Spy Probes are small, softball or baseball sized automaton machines deployed by Covenant ships. Probes are capable of attaching itself to ships using electromagnets. During the Human-Covenant War probes were colored dark gray to blend into the hull of UNSC vessels, instead of the standard lavender color of Covenant alloys.[1]
Probes have a single photo eye for data collection. Over a number of days it slowly builds up a charge as it collects. Once it reaches critical energy a tiny sliver of thallium nitride memory crystal is ejected at the speed of light surrounded by a miniature Slipspace field. The sliver is directed toward precise Slipspace coordinates where a waiting Covenant entity will recover it and the data it contains.[1]
An example use of the probe was at the Battle of Sigma Octanus IV where a probe attached to the UNSC Iroquois and revealed the Human presence at Reach. This culminated in the Battle of Reach.[1]
The Spy Probe may have been inspired by the UNSC's Telemetry Probe, given the Covenant proclivity to imitate rather than innovate.
Sources
- ^ a b c Halo: The Fall of Reach, pages 215/216