Keyes Protocol

"Unthinkable times call for unthinkable measures"

- Director Joll on the Keyes Protocol

Emergency Act 3521077B-1, informally known as The Keyes Protocol, was a command which upon activation ordered complete destruction of a planet's weaponry facilities, vehicles, advanced technology, data and most valuable personnel and engineers during the event of a flood outbreak on a human colony or human controlled territory. Taking heavy inspiration from the Cole Protocol before it. The command itself was located within the ruins of Alpha Base in New Mombasa and HIGHCOM Facility Bravo-6, the command itself was formulated and archived shortly after John-177's debriefing post-Battle of Installation 04, it was to be delivered to an operative on the field and primarily, if one is available, a SPARTAN for fear of discovery.

It was contemplated to enact the Keyes Protocol during the battle of Voi and prior to this, the UNSC colony of Avalon under direct supervision of an ONI official and the burden placed on a SPARTAN II called Felix-301, the former succumbing to the onslaught of the flood while the latter recorded as MIA after the destruction of the surface world on Avalon, despite no foreseeable reemergence of the flood, the protocol was active and ready for deployment.

The Protocol

 * Office of Naval Intelligence/ United Nations Space Command Emergency Act 352107B-1
 * Encryption Code: Black
 * Public Key: file First light
 * From: ONI E. Hamer
 * To: ALL REMAINING VITAL PERSONNEL
 * Subject: General Order 352107B-1 ("The Keyes Protocol")
 * Classification: CLASSIFIED (UPR Directive)

The Keyes Protocol

 * To stop the spread of a flood outbreak, limit their knowledge, limit their expanse and effectively wipe out food sources. All actions must be swift, decided and executed flawlessly.
 * Destroy all flight capable vehicles for risk of extra-planetary infection.
 * All civilian evacuations must be interrupted, all and any military vessels are to self destruct, the AI to be shut down, onboard transports such as D77-TCI Pelican and D77H-TCI Pelican drop ships are to be shot down. No persons or transport are to escape affected planet for risk of further contamination. Any available Albatross are to "sprinkle" armed HAVOK nukes across the planet and then self destruct.
 * Destroy all military installations and data. This includes personnel, marine officers and doctors, small outposts snipers' nests, weapons caches and communication equipment, however one radio under heavy guard can be operated briefly to enact Article 6 before being destroyed
 * Hunt down and eliminate all prominent engineers, scientists and naval officers to deny the flood access to information regarding fleet construction and engineering.
 * Detonate HAVOK or more destructive nuclear weapons in population centres, deny flood access to as much biomass as possible, this does include cremation and use of M7057/Defoliant Projector flamethrowers in combat.
 * Call for orbital bombardment, do not destroy the planet or affected colony, see the Mona Lisa.

* ''Felix-301 broke both article 2 and 4 by instructing UNSC Two Leaved Clover to assist in evacuation of an ODST EVA squadron during training, though the latter of Article 2 was enforced, killing the SPARTAN in the process. No actions were taken against him''

Usage
Generally it was created to keep other colonies safe in the case of flood detection, more extensively it was a way to deny the flood a food source and keep them starving. It was partially enacted after the battle of Voi and was fully enacted, prior to Voi, on Avalon, a UNSC military frontier world, where it proved very effective.

Despite this it is illegal to order its enactment on Earth or any Sol System planet for fear of overreactions and unnecessary destruction of a prominent core world

FSA-1

 * Failsafe Alpha- 1, FSA-1, was a backup plan for any civilian ships that escaped the planet and was included separately from the command as it was deemed unnecessary as Article 2 would make sure civilian evacuations made escapes end in tragedy.

Trivia

 * It took heavy inspiration from the Cole Protocol
 * Numerically it could be a reference to seven when looked at correctly, one way is to look at it like this: ([35 x 2=70] x 10) + 77 = 777
 * SPARTAN's were preferable because they tended to have immunity to flood infection.
 * The Keyes Protocol was quite ironically named after Captain Jacob Keyes who accidentally released the flood on Installation 04.
 * Unlike the Cole Protocol the Keyes Protocol Applied to both army and navy units.