of Naval Intelligence, and pretty much everyone from Vice Admiral Mawikizi to the lowliest crewman aboard ''Midsummer Night'' makes their disdain for ONI agent Akio Watanabe pretty clear.
* IronicNurseryRhyme: By this point, the Spartans have become such a boogeyman among the Insurrectionists that even their kids have rhymes about them, with Delgado sharing one with Gray Team leader Jai-006:
-->"Don't be spoiled, don't start a fight. Always be careful, here at night. Because the Spartans might come, in suits that weigh half a ton. And they'll steal from you all you gots, just like they did from Colonel Watts."
* {{MacGuffin}}: A data chip containing the coordinates to Earth, with the main plot centering around our heroes trying to keep it from the Covenant's grasp.
* MadLibThrillerTitle: As seen above. Justified, though, as the Cole Protocol has been referenced since the earliest ''Halo'' works.
* MilitaryMaverick:
** Gray Team are all textbook examples of soldiers who march to their own drum, up-to-and-including stealing equipment from ONI. Heck, even Gray Team's own leader often has a hard time getting the other two members to listen to him. It's tolerated by their superiors because Gray Team's independent-mindedness is what makes them such effective operatives to begin with.
** Deconstructed with Jeffries. On their first flight together, Keyes doesn't do much to admonish Jeffries's lack of regard for orders and regulations, choosing instead to acknowledge his genuinely impressive and battle-hardened skills at piloting. However, before their second flight together, Keyes pulls ranks to point out to Jeffries the specific ''practical'' reasons why the orders and regulations he's been ignoring need to be followed.
* TheMole: [[spoiler:Lieutenant Badia Campbell]] is one for the Insurrectionists, while [[spoiler:Rubble Council member Peter Bonifacio]] is one for the Covenant.
* OhCrap: Adriana gets a good one when she emerges from a drop-pod and realizes that she's alone, and surrounded by ten thousand Grunts.
-->"Oh shit."
* ThePenance: After Saal [[spoiler:tortures Reth]] in defiance of orders, Thel orders him to scar himself with the Mark of Disobedience, which the Sangheili consider AFateWorseThanDeath. Saal wants to kill himself instead, but Thel promises him that if he performs well in battle, he'll then be allowed to commit suicide and have his corpse destroyed to prevent him from bringing shame on his keep.
* PlanetSpaceship: At the end, [[spoiler:the inhabitants of the Rubble use a large asteroid converted into an evacuation ship to get themselves safely to UNSC space]].
* PragmaticVillainy: Though they have no love for Earth, most of the Rubble Security Council realize that if they hand over the navigation data, their usefulness to the Jackals is over.
* ProudWarriorRaceGuy: The Elite characters, who value prowess in combat well above anything else.
* RammingAlwaysWorks: Commander Dmitri Zheng's previous frigate was lost when he rammed it into a Covenant destroyer against orders. The only reason he wasn't court-martialed was because he did successfully disable the destroyer long enough for another ship to deliver the killing shot.
* RankUp: At the end, [[spoiler:Keyes' actions in the Battle of the Rubble convince Admiral Cole that he's too good to lose, resulting in Keyes being skip-promoted from Lieutenant all the way to full Commander]].
* RightHandVersusLeftHand: The Prophets competing plans smash HEAD on.
* TheReveal: Though it's now in LateArrivalSpoiler territory, said reveal was originally a fairly subtle one that would have only been caught by readers who had read ''ComicBook/TheHaloGraphicNovel'': [[spoiler:near the end, Thel is given a post in the Fleet of Particular Justice, revealing that he's the same Elite who becomes the Arbiter in ''VideoGame/Halo2'']].
* RecoilBoost: Keyes and the [=ODSTs=] manage to escape the ''Finnegan's Wake'' by using their rifles as impromptu rockets to boost them through space.
* TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized: Averted along with TheRevolutionWillNotBeVilified. The Insurrectionists have arguably justified intentions, but their attempts to continue the war during the genocidal war with the Covenant is rather stupid.
** In the other books, it's quite uncivilized, though.
** Definitely uncivilized with the rioting on Charybdis IX, [[spoiler:wherein numerous ONI operatives, pilot Jeffries, and Major Watanabe all lose their lives to the mob.]]
* RewardedAsATraitorDeserves: [[spoiler:Peter Bonifacio is left to die when he fails to get the navigation data to Reth.]]
* RuleOfDrama: Invoked In-Universe. During his debriefing, an ONI officer is flipping through Keyes report with exaggerated slowness. Keyes notes that it's drama, meant meant to make him nervous; but also notes that it's working.
* SamusIsAGirl: There's a small moment of this when the giant SuperSoldier in gray PoweredArmor who just saved Delgado takes off its helmet to reveal that it's actually a she.
* SmugSnake: Peter Bonifacio. Actually, all of the Insurrectionists seem to be this. Their myopic independence-based patriotism and condescending attitude can really grate.
** Conversely, this is how the Insurrectionists see the UNSC, apart from basically considering them to be fascists.
* SpaceMarine: Spartans, as above, alongside the more BadassNormal [=ODSTs=] led by Major Faison.
* SpacePirates: The Kig-Yar, who get their "Jackal" nickname thanks to their tendency to steal anything that isn't bolted down. Their leader, Reth, has a personal TreasureRoom filled with stolen art from all over Covenant space.
* StealthHiBye: Akio Watanabe introduces himself by suddenly showing up in the middle of a briefing without anyone noticing. Keyes notes that this seems to be a regular habit among ONI agents in general, and finds it creepy and annoying.
* SuperSoldier: The members of Gray Team are heavily-augmented commandos who have been trained since childhood to be humanity's most effective soldiers.
* TakeThat: A subtle one to the torture scenes of ''Literature/HaloContactHarvest'', with Watanabe's denouncement of torture and those who use it.
* TapOnTheHead: In order to prevent Delgado from seeing the route to Gray Team's ship, a fully-armored Jai-006 knocks him with a blow to the back of the head. Somehow, Delgado suffers no lasting injury from this.
* ThereWasADoor: Jai-006 makes his first appearance by smashing through the wall of a bar, which instantly stops the fight going on inside.
* WarRefugees: UNSC worlds near the frontlines like Chi Rho are overrun with "tent cities" filled with refugees from the Outer Colonies, and there's a lot of tension between the newcomers and the locals, especially on worlds like Chi Rho where the local culture prizes self-sufficiency and looks down on handouts. Additionally, most of the Rubble's inhabitants are themselves refugees from glassed colonies.
* VillainProtagonist: Thel 'Vadamee, the [[HeelFaceTurn future Arbiter]]. At this point he is still a loyal and zealous servant of the Prophets. Though by the end of the story, he starts showing some hints of doubt about the motives of the Prophets.
* WarriorPoet: Veer, one of the Elite Zealots, spends raids looking for oddities on human ships for his war poems.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Veer. He disappears partway through the novel to pilot a Jackal shuttle (or something similar), then is never mentioned again.
* YourTerroristsAreOurFreedomFighters: The Outer Colonies mainly think this of the Insurrection.

** Gray Team are all textbook examples of soldiers who march to their own drum, up-to-and-including stealing equipment from ONI. It's tolerated by their superiors because Gray Team's independent-mindedness is what makes them such effective operatives to begin with.

* IronicNurseryRhyme: By this point, the Spartans have become such a boogeyman among the Insurrectionists that even their kids have rhymes about them:

* ThereWasADoor: Gray Team leader Jai-006 makes his first appearance by smashing through the wall of a bar, which instantly stops the fight going on inside.

* BullyingADragon: A bunch of locals try to pick a fight with Adriana-111 in a bar at the Rubble. While they didn't know she was a Spartan-II, she still was well over six feet tall and was clearly strong enough to snap a man in half with her bare hands.

* {{Irony}}: Thel kills his best friend Zhar [[spoiler:when the latter tries to kill the Prophets of Regret and Truth with his sword for looking like they're about to execute them for following orders]]. This action spares Thel's life, and he is left wondering who in their right minds would dare to rebel so against their leaders. Come ''VideoGame/Halo3'', Thel, now [[HeelFaceTurn the Arbiter]] and leader of the [[DefectorFromDecadence Covenant Separatists]], [[spoiler:kills the Prophet of Truth with his own energy sword, the very same Prophet whose life he saved on that day]].

* ThereWasADoor: Gray Team leader Jai-006 makes his appearance by smashing through the wall of a bar, which instantly stops the fight going on inside.

* StealthHiBye: Akio Watanabe introduces himself by suddenly showing up in the middle of a briefing without anyone noticing. Keyes notes that this seems to be a regular habit among ONI agents in general, and finds it creepy and annoying.
* TakeThat: A subtle one to the torture scenes of ''Literature/HaloContactHarvest'', with Watanabe's denouncement of torture and those who use it.
* RammingAlwaysWorks: Commander Dmitri Zheng's previous frigate was lost when he rammed it into a Covenant destroyer against orders. The only reason he wasn't court-martialed was because he did successfully disable the destroyer long enough for another ship to deliver the killing shot.

** Gray Team are all textbook examples of soldiers who march to their own drum, up-to-and-including stealing equipment from ONI. It's tolerated by their superiors because Gray Team's independent-mindedness is what makes them such effective operatives to begin.

* MilitaryMaverick: Deconstructed with Jeffries. On their first flight together, Keyes doesn't do much to admonish Jeffries's lack of regard for orders and regulations, choosing instead to acknowledge his genuinely impressive and battle-hardened skills at piloting. However, before their second flight together, Keyes pulls ranks to point out to Jeffries the specific ''practical'' reasons why the orders and regulations he's been ignoring need to be followed.

* InterserviceRivalry: Not even the Navy likes the Office of Navel Intelligence, and pretty much everyone from Vice Admiral Mawikizi to the lowliest crewman aboard ''Midsummer Night'' makes their disdain for ONI agent Akio Watanabe pretty clear.

* TheMole: [[spoiler: Lieutenant Badia Campbell.]]

* AcePilot: Pelican pilot Jeffries, who's also a showoff to boot.

* TakeThat: A subtle one to the torture scenes of ''Literature/HaloContactHarvest'', with ONI spook Akio Watanabe's denouncement of torture and those who use it.
* RankUp: At the end, [[spoiler:Keyes' actions in the Battle of the Rubble convince Admiral Cole that he's too good to lose, resulting in Keyes being skip-promoted from Lieutenant all the way to full Commander]].

* YourTerroristsAreOurFreedomFighters: The Outer Colonies mainly think this of the Insurrection, though considering that things like Charybdis apparently happen on a regular basis you can't really blame them.
** Except you can because Charybdis was the fault of the Insurrection ratting out human worlds to the Covenant. And the little detail that it is the UNSC who is defending the Outer Colonies from the Covenant...while the Insurrection is attacking those same defenses and helping the Covenant find Outer Colony worlds to glass. If the Outer Colonists are truly so stupid, then their deaths are vital for the continued survival of humanity as they are clearly [[TooDumbToLive Too Dumb to Live]].

* MadLibThrillerTitle: As seen above. Justified, though, as the Cole Protocol has been referenced since the earliest Halo works.

* RewardedAsATraitorDeserves: [[Peter Bonifacio is left to die when he fails to get the navigation data to Reth.]]

* PlanetSpaceship: At the end, the inhabitants of The Rubble, survivors of the Covenant invasion of their system, convert a large asteroid into an evacuation ship to get everyone safely to UNSC space.

* OhCrap: She gets a good one when she emerges from a drop-pod and realizes that she's alone, and surrounded by ten thousand Grunts.

* ActionGirl: Adriana-111.

* BullyingADragon: A bunch of locals try to pick a fight with Adriana-111 in a bar. While they didn't know she was a Spartan-II, she still was over six feet tall and looked strong enough to snap a man in half with her bare hands.

* OhCrap: Adriana gets a good one when she realizes that she's alone, and surrounded by ''ten thousand'' Grunts.
-->Oh shit.

* BigDamnedHeroes: Adriana-111 introduces herself by dropping out of nowhere to save Delgado from a pair of Kig-Yar.

* BullyingADragon: A bunch of locals try to pick a fight with Adriana-111 in a bar. While they didn't know she was a Spartan-II, she was over six feet tall and looked strong enough to snap a man in half with her bare hands.

* DrivenToSuicide: Jora, a Zealot, is crippled in a fight, so he decides to kill himself rather than live with the shame. Perfectly justified within Sangheili culture, as living would compel his keep to kill his nephews to prevent the "genetic proclivities of failure" from spreading to future generations. He's also too wounded to do it himself, so someone else has to.

* FateWorseThanDeath: After Saal, a Zealot, tortures Reth in defiance of orders, Thel 'Vadamee orders him to scar himself with the Mark of Disobedience, which Thel says is worse than death. He'll allow Saal to kill himself later before they destroy his body to prevent him from bringing shame on his keep.

* HonorBeforeReason: The Elites are portrayed as this to the [[UpToEleven eleven]].
* {{Irony}}: Thel kills Zhar, his best friend, [[spoiler:when he tries to kill the Prophets of Regret and Truth with his sword for looking like they're about to execute them for following orders]]. This action spares Thel's life, and he is left wondering who in their right minds would dare to rebel so against their leaders. Come ''VideoGame/Halo3'', Thel, now [[HeelFaceTurn the Arbiter]] and leader of the [[DefectorFromDecadence Covenant Separatists]], [[spoiler:kills the Prophet of Truth with his own energy sword, the very same Prophet whose life he saved on that day]].

* ProudWarriorRaceGuy: The Elites, taken to wall banger levels.
** Reth, the Jackal leader, even says that the Elites are insane. Then again he comes from a race of space pirates...
** The Prophet of Regret also later notes that Elite honor is insane.

* [[spoiler: RewardedAsATraitorDeserves: Peter Bonifacio is left to die when he fails to get the navigation data to Reth.]]

* SpaceMarine: Spartans, as above, alongside the more BadassNormal [=ODSTs=].
* SpacePirates: The Jackals.

* EmpoweredBadassNormal / OneManArmy / SuperSoldier: The book has Spartans, natch.

* LaResistance: The Insurrectionists.
* {{MacGuffin}}: The Cole Protocol.