Lighter Than Some

"I help because that is who I am."

- Lighter Than Some, to the AI, Sif

Lighter Than Some was a Huragok assigned to the missionary ship Minor Transgression, which was exploring the Epsilon Indi system near Harvest, during the 23rd Age of Doubt.

Biography
Unlike other Huragok, who normally keep to themselves, Lighter Than Some befriended the Unggoy Deacon Dadab and taught Dadab the Huragok sign language during the voyages of the Minor Transgression. When the Covenant vessel stumbled across the human freighter, Horn of Plenty, and disabled it, Lighter Than Some was able to extract the coordinates of the freighter's point of origin: the human colony Harvest. During the transit to the system, Dadab tried to share a game—in which the Unggoy used a rock to kill scrub grubs—with the Huragok; however, Lighter Than Some found even the extermination of pests immoral. Upon reaching the system, Minor Transgression raided the ship This End Up in search of what the Covenant ship's Luminary designated as a Forerunner relic. The "relic", the sole human and pilot of that vessel, Henry Gibson, attempted to repel the boarders, and Lighter Than Some killed him with Dadab's hunting rock just as the human was about to kill Dadab. This event deeply disturbed the pacifist Huragok.

Not long after, Minor Transgression attempted to raid yet another human ship, the Walk of Shame. Unfortunately, this was no derelict freighter: this was a trap set by ONI Lieutenant Commander Jilan al-Cygni, Staff Sergeant Avery Johnson, and Staff Sergeant Nolan Byrne. In the ensuing battle, Lighter Than Some and Dadab evacuated the Covenant ship in an escape pod. Lighter Than Some then risked his life in an effort to preserve Dadab's, due to the Unggoy's need to breathe methane and the Huragok's ability to produce methane as a by-product; however, the process was dangerous and painful for the Huragok. When the Rapid Conversion recovered the escape pod, Dadab forced the Jiralhanae crew to wait on the Huragok to restore itself to a stable state before emerging from the escape pod.

Battle of Harvest
Quite thrilled by this unexpected bonus to his crew, the Jiralhanae Chieftain Maccabeus put Lighter Than Some in charge of his ships repairs, the job previously held by the Yanme'e, who became unruly after being usurped. His duties included repairing the plasma cannon (a weapon deactivated by the Sangheili before they turned the ship over to the Jiralhanae), polishing the cruiser's central shaft, and repairing a damaged Spirit dropship. However, instead of restoring the dropship, he built plows as a peace offering and recompense for the life he took aboard This End Up. His creations were slightly modified by the Jiralhanae crew to become the first Brute Chopper, which served to help expand the war and spread the bloodshed: the exact opposite of his pacifist intentions.

Lighter Than Some was soon after dispatched to the Tiara Orbital Space Station at Dadab's request. Lighter Than Some repaired the Tiara's data center and interacted with Loki. In the interest of ending the war, Lighter Than Some gave Loki the Forerunner symbol for Oracle, a sure lure for the pious Jiralhanae. He then restored Sif's core programming, and enabled her to aid Loki in the evacuation of Harvest.

Death
In the aftermath of the failed garden meeting, Maccabeus pressed the Yanme'e into combat service. However, they found the transition difficult and wished to reclaim their former duties: maintaining the Rapid Conversion. In order to return to those duties, the Yanme'e came to the conclusion that their usurper, Lighter Than Some, must be eliminated. After several failed attempts on the Huragok's life aboard Rapid Conversion, they finally succeeded in ambushing Lighter Than Some aboard the Tiara and tore him to pieces. A furious and vengeful Dadab gunned down the Yanme'e murderers shortly afterwards. He then attempted to kill Tartarus, only to be crushed by the Fist of Rukt. This act, however, managed to drop Tartarus' shields with an overcharged bolt from the Deacon's Plasma Pistol so he could be injured by Johnson and his militiamen, and subsequently forced him to retreat.

Trivia

 * According to Huragok naming and designation schemes, Lighter Than Some's name literally means that upon initial completion/birth he was more buoyant than other Huragok.
 * Engineers are normally peace-loving and neutral creatures; Lighter Than Some is the first and only Engineer known to have committed a violent act, when he threw a rock at the head of Henry Gibson to save the life of Dadab. Ironically, this makes him the first member of the Covenant to kill a human.
 * Lighter Than Some was the first known alien to attempt to help the humans, by making them a plow as a peace offering, and by repairing the space elevator while onboard Tiara.
 * Lighter Than Some accidentally made the Brute Chopper. His attempt at making a plow as a peace offering was ruined when the Jiralhanae discovered his doing. In order to protect him from the punishment of disassembling their ship, Dadab told the Brutes it was a weapon, which they then repurposed for their own uses.
 * Lighter Than Some was the first Covenant alien to kill a human.

List of appearances

 * Halo: Contact Harvest