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"Eye of the Prophets"

—Translated Covenant Definition of "Ossoona"

Ossoona was a Covenant Sangheili (Elite) title and rank granted to certain Elites that were given Active Camouflage and sent on espionage missions.

Rank

Unlike most other Covenant rankings, "Ossoona" was a temporary rank bestowed by the Prophets of the Covenant upon specially selected Elite warriors, making it comparable to the typical rank of the Arbiter.

Due to a lack of intelligence on the United Nations Space Command, the Prophets had begun to pull a handful of Elites from active duty into temporary service as Ossoonas. To be chosen, an Elite must have already had the rank of Elite Major. This is because the higher ranking Elites are "worth" more in active duty, whereas the lower ranking Elite Minors were considered too untested and liable to either become easily compromised; or abandon their mission in pursuit of their own personal glory.

The mission of an Ossoona was to collect information on the enemy while avoiding any type of combat. Many of those Elites felt that there was little honor in such an assignment, but they would do as they were told, due to their reverence of the Prophets. Covenant leaders felt that zeal was a quality to be admired, but an espionage job would help tame young Elites and teach them the finer arts of stealth in battle.

The title of Ossoona was usually bestowed for a single mission, though a series of missions were sometimes given. An Ossoona would always be equipped with Active Camouflage generators and devices similar to UNSC Helmet Recorders.^[1] They were usually equipped with a Plasma Pistol and Plasma Grenades as well as energy shielding just in case an Ossoona was discovered. Ossoona missions would tend to include non-combat intelligence gathering, such as capturing high ranking enemy personnel, equipment, AIs, weapons, etc.

Role

During the Covenant attack on the UNSC ship Pillar of Autumn during the Battle of Installation 04 in 2552, Isna 'Nosolee was made an Ossoona and charged with three missions:

• Record footage of the Human ship on his helmet recorder.
• Capture the Human Artificial Intelligence.
• Capture senior personnel.

Because many Elites were reckless and tended to destroy everything in their path, the Prophets (Hoping to learn more about the Humans, including the location of Earth) sent 'Nosolee on a special mission to gather intelligence. Even though he was killed when Captain Keyes shot him in the head with a M6D Pistol, the attendance of the Ossoona in the life pod Captain Keyes had fled aboard alerted the Covenant to his importance, and ensured that they captured him instead of killing him along with his party.

Known Ossoonas

• Isna 'Nosolee

Trivia

• The Aztec-Tlaltelolcan Ossoona Codex, a writing system that to this day cannot be translated, likely inspired the name of this rank.
• Ossoona means "Eye of the Prophets" in the Covenant language. ^[2]
• Stealth Elites differ from Ossoonas in the fact that they are used for combat/confrontations with the enemy. Ossoonas are designed to gather information about the enemy.
• Though Stealth Elites have Brute counterparts, Brute Stalkers, there is presently no known Brute "Ossoona". This may be because the Covenant had already captured enough data on the Humans, or because Brutes are simply not able to be stealthy. This may be due to their lack of self control and their large, bulky figures.
• It is shown in Halo: The Flood that many Elites prefer to be fighting with their comrades, rather than be an Ossoona and sneak around -- something that they see as a cowardly act.

Sources

1. ↑ Halo: The Flood, page 28
2. ↑ Halo: The Flood