SKT-9 Bumblebee

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The Bumblebee^[1] is a standard escape pod for the UNSC. It is 10.5 meters long, making it longer than a Scorpion.^[2] It can hold up to nine people (Pilot + 8 passengers) and it has enough supplies to last a week before it runs out of food and clean air.^[3]

Most UNSC Ships carry several sets of these, and at most airlocks, there is at least one of them stationed. Like Pelican dropships, each has a call sign, usually consisting of three letters from the Phonetic Alphabet, followed by a two-digit number.

Features

Bumblebee lifepods are designed to ferry up to nine people at a time. They have one pilot seat as well as eight side-facing crash seats. The seats have harnesses to keep people from injury when crash-landing. The effectiveness of the safety features on the Bumblebee vary greatly, as can their reliability. Some of the Bumblebees featured in Halo landed without any injuries, while a lot had catastrophic failures resulting in the deaths of all or most aboard. Most of the lifeboats seen had several Marines who apparently did not survive the descent to Installation 04.

Bumblebees have little in the way of maneuverability. They feature thrusters and air-brakes to slow down during descent, but they can not reach escape velocity and leave a planet's atmosphere on their own. Also, normally after a landing, the pod can never be used again, as the pods will probably suffer a great amount of damage, including the air brakes breaking off in the impact, rendering it useless.

The UNSC Pillar of Autumn carried a complement of these, likely several dozen. Most of them were used to evacuate the vessel when it was shot down during the Battle of Installation 04^[4]on September 19, 2552.

Known Bumblebees

Trivia

On the level Halo, the Bumblebee always has at least 2 dead Marines near it.
The Bumblebee only plays a role in the level "Halo."
There can be up to 300 lifepods to a ship.^{[verification needed]}
They can only be piloted in Halo: Custom Edition and through modding in Halo Combat Evolved.
The Bumblebee is not seen in Halo 2 and Halo 3.
The Bumblebee is not really "driveable" because it is an escape pod and can only steer.
The Bumblebee's front window is "breakable". If you make a Warthog hit it hard by propelling it with an explosive, the window will make a breaking sound but will still appear intact.
There is some animosity between Bumblebee pilots and Pelican pilots. ^[5]
If you look closely, you can see that when the Master Chief's escape pod launches, it still has its rear hatch open.

Gallery

The Bumblebee design.
Bumblebee Cutaway.
A crashed Bumbleebee, its reverse thrusters smoking from recent discharge. The lifeboat cut a sliding trench into the ground on impact.
A Bumblebee Pilot.