Brhi Xur-pattern Leech

This Brhi Xur-pattern Ship Breacher, known to humanity as the Leech, is a Covenant boarding craft specifically designed for boarding an enemy vessel.

Design details
The Brhi Xur bears many outward design similarities to the dropship, featuring an almost identical cockpit and panelling style. The craft is roughly tube-shaped, featuring an airlock at one end and a heavy plasma cannon on the other.

Usage
When a UNSC ship is being attacked by Covenant forces, if the Covenant determine that the ship holds valuable navigational data, AIs, or other materials, the Covenant may attempt a boarding operation. In such a situation, the boarding craft is used. The Covenant tended to choose their entry points carefully, burning holes through hangar bay windows or using the empty UNSC escape pod docking rings to board a vessel. These vessels usually carried a compliment of up to 8-10 Covenant warriors, usually Unggoy and Sangheili.

In the post-war era, the Leech continues to be a common sight across former-Covenant space - seeing heavy use as a cargo transport and passenger shuttle.

Production notes
Although the interior of the Leech boarding craft was first viewed in Halo: Combat Evolved, the exterior remained unknown until the 2022 release of the Halo Encyclopedia. The model featured in the book is the exact same model and textures first created by Bungie for the original Combat Evolved game, before it was ultimately cut from release. In the original development of Halo: Combat Evolved, the Leech was present in the game files for the the Xbox release until relatively late in the production process, before being removed at relatively last-minute. The Leech asset was restored as part of the Digsite initiative conducted by 343 Industries, with contributor General_101 going as far as to turn what was originally a simple prop asset into an asset ready for modders to turn into a game-ready vehicle for use in Halo.

The Digsite team, including 343 senior writer Kenneth Peters, believe that the Leech may have been intended for use in the opening cutscene of The Pillar of Autumn - the first level of Combat Evolved - due to the level's originally-planned much more extensive opening sequence.

List of appearances

 * Halo: Combat Evolved
 * Halo: The Flood
 * Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary