Admiral Preston J. Cole is one of the most renowned officers in the history of the UNSC, having served for over 34 years. The man was known for his tactical genius, his stoic attitude, and was regarded as a hero during the insurrection. However, he would find himself under scrutiny in 2503 when it was discovered that the woman he had fallen in love with was in fact an insurrectionist leader. He quietly retired a year later and faded into obscurity. With the start of the human covenant war in 2525 however, Cole was given another chance to serve. The UNSC reinstated Cole as his tactical genius was an asset and his disgrace was the perfect scapegoat if he failed. Ultimately however, Cole would prevail and continue to prevail for years to come once again making him a hero in the eyes of the UNSC and the public. Cole's life would seemingly come to an end however, in 2543 during the Battle of Sys or Penteas, also known as Admiral Cole's last stand. On March 29th, 2543, Admiral Cole reached out to a friend on reach, noting that prowlers had detected a large covenant armada amassing in sector 3 and made a number of requests to prepare for the coming battle, including a full refit for his flagship the Everest, acquiring the recently damaged UNSC IO as a fire ship, procuring massive amounts of ordnance, a detailed map of section 3 with emphasis on areas with proto-browned warfs and requesting a theoretical slip space calculation to be made by Reach's own AI network. Cole would call in numerous favors to get this done, his actions largely a mystery at the time. On April 18th, 2543, Battle Group India arrived in the Sys or Penteas system. The Battle Group was comprised of 162 total ships, 23 carriers, 13 cruisers, 79 destroyers, 42 frigates, 5 prowlers, and 50 supply repair and rescue vessels, though these were to remain in the slip space during the battle. The radiation wave caused by the Battle Group's transition to normal space immediately caught the attention of the covenant armada, a battle group with over 100 ships of its own. Battle Group India began by making an unprecedented in-system jump to the other side of Viparadi, a gas giant 13 times the size of Jupiter before splitting into two groups. The covenant responded in kind, but the Starbird UNSC group art up and over Viparadi to regroup at the rest of Battle Group India. This allowed Cole's entire fleet to engage just half of the covenant's total numbers. The opening engagement resulted in the destruction of 23 of the covenant ships and one third of Cole's fleet. However it wasn't long before the second covenant group came about and took out another dozen of Cole's ships. Both Battle Group soon regrouped, with the covenant pursuing Cole's fleet around Viparadi. This fleet remained just out of effective weapons range and the covenant soon lost sight of their prey around the curvature of Viparadi. As they came around the gas giant, they were greeted by another human fleet as it slipped in, made up of 55 ships, modified older model UNSC ships, merchant ships, and new designs never before seen. This was an insurrection fleet one led by the former UNSC frigate the Bellacose, the same frigate captain by Cole's former lover thought lost decades ago. The insurrection is fleet laid heavy fire on the covenant fleet as they smashed through the formation, losing a quarter of their number before slipping out again. The covenant emerged without less than half their original fleet. Meanwhile Cole had prepared to re-engage the scattered covenant fleet. However another ripple through space signaled the arrival of more ships a second fleet of over 200. Suddenly, the human fleet broke off, with Admiral Cole taking the Everest deeper into Viparadi's atmosphere. As he did, he broadcast a taunting message to the covenant, boasting about his victories against them and condemning their claims of holy righteousness. Both covenant fleets took the bait and followed Cole into the gas giant. The covenant tried to attack but the planet's magnetosphere interfered with their plasma weapons. Cole meanwhile unleashed the ship's archer missiles in what would ultimately be a useless barrage. It was not however, without point. The archer missiles provided cover as Cole simultaneously launched over 100 Shiva Nuks into Viparadi's core. Upon detonation, they caused the planet to go Nova, briefly undergoing stellar fusion. The temporary star burned away the entire covenant armada over 300 ships. Admiral Cole's last stand went down in UNC history as both a major victory and a day of great loss. July 28th, 2543 was declared a day of mourning and for many at the time and into the present, Cole was the one man who had stood between life and annihilation. In the aftermath of the covenant war, Cole's last stand was heavily re-examined, looking over footage captured by the retreating battle group India revealed a brief flash of blue light during the final archer missile barrage which could have been a slip space jump. Some of the slip space calculations Cole had requested at the time upon re-examination appeared to be for an in-atmosphere slip space jump, a move that was largely seen as impossible at the time. Further, the UNSCIO, the damaged cruiser Cole had requested as a fire ship, was never used in the battle and went unaccounted for afterwards. While footage of Cole's final moment briefly revealed two ships to the west, one of which could have been the IO. To this day, debate continues over whether Cole survived his final stand. Did he actually go down with his ship, or did he make a last minute jump out system to reunite with his former love, Captain of the Bellacos, the Rikastilla? Whatever the truth, Cole's impact on the war and humanity cannot be understated. This video was one in a series of collaborations between Halo Cannon and SpaceDoc. SpaceDoc is a channel that covers ships, battles, lore and more from dozens of sci-fi series including Halo, Warhammer 40k, Star Trek, and Star Wars among many others. Click the link on screen or check the description box to check out more spaceDoc videos and subscribe. Also be sure to check out the playlist for all Halo Cannon SpaceDoc Cole videos this week.