Overview
The Covenant although fully capable of reducing most UNSC vessels to molten slag in a matter of minutes have shown a desire to board and hopefully capture human starships. Thus far they have done so using Boarding Craft. Infantry are deployed into the heart of the vessel for purposes the UNSC can only guess at. Suggestions and evidence collated so far for motivations have been:
- To collect information/specifications of UNSC military equpment/vehicles/weapons etc.
- To capture key members of the vessels crew and thus unlock classified UNSC intelligence including the location of Earth.
- To destroy or capture shipboard AIs.
- To destroy the vessel from within. (Such as the Athens and Malta Orbital Defense Platforms during the First Battle of Earth).
Operation
When a UNSC ship is being attacked by Covenant forces, rather than destroy it, the Covenant may attempt a boarding. In such a situation the Boarding Craft is used. So far the Covenant have proved highly intelligent in their entry points, having burnt holes through hanger bay windows or used the empty escape pod docking rings to board a vessel.
The Boarding Craft are reusable, and able to leave the UNSC ship and return to a nearby cruiser should the need to retreat occur. When the craft boards via windows it seems to use the outer edge of the boarding tube to super heat the glass, thus the glass does not shatter. It it must be done quickly and carefully because the vacuum of space will instantly cool the glass down.
Types of Boarding Craft
So far there appear to have been two variations of the boarding craft. The first encountered in Halo: Combat Evolved attacked as the Pillar of Autumn attempted to flee towards Halo. These craft appeared, although only viewed internally, to be small (of comparable size to the Bumblebee) and carried a compliment of 8 warriors.
The second, much larger, type of boarding craft were responsible for the destruction of the Athens and Malta MAC Platforms. These possessed the large bodied structure with attached boarding tube. The entrance/exit to the boarding tube was covered with an impenetrable shield that only allowed their considerable complement of Covenant soldiers out. The boarding tube seemed to function on a similar basis to the gravity-bridges found in the Covenant Holy City High Charity.
Trivia
Several fan-sites have given it the nickname: "Razor".
