Ivan Troy Cole was the legal son of Fleet Admiral Preston Jeremiah Cole, though he was not Cole's biological child. His birth resulted from liaisons between Inna Volkov and another young man at the Luna Officer Candidate School. However, as he was born after Volkov married Preston Cole, he was legally declared Cole's son. Because of the Human-Covenant war, Ivan saw very little of his father, which lead to his mother's eventual divorce. His father continued to write letters to the family, but never received a response from any of the children, possibly because Inna was burning the letters.