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Holographic projectors overhead warmed and sleek Covenant corvettes, frigates, and destroyers
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appeared in a neat row on Dr. Halsey’s left. On her right were a collection of Covenant species, roughlyone-third their normal size. There was a Grunt, a Jackal, the floating, tentacled creature John had seen onSigma Octanus IV, as well as the heavily armored behemoths he and his team had bested.
A spike of adrenaline burned through the Master Chief at the sight of the enemy. Intellectually, he knewthat the images were not real . . . but after a decade of fighting, his instincts were to kill first and get thedetails later.
“The Covenant are still largely unknown to us,” Dr. Halsey began. “Their motivations and thoughtprocesses remain a mystery—though our best analysis points to some compelling hypotheses.”
She paused, and added, “The following information is, naturally, classified.
“We know that the Covenant—our translation of their name for themselves—are a conglomerate of anumber of different alien species. We believe that they exist in some kind of caste structure, though todate the exact nature of that structure remains unknown. Our best guess is that the Covenant conquer and‘absorb’ a species, and adapt its strengths into their own.
“The Covenant’s science is imitative rather then innovative, a by-product of this societal ‘absorption,’ ”Dr. Halsey continued. “This is not to say that they are lacking intelligence, however. During our firstencounter they gathered computer and network components from our destroyed ships . . . and theylearned at an astonishing pace.
“By the time Admiral Cole’s fleet arrived at Harvest, the Covenant initiated a communications link andattempted a primitive software infiltration of our ship AIs. In a matter of weeks, they had learned therudiments of our computer systems and our language. Our own attempts to decipher Covenant computersystems have only been partially successful, despite our best efforts and decades of time.
“Since then they have made increasingly successful forays into our computer networks. That is why theCole Protocol is so important and carries the punishment of treason for failure to comply. The Covenantmay one day not need to capture a ship to steal the information within its navigational databanks.”
The Master Chief stole a glance at Captain Keyes. The Captain cupped an antique pipe in one hand; theNavy officer puffed on it once, and stared thoughtfully at Dr. Halsey and the examples of the Covenantvessels. He slowly shook his head.
“As I stated earlier,” Dr. Halsey continued, “the Covenant are a collection of genetically distinct groupsin what we believe is a rigid caste system.” She waved toward the Grunts and Jackals. “These are mostlikely part of their military or warrior caste—not the highest ranking caste, either, given how many aresacrificed during ground operations. We believe there is a ‘race’ of field commanders, which we arecurrently calling ‘Elites.’ ”