Intrusion corvette

Intrusion corvettes are a classification of stealth corvette employed by the Covenant and the Banished.

Superstructure and hull
Intrusion corvettes were originally designed by the Covenant to serve in supporting anti-ship roles, alongside aiding the insertion of light infantry and vehicles to the ground. The intrusion corvette is shaped like a pair of teardrops connected by a thin middle fuselage, covered in (seemingly) randomly placed rows of blue lights. The corvette's hull is not particularly durable by Covenant standards, with the vessel being able to be taken down by a few lucky missile salvos from a UNSC.

Interior layout
The intrusion corvette's bridge contains an observation blister which allows a crewmember to see into space outside the ship directly. The back of the bridge contains a maze of control consoles and equipment stands, with a tactical hologram projector. The hologram projector is surrounded by ten data-collection lecterns, each manned by a reader. Typically, two obedientaries would each observe five of these readers, stood at opposite ends of the tactical hologram. Intrusion corvettes are additionally equipped with a kelguid for navigation. The spine of the vessel contains a contemplation sphere where certain high-ranking Sangheili officers can meditate in peace. On the underside of the vessel is a hangar or cargo bay with a hatch large enough to admit a Razor-class prowler.

Ship systems
The corvette is equipped with a single anti-ship plasma cannon that is unsuitable for anti-infantry work. It also features at least two manually-operated point-defense plasma turrets. With their high rate of fire, they are used for destroying incoming ordnance or small craft. The corvette is equipped with a gravity lift system which can be used to load or offload troops and equipment. The corvette's lift systems are large enough that, during the Battle of Seoba, a corvette attempted to lift the remains of the downed, a Razor-class prowler.

Intrusion corvettes are equipped with an active camouflage system, allowing them to remain unseen by enemy forces. These systems were sufficient enough to mask the corvettes from detection by the entirety of Biko's space force during their approach to Seoba in 2526. The craft's specialized repulsor engines let out only a small amount of thermal emissions, such that there would only be a red flare that lasts a moment before vanishing on thermal scopes. First Blade Tel 'Szatulai begrudgingly considered these stealth systems inferior to those employed on UNSC prowlers, with the corvettes' own sensor systems unable to detect the launch of several Razor-class prowlers from Seoba. With optimal maintenance, the stealth systems on an intrusion corvette were considered by Nizat 'Kvarosee to be "eighty-five percent" effective, with this number dropping to between fifty and seventy percent for the vessels of the Flotilla of Unsung Piety—a rogue element without access to optimal maintenance.

Crew and complement
Intrusion corvettes require only a small crew. The ship's bridge crew consists of at least a shipmaster and a second, alongside ten readers and two obedientaries. Additionally, the corvette is capable of deploying s and a number of infantry.

Ships of the line

 * Divine Whisper
 * Quiet Faith
 * Sacred Whisper
 * Silent Truth
 * Still Devotion
 * Worthy Silence

Human-Covenant War
In March 2526, the five intrusion corvettes of the Bloodstar Flotilla led an assault on Seoba, under the direction of Tel 'Szatulai. The First Blade was distressed by the seemingly superior stealth systems employed by the UNSC prowlers, so he had one shot down to be recovered for study. Called the UNSC Starry Night, Spartan-II John-117 led eleven other Spartans to search for any surviving crew. Two of 'Szatulai's intrusion corvettes reached the prowler shortly before the Spartans, and began firing on the supersoldiers and deploying troops. Due to the turncoat Lieutenant Commander Hector Nyeto's efforts to get the Spartan-IIs killed, he purposefully held off on attacking the intrusion corvettes under guise of waiting to get into a perfect position. Eventually, two of the corvettes were destroyed by the UNSC prowlers while a third was caught in the blast of the Starry Night's self-destruct as it hovered above the downed vessel, trying to recover it. Shortly afterward, the Spartans removed the kelguid from the corvette's bridge and delivered it to Dr. Catherine Halsey for inspection.

Later that year, nine intrusion corvettes made up the majority of the Flotilla of Unsung Piety along with a single Covenant frigate. Most of the flotilla was destroyed in the three-way Battle of Netherop.

Post-Covenant War era
In 2559, an intrusion corvette was dispatched from a Banished supercarrier to carry War Chief Escharum to Reach's surface to personally oversee the search for the Menachite portal complex. After the arrival of Atriox from the Ark, the corvette extracted the Banished leader and his arriving forces with its gravity lift and carried them away from the planet just before a Guardian could arrive in response to the portal's activation.

Production notes
The intrusion corvette's description is broadly similar to the Covenant stealth ship as described in Halo: The Fall of Reach. However, it is presently unknown if the two are one and the same. The artwork for the intrusion corvette used in the Halo Encyclopedia (2022 edition) is a discarded concept design for the Banished dreadnought produced for Halo Infinite.

List of appearances

 * Halo: Silent Storm
 * Halo: Oblivion
 * Halo: Shadows of Reach