Spy probe

Summary
Small, softball sized automaton created by the Covenant. Spy Probes are small devices Covenant ships deploy at the scenes of battles. The Probe is capable of attatching itself to a ship using electromagnets. Usually it is painted dark gray, to blend in to the color of UNSC vessels, instead of the standard lavander color of Covenant Alloys.

The Probe has a single photo eye that gazes at the stars and collecting data to reference its current position. For several days, it will collect data and slowly build up a charge. When it reaches critical energy, a tiny sliver of thallium nitride memory crystal would be ejected at the speed of light, and a minature Slipspace field would generate around it. If its trajectory was perfect, it would intercept a Covenant Reciever or vessel located at precise coordinates in Slipspace. And the tiny probe would reveal to the Covenant everywhere the enemy ship had been.

A Covenant Probe attatched itself to the UNSC Iroquois after The Battle of Sigma Octanus IV. This led directly to them finding the location of Reach and eventually, The Battle of Reach.