Erlking

The Erlking, classified by the UNSC as the Type-37 Tactical Command Shuttle, is a very rare combat dropship granted to very high-level Covenant field commanders.

Design features
The Erlking is not one specific design of airframe, but rather a loose collection of custom-built airframes built to reward the few officers whose accomplishes brought them to the notice of the Hierarchs. Their weapons and crew compartments would be selected by their chosen client, and while most are configured as dropships, a handful may instead be better optimized as gunships or bombers.

In combat, they are usually deployed at the tip of any significant aerial formation.

Nomenclature
The term "erlking" has its origins in antique fairy tales. It may have been a mistranslation of the Scandinavian word for "King of the elves', and referred to a giant or a goblin which preyed upon people who strayed into the woods.

In the 26th century, the popular image of the Erlking comes from a Polish rock opera which took certain liberties with the source material. The Erlking was a wastrel prince who hunted game and chased after women instead of attending to his duties. Eventually he forsook his kingdom altogether to join the Wild Hunt, an army of marauding spirits and lost souls. With a royal figure at their lead, the Wild Hunt ruled the night, and the kingdom was cast into darkness until a young hero named Titus took up a sword to rescue his betrothed.

Although the original rock opera last played in 2377, the songs were so memorable that they are used in action flicks and car commercials 150 years later. Naturally, a command shuttle that occasionally led large formations of bombers and dropships would be named for the traitorous prince.