Chapter 2: Golden Age

-February 2nd, 2525 a.t.b: Two hundred and thirty four years after Zero's announcement-

-Outer Colony of Harvest-

The colony of Harvest was as vital to the outer colonies as farms were to metropolitan cities; without its much-needed agricultural supplies, many outer colonies would go hungry in a matter of months. Such a reason was why Harvest had a relatively large Colonial Militia and an orbital defense force of twelve ships: More than enough to deal with the occasional insurrectionist or pirate attack.

One of these ships was the Rising Sun, a Charon-Class Light Frigate. The Charon was the second largest ship in the defense fleet, the remaining ships all falling into Corvette classes with the exception of one Stalwart-Class Light Frigate –The Majestic- which was the flagship of the colony's highest ranking naval officer. The ship was docked at one of Harvest's orbital elevators, the Tiara, along with the Rising Sun while they were both undergoing maintenance.

The Tiara wasn't the most beautiful space elevator on Harvest, but it was large; the station stretched out into space for almost four kilometers, and it's interior was around 300 meters in diameter. As such, it had many recreational facilities for both traders and naval personnel seeking a little relaxation. Among those rest-desiring military officers was the aforementioned highest-ranking naval officer: Captain John Upson.

The lounge quarters of the ship were spacious and offered many forms of entertainment, not least of which was a bar that served the finest Harvest and imported drinks. The patrons were mostly naval officers, unsurprisingly, drinking their worries away as sailors throughout history tended to do. Captain John Upson, a portly man with balding blond hair and a goatee dressed in a captain's uniform, sat at a table alongside like-minded military officers both from the Navy and from the Colonial Militia. Their laughter didn't especially disturb the patrons around them, but the conversation they were having unnerved almost the entire bar.

"Was that really the story he told you? That was what he was saying the pirate attacks were caused by?" A Militia officer asked Upson with a smile, before taking a sip of his drink

Another officer glared at the militiaman, "Jackson, this is serious; if that's what the Staff Sergeant said, we should try to take it a little seriousl-"

One of the naval officers burst out laughing, reeking of the large bottle of beer he had been drinking with fervor, "Come off it, Ash! That's probably the second most hilarious thing I've heard today!" He breathed, the stench of alcohol permeating his breath, "Even if he is a bloody Staff Sergeant, the guy's a damn wreck; you could tell it just by looking at his face!"

The officer named Ash rolled his eyes, "I don't want to hear that from you; you can't stay sober for a single goddamn day, and you're telling me that the Staff Seargent who's been training our asses is a damn wreck?"

The officer named Jackson interrupted before it could turn into a fight, "Cool it of, guys." He spoke, turning to Ash, "Let's look at this seriously for a moment, Ash; I know we've seen a lotta crazy things out here in space over the years, and I do respect Staff Sergeant Johnson and all, but…come on man; that stuff's just sci-fi."

"'That stuff'. Jackson?" Ash replied, raising an eyebrow

"Aliens, Petty Officer Ash; Aliens."

All those seated at the table turned towards Captain Upson, who had just spoken up after remaining silent for quite a while. Those at other tables also turned towards the Captain, eager to head his words regarding the subject. Upson was turned towards Ash, a stern expression on his face as he regarded the militiaman. "You're right, Petty Officer; undeniably right. This threat, this intrusion into our trading routes by an unknown enemy, is something we should all regard with the utmost seriousness."

The table fell quiet, silenced by the Captain's serious words. If even Upson was regarding the news given by Staff Sergeant Avery Johnson with such grave tones, then surely Harvest's current state of alertness was entirely justifi-

"And the utmost seriousness in regards to this matter should be obvious;" Upson spoke with a rapidly forming grin, as he raised one hand and made a Vulcan salute, "we save 'em some drinks and throw a huge party in honor of our new friends the Xatu-Latu!"

The table erupted in laughter, with everybody except Petty Officer Ash slamming their palms on the table in uproarious hilarity. Those on other tables also began laughing along, until the bar was filled with the sound of cacophonous chuckles and spilled drinks. Captain Upson's laughter, unsurprisingly, roared the loudest. It was a scene unbecoming of such high ranking officers, but quite frankly; nobody really cared.

Nobody; with the exception of one particular individual who suddenly stood up, catching the attention of all those in the bar.

"Captain Upson, your demeanor has never been stellar; it's never even been dignified, nor becoming of a senior officer, nor even mature." Spoke a raven-haired naval officer, "The fact that you of all people -the man in charge of Harvest's entire home defense fleet- would make light of both what's assaulting our trade routes and the warnings of a man who risked his life to find out what that 'something' was is not only irresponsible; it's absolutely despicable."

The bar fell silent once more at the newcomer's accusations, with Captain Upson's face displaying shock at the insults leveled towards him; before anger began miring his face, looking towards the naval officer who had spoken against him with both recognition and revulsion. "Commander Lamperouge, of course; you of all people would be paranoid enough to take this alien crap seriously." Upson replied with no small amount of frustration

The Commander closed his eyes and sighed, "Paranoia and caution are synonymous; if we're not prepared for everything, we aren't prepared for anything." He spoke in eloquent tones, looking around the room, "Both Staff Sergeant Avery Junior Johnson and Staff Sergeant Byrne received heavy injuries from their encounter with this enemy; a skull fracture and a deep cauterized leg wound respectively. And their respective reports leave no doubt as to what exactly is on its way to assault us."

Upson's expression became even more furious, "So, what? You want us to fully mobilize because some wreck with a cracked skull and his buddy who managed to get himself burned said that Martians are attacking us? Is this gonna be like the time you reported us because we didn't try to stop that huge-ass meteor even when you kept whining about it?"

The Commander's face remained calm, "No, I'm afraid that stopping an easily preventable agricultural disaster is the least of our concerns this time; Captain Upson." He spoke, staring right into the portly man's eyes, "If we don't mobilize right this instant, then we could risk losing Harvest itself to the threat we're facing."

The Commander's words impacted against those in the room, increasing their anxiety and fear; if even the commander of the Rising Sun thought that this threat was that serious; then something was certainly about to happen. Captain Upson, however, looked at the Commander's face; first in disbelief, then in amusement, "Commander Lamperouge, I sincerely apologize; but I'm not going to waste my time guarding Harvest against your green men because of some Staff Sergeant who can't lay off the booze." Upson spoke, with no real sincerity present in his voice, "You can go play Cowboys and Aliens all you want, but keep us out of your damned wild goose chases."

The raven-haired Commander's eyes betrayed no surprise at Upson's words, nor any perceived anger; they were simply tranquil as ever, showing wisdom beyond their age and a certain regal air that dominated those staring into them. "Oh, but I don't believe I ever stated that the Majestic's help was necessary for the defense. You can just sit on the sidelines if you wish, Captain Upson; it would probably be in your best interests, since you obviously can't fight battles worth a damn anyway."

Upson's expression, once again, turned from shock to furious anger; slamming his palms on the table as he got up to look Commander Lamperouge in the eyes. "You arrogant, self-centered, paranoid, idiotic…!" Upson bellowed, pausing as if trying to find what words to say next, before bursting out with one final ill-thought insult, "…monkey!"

The Commander merely smiled in reply, swiping his card to pay the Credits for his meal on the table before leaving the bar with an outraged Captain Upson fuming back at his table. "That last bit was unnecessary, I suppose. But they needed to grasp the reality of this situation;" The Commander thought, "We can't afford to be idle now; if what we're facing really is an extra-terrestrial space-fairing alien race, then we run a great risk of starting something much greater than a few skirmishes if we don't prepare adequately."

The idea of an alien race wasn't too strange to the Commander; certainly, with hundreds of thousands of stars residing in the Milky War, it was possible for a race as advanced (or even more advanced) than Humanity to exist. It wasn't too farfetched an idea to believe in, and if they were hostile; Humanity couldn't afford to be caught with their pants down. There was no room for discussion in the matter with Commander Lamperouge; aliens were assaulting their ships, and were about to make true first contact with them.

It also certainly didn't hurt that Lamperouge had seen much stranger things in his lifetime.

"After nearly taking over the world with the help of a magic eye, ordering the Collective Unconsciousness of Humankind it to do my bidding, and living longer than any man should have to; I no longer have any right to deny the existence of aliens." 'Commander Leon Lamperouge' of the United Federation of Nation Space Command Navy thought with a small smile; as he headed towards his frigate to ready his men for what could be a deciding moment in human history from this point onwards. It could conceivably either turn to peaceful negotiations, or all out war with Harvest as the first casualty

And Lelouch vi Britannia was not about to lose in what could possibly be the first event to truly excite his blood in centuries.

-One Hour Later, on the bridge of the Rising Sun-

Simulations, simulations, and simulations; these tasking facsimiles of real combat situations made up the life of the Rising Sun's bridge crew, and took up most of their free time even during off-duty hours. For it was not merely at their Commander's orders that the crew of the Rising Sun took up these battle tests even when said Commander was not present, but it was of their own will to better themselves and prepare for a real battle situation.

"When the hell are we gonna be finished with this damn simulation?" One of the crewmembers, a brown haired man with a thin goatee, asked with a sigh as he closed multiple holographic pop-ups that were flooding his screen, "It's been two and a half hours already; the Commander's probably chatting it up at the bar right now with some colonial chicks."

"The simulation is done when the Commander has returned; no sooner, no later." A blond-haired European woman with a serious expression on her face replied, "Until then, you can whine all you want; but it's going into your performance report, Shinichiro."

"Oi! Hilda! I'm a descendant of one of the founding members of the Black Knights, show some respect you witch!" The man referred to as Shinichiro spoke

"I'm sure Tamaki Shinichiro would be very proud of you, Tatsuya, but please concentrate on the bloody simulation." A black-haired Japanese man with hazel brown eyes spoke, the insignia on his jacket marking him as a Lieutenant Commander; the second in command of the ship, "Our score is already beginning to fall; if we don't do well this time around, you aren't getting tomorrow's free time either."

"Tatsuya, Tatsuya, Tatsuya; if you don't feel like participating, you're always free to leave." A dark haired girl spoke with a smile, her Japanese features showing prominence, "I'm sure we'll do fine without you anyway; right Lieutenant Commander Koda?"

"All facets of the crew are needed for us to compose this melody, Aoi." A silver-haired Britannian man with some Asian features interjected with utmost seriousness before the Lieutenant Commander could reply, rapidly tapping on several holographic icons with precision as if they were piano keys. Tatsuya's face lit up, and he was about to speak up, when the man continued, "Even the seemingly unimportant ones like Tatsuya."

"Hibiki, don't try to console the trash." Hilda replied, glaring daggers at Tatsuya, "A 'witch' am I? Just don't go veering us into an asteroid; I get cold feet even seeing you on collision avoidance, you Knightmare pilot drop-out."

Tatsuya, red with rage, stood up to give Hilda a piece of his mind, "You goddamn German bit-!"

"Commander on deck!"

The voice of the Lieutenant Commander brought everybody's attention to the back of the bridge, to where their Commander was standing expectantly; looking towards Tatsuya with a raised eyebrow. The crew stood up almost immediately after, giving a near-synchronous salute with the exception of Tatsuya who stared at his Commander for a little while longer before joining the salute.

"Had you finished that sentence, Tatsuya; I'd have given you an extra round in the simulator, alone." Commander Lamperouge stated with the slightest hint of frustration in his voice, "The only descendant of the original Black Knights that I get, and it has to be Tamaki's..." He thought with disappointment, as he looked to the holographic screen displaying the score, "I see you all performed admirably, with the obvious exception of Ensign Shinichiro. Good work, all of you; especially you Lieutenant Commander Kei Koda."

"Thank you, sir." Kei replied, utmost respect present in his voice, "We were originally aiming for a higher score, but it appears as though you've significantly raised the difficulty level from yesterday."

"That I did, good of you to notice Koda." The Commander spoke with a small smile, "You're all free from simulations for the time being, there's no more need for them as of now."

The bridge crew, especially Tatsuya, were excited at this statement; relieved that their grueling hours of simulation work was finally at an end. But Kei was not so easily convinced, "You said that there was no need for them 'as of now'? If I may ask, sir; has something happened?"

'Leon Lamperouge' adopted a more serious expression in response to the question, "Let's say, Lieutenant Commander -in a hypothetical situation-, that we were about to be attacked by space ghosts." 'Leon' spoke, no humor present in his voice whatsoever, "Would you prepare the ship's defenses, knowing that space ghosts –without any shroud of doubt- do not exist in any way, shape, or form?"

Kei was caught off guard by the question, but pondered it as he would have with any other request his Commander made before replying, "Yes, I would; if it were your words that…'space ghosts' were about to assault us, and you were speaking them with your full authority, then I would prepare the ship's defenses immediately and put us all on alert."

"And what if I told you that advanced beings originating from outside Earth are about to assault Harvest, that we're quite possibly on the brink of a war far greater than anything Humanity's ever seen in its long history, and that we're the only ones capable of ensuring that our colonists on ground survive beyond this week." 'Leon' spoke, staring Kei straight in the eye, "What would you do then?"

The bridge fell silent, as those in the bridge weighed the Commander's words. Most assumed that it was some kind of joke; up until they remembered that Commander Lamperouge never told jokes, nor even smiled at them. Kei's words were caught in his throat as he realized that his Commander wasn't just hypothetically testing him; this was a serious situation

"I'd…I'd do the same." Kei said, stammering a bit before regaining his composure, "No matter what the claimed threat is; if you, our commanding officer, believes it be real, then there's nobody anywhere who could convince me that we shouldn't prepare for it."

Commander Lamperouge smiled once more; this was a Lieutenant Commander he could trust, a man who wouldn't panic if put on the spot, and a second in command who probably wouldn't stab him in the back and sell him out to the enemy at the slightest hint of mistrust. He liked Kei for those reasons, along with his loyalty and rigid military composure.

His smile disappeared just as soon as it had appeared, "Then heighten our readiness and prepare our crew battle, Lieutenant Commander." He replied, before turning around, "Because we've got a colony to save."

Just as Commander Lamperouge had left the bridge, Tatsuya stood up once more; his face displaying disbelief.

"We're…we're seriously being attacked by aliens?" He asked, the rowdiness in his voice replaced with quiet curiosity

Lieutenant Commander Kei Koda turned to Tatsuya, his expression solemn as he nodded slowly; if the Commander was saying so with such graveness in his voice, then there was no room for debate.

"This…this is…" Aoi muttered, her expression showing nothing but sheer shock

"This is awesome!" Tatsuya Shinichiro shouted, excitement in his voice

The entire room turned to Tatsuya, with Kei simply putting his hand to his face and sighing. Their world may be about to be turned upside down, but some things never changed.

Alright, so I introduced our favorite Britannian prince's new bridge crew. And I suppose it's pretty obvious by now that he's immortal; but we'll save the exposition on that for the next chapter. Yes, our 'unknown enemy' is the Covenant; and no, I will not be dwelling too much on the book lore for this upcoming battle. The war will go very different from how it did during the Halo series, but you'll see many familiar Halo characters as we go along (I got Sergeant Johnson made a cameo in this chapter, yay!).

Here's the crew:

Lieutenant Commander Kei Koba: Male, Japanese, 32 years old, hazel brown eyed, and black haired; with a stick up his ass and loyal admiration towards his Commander.

Lieutenant Hilda Jaegar: Female, European, 28 years old, green eyed, and blond haired; with a serious witch-like demeanor and a professional admiration to her Commander.

Lieutenant Junior Grade Aoi Sasaki: Female, Japanese, 27 years old, blue eyed, and black haired; with a playful-yet-professional attitude and a...rather personal admiration towards her Commander.

Lieutenant Junior Grade Hibiki Kugenin: Male, Japanese/Britannian, 28 years old, blue eyed, and silver haired; with a genius mind that's always got the attitude that he's playing in a concerto and a healthy admiration towards his Commander

Ensign Tatsuya Shinichiro: Male, Japanese, 26 years old, brown eyed, and brown haired; with a stubborn yet enthusiastic attitude and a grudging admiration towards his Commander

As always, thanks for reading! And don't forget to review please!