Audiobook Club: The Rubicon Protocol
Join the #audio-book-club channel of our official Discord server to listen along to this month’s audiobook club selection, discuss your favorite Halo moments with fellow fans, and enter to win free audiobooks from Simon & Schuster!
Our final audiobook club title of the year is Halo: The Rubicon Protocol, a gritty story that follows intrepid Spartans and other surviving crew members of the UNSC Infinity, from the fall of their flagship through subsequent ground actions against the Banished in the months leading up to the start of Halo Infinite’s campaign.
Halo: The Rubicon Protocol is written by USA Today bestselling author Kelly Gay, who has also authored many other Halo universe novels and shorts. The audiobook edition is narrated by acclaimed actor and writer Scott Brick.
PLOT PREVIEW
December 2559. The UNSC Infinity is ambushed and boarded by the Banished. As the defenders are overwhelmed, the crew is forced to abandon ship and flee to Zeta Halo.
Spartans Bonita Stone and Nina Kovan make a narrow escape to the surface and help shepherd survivors—both regular marines and civilian personnel—to a makeshift base around the wrecked UNSC Mortal Reverie. Lost, outnumbered, and severed from leadership, the UNSC’s only hope may lie in turning the inexperienced non-combatants of the “boat crew” into an effective guerilla unit.
Elsewhere, Spartan Tomas Horvath pursues a Banished Bloodstar warrior and unexpectedly learns of a hidden network that could help them find a way to get a message back home.
In the months that follow, duty compels these heroes to enact the Rubicon Protocol, a wartime directive to deny the Banished from gaining new assets by any means necessary.
CHARACTER GUIDE
Learn more about the cast of Halo: The Rubicon Protocol with these brief character bios.
TOMAS HORVATH
Separated from his squadmates on Fireteam Intrepid, Spartan Tomas Horvath encounters Bloodstar Gorian while stranded on a fragment of the ruined Halo ring. To escape, they form an unlikely and short-lived alliance. After Gorian betrays him, Horvath pursues the Bloodstar for months looking to settle the score.
BONITA STONE
Spartan Stone is a member of Fireteam Shadow, one of the longest-serving Spartan-IV units. After piloting a Bumblebee to the surface, Stone saves a stranded marine unit and aids a second group of non-combatants (soon to be known as the “boat crew”). She soon rejoins her squadmate, Spartan Nina Kovan, and escorts survivors to an impromptu forward base at the wrecked UNSC Mortal Reverie.
NINA KOVAN
Known to her comrades on Fireteam Shadow as “The Stoic,” Kovan’s icy demeanor is matched only by her unwavering aim. After escorting the boat crew to relative safety alongside Stone, Kovan conducts field recon and provides overwatch to fellow Spartans.
She is on the front line during the desperate defense of the Mortal Reverie, and proves instrumental in the boat crew’s effort to transmit Zeta Halo’s current coordinates to friendly forces after it is moved through slipspace.
HUDSON GRIFFIN
As the UNSC Infinity fell, Spartan Griffin gave the order for all Spartans to abandon ship. Having since established a forward base at the wrecked UNSC Mortal Reverie, Griffin now acts as the de facto leader of the marooned Spartans. Acting on the suspicions of his colleagues, he mounts a doomed mission to assassinate War Chief Escharum.
LUCAS BROWNING
A UNSC field medic stranded following the Infinity attack. Though initially rescued from a crashed lifeboat by Stone, Browning gives himself up to Banished patrols to allow his fellow survivors to escape their wrath. As he is processed through the Banished internment facilities, Browning is forced to unlock a cylix containing the enigmatic Harbinger.
THE HARBINGER
One of the Endless imprisoned by the Forerunners countless millennia ago, after the firing of Halo cleansed the galaxy. Upon being freed by Browning, the Harbinger enjoins herself to the Banished, evidently finding that their aims are aligned. She vows that the Endless shall return, and tortures Browning, imprinting him with knowledge that breaks his sanity.d tortures Browning, imprinting him with knowledge that breaks his sanity.
JEGA ‘RDOMNAI
A Sangheili blademaster and renowned Spartan Killer. As a close confidante and top enforcer for War Chief Escharum, Jega is fiercely loyal to the Jiralhanae leader. With his uncanny stealth and deadly blade, Jega fortifies the Banished occupation of Zeta Halo by hunting surviving Spartans from the shadows.
GORIAN
A Jiralhanae Bloodstar, from a class of spec-ops soldiers renowned for their battlefield prowess. During the Battle of Zeta Halo, Gorian led a Bloodstar unit to the surface to search for Forerunner artifacts. When his Phantom is waylaid by the ring’s autonomous sentinels, he forges a temporary alliance with Horvath just long enough to return to his dirty work.
GAME CONNECTIONS
Though the novel begins during the raid on the UNSC Infinity, the majority of Halo: The Rubicon Protocol’s narrative occurs during the six-month period in which the Master Chief remained adrift in orbit around Zeta Halo.
As the heroes of The Rubicon Protocol battle the Banished occupation forces, they encounter several enemies and allies from Halo Infinite, adding important character exposition and helping to bridge the gap between the game’s opening flashback and the full campaign set in May 2560.
(Spoilers for Halo: The Rubicon Protocol and Halo Infinite below!)
Some heroes of The Rubicon Protocol can be encountered in Halo Infinite as fallen allies (such as Spartan Stone, whose recovered Spartan Cores aid the Master Chief), in cutscenes (as with the tortured Spartan Griffin), or as recurring characters in Halo Infinite’s hidden audio logs.
Several locations from the novel can also be found throughout Halo Infinite’s campaign. After defeating the UNSC survivors, Chieftain Tremonius establishes a Banished outpost around the wrecked Mortal Reverie. Lucas Browning is brought to the Redoubt of Sundering for bodily inspection, conveyed to Chak ‘Lok’s tower for interrogation, and finally forced to release the Harbinger from her cylix at the Silent Auditorium.
In Halo Infinite, Master Chief John-117 raids all four locations, toppling Outpost Tremonius to establish his first Forward Operating Base, freeing captured marines from the Redoubt of Sundering, defeating Chak ‘Lok in his tower while trying to rescue Spartan Griffin, and finally thwarting the Harbinger at the rebuilt Silent Auditorium as she attempts to complete the Reformation of Zeta Halo.
To learn more about the Halo novels, visit our Official Halo Book Guide.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kelly Gay is a USA TODAY bestselling author and the critically acclaimed creator of the Charlie Madigan urban fantasy series. Within the Halo universe, she has authored the widely lauded novels Halo: The Rubicon Protocol, Halo: Point of Light, and Halo: Renegades, the novella Halo: Smoke and Shadow, and the short story “Into the Fire,” featured in Halo: Fractures.
ABOUT THE READER
Actor, writer, and award-winning audiobook narrator Scott Brick has narrated almost 900 audiobooks, including over a dozen Halo-universe titles. To date, his narrations have earned him over 65 Earphones Awards, five Audie Awards, five SOVAS Awards for voiceover, and a Grammy nomination for the multi-cast recording of The Mark of Zorro (2011).
AUDIOBOOK GIVEAWAY
Enter to win an audiobook copy of Halo: The Rubicon Protocol! To participate, react to the Halo: The Rubicon Protocol post in the #giveaways channel of the official Halo Discord server before October 10.
Stay tuned to @Halo on X for more ways to enter later this month. See contest rules.
JOIN THE BOOK CLUB
Listen to Halo: The Rubicon Protocol along with us in our Discord audiobook club! To participate, simply join the #audio-book-club channel of the official Halo Discord server, where we’ll discuss the book, share favorite moments, and meet fellow Halo fans.
Drop a reaction in the topic thread for a chance to find your words featured in an upcoming Halo Waypoint post! At the end of the month, we’ll also host a special Spartan Chatter episode on Discord to discuss the book and answer questions from the Halo community.