Special Operations Skirmisher

Special Operations is a  rank.

Role
Skirmishers of this rank are usually employed when a Special Operations team needs extensive scouting intel, or sniper cover fire. Being faster, more vicious, hardier, and often times more experienced, Skirmishers make up for the frailty of regular Kig-Yar quite effectively. Each Skirmisher is hand-picked from the most decorated and successful units. Often, each Skirmisher in a Special Operations squad will be a former champion, showing the level of skill required. Very few Skirmishers are accepted to this rank, and those which are, are highly respected by their commanders. Because of this, squads featuring Special Operations Skirmishers are generally deemed more valuable than those with simply more Sangheili or in their ranks, and are commonly given higher priority targets.

Rank
Like their Unggoy, Special Operations Skirmishers wear jet black armor. This can sometimes be confused with, although minors have lighter, bluer armor, and less ornate harnesses. The Special Operations armor for Skirmishers bears the most protection possible without compromising dexterity, and is most identical to armor, indeed retaining the yellow chest lights of the champion.

The armor is fully capable of active camouflage like the armor of other Special Operations races. In addition, Skirmishers have the ability to generate holograms of themselves, which can prove useful in setting traps or ambushes for the rest of their squad.

Combat
The Skirmisher role on the battlefield is dependent upon the commander. Squads have been shown to feature Skirmishers in a wide variety of roles, ranging from snipers to riflemen; to even grenadiers or support infantry, which are roles Kig-Yar are rarely seen with otherwise. This is due to the nature and skill of each individual Skirmisher, as well as the respect given to them by the Sangheili. However, it is also common for Skirmishers in a single squad to have vastly different roles from one another. As they are highly experienced themselves, some Sangheili use these Kig-Yar as lower operational commanders on the battlefield, particularly of the Unggoy, when the Sangheili cannot personally command, or the squads have to split up. Several squads have been observed splitting themselves up into a Sangheili strike team and a Skirmisher-led Unggoy team to efficiently accomplish their missions.

History
Special Operations Skirmishers were first used near the end of the, after a sufficient period of time had elapsed to provide Sangheili with able-bodied Skirmisher veterans. Prior to, they were rarely seen. When deployed, Skirmisher-enhanced teams almost never fail a mission. For this reason, had little information on Skirmishers partaking in such a role. By far their most expansive use was in the Battle of Reach. Due to the severity of the battle, and the necessity to win, the issued a decree that all high-value squads were to take part in the battle. All were reassigned to the. During the battle, their primary missions were to disable the various stations, by destroying their power supplies on planet. As each was well-defended, the Skirmishers suffered massive casualties. By the end of the battle, the Skirmishers in all forms (not just Special Operations) suffered unsustainable losses, and many were pulled from active deployment. As soon as the day after the Battle of Reach, Skirmishers were no longer being accepted into any ranks. However, because of the inherent skill associated with the Special Operations division, surviving Skirmishers in that rank were allowed to remain active for the remainder of their team's operations.

By the time of the events of the took place, less than two dozen Skirmishers of this rank were alive.