"Damn primitive human machines," an elite cursed under his breath as two Longswords played the cat in a game of chase. His seraph veered left and right, up and down, trying to switch sides and become the pursuer, but to no avail. The human pilots were not about to let him off the hook.

"Warning. Incoming missile. 124 units." A voice said, coming from the elite's ship AI.

"100 units"

"Damn…"

"75 units"

The elite kept trying to get out of the way so the missile could detonate away from him, but like the pilots the missile was unforgiving.

"Curse these humans…"

"25 units"

Out of desperation he jammed his throttle forward, a last ditch effort at possibly out speeding the missile.

"30 units"

The elite gasped with relieve at barely saving himself. He laughed to himself at the readied himself for his next move to gun the humans down.

"40 units"

He moved to twist his Seraph around to counter attack-

The missile seemed to transform as more jets moved out of the missile's body. Afterburners. But for a missile.

"35 units"

"What?" The elite panicked. His previous idea of trying to attack them humans was lost in an instant.

"20 units"

"Oh gods… how could this happen…"

"10 units"

The elite prayed to his gods, as doom approached.

"5 units. Impact inevitable."

Never had an elite been so lucky in it's life.

Just before reaching his Seraph the missile exploded- barely missing his ship. The only effect it had was pushing his Seraph to an even higher speed.

But also, never had an elite been so unlucky in it's life.

The shockwave threw him around in his seat, and in his flailing he activated the slipspace drive. He was already going faster than possible without the slipspace on, and when he hit the switch his ship grew to speeds not even achieved by slipspace.

The final thing he saw before blacking out was a white space with black dots zooming past and everything around him becoming blurry and distorted.

--2007, May 18th, 50 miles east away from Houston TX--

A young girl walked around a large open yellow-grassed field covered in flowers that dotted from 5 feet to the end of the horizon. Behind her her Dalmatian dog followed her and sniffed the trail the girl made. As she walked the large stalks of grass was knocked over and pushed to the ground and then tramped by four smaller paws behind her.

Just then she heard a low booming noise. She looked up and saw a transparent circular shape appear far in the sky. It grew less and less translucent until there was a circle of light, and in one second there was a great boom that erupted into light and the girl was forced to put her hands to her eyes.

The elite couldn't control his ship as it spun around and he saw a bright hole appear before him leading into a blue sky, and his ship was thrown through it. He blacked out just before his ship began dipping down toward a yellow grassy field.

The girl was thrown off of her feet as something fast hit the field causing a small crater. The girl was on the ground for a moment with her arms over her head. After the dust cleared she opened her eyes and darted them left and right. She cautiously stood up and her dog did the same. Her dog had its tail halfway between its legs, not wanting to show fear in it's master's presence. She looked at where dust clouded the air and smoke slowly drifted upwards and blue flashes of electricity flashed back and forth. She approached it incredibly slow and cautious, and as she got closer the dust cleared even more.

There was a small crater with a purple object complete with parts seared off and shattered.

She climbed down into the crater and the dog for once didn't follow. She touched the metal and brought her hand back quickly as her hand was burned. After a moment the pain went down and she readied herself to try again, but this time with a bit of fabric around her palm and fingers. She touched the metal and moved her hand down it until she came to what looked like a switch and she twisted it.

The elite's vision came back very slowly as the top of his ship was thrown off like how he is supposed to eject if he is fighting over a planet. He realized he couldn't move and couldn't see very far. He heard a shriek as the top flew off and saw a bit of movement near the ship.

The girl was frightened by the object and feared going back towards it to peer inside. She was about to run home, her dog way ahead of her, to tell her mother she found a spaceship until curiosity got the better of her.

She returned even more cautiously than before and wielded her fabric in case something needed touching. She climbed back down into the crater and moved around it to where the top had been shot off. It was a little bit too dark to see but there were small lights inside the object that lightly illuminated the place.

She had thought aliens were not real, same with space ships or flying saucers, but this was the real deal.

In front of her was an extremely tall creature clad in a odd shade of blue, with pure gray metal tips and outlines making the armor stand out a bit more. It's head was longer than a human's and stuck out in front of its body almost like a reptile. It's helmet covered most of it's head and had three spike-like points on the top, and the sides. It's mouth, or at least what she thought the mouth was, had 4 mandibles, all of them parted. Its legs had 2 knees on each, like her dog's, except with hoofs instead of paws.

She stumbled back a little bit, too shocked to scream and run. It was still breathing too, even making small movements and also staring at her figure with it's dark brown eyes.

A very small figure stood in front of him, and it was apparently shocked of him and as his vision slowly came back he was more and more dumbfounded by the fact that the thing wasn't running.

A very small human child was before him, shocked, but not enough to scream and run as he thought most would do. He tried to move, but pains in his arms and legs wouldn't let him. He tried saying something under his breath, but the girl couldn't understand his broken English as he was having a hard time breathing as well.

It was hurt, the girl could plainly see it. She was far too scared to try to talk to it, or help it, or touch it. She was frozen, no longer with shock, but from all the movies she'd seen about alien invaders coming and destroying homes and cities.

"Damn humans" he thought to himself. "To think, a mighty elite warrior at the mercy of a human child!" his inner thoughts enraged him, and his eyes became angry, and pain meant nothing to him.

The girl's horror was made into reality as the alien slowly made its way out of the ship and began stumbling towards her, oblivious to its wounds. She backed up and tripped over a rock, then landed her back onto a patch of stones. It sent a line of pain up her spine.

The elite stopped as the girl fell onto her back and rolled over in pain as her eyes began to water up and she shrieked. She started sobbing and rolling back and forth, trying to reach her back and rub the pain out.

He had realized that it was a child he was about to hurt, or even kill. He had heard stories about human children, how they were just as evil as their adult selves and were always ready to attack any unsuspecting covenant with all their fury, even though any covenant could destroy them with ease.

The girl was nothing like the stories. She was more like the child he was used to.

The girl writhed in pain as the pain slowly drifted away and her tears slowly stopped, but she had sharp gasps every time she breathed. She looked back to her attacker with tear-stained cheeks and saw the alien had stopped. It's fist was still balled, but it was slowly loosening.

The alien looked at her, thanking himself for not killing a child, even if it was human.

He turned took a step toward the girl; and his leg buckled under him, and he fell to the ground. He began to roar with pain.

"Damn."

She watched as the tall alien fell to the ground, crying out in pain. It spared her, at least, and she seemed to be a bit less afraid of it, even though it still scared her immensely.

It ceased moaning, and it lay it's head back, and started taking in deep breaths.

The girl got an idea, and she hurried off toward a little lake. It was only about 30 meters away, so she was there in a snap. She knelt over and washed out a dirty cup she found earlier. When most of the dirt was gone, she took one more scoop and hurried off toward the injured alien.

The human had been gone for a few moments, and he wondered where she was going, and if she was coming back. If she wasn't, he was sure to die there, but if she did, there is a chance he will overcome his injuries.

Before long, the small figure returned, holding a container filled with liquid. She slowed to a stop, only about 10 feet from the elite, and was again fearing him. She took one step forward and the elite moved it's head and looked at her, making her stumble back.

She was scared, but that wasn't going to stop her from helping it. It has been one of her wishes to meet an alien, and it's the only fantasy that ever came true. She swallowed her fear, and took one step toward the alien, and then another, until she was less than a foot away from it's head, then kneeled down.

The elite watched as the girl knelt next to him, and held the container. It's mandibles were already parted, so the girl put the container over his open mouth, and slowly poured water into it. He swallowed it, and seeing this, the girl started to pour a bit more in. She stopped when the cup was halfway gone, and the elite gathered his strength to push itself up into a sitting position, with his back against the ship. The girl recoiled at his sudden movement, and fell back a bit with wide eyes.

The girl's heart raced for a second, but it settled down. She also backed herself against the side of the crater, and started at it for a second, as it did the same. In an awkward silence, the girl wanted to break it.

She pointed to herself. "Sara"

The elite understood. The girl's name was Sara, but he still looked at her. He watched as she pointed to him. She wanted to know what his name was. He thought for a moment. He had never given his name to a human before. However, there is a start for everything.

"Nir' Clansee" he said.

The girl smiled. She tried saying his name back to him. "Nyer Cansi," and she received a slight laugh from the alien. "N… Nir… Clan...see.. Nir' Clansee!" she tried again, this time getting it right. The alien nodded, and she wasn't scared of it anymore. She once again got another idea. She held out a finger. "Wait a sec." and she ran off.

The 7-year-old girl was happy. She didn't have many friends living way out in the country. Not only did she make a new one, but it was an alien! She couldn't wait to brag about it to everyone.

But that made her stop in her tracks.

In all alien movies, tuxedo men came and took them away, and started to cut them open to see what's inside of them. She thought that if she told anyone, maybe they would tell the tuxedo men, and her new friend would be taken away.

She decided to keep the alien a secret for now.

She hurried home, and she finally reached it, far away from the crater, and she stormed inside, announcing her presence, and her mother came into the room with a red face.

"Where the hell have you been?" she screamed, causing her father to come into the room too.

"This is the last time you go outside by yourself! Your in for a lesson, young lady!" he said, and he began walking toward her, taking off his belt.

She backed herself against a wall, as her father approached, and her mother just looked on with the same angry face, and said to her: "Maybe this'll help you remember to stay near home," And with that, her father began.

The elite could understand her English. She said to wait, and he had been for hours. He wondered if she was coming back.

It was late that night when her father finally stopped, and she was sent upstairs where she was to stay for the rest of the night. She hated living there, for every day brought another reason for her parents to hate her. Every day brought more beatings, and every day, they seemed worse and worse. Quite possibly, the only thing that didn't beat her on first sight was the alien she found. It was about to, yes, but it stopped, seeing she was only a kid.

She knew she had to go back to him, and give him food and water to drink, but she was locked in her room. She was afraid of heights, so her window was off limits. She hated being stuck in her prison, even if it was safe. She looked out her window, seeing how it faced where the alien lay. She even thought she could see the crater.

She knew she had to get out, and if she could overcome the fear of the alien, she could get out the window. She took off her sheets and began to tie them together as best she could, and opened her window with a gulp. She tossed the 'rope' through the window, and tied it to her bed, and took one last look outside, and stuck her legs outside the window, and when she was far enough, she grasped the sheets, and began her descent.

Things were going great, until the first sheet untied itself.

She fell to the ground, screaming as she did, and it woke the whole house up, even maybe going so far as to alert the alien. She heard rustling going on inside the house. "Sara! Get your ass back in this house!" Her father screamed, but she didn't comply, she just took off in the direction of the alien and his downed craft, crying as she ran, afraid to get beaten again.

He could swear he heard the child scream. The elite hoped she was okay, even if she was human. He even pained himself to rise to his feet to peer over the edges of the crater for a few seconds before being forced to sit back down against the ship.

He heard the girl, except she was crying, her tears trailing behind her. She slowed to a walk as she neared the crater, and she tried to hide it by smiling when she saw him. She crawled down into the crater, and sat down next to him, offering him some bread she was given before she was sent to bed, and the elite took only little of it, not wanting to keep the girl from eating.

She had marks all over her, on her face, her neck, her arms, her legs, everywhere. His eyes surveyed her, and for some reason, he felt anger that something would harm something so kind and gentle.

"What happened… to you?" Nir said, surprising the girl.

"You… you can speak English?" She answered, however not the one the elite wanted. He nodded, but then pointed at the marks. "What happened to you?"

She looked away for a second, thinking. "Nothing."

Sara remembered the first time she was beaten.

"Tell anyone this happened… and you don't want to know what I'll do," her father threatened her. He said that after he'd hit her ever since. The fear of 'what he'd do' was enough to not even reveal with happened to the alien. Well, she was in for it when she got back, she thought. She wasn't about to go back home anytime soon.

"So… you understand English, huh?" She asked, and the alien nodded.

"Quite clearly," It responded.

"Good, 'cause I don't think I'm going home for a bit, and It sure would be boring, not having someone to talk to and stuff," she said.

"Yes… it would I suppose." The alien said. He finished his final piece of bread and looked at the girl. "How old are you, Sara?" he asked her. "I'm 7" she said with a smile.

A 7 year old human, he thought to himself, a 7 year old human wasn't afraid of an Elite, and even was brave enough to give him water and food. He wondered to himself, why she wasn't afraid. All humans knew what the covenant was, and what the different races were and looked like. Why wouldn't this human know? He remembered the battle.

He was thrown through an odd white portal into this field after being semi-hit by a missile.

A thought struck him.

"In your years, what year is it?" He asked. Sara thought for a moment. "Its 2007. Why?" she responded, and the elite's mandibles opened slowly, the equal of a humans jaw dropping. 2007. Hundreds of years before the war started.

Another thought came to his mind.

With one human dead, a while line of them would die, also. With anything barely changed, something drastic could happen. Killing a major leader would change history fantastically. Maybe, centuries later, the covenant would encounter the humans with their technology no where near where it was back in the 'present' he knew. He could save hundreds of covenant lives, sacrificed for the great journey to happen.

"Well? Why?" Sara asked again, and the elite looked back at her.

"No reason."