West POV

I leaned in and as me and Cindy were about a mere inch from a kiss, when I heard something in the distance, I look in that direction and Cindy caught on, "what is it ?" She asked, looking in the same direction, "I don't know, but it sounds familiar" I say, then heard a slight humping and whining sound, "hmmm, it sounds like a..." Was all I could say before I took off, "stay here, I'll be back in a couple minutes" I say.

I ran to the bottom of the hill and saw it, a ghost, a regularly used, one-man vehicle that is armed with two heavy plasma cannons on the front, also has a speed boaster, this is what the Covenant use for reconnoissance and long ranged, mobile combat.
It was piloted by a grunt, these were easy to kill and a mostly scared by the sight of me, but it's their numbers that are the problem, if they could focus there fire and in a large group, they could overrun a position, they also use a wide variety of weaponry as they a commonly armed with Plasma Pistols, but some have carried Needlers, Plasma Rifles and Fuel rod cannons, but only special forces grunts and some of the grunt combat engineers are armed with Fuel rod cannons.

The grunt was moving through the forest, is was close to the village, I could leave it but the chances are, it will find the village and kill the villagers because they look human, they may not have the technology but that wouldn't stop them, I'll have to kill the grunt, it's the only other option. I saw a tree and knocked it over, the ghost can to a stop, and the grunt got out, it was a small dirt road and the tree practically covered half the road, the ghost could have gone over it but the grunt didn't want to risk flipping the vehicle over, the grunt was a yellow armour done, so it was a recruit or hasn't really seen a lot of action, I turn on my camo and sneaked behind it, it had its Plasma Pistol raised and looked around, I throw a rock into a bush on its right, it turned to the bush and let out a small shriek in terror at the sound of the noise, I quickly stuck my knife in its throat, pulled it out, with my right hand, I gripped its head and pulled it down, I then jump and stomped down both my feet into the grunts head, overkill, yes but it's died quickly.

I take the two Plasma Grenades from the grunt and grabbed it's Plasma Pistol, then throw the body into a small ravine behind a couple of trees, then head back to the ghost, I have used a ghost a few times during the battle of Reach, I was brought out of my thoughts when a stick snapped behind me, I turn to see Cindy walk to me, "what's that ?, and what happened ?" She said, pointing at the blue blood on the floor and at the ghost, "my enemy has come to this planet, but why they are here and haven't left is beyond me, it could have been one of the damaged covenant corvettes that we damaged as we left Reach, the blood on the floor belongs to a being known as a Grunt, and that is a ghost, a light, fast and high steering capability" I say, then sit in the ghost, I placed Cindy on my lap, "hold on" I say and turn on the thruster that made the vehicle move fast, I handled the steering with little problem, I easily dodged all the trees and because the vehicle hovered, the small gaps and rocks were no trouble.

I got out the cave and carried Cindy into the cave as she felt tired, I reached a wall and one of the girls came up to me, "she is a bit tired, where do you want me to place her ?" I asked, the girl pointed to a bed in the corner of the cave, a bed was in the corner, a fire was only a few metres away, "she sleeps over there, call if you need anything" the girl said, then headed to the fire with a couple of others.

I walked to the bed and, as I placed Cindy down, her arms grasped on to my neck tighter, "stay with me, I don't want to be alone" she says in a tired voice, I kneel and she lets go, I then take off my helmet, "I want to stay but fate has forced my hand and now I must play, I will be back soon, OK ?" I say, softly as possible, the next moment caught me off guard, she quickly leaned up and kissed my lips, it was only 3 seconds long, but it was enough, "ok" she says and goes to sleep.

I place my helmet under my arm and walk up to the girl by the fire, she smiles but her face drops when I spoke, "tonight may seem quiet, but a powerful foe has followed me from the stars, and even if you're not human, you look it, they will come and if they find you, you won't stand a chance, stay safe and I'll return in a couple of days", she saw how serious I was, she nodded, "understood, go careful, or Cindy would not be happy" she says, I smiled at the comment, then place on my helmet and turn to the entrance of the cave and walked out, quietly.

I got on the ghost and headed to the village, I need to tell the women everything, about the war, the covenant and my true purpose as a Spartan super soldier.
I got to the village and parked the ghost next to my Pelican, I run through the village and shouted "EVERYONE, GET UP, WE HAVE A BAD PROBLEM, YOU ALL HAVE TO LISTEN TO ME", either the villagers are quick, or weren't fully asleep because they were out of their front doors, I saw Maria and her friends look to me, "what's wrong ?" Maria asked, I turn to the crowd and take off my helmet, shouting to the crowd "THE COVENANT ARE HERE !", I look back to Maria, "the covenant are here and I can't stop them".