Yayap

Yayap was a Unggoy (Grunt) alive during the 9th Age of Reclamation. He later became the black armored Special Operations Elite Zuka 'Zamamee's personal assistant.

Yayap was born on the methane filled Grunt home world, Balaho, to which he continually dreams about returning to. Yayap was a Grunt Major assigned to a sleepy Grunt unit, commanding others of his race, including Gagaw. However, during the boarding of the Pillar of Autumn (during the events of the first Halo encounter), Zuka 'Zamamee was incapacitated by a bullet shot by the Master Chief. Yayap and his team of Grunts found him still alive and decided to bring him back to the boarding ships; so they could be allowed to escape the fighting on board the Pillar of Autumn and live. After Zuka 'Zamamee regained consciousness, he decided to have Yayap transferred to be his personal aid; his own was killed in the fight aboard the Pillar of Autumn. Yayap was understandably less than elated at this exchange of hands, because Elites were notorious for not caring about their own lives and even less for the lives of those placed under their charge. Yayap became a Special Operations Grunt.

Zuka 'Zamamee then went before a small Council situated on Halo to request permission to kill the specially armored human, the Master Chief, who was solely responsible for scores of alien deaths. His request was not accepted. However, after a boarding assault, Captain Keyes was saved and the Chief killed several hundred alien warriors, his request was then reconsidered and granted.

Yayap then followed Zuka 'Zamamee to the security center of the Cartographer where he tried to kill the Master Chief using a pair of Hunters and some Grunts under Yayap's command. However, one of the Grunts, named Linglin, killed one of the Hunters, allowing the Master Chief to overcome the force. Yayap narrowly escaped death when Zuka 'Zamamee pulled him into a cargo pod.

He was then used as the bait for a plan. He was beaten up and laid out next to a crashed vehicle on a path where the human resistance soldiers would find him, carrying some food to ensure he would not be killed by the humans. He was then captured by Melissa McKay and, unknown to her, carried a transmitter that he activated once he saw the Chief, allowing Zuka 'Zamamee and Noga 'Putumee to land forces at the human base. The attack was a loss, forcing him to escape with Zuka 'Zamamee aboard a plane. He had to point a gun at the Zuka 'Zamamee’s head to convince him to retreat.

They then traveled to the human's crash site so that Yayap could get a supply of methane. They assigned him to inspect cargo and command a group of Jackals. At first, the Jackals were disgusted of being under his command, calling him a "gas sucker" but their minds changed after their leader, was killed by a group of Flood that were contained thanks to Yayap. Yayap the Grunt was promoted, in their eyes, to honorary Jackal.

He was finally assigned to monitor communications for Zuka 'Zamamee when the Chief was spotted aboard the ship. Knowing that Zuka 'Zamamee would lose a battle with the Spartan, he packed a day's worth of food plus a tank of methane onto a ghost, drove the vehicle out of the human crash site and found peace.

He was supposedly killed in the explosion of the Pillar of Autumn, which caused the destruction of Halo. However, his true fate is unknown and he may still be alive, somehow. As Halo: First Strike indicated, Cortana's first few searches only picked up "Dust and Echoes", but eventually, survivors of Halo's explosion were found. It is still possible that Yayap is still alive, but the chances are very low.

Trivia

• Yayap is mentioned to have been killed by the player by multiple Grunts in Halo 3, with the IWBYD skull turned on, of course.
• Yayap is the cousin of Bapap who was killed in the First Battle of Harvest