A/N: Just thought I would give the Elites in this chapter last names. Oh, and for those who have read this from the beginning, This whole story has been updated!

The Human/Elite: Chapter 4

Old Friends

Just as the last Covenant Cruiser was just getting ready to go into slip space, a small ship rocketed from one of the many hangers of High Charity. The Human Pelican dropship was giving everything it had to get the people inside to their last chance of returning home.

The man piloting the ship pushed the throttle as high as it could go, giving more power to the engines, sweat dripped down his brow as he concentrated on getting his people to safety, when...

"L.T.! The portal's opening!" said the marine sitting in the co-pilot's chair beside him.

"I know," was all the man said, in a tight voice.

"They are starting their engines up!" the marine was getting more frantic.

"I know," said the Lieutenant through gritted teeth as the cruiser was slowly filling the cockpit's windshield.

They watched as the cruiser continued to grow larger and larger as they got closer and closer. The Lieutenant's skillful eyes spotted a hanger on the side that had yet to be closed. With a jerk of his hands the Pelican banked hard toward the opening. Suddenly, just as the hanger filled their view, a plasma shield began to spread across the opening.

"We're not going to make it!" cried the marine as he threw his arm's over his head and braced for impact.

The Lieutenant didn't respond as he pushed the engines to their max and closed the distance quickly, just barely skirting passed the shield with inches and seconds to spare. He quickly yanked hard on the controls, throwing the ship's engines into reverse. With a loud groan the Pelican jerked to a halt just inches from the nose of a Phantom dropship and the Grunt standing on top of said ship.

The startled Grunt let out a yelp and flailed it's arms as it fell onto it's back, with a loud squeal. It then looked up at the ship's cockpit and stared at the two shocked human's that sat staring back from inside.

For a few silent moments neither man nor alien could say anything, until a loud shuddering groan shook the Pelican, followed by the sound of a fading whine as the engine's shut down. For a split second the Lieutenant and marine stared at each other, both thinking the same thing.

"Aw, Sh-!" the marine started to say as the Pelican fell to the deck of the hanger with a loud-CLANG!

The Grunt jumped to its feet and scurried away from the ship, shouting at the top of it's lungs, "Human's! Human's!"

The Lieutenant quickly unbuckled himself from the pilots seat and ran into the back of the ship, the rest of his squad looking up as he came in.

"We have arrived," he said calmly as he grabbed his shotgun from the rack, "Lock and load ladies!"

Thronir's eyes opened and he sat up as a rumble shook the whole ship. A flash of light from the holoprojector announced Chamberlain's presence.

"Ah, good, you are awake Henry," said the AI.

"Chamberlain, what was that? What happened?" asked the Elite as he scrambled from his bed.

"It appears that a Human Pelican dropship made a spectacular entrance and crash landing in one of the port side hanger's just before the plasma shields had sealed shut," informed Chamberlain as he stood with his hands behind his back at attention.

Thronir paused in his rush to check on his children and turned to face the AI, a look of mix shock and confusion was on his face.

"What! where did it come from?" the Elite demanded as he glanced at Zan and Zumai, sighing when he saw that both were still asleep.

He began to pull on his armor as Chamberlain continued.

"From the trajectory of the ship, the amount of fuel that had been burned up, and the amount of damage to its hull and engines; it appears to have come from High Charity. The beings onboard are human, marines, as claimed by one of the Tech Grunts, no sign of the parasite at the moment. As of right now, the marines have taken a defensive position and have yet to make a move.

"Ultra Hitili has already taken the VICTORIOUS LIGHT into slip space and has ordered his troops to stand down. He has also requested your presence in the hanger to parley with the human's and to leave your weapon's behind."

Thronir placed his helmet on his head and activated his shields. He then nodded to the AI.

"Thank you, Chamberlain, inform Hitili that I will try to prevent a violent confrontation as best as I can," the AI nodded his head, threw the Elite a salute and then vanished from the projector.

Thronir looked over at his sleeping children and smiled. He walked over to Zan, leaned over and kissed his head, he then went over to Zumai and did the same.

"Sleep well you two," he whispered and then left the room.

Thronir made his way to the lift and rode it down to the hanger floor. He walked through the doorway as it slid opened and he paused at the sight before him. In the middle of the hanger, resting on its belly, smoke still coming from its engines, sat the Pelican; the Phantom had been moved to the side of the hanger. Under one of the wings crouched five marines with their guns aimed in all directions.

On top of the wing was a lone sniper, who, at the moment that Thronir had entered the hanger, kept his rifle fixed on him. Surrounding the ship was the multitude of Grunt workers, Covenant engineers and one of the Hunter teams. A few Elites and their squads were there as well. Thronir could feel the tension in the air from where he was standing. He took a deep breath and stepped into the hanger.

An Elite turned to Thronir as he approached and gave him a salute. Apparently news of his promotion had already spread among the troops, he mused to himself.

"Sir, the Human's refuse to allow any of us approach them, nor do they accept - or believe - any of our offers of aid, it is clear they do not trust us," said the Elite as it glanced over at the marines with pity and sorrow in its eyes, from the sound of its voice the Elite appeared to be a female.

Thronir nodded as he looked at the small squad near the ship, the soldiers were now glancing in his direction, some leaning over to whisper to another, while one or two trained their guns on him as the sniper on the wing was still doing. Thronir let out a sigh and turned back to the Elite at his side.

"Neither would you if their kind had done the exact same things that you had been doing to them for years," Thronir said in a calm tone.

The Elite bowed her head in shame.

"We are truly sorry for what we have done to the human race. If we had known that the Prophet's teachings had been all but lies, we would have broken away sooner," she said in a low voice as her shoulders slumped in guilt.

Thronir, gave her a small smile as he placed a hand on her armored shoulder. The female looked up at his face, eyes filled with regret and sadness.

"I am here to try and diffuse this situation," he said, he then had a thought, "What's your name?"

The Elite quickly saluted and bowed.

"My name is Lalania, commander Thronir," she said, "I am to be your second in command in your squad."

Thronir quickly filed that information away for later. He returned Lalania's salute and nodded to her.

"Soldier Lalania, inform the rest of those here that I will handle this situation. Under no circumstances are any of them to engage the humans if negotiations go sour. Is that understood, soldier?" he ended with a lowered voice.

Lalania saluted him again and began spreading his orders to the rest of the troops in the hanger. Then one by one the former Covenant troops began lowering their weapons. With that part of the situation handled, Thronir turned his attention back toward the marines, who were now looking at him and the others in confusion and suspicion.

Thronir took another deep breath, then let it out as he took the first steps that would change history as he knew it.

Lieutenant Joseph Enders lowered his shotgun as he stared curiously at the Elite that had apparently gave the order to the rest of the Covenant soldiers to stand down. He wore the same black armor as the rest of the Elites, but the others seemed to treat him as a higher rank. He ignored the whispers and actions made by his squad as he focussed on the Elite.

He was shaken from his thought process and he stiffened when he noticed the Elite beginning to make its way through the crowd towards the Pelican.

"Sir, I have this Elite in my sights, want me to dispose of him?" asked Nick from on top of the wing.

Enders placed his hand against the com that was in his ear, his eyes fixed on the single Elite that was making its way toward their position at a slow pace and apparently unarmed.

"Negative, private! I think he just wants to talk, get some answers, as do we all. I'm going to go have a chat with him. James, Josh, I want you two to cover me. Amanda, Andy, I want you two to keep doing what your doing, but keep your weapons down, is that understood?" said the Lieutenant as he glanced back at his squad.

"Yes sir!" said all four voices through his headset and with that, he made his way forward.

Enders stopped about halfway between the Pelican and the Covenant troops, holding the shotgun in a ready position, incase of trouble. The Elite stopped just short of him and seemed to be smiling at him, a look of recognition spread across the parts of his face that were visible from under the helmet.

"Well, well, Lieutenant Enders of Serpent squad, its been a while sir," said the Elite in a deep voice that was filled with amusement.

Enders' eyes widened and his breath caught in his throat as he aimed the shotgun at the Elites head.

"Talk! How do you know my name, rank and squad, Covenant? I want answers and I want them now!" what happened next would continue to shock the Lieutanant for the rest of his life.

The Elite stood up straight and stared straight ahead as he answered.

"Sergeant Henry Thompson of Serpent's squad reporting, currently as an Elite, sir," said the Elite in a voice that only Enders could hear.

Enders almost dropped his shotgun in shock.

There was no way...

It couldn't be...could it?

Enders stared at the Elite, his mind refused to believe that this Elite, this monster that killed hundreds, no thousands of Humans, was his sergeant and friend Henry. But for some reason, his heart was telling him he was.

"H-Henry, That can't... not possible! What the hell did they do to you?" Enders only cursed if he was angry as sin or scared out of his wits, which was very rare.

'Henry' held up a hand and motioned for the Lieutenant to come closer.

"I will explain everything in time, L.T., but not here. I will at least tell you this, I am telling the truth and my new name is Thronir."

"Thronir, got it," Enders nodded his head, then Thronir continued.

"I need you to tell the others to lower their weapons and to follow me, I promise you these Elites and their squads will not harm you. They have defected from the Covenant, they are what they call Heretics," he said in a low voice.

Enders smiled and again nodded his head. He then activated his com.

"Nick get yourself down from that wing! The rest of you lower your weapons and get your sorry selves over here on the double! We are getting our answers," he ordered.

Nick slid off the wing and landed on the floor in a crouch, the rest of the marines stood up and walked slowly over to their L.T. and the Elite. The Elite mumbled something to Enders and the man nodded in return.

"Are we surrendering sir?" asked Josh in a bitter voice as he glared at the Elite.

Enders chuckled and shook his head.

"Negative private, we are not surrendering, like I said they wanted to chat. Now, he wants us to come with him to speak with his higher up! So we are going to follow him and we are not going to raise our weapons against any of them, unless if need be, have I made myself clear? Hoorah?"

Five mumbled 'hoorah's' was all he got. Enders cleared his throat.

"I said, Hoorah!"

"Hoorah!" said all five marines.

The Lieutenant grinned and turned back to the Elite.

"You may take us to your leader now!" Enders said with a smirk.

The Elite chuckled at the jab of being an alien and nodded. He then motioned for them to follow him.

"Please come with me, my commander is waiting for us on the bridge," stated the Elite as he lead them past the other ex-Covenant.

As he neared the door, he noticed Pipip standing there and motioned for the grunt to join them at his side. The Grunt nodded and joined him. Before they went in Thronir motioned them to wait and he walked over to the Elite Lalania.

"Soldier Lalania, get a tech crew to move the human's ship off to the side and out of the way. You then can continue on with your duties of prepping the drop ships for our arrival. And get some engineers to work on fixing up the human ship as well, we might have need of it when the time comes," he informed her.

Lalania saluted him and bowed, before turning back to the workers to relay his orders. Thronir then made his way back to the marines and motioned, again, for Enders and the others to continue to follow him. The door slid open and allowed them entrance into the hall, sliding shut behind them once the last person crossed the threshold.

Thronir then made his way over to one of the projection pedestals in the corridor and entered a code, then stepped back. The machine made a low humming noise as the top began to glow. Thronir glanced to the side to see the marines looking at him in confusion, causing him to smirk as he stepped up to the machine again.

"Chamberlain, can you hear me?" he asked, and with flicker, the AI appeared on the pedestal.

The marines stared in shock at the sight of a human AI that was taking orders from a Covenant. They were jolted from their shock when the AI spoke.

"Yes, I can hear you just fine Henry," Chamberlain paused and glanced at the marines who were either staring at him with startled looks or at his creator's back in shock, "I see you have handled the situation. Shall I inform Ultra Hitili that you are on your way then?"

Thronir nodded and the AI vanished. He turned around to see all of the marines staring at him with either hardened looks of suspicion, question and in the case of the only female soldier present: anger. The only two who didn't react at all was Enders, who he had first informed about building chamberlain a long time ago, and Pipip, who was just standing there looking between the humans and his friend.

"What the heck was that?" asked a marine who wore a bandana outlaw style and a pair of shades over his eyes.

Thronir smiled and fixed his gaze on the marine, he knew James would be the one to ask questions first. he always did jump in feet first.

"I believe you all should know of Chamberlain, since I have been working on him for several months now," said the Elite.

"Liar!" shouted the female marine, Amanda, as she reached for the golden cross that hung from her neck, her eyes smoldering in anger and hatred as she stared at the Elite in front of her.

"You did not design Chamberlain, my husband Henry designed him! You lying so-" Enders held up his hand to silence the marine and grabbed her shoulder before she could do anything.

"Easy, Corporal, stand down!"

The Lieutenant then winked at Thronir and turned to face his squad. Most had noticed the way their L.T. was acting and looked even more confused, while Amanda stood there fumming, never taking her eyes from the Elite. Enders cleared his throat, calling all of the attention back to him.

"Alright now, let's all settle down before somebody does something they will regret," He said this while staring hard at Amanda, who just glared back at him, he cleared his throat again, "Ladies, I would like to introduce you to our friendly Elite guide, Thronir! He also just happens to be our missing squad member, Sergeant Henry Thompson!"

All five marines gaped and turned to Thronir in horrified shock.

"How... how?" stuttered Josh.

"What the hell!" shouted Nick and Andy.

"No. Freaking. Way!" muttered James.

Amanda, froze on the spot and turned pale as she lifted her gaze up toward the Elite. She stared at him for a few seconds, her eyes roaming over every inch of him, looking for something to prove that this was really the man she loved, the man she had married, the man who was her husband. A sparkle of light caught her attention and she brought her eyes up to his neck, to see a chain hanging around it, with something that looked like...

She began to step toward Thronir, catching the rest of her squads attention and causing them to fall silent as they watched her make her way toward the Elite.

Thronir glanced down at Amanda, who was still staring at the object hanging from his neck and his heartbeat quickened.

'She's figuring it out,' he thought to himself.

Amanda stood before him and removed the helmet from her head, letting the against regulation long red hair fall down till it reached her shoulders. She then placed a hand on Thronir's wrist and yanked down hard on it, till he understood and bent over. Once his neck was at her eye level, she reached for the chain and lifted it up to her teary eyes and stared at the one thing that would tell that this was her husband. Hanging from the chain was a silver ring, a silver ring that she would of recognized anywhere.

Then Amanda suddenly grabbed hold of Thronir's armored right shoulder and lifted up on it. There, just barely visible in the dim light and on the dark skin: was a UNSC tattoo. With a shuddering breath, Amanda threw her arms around Thronir's neck and sobbed on his chest as he wrapped his big arms around her small body.

The others stared on in a mixture of emotions, not one knowing what to do. That is everyone except for their L.T., who looked on the reunited couple with a big grin on his face.

"Oh, Henry! I-I thought I would never see you again!" sobbed and whispered Amanda as Thronir held her smaller body tighter, whispering calming words to her, until she could speak again.

"What did they do to you?" she asked as she looked up into his face.

Thronir smiled as he wiped away her tears and slowly stood up, leaving a hand on her shoulder.

"I will explain everything on the way to the bridge," Amanda nodded, "Now, Lieutenant Enders, if you will please follow me and my companion," said Thronir as he motioned toward Pipip.

"Alright then, is everyone ready? Good! Lead the way my friend," said Enders.

As they followed Thronir through the winding corridors of the cruiser, he explained to them what had happened since he was separated from the rest of the squad, including the part about his transformation.

Andy, who had been silent all this time spoke up.

"So, your telling me that those floating airheads, designed a machine that with the use of certain chemicals and surgical procedure, that can change any living beings DNA into that of another species entirely?" Andy had graduated from medical school before joining the military, every now and then he would spit out words that some of the squad didn't know or couldn't understand.

Thronir nodded his head as they continued on down the passageway; passing Elites, Jackals and Grunts along the way. Nick looked down at the grunt that was walking silently beside him and cleared his throat.

"So..." he said, gaining the smaller being's attention, "What's it like serving in the Covenant army?" the marine asked generally curious.

Pipip made a curious squeak behind his breather as he scratched his head and looked back at Nick.

"It is, how you humans say it, hell. We Unggoy are sent into battle first and are usually the first to die..." he then went on and on about the hardships his people had to endure during the war, stunning the marines with how intelligent the Grunt sounded.

The conversations died down when they arrived at the bridge. The door slid open and Thronir motioned for Enders and the others to enter first. Hitili turned from the projection pedestal with Chamberlain glowing on the top, another elite at his side wearing the gold armor of Shipmaster, toward the door as they entered and smiled as he walked up to Enders.

"May I be the first to welcome you to the bridge of the VICTORIOUS LIGHT. I am Ultra Hitili Renamee," he then beckoned to the other Elite, "And may I introduce you to Shipmaster Rillon Itillee."

Rillon, instead of saluting and bowing, walked up to Enders and held out his massive right hand and shook Enders' hand.

"It is an honor for me to be shaking hands with a human. I too welcome you aboard my ship," stated Rillon in a very deep voice.

Enders nodded and grinned around the unlit cigarette sticking out of his mouth.

"Thank you Shipmaster Itillee, Ultra Renamee. It is an honor to be one of the first humans ever to stand on the bridge of a Covenant ship, peacefully I might add. Name's Lieutenant Joseph Enders and this is serpent squad."

"You are more than welcome my friend," stated Hitili.

"Lieutenant, it appears that you and your squad reached my ship just in time. A few seconds later and you would have been drifting without power in the depth's of space," commented Rillon.

Hitili clicked his mandibles in admiration and nodded in agreement with the Shipmasters statement. He then turned to Thronir who had been standing quietly to the side during the whole conversation.

"Thronir, the Lieutenant, Rillon and I will remain here. I want you to take the rest of our guests and show them to their quarters, there are plenty of rooms to spare. I will be waiting your report and will answer any questions you have later. You are dismissed to also return to your lodgings," said the Elite as he turned back to Rillon and Enders' discussion.

Thronir nodded to the others and lead them from the bridge and toward the living quarters.