Yayap

Yayap was a Covenant Grunt in the Fleet of Particular Justice. He later became the black armoured SpecOps Elite Zuka 'Zamamee's personal assistant.

Yayap was born on the methane filled Grunt home world, Balaho, to which he continually dreams about returning to. Yayap was a Major assigned to a sleepy Grunt unit, commanding others of his race, including Gagaw. However, during the boarding of the Pillar of Autumn (during the events of the first Halo encounter), Zuka 'Zamamee was incapacitated by a bullet shot by the Master Chief. Yayap and his team of Grunts found him still alive and decided to bring him back to the boarding ships; so they could be allowed to escape the fighting on board the Pillar of Autumn and live. After Zuka 'Zamamee regained consciousness, he decided to have Yayap transferred to be his personal aid; his own was killed in the fight aboard the Pillar of Autumn. Yayap was understandably less than elated at this exchange of hands, because Elites were notorious for not caring about their own lives and even less for the lives of those placed under their charge.

NOTE: At this moment it can be assumed that Yayap becomes one of the Special Ops Grunts.

Zuka 'Zamamee then went before a small Council situated on Halo to request permission to kill the specially armored human (Master Chief) who was solely responsible for scores of Covenant casualties; he is denied. However, after a boarding assault on the Truth and Reconciliation retrieves Captain Jacob Keyes and takes out several hundred Covenant warriors, his request is reconsidered and granted.

Yayap then followed Zuka 'Zamamee to the security center of The Silent Cartographer where he attempted to kill the Master Chief using a pair of Hunters and some Grunts under Yayap's command. However, one of the Grunts, named Linglin, accidentally killed one of the Hunters, allowing the Master Chief to overcome the force. Yayap narrowly avoided being killed when Zuka 'Zamamee pulled him into a cargo pod.

He was then used as the bait for Zuka 'Zamamee's next plan. He was beaten up and laid out next to a crashed Ghost on a path where the human resistance insurgents would find him, carrying a few Memory Blocks and some food to ensure he would not be killed by the humans. He was then captured by First Lieutenant Melissa McKay and, unbeknownst to her, carried a transmitter that he activated once he saw the Chief, allowing Zuka 'Zamamee and Noga 'Putumee to land forces at Alpha Base. The attack was a failure, forcing him to escape with Zuka 'Zamamee aboard a Banshee. He actually had to point a Plasma Pistol at the Elite's head so as to convince him to retreat.

They then traveled to the Pillar of Autumn's crash site so that Yayap could get a supply of methane. They assigned him to inspect cargo and command a group of Jackals. At first, the Jackals were disgusted of being under his command, calling him a "gas sucker" but their minds changed after their leader ,Bok, was killed by a group of Flood that were contained thanks to Yayap's vigilance. Yayap the Grunt was elevated, in their eyes, to honorary Jackal.

He was finally assigned to monitor communications for Zuka 'Zamamee when the Chief was detected aboard the ship upon his destruction of the bridge security team. Knowing that Zuka 'Zamamee would not win a battle with the Spartan, he packed a day's worth of food plus a tank of methane onto a ghost, steered the vehicle out of the Pillar of Autumn, and found a sense of peace.

He was supposedly killed in the explosion of the Autumn's fusion engines which caused the destruction of Installation 04. However, his true fate is unknown and he may still be alive, somehow. As First Strike indicated, Cortana's first few searches only picked up "Dust and Echoes," but eventually, survivors of Halo's explosion were found. It is still possible that Yayap is still alive, but the chances are far beyond very slim.

Trivia

• In 'Halo 3', one of the outcries by other Grunts when a Grunt was killed is "You killed Yayap!" This may be a joke or it's possible that "Yayap" is a common Grunt name.
• In Contact Harvest it is mentioned that Bapap is Yayap's cousin.
• Yayap never wanted to fight.
• It's speculated the Thirsty Grunt is Yayap, which is impossible because Yayap was outside of the vessel and in a Ghost when its fusion engines went critical.
• Yayap is one of the only Grunts to have had command over another species of Covenant.