Zo'op-pattern Weevil

"This is heavy artillery, Dokab. It must be prepared and loaded, and the crews must be assembled and supplied. The transit itself will be the quickest part of the deployment."

- Dhas Bhasvod discussing a Weevil deployment with Castor.

The Zo'op-pattern Sky Striker, colloquially nicknamed the Weevil, is a Covenant artillery piece. The Weevil was the most common mortar artillery used by the Covenant during their war against humanity.

Design details
The Weevil is a heavy sky striker commonly employed by the Covenant's military. The piece consists of a tripodal base mounting a single ultra-heavy plasma mortar weapon. The mortar is capable of providing long-ranged fires for Covenant ground forces, striking deep into enemy territory. They are generally deployed via dropship and guarded by a light security contingent, and can be crewed by a single operator directly via tethered console from afar via remote-link. When remote-linked with the Covenant battle network, a Weevil is capable of being controlled from a remote base or spacecraft and can be coordinated with other sky striker platforms in the region.

While in the field, Weevils are generally surrounded by light fortifications constructed by their support crews such as deployable lookout towers, plasma batteries, and Guardian Triptych barriers.

Operational history
The Weevil was the most often-used form of mortar artillery deployed by the Covenant during their genocidal campaign against humanity. During the opening stages of the Battle for Earth on October 20, 2552, Covenant forces stationed several Weevil emplacements along the beaches of Old Mombasa, protecting them with ground forces including Sangheili-piloted Ghosts, Kig-Yar snipers in watchtowers and groups of infantry. During their push towards the Solemn Penance's landing zone in New Mombasa, Spartan John-117 and several UNSC marines encountered these defences, and after a struggle, managed to eliminate all of the Covenant forces on the beaches, preventing the Weevil emplacements from being used.

Weevils were later carried aboard Truth's fleet to Installation 00 during the final battle of the war. These units would survive the battle and ultimately be kept among the forces of the loyalist contingent led by Dhas Bhasvod - ultimately seeing service against the Banished and in the Second Ark Conflict in 2559.

Production notes
The Weevil was first seen (albeit unidentified) in the Halo 2 E3 demo, in which it is much larger than the version in the final game. In the demo, a Weevil emplaced on top of a building in New Mombasa is used against UNSC forces in the city. The weapon fires orbs of plasma that travel in a parabolic arc, much like the Wraith's plasma mortar. Early in the demo, the artillery piece is encountered by the Master Chief and a group of marines. Sergeant Banks calls in an air strike to destroy the weapon shortly after its introduction. Contrary to its significant role in the demo, the scaled-down version of the weapon that appears in the retail version of the game is never seen in use.

A Weevil cannon was intended to be included in the now-cut campaign level "alphamoon". In the level, the cannon would have been featured as a defensive installment deployed by the heretics, with the player tasked with destroying the guns so reinforcements could land.

List of appearances

 * Halo 2
 * Halo 2: Anniversary
 * Halo: Divine Wind