  We report on the temporal and spectral characteristics of the early X-ray
emission from the Gamma Ray Burst 051117A as observed by Swift. The superb
quality of the early X-ray light-curve and spectra of this source, one of the
brightest seen by the X-ray Telescope at such early times, allows an
unprecedented look at the spectral and temporal evolution of the prompt and
early afterglow emission for this GRB and allows us to place stringent limits
on the detection of lines. The X-ray light-curve at early times is
characteristic of a shot-noise process, with individual shots well-modelled by
a fast-rise and exponential decay spanning a broad range in rise-times and
decay rates. A temporal spectral analysis of the early light-curve shows that
the photon index and source intensity are highly correlated with the spectrum
being significantly harder when brighter, consistent with the movement of the
peak of the Band function to lower energies following individual flares. The
high quality spectrum obtained from the first orbit of WT mode data, enables us
to place a 3 sigma upper limit on the strength of any emission line features of
EW < 15 eV, assuming a narrow emission-line of 100 eV at the peak of the
effective area (abridged).
