Karve

"The Banished travel in packs. Where there is a drekar, there are karves."

- Thel 'Vadam

The karve is a classification of capital warship designed and employed by the Jiralhanae, in particular the Banished.

Design details
The karve is a craft of Jiralhanae origin designed for siege and planetary invasion operations. As of Operation: WOLFE, the UNSC was unaware of whether the vessels had superluminal communications capability. They are quick to construct and easy to maintain, making them extremely popular throughout Jiralhanae space as patrol craft and cargo ferries, or by the Banished as escorts to dreadnoughts. They are much smaller than the dreadnoughts, though share a similar design including the signature armoured prow, which can be used as an offensive weapon when necessary.

Usage
Prior to the First Immolation, the Jiralhanae employed Karves as patrol ships and cargo freighters. Following the Immolation, the Banished leveraged Kig-Yar shipbuilding methods to construct Karves to augment their existing fleets and serve as dreadnought escorts.

Operational history
During Operation: WOLFE in October 2559, a karve was deployed by the Banished to capture the city of New Mohács on Reach. In November 2559, seven karves accompanied Atriox's Hammer of Fate to Netherop to find Keely Iyuska, a human that had taken Banished funds to study and find a weapon capable of destroying Guardian Custodes. The Banished sent three of the karves on a slingshot maneuver around the planet to draw off any Created presence patrolling the planet. The trio was pursued by two s, and served as decoys on the outer reaches of the Ephyra system. The remaining four vessels, along with the Hammer of Fate were concealed by a cloaking generator on the one of the moons. Atriox later deduced that two of the three decoy karves were destroyed, because the harriers have returned to the orbit of Netherop.

Trivia
Like their fellow drekars, Karves are named after a type of longship employed by Norse raiders during the Viking Age.

List of appearances

 * Halo: Shadows of Reach
 * Halo: Outcasts