I do not own Halo or any characters that are copyright of Bungie or 343 Industries, or Ensemble (RIP Ensemble.)

I do however claim ownership of all characters I have created of my own volition (with the exception of certain characters borrowed from other writers as cameo appearances (I will credit those authors when their characters show up the first time in an upcoming chapter.) However, this story is going to build slowly up to what I have in mind, please everyone bear with me on this as I attempt to create everything. The first few chapters are not a prologue, despite how it looks.

Raven Squadron

This war has cost us millions of lives, killed hundreds of thousands of soldiers. Planets glassed, space lost, families destroyed, pain and suffering rampaging across our fledgling empire. The soldiers have been able to fend off the Covenant on the ground at times, holding their own, and yet every time we win they retreat to the skies or space and bombard the homes we care for with plasma. Even our vaunted Spartans, the courageous soldiers who have been saving countless lives when they can, barely hold when they are not on their preferred area of expertise. Fighting on land. This isn't a war we can win on the ground alone. We must strive for a new solution, a new tactic, and use what we have learned from Dr. Halsey's great research as well as Covenant technology we have gained insight from to create a new project, one that can provide hope to the weary soldier on the ground and bring the fight to the enemy over their heads. I ask for funding for this project, this shadow program, as any would be well aware of the tolerance that some in the UNSC would hold against modification of the human body. I believe I have a solution to even the odds, but it will take funding from you to be able to delve into this research. I ask for time and money from you to create hope, to create a ghost of a chance at survival. –Dr. Daveth Wright, HIGHCOM Facility Bravo-6, Sydney Australia

[1100 hours, February 9th, 2535 (Military Calendar)/ Sol System, San Francisco, Marin County]

A little girl walked alongside her mother into the arts and crafts store, following her father that was holding her older brother on his shoulders. The shop was there for construction hobbies, toys that were made in some form, items of wonder created by the owner. The doors slid open and knocked a bell just above, and the girl looked around.

The store was cramped with items for sale, though still very large. Shelves upon shelves were stacked with model airplanes and board games, some model trains or action figures, hundreds of different colored paints and sprays. The halogen lights seemed old and yellowish, and a few bins were lying around constricting the already small isles with clearance items.

"Ok, how about we go find that perfect doll for you Elena" her mother asked. Elena looked up at her mother, and then looked around wondering where the dolls were kept. She didn't really care much for one; she didn't even like dolls, despite how her parents always seemed to think the six year old would love to get a brand new porcelain doll. She just wanted to come along because her father was there.

Ever since her birth, Elena had always had a special connection to her father. She loved her mother very much, and spent a great deal of time with her, but she enjoyed the special occasions she got when her father wasn't doing his job, which was flying pelican transports. He was a Lieutenant in the UNSC Air Force, which wasn't restricted by air anymore since humanity expanded away from Earth.

She didn't really understand what the UNSC was, but she did understand her father flew. She loved when her father would come home from transporting personnel to a nearby ship or dropping off supplies. She'd be waiting at the door until he came in, and he'd always pick her up around her tummy and fly her around the room like a plane.

Her short attention span came back to the matter at hand when her mother walked her over to the dolls held inside the glass cases, all locked up. A woman was sorting items into other shelves be a counter nearby, placing different paints and what looked to be hair and sewing kits into small slots with prices on them.

"Hello! How can I help you ma'am?" the woman asked her mother.

"I'd like to get a special doll for my daughter. It's her 6th birthday and she needs something special" her mother said smiling down at Elena. Elena's mother ran her fingers through her daughter's black hair, so black it was almost blue in the right light.

"Ah, I think I can help you with that!" the clerk chuckled and walked out from behind the counter, and bent over with her hands on her knees, smiling at Elena.

"So it's your birthday right? Such a big girl! I bet you want just the perfect doll huh?" the clerk told her as enthusiastically as possible, trying to make it sound like a momentous occasion. It was, in a sense, but Elena somehow didn't feel it. She always was a quiet girl, her blue eyes never really brightening up unless her father was around and always seeming very down to earth and highly intelligent for her age.

"Alright, well, let us see what hair color you like! We have so many different types-" but Elena wasn't really listening, as she watched her father across the building talking to another clerk, helping her brother Milo get a new model airplane.

Elena didn't understand. She liked things that flew, she watched dragonflies zoom around in the garden when she wasn't in preschool, she tried to catch lightning bugs during the summer, and made paper airplanes often enough. Why would her mother think that she would enjoy a doll that didn't move, soar through the air free?

"Elena are you listening?" her mother asked. Elizabeth thought that her daughter would jump for joy at getting a doll, but she didn't seem very enthusiastic about it.

"I want one of those!" Elena said as she pointed in the direction Milo and her father was standing. Held in Milo's hands was a CLX-12 Mechlin, a twin turboprop engine model airplane, something that wasn't really used anymore aside for training purposes for pilots.

"But, wouldn't you rather have a cute doll? Look, look at this one! Oh, she has such a cut face! Elena! Look!" Elizabeth said, hoping to get her daughter's attention. Elena looked back at her mother and the clerk, who was unlocking different glass cases and pulling out an assortment of dolls for her to peruse.

Elena gave a quick glance at the blue eyed white faced doll and immediately turned around and stared back at her father testing the turboprops of the plane with his fingers. Milo was ecstatic. He was getting a toy on the same day his sister had her birthday.

"No! I want one of those! I want a plane mommy!" She said and darted over to her father, making zoom sounds and putting her arms out. Her father had just finished paying for the airplane when Elena came up to them and poked at the plane with her finger. Milo pulled the plane away and flew the thing around him a bit, but Elena kept trying to touch it. Jack was just putting his wallet back in his pocket when he noticed Elena there. She had always been a ghost's shadow when she wanted to be, sneaking up on people. She found it fun.

"Hey! Leave it alone! You'll break it!" Milo growled out and pulled it away from her.

"But, but I want one! I don't want a dolly! I want a plane like you got!" Elena looked disappointed she couldn't share in the fun that her eight year old brother was having with his new aerial construct. The little girl looked up at her father, Jack, for help.

"Err, well, you really don't want a doll?" Jack asked her just as her mother came over, thanking the other clerk for her assistance. Elizabeth looked a little annoyed with her scampering away like she did.

"Elena! Don't run off like that! That woman was trying to help you get something! What's wrong?" her mother asked.

"I don't want a dolly! I want a plane! I don't like dolls! I wanna fly a plane around!" Elena looked a little sad. Elizabeth looked from her daughter to her husband for assistance.

"Um, well, if she really wants one. Are you sure?" Jack asked his little girl. Her face brightened and nodded quickly up and down.

"Ok, which one? There's this C-22 right here… You could get this Ackvid right over there, which one looks the best?" Jack asked Elena.

Elena looked around at the different types of planes tied to strings, hanging mid-air in fantasy dog fights or taking off, shelves filled with parts to enhance or repair different models. She looked back at Milo's plane, who seemed to be running up and down the nearby isle filled with an assortment of clearanced out action figures.

"I want one of those! I want another one! A second one!" The six year old told him. Jack looked up to the old clerk who had a half helm of LED lights and magnifying glasses attached to the rim, his apron covered in model paint and pockets filled with paintbrushes of all shapes and sizes.

"Alright, can we get another CLX then sir?" Jack asked the clerk.

"I'm sorry sir; your son got the last one. We'll get another shipment in next week, maybe she would like one then?" The clerk said, rubbing his white beard and removing his glasses.

Elena looked heartbroken. She couldn't get the one she wanted.

"But… but I want that one!" She cried out, tears starting to fill her eyes.

Jack knelt beside his daughter and put an arm around her shoulders. "Aww, sweetheart, he doesn't have anymore. I'm sorry. Maybe you could get a different one? How about… how about that one, right over there?" he pointed to another plane, green in color, a single prop and looking nothing like the one Milo ran around with. Elena cried and sniffled, and was pulled closer to her father's shoulder.

"I'm sorry honey, we could get another one next week if you can wait" her father cooed to her. He rubbed his left hand up and down her back to comfort his little one.

"I don't want to wait… I just want that one!" Elena cried more into his shoulder. The clerk looked around.

"You know, I have a few models that we don't really show here out on the floor. How about it, give a look little one?" The man, Gaven etched on his nametag, told her in an old comforting voice. Elena looked up from her father's shoulder and Elizabeth hoped she would agree. The black haired 1st grader sniffled and nodded.

"Ok then, would you like to follow me? It's not normal for us to let kids behind the counter, but since it's your birthday, I'll show ya the workshop, with your parent's permission of course" Gaven smiled and pointed towards her parents. Elena looked up to both their faces and they both nodded.

"Don't touch anything unless you ask alright?" Elizabeth told her as Jack walked her back behind the counter, Gaven opening the door. The old clerk turned on the lights and Elena was immediately awed. There were models that were not even finished lying around on different work tables, different paints that she hadn't seen or primers to place on models. There was a drying rack in the right corner, covered in primed parts and almost completed planes. A double sliding window overlooked the side of the building, away from the parking lot.

There, lying on one of the worktables was a GA-TL1 Long Sword class interceptor. It was massive, easily 2 feet long, dwarfing the CLX Milo had. Elena walked slowly up to it as Gaven noticed her eyes staring at the marvelous model.

"Ah, I see someone has a need for speed" Gaven chuckled. Elena moved her hands towards the model, but then remembered what her mother told her, and looked up to Gaven.

"It's alright, you can touch it. It isn't finished yet, no paint or primer, just sanding off extra bits and ends that don't belong" he told her with a smile. Elena turned around and ran her little fingers along the port side wing. She had up until now never seen a fighter before, or at least a modern one.

"Do you… do you want that one?" Jack asked her, her face in pure awe. She didn't say anything, just nodded a lot.

"It's not done yet though, but it is my next project. Hmmm, that could be a predicament. I could finish it today if you want, but it'll cost a bit more than taking it home now" Gaven told Jack. Elena didn't seem to care or understand the meaning of the cost; she just knew she wanted it.

"Hmmm, well, I guess. How long would it take?" Jack asked the old man.

"Hmmm, tell you what, let's work out the price, and trust me for the little fly girl I'll make an exception. I'll even put a special emblem on it for her" Gaven clapped his hand onto Jack's shoulder and smiled.

[Two Hours later]

Elena watched the entire event, not wanting to leave the store as Gaven finished sanding odd mistakes in the molding and primed the outside of the plane so that the paint would adhere. She didn't want to leave at all, even with her mother telling her it was time to go to her birthday lunch, Jack agreed to stay behind with her while Elizabeth took their son to get something to eat.

Elena saw Gaven pick up the interceptor and spray at different angles, making sure the paint didn't collect in droplets at different spots, putting utter care into her birthday gift. He delicately took out multiple paintbrushes and dabbed into different gunmetal colors, blacks and reds, long swaths of the colors running along the wings and fuselage.

The old clerk looked over to her and smiled, asking her to please pass a package of decals to her left on a shelf. She reached up and grabbed at the packet, pulling it down to her level, and handed it to the man. She noticed a book just below the packet, but she didn't touch it. She wanted to though, as it showed the Long Sword emblazoned on its cover.

"There. Now, to add the emblem. What should we put on it? Do you have preference?" Gaven asked Elena, and then looked up at Jack for some slight guidance. Elena didn't know. She liked it just as it was, covered black with slight shades of grey, yellow and black caution tags at different positions, the red of the inside of the engines. It looked already fantastic.

"How about a ghost? A nice friendly ghost" Jack asked her, then looked to Gaven.

"Ha! A smiling ghost on an interceptor fighter? Ah, but you are right, I bet she'd like it. How about it? A ghost on the wing?" Gaven smiled down at Elena, poking gently at her little nose.

"I'm a big girl now! I don't want a friendly ghost!" She pouted. Gaven was taken aback by the girl, and looked up at Jack.

"But you might be scared at any normal emblem he puts on there honey. What about a Cat? Or a smiley face? No?" Elena shook her head.

"Well, I could add a very detailed mean looking ghost, but… I don't know; it could scare her" Gaven told them.

"I'm not afraid! It's my plane. It won't hurt me, right?" Elena looked up at her father.

"Yup, that's right! It's your plane, your ghost, just like you" He poked her sides and tickled her. She giggled and tried to scrunch her arms close to her body to fend off the tickle assault.

"Alright, I'll do my best work on it" Gaven said and began to paint. The emblem showed a hooded figure with scythe held in hand, an all-black face with two white eyes peering out from under the hood, armor clad below the neckline. The body seemed feminine, and on the bottom, looking as authentic as a real squadron, he wrote "Ghost, 501st" in the small ribbon wrapping around the outside of the artistic symbol. He held the fighter under a small light that seemed to dry the paint quickly for the emblem, then held it up to admire his work.

Elena was in pure bliss. Her GA-TL1 Long Sword-class interceptor was complete. Gaven slowly handed the thing down to the little girl, who could barely carry it. She loved every inch of the thing, touching it delicately as Jack smiled down at her.

"Happy Birthday kiddo. A regular fighter ace you are now. Go get those bad guys!" Gaven chuckled to her. She slowly got the fighter out of the workshop as Jack followed, thanking Gaven for all of his work.

"It was my pleasure, trust me. I hope she has as much fun as I… wait hold on just a second" Gaven said with a wave of his hand and his index finger pointed out. He went back into his workshop and pulled out a book. On it was the Long Sword fighter's picture.

"You see, I used to be a pilot" Gaven told Elena. Her little eyes widened in surprise. He opened the book up and inside, on every page, were the part blueprints of the stealth fighter and maintenance procedures.

"Sometimes, we pilots would have to do some of our own maintenance if there weren't enough technicians, so I have a few of these lying around. You had to know just what your craft did, how it acted, how it flew. A good pilot was one with his, or her, craft" Gaven smiled and tousled her hair.

"Exactly, though these days the maintenance and supply is done separate from the pilots. We don't really have to worry about that" Jack told Gaven, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Ah, so you fly as well? Apparently it runs in the family I see" Gaven laughed and saw Elena lose interest in the two men, already having the book open with her plane next to her and reading with deep focus on the ground.

"I fly a Pelican transport though, dropping supplies off to different colonies or personnel, though it seems to have gotten pretty risky doing it now with the war…" Jack pushed his brown hair back from his forehead, only to have it bounce back to where it was.

"Sadly, it doesn't look like it's going very well. I myself retired before it even started. Have you had any run ins yet with those blasted aliens?" Gaven asked with a serious face.

"No, but then I run shipment routes between the inner colonies on board UNSC cruisers, so there's usually enough protection to not worry. Still, I keep my guard up. I only hope this war doesn't continue on for much longer. I don't want my children to grow up in a life fearful of those beasts coming for them" Jack told him, watching his daughter poke at the flaps and stabilizers of the aircraft she held, reading the intricacies of the equipment it had.

"I know how you feel. My son was a pilot for the 501st, was all but destroyed at the battle of Capricornia. He's… with his mother now... rest in peace Jacob..." Gaven looked saddened by the words that exited his mouth.

"I hope the kids don't ever have to fight this war. It better be over soon, those soldiers, what are they called, those Spartans, better finish this quick" Jack solemnly said.

Just then, the doorbell jingled and a man in a suit walked in, a five o'clock shadow on his jaw and what seemed to be a white band of hair forming near his ears. He looked around and noticed the little girl on the ground reading out the big words, then pointing to different parts of the fighter as if she now recognized what each piece did. She didn't quite know how the fighter stayed in the air yet, that would require more education that she had yet to gain, but she did know what each part seemed to do for the aircraft.

"Well, someone is a learned child. How old is she?" The man asked Jack in a british accent.

"She just turned six today. That reminds me, I got to get her up to go get her birthday lunch, my wife and son are probably waiting for us" Jack said and walked over and tried to pick up Elena, who at first resisted but then remembered there would be cake.

"Hmmm, for a six year old, she seems years beyond herself. So you like planes little one?" The man asked her, now kneeling as she got up and looked at him. She nodded and smiled.

"My daddy's a pilot! I wanna grow up and be one too!" she said excitedly, picking up her fighter.

"Hmmm, you know it takes a lot of skill to be a fighter pilot, you sure you want to be one? What does your father fly?" The man asked.

"I apologize, I didn't mean to keep you both, but it's intriguing. My name is Doctor Daveth Wright" The man offered his hand to Jack.

"Jack Gripen, and no worries. I fly a Pelican transport, though it seems she wants now to be a fighter pilot more than anything. You're a doctor? What field?" Jack asked.

"Psychology and Brain Sciences" Daveth told him smiling.

"Wow, my wife tried to become a psychologist, but she never finished the courses. Well…" Jack trailed off then looked down at his daughter.

"Ready to go Elena? Cake?" Jack asked. Elena nodded quickly and he smiled.

"I'll be the best pilot out there! After daddy of course!" Elena told Daveth.

"I can see you will! Have a good rest of your Birthday Elena!" Dr. Wright waved goodbye to her as she did the same, her father holding the book in his left hand while holding her left hand in his right soon after. She hugged the Long Sword to her chest, barely keeping its tail from grating against the ground.

"It's not every day you see a child already knowing what they want to do at that age, let alone being as quick to learn as she is; I can see her going into the Academy already" Gaven sighed out. Dr. Wright nodded in agreement, still staring at the little girl walking to their car and getting in.

"That little one is going to impress when she grows up, I just know it" The doctor said, then turned around and walked down towards the train sets.

"If we all live long enough to see her do it…" Wright whispered to himself.

[1 hour later]

Milo was asleep with his turboprop plane resting on his chest in the car while Elena looked out at the sky, cake bits around her mouth. She fantasized about flying through the air, holding her plane up to the window, though it was still at an angle due to the car seat in front of her. She didn't care, she could see the fighter in her mind, diving and weaving, rolling through the clouds, free. When they finally came to a stop in the driveway of their home on the steep hills of San Francisco, she waited for out and watched as her Mother pulled up behind them.

Milo slowly woke up as her father picked him out of the car, bringing him up to the front door and opening it. Elena quickly followed, the fighter manual in one hand and the jet in the other.

Milo was gently brought up to his room and placed on his bed, the CLX still in his hand, as Jack crept out of the room and closed the door, Elizabeth looked at him with a stern look.

"What?" he asked, bewildered by her look.

"Don't what me. I don't like how you're getting your daughter into all of this, it isn't right for a girl at her age to be into these things" Elizabeth whispered to him.

"I didn't start it; she snuck over and asked for it. If she's interested in it, why are you being angry? She enjoys jets and planes! Let her be!" Jack gestured with his hands down over the hallway rails, beyond the stairs and into the living room where Elena still wasn't tuckered out, reading her manual.

"It's just not normal for a girl to be into those. She should be playing with dolls or makeup or something, not wondering how to fire a missile from a jet" his wife growled.

"Would you have preferred I got her a starship model and she wonder how to fire the MAC gun?" he asked jokingly. Elizabeth did not look pleased.

"It's fine, it's a natural thing, and it's not uncommon for girls to sometimes be a bit tomboyish, even at her age. She wants to keep up with the big kids, and the big kids like these things. She could grow out of it, or-" Jack's data pad vibrated. He pulled it from his pocket and read the contents.

"Don't tell me" Elizabeth got annoyed.

"I have to go, I'm sorry" Jack apologized to his wife as she crossed her arms over her chest and huffed, looking away from him. He tried to hug her and give her a kiss, but she would have nothing of it.

"It's her birthday! Can't you tell them you have a family emergency or something? You know she can't get enough of you when you're here and that's hardly ever!" she looked at him worried.

"It helps pay the bills honey. I have to. I'm sorry, duty calls. I'll be back… well, later" he told her and leaned in to kiss her, getting a small one in return.

"How much later? You say that each time, and it could be a week, a month, how much later?" she asked, still annoyed.

"Shouldn't be too long, it's a quick trip up to a frigate and then down again, I should be home by tomorrow night, probably" Jack told her.

"Go on, tell your daughter you have to leave" she huffed and made a waving gesture down to the living room. Jack walked down the curved stairs and walked into the living room. Elena was sitting cross legged on the couch, already a quarter of the way through the book. He was surprised, though not by much, as she always was a fast reader. Her teachers praised her for being ahead of her class.

Elena looked up at her father. "Hey munchkin, daddy has to go for a bit-" he couldn't even finish his sentence before she started whining.

"But daddy! I don't want you to go!" She whimpered.

"It'll just be tonight and tomorrow, I promise. I'll be back tomorrow night, ok?" He said, nudging her chin up with his right hand.

"You always promise. You broke your last promise. You said you'd be home early last time too, and you were gone for a long time." Elena's lower lip pouted up and trembled.

"This time I'll keep my promise, I won't break it, so you stay strong ok? It's only a day, no worries right? Hey, when you get older, maybe I'll take you with me one of these times up in my Pelican, would you like that? Huh? I'm pretty sure I can get my superiors to accept that, all I got to get is a pass for you and then boom! Flying through the air! How about it?" Jack gestured through the air with his hand, cutting a flat palm with his fingers pushing through the air, coasting like a plane.

"Really? You mean it?" She asked.

"Yup when you're older, so just keep your chin up and keep doing good in school, and I swear I'll do it" Jack chuckled and poked her in the nose.

"Pinkie swear! I want a Pinkie swear!" Elena said, putting her hand out and sticking her pinkie finger for him to wrap his own around.

"Absolutely not! You can't Jack! She'll be too young even then! How long do you expect to keep this promise?" Elizabeth asked, figuring he was just going to hurt his daughter's feelings when the promise was broken later.

"Well, as I said, when she's older. Can you be patient until you're older?" Jack asked Elena. She sat there thinking for a bit.

"Can I get more toys before then? How long do I have to wait?" She asked.

"Yes you can get more toys until then, more planes and jets! That shouldn't be a problem. You just have to wait a few years alright? They go by quick enough don't they?" Elena's father ruffled her hair, the long strands wiggling behind her neck and down her back.

"Yeah, I guess…" She said after a few seconds.

Jack put his pinkie out and she quickly took it up with her pinkie, shaking both hands in unison.

"There, pinkie swear. Now I got to go, but remember, I'll be back tomorrow night ok?" Jack told her grinning from ear to ear.

"Ok, I love you daddy!" Elena said and shot her arms out for a hug.

"I love you too sweetheart, my little fly girl" Jack hugged his daughter gently, then got up and left through the front door. Elena sat on the couch for a minute watching the door close, then went back to staring at her book.

[8 hours later, 2000 hours (Military Calendar)]

Elena didn't take her nap in the afternoon, though she wasn't cranky as she stared out of her window from her bed. On the large sit in window sill, laid her new fighter, aiming its nose out towards the sky, as if ready to take off. She was going to remember what her father promised her, no, pinkie swore to her that day. She was going to get to fly with him in his pelican, and hopefully in the future become a pilot herself.

She crawled back into her bed, pushing her sheets aside and pulling them back over her, her bedroom lights already out, the little kittens and puppies painted on the walls being of little acknowledgement compared to her love for the one two foot long jet near her window.

"Sweetheart? Time to go to sleep. Do you want your nightlight on?" Her mother peeked around the door and looked at her.

"Yes please mommy" Elena said.

Elizabeth walked into the room and flipped the switch on the small rotating carousel on her dresser. As soon as it turned on, Elizabeth wrinkled her face up a bit.

"Oh Jack…" she said more to herself than to her daughter, as rotating inside were little planes.

"I guess he plugged the wrong one in, I wonder if Milo has yours, not that he uses it anymore. I'll go grab it" Elizabeth said and turned towards the door.

"No! I want this one!" Elena yelped out.

"You do? Are you sure? You don't want the balloons and monkeys?" Her mother asked. She nodded up and down. She was hooked.

"Alright, sleep tight" Elizabeth leaned in and kissed her daughter on her forehead, running her hand along her cheek.

"Don't let the bed bugs bite" Elena continued.

"Cause if they do, take a shoe, and beat them up until their black and blue!" They both said in unison, giggling.

"Alright, go to sleep, see you in the morning." Elizabeth walked out of the room and slowly closed the door until a crack was all that was left.

The six year old drifted off to sleep, dreaming of diving through the clouds, then up into space, little aliens greeting her along the way with smiles and birds soaring alongside her.

(Author's note: I wanted to start with as much back story as I could with this as possible, hopefully nobody gets bored as I really would like to flesh the people out as much as possible, although no flames please if I accidentally get someone being one or two dimensional! I really am trying! Please review and let me know what you all think! And yes I know Elena's last name is a SAAB JAS 39 Gripen. It kind of fits, though 500 years in the future it'd probably be lost to history.)