United Nations Space Command COLCON

The United Nations Space Command Colonial Alert & Readiness Condition (COLCON) was an alert system developed by the UNSC in 2531 due to the arrival of the Covenant and the start of the Human-Covenant War. The protocol was established at the end of the Harvest Campaign; which had taken five years to recover. By this time, the war had been in its sixth year, and dozens of colonies had already fallen to the Covenant onslaught.

Alert Levels

 * Readiness Level: Blue (Safe) - Colony security uncompromised, minor military presence, No Covenant detected, unidentified/unclassified slipspace radiation spike; minimal/or non-existent.


 * Readiness Level: Green (Military Mobilization) - Colonial security minimally compromised, major military presence, No Covenant detected, unidentified/unclassified slipspace radiation spike; moderate/anomalies detected.


 * Threat Level: Yellow (At-Risk) - Colonial security heavily compromised, evacuation contingencies prepared, major military presence; requests further naval and ground mobilization to at-risk colonies, No Covenant detected; Unidentified vessels matching Covenant naval asthestics must be eliminated with extreme prejudice, slipspace traffic heavily monitored for matching designs of Covenant vessels; Cole Protocol must be acknowledged and prepared on ALL nearby Remote Scanning Outposts (RSO).


 * Threat Level: Orange (Minor Covenant Activity) - Colonial security heavily compromised, all civilians MUST proceed to designated safe-zones and evacuation ports, major military presence; may request reinforcements from uncompromised-ONLY colonies; garrisoned forces may enact (Hammer Down Protocol), Minor Covenant presence detected; EXTRME caution is neccessary; At-risk of Threat level: Red classification, slipspace activity minimal; scanning must commence unless compromisedl; if compromised the station MUST enact the Cole Protocol immediately or they will be in violation of


 * Threat Level: Red (Major Covenant Activity) - Colonial security heavily compromised; possible heavy civilian casualties, All civilians MUST proceed to safe-zones and evacuation ports, Safe-zone may be compromised by superior Covenant force overrun safe-zones are a no-go; approach at own risk, military presence may be heavily engaged; severe casualty rate expected, Covenant naval superiority may have blockaded the colony, attempt NO evacuation unless cleared by friendly UNSC forces/or if Covenant forces have been removed, any ship exiting the system MUST purge navigation data as per the Cole Protocol, violation of this is an act of treason and punishment for this crime is execution.


 * Status Level: Gray (Loss of Contact - Gray Zone) - Colonial security unknown/or severely compromised, Military presence unknown; possibly wiped out, evacuation attempts possibly successful, attempt NO approach toward the colony; heavy Covenant activity possible, UNSC relief efforts may not be possible at the moment. Covenant plasma bombardment possible.


 * Status Level: Black (Complete Colonial Eradication) - Colonial security SEVERELY compromised, all military personnel and civilians presumed and pronounced dead/missing, Evacuation efforts never fulfilled or failed, Covenant activity is extremely high, DO NOT attempt an approach toward these Black Sites. Such an attempt can be seen as an act of treason, or suicide.

Usage
In 2531, COLCON was activated and all colonies were designated with responsible states of alertness. By the end of the decade, the majority of the Outer Colonies had been placed under the Orange-Black range. During most of the war, Reach was designated with Readiness Level: Green, after the Battle of Sigma Octanus IV, the colony was bumped down to Threat Level: Yellow. This was almost the same for Earth, however due to the arrival of Regret's fleet in October of 2552, the planet was designated with Threat Level: Red and remained that way until March 2553 with the official end of hostilities.

After the end of the Human-Covenant War, this system remained in use with the UNSC. Throughout much of the 2550s, Earth remained under Threat Level: Yellow, due to the apparent fear and threat that the Covenant remnant still imposed upon the fragile human civilization.