Huragok (Earth-2124)

"I don't exactly understand how the huragok work... no surprise there, but they can fix just about anything you can break. They can also hook up to just about any kind of computer hardware in the galaxy. Forerunner, Covenant, and even human."

- - Edward Buck

Huragok (Latin Facticius indoles, meaning "artificial genius"), known to humans as Engineers, are a sapient biomechanical species created by the forerunner to maintain and repair their technology. Docile and devout to engineering, they were enslaved by the Covenant, being its only non-combatant species alongside the san'shyuum.

Origins
The huragok were created by forerunner Builders through nano-cellular technology in order to serve as their maintainers, repairmen, and engineers, being branded as "servant-tools". The Lifeworkers also had their own huragok, which were specialized in medicine and were smaller in size. They served aboard maintenance stations through the galaxy, many of those which existed near Janjur Qom, the san'shyuum home planet.

As they are mechanical in nature, huragok survived the activation of the Halo Array, with most of them remaining at their respective maintenance stations, or shield worlds, where they stood for the next 100,000 years.

Covenant
Huragok were discovered by the recently space-faring san'shyuum Reformists aboard the Dreradnought in 873 BCE, becoming their specialists at science, archaeology and maintenance, and being used to dissect orokin artifacts the Reformists found along their travels. They did not resist their slavery, instead only focusing on obeying their orders. They operated aboard the Dreadnought during the War of Beginnings against the sangheili, and after the formation of the Covenant, they continued serving on their slave roles.

As engineers, huragok had one of the most vital roles in the Covenant, to repair and maintain their technology, medicine, and interfacing with orokin artifacts. While culture dictated only san'shyuum were "holy" enough to interact and handle orokin research, huragok were, in fact, the ones that had to unlock, excavate, and transport orokin tools because of their sensitive nature. They were also used to secure data from one place to another.

Unable to speak Xi'an, huragok communicated exclusively in sign language with high-ranking san'shyuum, contributing to the chain balance of power between the Hierarchs and sangheili, usually ignoring anything that wasn't san'shyuum nor orokin. They participated in most of the Covenant's conflicts, such as the First Contact War, where they were the only non-hostile species towards humans. They were rarely seen by the UNSC until the final years of the war, and they were mostly deployed to search for forerunner artifacts and to shield Covenant troops. Many huragok were brutally implanted with explosive charges that detonated when they were killed, mostly by their jiralhanae commanders after the Great Schism, so the UEG would not take them over. Initially believing it to be a prevention against humans defiling orokin relics, they did not resist the measures, but once they discovered it was an effort to make them suicide bombers, many attempted to resist the charges, but failed. Many of them realized that the only way to stop the jiralhanae would be siding with humanity and defeat the Covenant, and as a result, multiple huragok sacrificed themselves to allow their companions to live on, such as was the case of Quick to Adjust's family.

Post-Human-Covenant War
Following the end of the war against humanity, many huragok that once served the Covenant either died or disappeared without a trace, which left all the hegemony's species, but most notably sangheili at a deep loss without the huragok's mastery and knowledge of orokin and Covenant technology. However, some huragok remained at the Swords of Sanghelios and other Covenant splinter factions, such as the Banished.

Some huragok, however, became employed by the UEG and the UNSC's ONI, assisting them into reverse-engineering orokin, Covenant, and Cabal technology. Many survivors of the war found during Operation FIRST STRIKE became workers at the UNSC Infinity or researchers of orokin sites, such as Sarcophagus. Rear Admiral Saeed Shafiq of UNSC Procurement revealed his desire to have huragok personnel on all UNSC ships by 2561, however, Admiral Margaret Paragonsky was awry of his idea because of the risk of having huragok fall in enemy hands. By 2563, the UNSC Infinity have a contingent of 12 huragok,

Biology
Despite being an artificially conceived species, huragok's nanomachines surrogates closely mimic biological analogs, which makes their anatomy indistinguishable to an observer. They have multiple translucent pink/purple gas-bladders on their backs, which serve as their method to move around and float. These bladders contain lighter-than-air gases, which have to be maintained at a certain mixture to allow both the flight and locomotion. They are able of floating a few feet from the ground, but they can float higher for a short period of time. The bladders have their own specific capabilities, some elevate, while others supply the necessary bodily chemicals, also serving as a huragok's respiratory system. If the bladders deflate, a huragok will asphyxiate and die.

They possess small, elongated heads, featuring six black eyes, and four tentacles that can split into small, microscopically fine cilia, which they use to construct and repair machinery on microscopic levels. Some orokin installations feature hidden panels that only a huragok is capable of locating and operation. They are strong, being able to take whole vehicles and rearrange their structure in seconds. Fast learners, huragok can store information for future references if the need to repair something else comes in. They are able to survive in environments with few oxygen and even methane. Huragok blood is luminescent pink.