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court- and kept his mouth shut

Because of im public, he was

released (no charges filed), but given strict orders that the entire affair was classified

So, the greatest hero of the age was sent back to Earth--to sit at a desk

Cole would have stayed there for the rest of his life if the burgeoning civil war between Earth and her colonies had not been rendered irrelevant by the appearance of the Covenant

SECTION SIX: THE COVENANT WAR: THE COLE

CAMPAIGNS (2525–2532 CE)

Cole was proot him back to space (all requests were denied) He proposed new policies to ainst the insurgency (all ignored) After eight months at his desk job, he was quietly offered early retirement with an honorary skip promotion to vice admiral (which he accepted)

In the years that followed, Cole’s star dihly publicized er women (each of which ended in even more spectacularly publicized divorces)

Cole’s liver failed from cirrhosis on May 11, 2525, and was subsequently replaced--as were his daed heart and worn endocrine system--by flash-cloned transplants

Shortly thereafter the Covenant encountered the hued to escape to warn the authorities The Colonial Military Adroup to respond to the alien threat They survived less than fourteen seconds before two of the three destroyers in the group were obliterated, and the re destroyer, the Heracles, was forced to retreat

The Heracles sensor logs showed an eneical superiority The CMA was placed under NavCOM for the duration of the conflict and effectively absorbed into the UNSC Central Command scrambled a fleet of more than forty ships of the line to respondbut they needed someone to lead that force

Why did they pick Cole?

In hindsight, this was a enius and would be the only person to ever consistently win against Covenant during the long war that followed

Many claim that without Cole, the Covenant would have carved a path through the Outer Colonies and conquered Earth within three years, and humanity would be a memory today Others say that any person with the same military assets at their disposal had could have done the job, and perhaps done it better

Cole was one thing our collection of "brilliant" admirals were not, however--a fallen hero omanized and drank too much If CENTCOM’s plan to repel the aliens failed, he would have oat

I believe this last point is too convenient an explanation, however

We had to win at Harvest We were not going to pick someone solely for the sake of convenient explanations later

No, there was so dark about Cole that appealed to our leaders He had a proven sto so draness to stare into the face of death, to sacrifice himself and any nu

And that was precisely e needed

{Excerpt} Field Report ZZ-DE-009-856-841 Office of Naval

Intelligence

Reporting Agent: Lieutenant Commander Jack Hopper

(UNSC Service Number: 01283-94321-KQ) \ November 2,

2525 (Military Calendar)

As ordered, Lieutenant Demos and I went to offer Vice Admiral Cole reinstatement to active duty and the job coeneral state e arrived on his doorstep was one of indifference He answered the doorbell in his bathrobe and did not bother to return our salutes He looked ray as was his complexion Gone was the spark in his eyes that I had seen in videos of this legendary host of Admiral Cole, and not the man

He did, however, read the situation report with interest, not flinching when he got to the part about the Heracles and how easily the enemy destroyed her counterparts

Demos suspects he was drunk--a supposition supported by several e rooh Everywhere on the premises there were stacks of books (real paper books) on raphies of Xerxes, Grant, and Patton--and theoretical raphs on slipstream space and other

mathematical esoterica that frankly I had a difficult ti the titles of (like Reunification Matrices of Hilbert Fields Within Spiral Unbounded Singularities )

After reading the situation report twice, the admiral poured himself a drink, and offered one to Demos and myself For politeness‘s sake we took them

Cole then said, ―Three divorces, a cloned liver, two heart attacks--not much left of eddon But okay I‘m in"

He set aside his drink, untouched, and added, ―I think you need et dressed

When he eed from his bedroom he was in uniform and clean shaven--transformed from the

shade of a her

By reflex, I suppose, Demos and I stood at attention and saluted

Cole took co what capital ships were available, rattling off the specifics of the staff he wanted, AIs that he would need, and then requested all the intelligence reports ONI was holding back

Just like you said he would

Vice Ad (written) \ 1215 Hours November 15,

2525 (Military Calendar) \ UNSC cruiser Everest in

slipstreaested the data from Heracles and the Chi Ceti Incident report

The eney shield technology, the theoretical underpinnings of which our brightest can only guess at The MAC rounds fired from

destroyers Arabia and Vostok at Harvest had no effect They didn‘t have tiy shields remains unknown

My assessment: trouble

I see the situation as if we are a horde of Ho toward a ainst their unassailable fortifications--and they will rain hot death upon us with crossbow and boiling oil

Will that analogy hold? Can I find a way to tunnel under those walls? Get inside and slaughter the enemy at close quarters?

I have to

This first encounter with the aliens is a test--for them and us So far we have failed that test We have to show them that we cannot be so easily defeated We have to win no iven h I already see a dozen modifications I wish to make to her) The crew is battle tested and razor sharp

They believe in me

God--I can see it in their eyes They believe that the Adardless, the truth of the ht into hell