Tobias Bucknell's addition to the Halo canon is essentially a time warp, back to the days where the UNSC is backpedaling after an initial failed first contact with The Covenant. The Cole Protocol provides us with an insight into the shattered confidence of UNSC commanders, civilian refugees, and Insurrectionist rebels. Also we learn how Lt. Jacob Keyes gains his first command, the origin of the Arbiter, and origins of another SII branch of Spartans known as Gray Team.
The main backdrop for the HTCP is The Rubble, a maze of interconnected asteroids that have been hollowed out for habitats and connected with flexible tubes. Inhabiting this makeshift space station are a number of refugees from the recently glassed Madrigal and several Insurrectionist assets. They have formed a Council of members who live to serve the greatest interest of all that inhabit The Rubble, while struggling to stay alive by trading with the Kig-Yar (Jackals) as they're now in Covenant territory.
As the book starts we learn of the Ignacio Delgado, a trustee of The Rubble's Security Council and guardian of their most prized possession - navigational charts to every UNSC planet from the outer rings to our homeworld Earth. While Delgado exists to keep the nav data safe, he is wary of everyone within The Rubble even those within the Security Council. Meanwhile Gray Team must ascertain the uneasy treaty between those who inhabit The Rubble and The Covenant force in the sector. This is where Delgado and Gray Team's path's intersect and both sides struggle with the idea of trusting each other.
Cole's other story arc involves the tricky relations of the Prophets Truth and Regret. Both heirarchs have diverging plans for The Rubble and the navigational data. However, neither Prophet is aware of the others plans for this makeshift habitat and the result is a major blow to both of their followers.
Bucknell manages to grasp at an interesting angle in HTCP and tells and intriguing story that expands upon the unsettling trust within The Covenant's leadership. However, the last seventy pages of this novel start a steady decline into a nice but uneventful ending. Unfortunately Bucknell does absolutely no attempt to hint at another storyline. Does another Halo novel exist? Who knows?
But the real blow, the real disappointment was the lack of any attempt to reflect upon Keyes' relation to Gray Team while they were in the SII training on Reach. Here was one of only three individuals to be apart of the Spartan Program while these kids were still waist high and he decides to say nothing during the course of them constantly saving his ass. It doesn't make sense. I'm not asking for any type of "spill you guts" dialogue, but being the coy and clever man the Keyes is, makes him capable of dropping a hint to Gray Team while in the presence of the other officers.
My gripes aside Halo: The Cole Protocol expands the Halo universe a little. But does more to answer questions like: Why Regret was so eager to get to Earth, and what happens to AI's when they understand that they've gone rampant. HTCP is worth your time but just don't expect layered writing, alternate story arcs, or hints to possible future books. We'll all just have to be patient and wait for Frank O'Connor's next hints at another Halo novel.
Edited for grammar 2/19/09
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