Spy Probes are small, softball or baseball sized automaton machines deployed by Covenant ships to attach to UNSC ships using electromagnets. During the Human-Covenant war probes were colored dark gray so they can 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 data and information. 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 Fall 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[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Halo: The Fall of Reach, pages 215-216