Chapter Four: The Battle of Harvest

-2018 a.t.b, one month after the Zero Requiem-

A wooden cart carrying hay drove across the countryside, the sun shining brightly upon it as its chestnut-brown horses pulled it across the dirt road. A man, draped in a farmer's clothes with a straw hat covering his face, stood at the helm of the cart; his face covered by a white scarf.

"The Power of Kings, known as Geass, brings one solitude." Spoke a green-haired witch, lying at the back of the cart of hay as she smiled softly, "Not quite accurate, is it?"

C.C looked upwards, the grin still adorning her face, "Right, Lelouch?"

The man smiled beneath the white scarf, only his mouth visible as he continued on the road, "I was already draped in solitude before I obtained the gift of Geass, I walked the path of carnage from the very day I was born. Geass does not bring solitude, just as being a King does not guarantee loneliness; how you rule with your power shall decide that."

"Then, " C.C replied, turning over as she rested her chest on the hay, "would you say your rule, as an Emperor with the Power of Kings, brought you solitude?"

Lelouch scoffed, "Hardly, if anything; I obtained more companionship than I ever needed." He spoke, removing part of the cloth concealing his violet eyes, "You, Kallen, the Black Knights; were it not for Geass, I would never have met any of you."

"Speaking of Kallen," C.C interjected, her face turning serious, "How will you deal with her? We managed to escape to the Japanese countryside and build a life in this community. You aren't going to keep her out of the loop again, are you?"

Lelouch's expression turned impassive, "As I said before, numerous times throughout my life; she must live on without me. I cannot risk revealing myself under any circumstances; and I cannot tear her away from the peaceful life that she has finally attained." He spoke, regret evident in his voice as the straw hat covered his eyes, "There is no place for Lelouch vi Britannia in her future; he is to remain dead to everybody unless absolutely necessary."

"Even to your sister, even to Nunnally?" C.C asked, her expression saddening as she awaited the answer she already knew, "You 'died' in her arms; despite the words that she spoke to you on the Damocles, you know that she doesn't, and never did, hate you. Immortality is a long and hard road; everybody you know will die before your eyes, you will be treated as an outcast should you be discovered, and you may never find true peace in your deathless existence."

"Even to Nunnally; my survival must remain a secret." Lelouch replied, steeling himself as he continued on the long dirt path before him, "And even then, I will dirty my hands in the shadows, working towards the survival and prosperity of humanity. It will be difficult, without a doubt; but it must be done, as I cannot allow the Zero Requiem to fail even should it cost me an eternity of suffering."

C.C smiled, a sad, pitying smile that bore the understanding of centuries of unhappiness and torment as looked down towards Lelouch over the edge of the cart; her lime-green hair falling upon his hat, "You'll come to regret it, I assure you."

"Regret?" The raven-haired prince replied with a grin, looking up towards C.C, "I won't have time to regret, I assure you; taking care of humanity will quite literally be a full-time job. But I can count on you to walk the path with me through the millennia to come, can't I?"

The green haired witch laughed, turning onto her back, "I wonder about that; certainly, centuries of being with only one person will eventually become boring. Perhaps I'll leave you after the first few hundred years out of boredom, what will you do then; Lelouch?" She asked, quickly turning towards the front of the cart

She was interrupted as she felt a pair of lips brushing against hers, swiftly taking her as violet eyes stared deeply into her surprised yellow ones. The kiss lasted a few seconds, before the Britannian prince ceased it; pulling away as he stood on the moving cart, "I'll bring you back; for you are my witch, and nobody else's." Lelouch replied, as he held her cheek with one of his hands

C.C blushed, as she stared at the flaming emotions behind her warlock's violet eyes, before grinning; a mischievous smile filled with true happiness, "How prideful, arrogant, selfish, and petty of you." She spoke, bringing up her own hand, "Sure, why not; I'll stand by you. I'll be a witness to your deeds, your only accomplice as you set about 'saving the galaxy' and whatnot. But I'll expect some recompense in return, as from this point onwards; I belong to you, and you belong to me."

A small smile graced Lelouch's face at those words, as he and C.C embraced in a hug; one of the many that they were soon to share. The embrace lasted for a few moments, both sides comforting themselves in the other's warmth, before C.C pulled away and looked Lelouch straight in the eye.

"Now, since we've got that settled; pull over." She spoke, utter seriousness engraved onto her face as she looked past Lelouch

The violet-eyed prince turned around, his eyes setting upon a familiar red and white logo emblazoned upon a small building further onto the road. As disbelief came across his face upon realizing just what he was looking at, he turned towards C.C; but the same expression as before was adorning her face. Sighing, he sat back down in the cart; ushering his horses to pull over as he neared the building.

"So their clutches reach even here, in the middle of the damned Britannian countryside…" Lelouch muttered, his hand on his face as the two immortals entered the small Pizza Hut; C.C salivating with barely held-back anticipation

-February 3rd, 2525 a.t.b-

-Capital City of Utgard, Outer Colony of Harvest-

The smell of cigar smoke filled the air as a dark skinned marine exhaled, tipping his cigar over to let the ash fall as he sat in a room alongside two other men and one woman. The room was silent, watching the holographic status report of the home defense fleet as the ships scattered and ran before the mighty alien juggernaut in orbit.

"Well," Staff Sergeant Nolan Byrne spoke, breaking the silence, "There goes the fleet; didn't even last five minutes before they turn tail and ran."

The dark skinned Sergeant Johnson stood up, still standing shorter than the massive marine before him, "Looks like it's on us, then." He spoke, watching as the hologram before him displayed one frigate leading the alien vessel on a chase to the Valhalla Fields, "That Commander Lamperouge's got balls with the brains to back 'em up, but that frigate's not going to do jack squat to that alien cruiser with it's payload."

Nils Thune, Governor of Harvest, sweated with nervousness as he beheld the massive imposing form of the alien ship, "That frigate is equipped with a VARIS cannon; one of the most powerful weapons in the entire UNSC arsenal. How on earth is that 'jack squat', Sergeant?" He asked with disbelief

"That thing took on a full barrage of archer missiles without a scratch, its shielding not even flickering from the damage." Jilan al-Cyngi, the Office of Naval Intelligence 'Spook' who was assigned to solve the previously unknown issue plaguing Harvest, spoke, "It's safe to assume that even if the MAC can take down its shielding, the ship would still be scuppered trying to trying to take the alien ship down before the it uses its energy weapons to gut the frigate."

"So then, what can we do?" Thune asked with sadness, Jilan's words reminding him of the swift death that one of his closest friends, Captain Upson, suffered up in space, "We've only got the colonial militia which you two marines have only just trained and some Knightpolice Frames to protect the capital; we can't hold off a ground invasion like this."

Sergeant Johnson lit one of his cigars, taking a drag from it before puffing out the smoke much to Thune's discomfort, "I assure you, Governor; me and Byrne have done everything in our power to make those troopers ready for this battle. They're as ready as they'll ever be to take on these alien sons of bitches."

"I wouldn't write off that frigate just yet, though."

The room turned to face the hologram of the Harvest Agricultural Operations A.I, Mack, who suddenly appeared in the room. His chosen avatar was that of a Britannian cowboy -exactly as those from old western movies from the 20th century- with black hair, cracked leather work boots, blue denim jeans, a gingham pearl-snap shirt rolled up to his arms, and a sun-bleached gray cowboy hat; all coated in dust and grease.

"Commander Lamperouge's got a plan; that much is clear." He spoke in his Western drawl, "And I do not shit you, gentlemen, when I say that Mr. Lamperouge's plans have always outdone anything I or Sif could think of regarding most matters; which is pretty impressive, considering that he's flesh and bones while I'm literally made out of data."

Mack brought up a camera feed from one of his many JOTUN machines tilting Harvest's soil on the Valhalla Fields, showing the frigate descending into the atmosphere closely followed by the bulbous alien vessel. Soon, the frigate would have nowhere left to run; and the battle would commence.

"Well, let's hope you're right then." Byrne replied, looking upon the daunting alien ship apprehensively, "Because Harvest's fate may damn well depend on the outcome of this battle."

-CAG-Class Cruiser 'Rapid Conversion', Outer Colony of Harvest-

'My name is Dadab, and I am an Unggoy.'

"No, no, no;" Dadab thought, deleting the runes he had typed onto the data slate, "I must start this with something more interesting, this log will be the record of my journey should I perish in the upcoming battle.'

'Several cycles ago, I was the Deacon aboard the Minor Transgression; a Covenant ship crewed by a group of Kig-Yar. These Jackals were tasked with exploring the boundaries of Covenant space in search of relics, but soon took to plundering the warships of the alien race which we have recently encountered.'

Dadab looked around, satisfied that no Jiralhanae were around to peer at what he was writing, before continuing on.

'Soon, the aliens ambushed us as we boarded one of their ships; thinking that they held Forerunner relics due to our Luminary machine identifying multiple relics inside their hull. But, as was the case with previous ships, we found no relics; and the Kig-Yar were all slaughtered. I managed to escape with my companion, a Huragok named Lighter Than Some, via an escape pod; and he kept me alive through the cycles by producing life saving methane with his gas-sac. We drifted in space, with me nearly dying from suffocation and him nearly dying from producing methane for me, until a cruiser named Rapid Conversion which was crewed entirely by Jiralhanae came to our rescue.'

Dadab looked towards Lighter Than Some, the pink Engineer still tinkering with the vehicles he had created from combining stolen alien machines and the parts of a Spirit dropship; Dadab informing them that the machines were created to destroy the aliens had placated the Jiralhanae, but the truth was that the peaceful Huragok had intended them to be peace offerings for the aliens.

'The Jiralhanae put Lighter Than Some to work fixing their cruiser's plasma turret and energy projector, much to the annoyance of the Yanme'e drones which had previously been working on maintaining the ship. But before we could set about towards the alien planet, the Vice Minister of Tranquility –the one who had ordered the Rapid Conversion to investigate the alien world- ordered us to return to High Charity.'

'We complied, returning back to discover that the Vice Minister and two others were bidding to overthrow the current Hierarchs and become the new Prophets. They gave us a new mission, to destroy the alien race, and gave us parts for the Huragok to incorporate into the ship to boost its capabilities. We quickly returned to the system to find that the alien fleet was readied to face us, but as we expected; they were no match for our ship's capabilities.'

'And now, we are headed towards the surface of the alien world; giving chase to the biggest threat to our ship as it flees from us. Once they are exterminated, there will be nothing to stand in the way of the glassing; and this world...' Dadab typed, hesitating for a few moments before continuing typing in sadness, 'Shall be cleansed.'

'I do not know why the Prophets order us to exterminate this race, for we have discovered no conclusive evidence of their supposed heresy. But for the sake of my friend, Lighter Than Some, and my own life I will aid the Jiralhanae in their mission along with steering my friend to do the same despite his hesitations and objections.'

Dadab watched as his friend twirled around the vehicles, seemingly clapping his tentacles in glee; apparently, he had finished working on them. They looked like two bladed wheels sandwiched together inside a reinforced chassis, with an anti-gravity generator behind each set of wheels, and a seat with high handles behind the generator. The Jiralhanae had taken to calling them 'Choppers', and their usefulness in battle would soon be proved. He looked down towards his data slate, sighing in resignation as he typed his final words before stowing the device away.

'Forerunners forgive us all.'

-Charon-Class Light Frigate 'Rising Sun', Valhalla Fields outside of Utgard, Same Time-

"Commander Lamperouge, we've arrived at our destination." Lieutenant Kugenin spoke, his voice tinged with nervousness, "The alien ship is catching up fast, and will be near our position in approximately three minutes."

True to the lieutenant's words, the bulbous alien ship was speeding towards the UNSC frigate from afar; having chased the ship through the atmosphere determined to stamp out the last perceived threat to it's dominance over Harvest. There was nowhere left for the Rising Sun to escape, as the alien ship's strange engines were more powerful than the UNSC frigate's.

"What should do, Commander?" Lt. Commander Koda asked, trusting in his Commander's strategic mind, "We can't run from them any longer."

"We're completely without reinforcements, our back's are to the wall, that ship can tear us to pieces with it's weapons, and we can't even touch it!" Ensign Shinichiro exclaimed, gritting his teeth with frustration, "Commander, I don't know what you've got planned; but it'd better be an honest-to-god miracle if you expect us to get out of this alive!"

"Tatsuya! You little-!" Lieutenant Hilda Jaeger replied angrily, staring daggers at the Ensign, "Commander Lamperouge is fully aware of the situation we're in! Show respect to your superior officers you drop-out!"

Tatsuya's eyes widened with rage, and he was about to retort; before Commander 'Leon' Lamperouge, his eyes awash with centuries-overdue vigor and contemplation, interrupted. He had only barely registered the Ensign's complaint in his mind, but still managed a more than sufficient reply: "Well, Ensign; I can't promise you miracles, and I can't promise you survival;" The Commander spoke, in his elegant yet determined tones, "but I can promise you that I do have a plan, I can promise you that we are all that stands between the survival or oblivion of Harvest, and I can promise you that our enemy shall rue the day he decided to attack our world."

"If you should desire to abandon your duties and flee, then I will not stop you from doing so." The Commander continued, gripping the ship's railing tightly, "But know that the lives of all of Harvest's five hundred thousand inhabitants depends on us -depends on you- and that to let them be at the mercy of these invaders would be tantamount to abandoning each and every single man, woman, and child that has put their faith into you for their protection. Knowing this, will you still run away and inevitably perish? Or will you fight the fate our enemy has dealt upon us, fight beside me for the sake of those you swore to protect, and live?"

Tatsuya Shinichiro was taken aback by his Commander's words, stunned into silence just as the rest of the crew was. Moments passed, as Tatsuya weighed his Commander's words in his head, before he nodded; gripping his fist tightly, "What kind of question is that, Commander?" He asked, looking up and staring 'Leon' straight into the eyes, "Of course I'll fight! Who the hell do you think I am?!" The brown haired Japanese exclaimed, pumping his fist into the air, "Aliens, rebels, whatever; if they think Tatsuya Shinichiro's gonna run away with his tail between his legs, then they've got another goddamn thing coming!"

"Well said, Tatsuya." Aoi spoke with a laugh, turning towards Tatsuya as she grinned, "Careful; I might fall for you!" She spoke, the Japanese male's face immediately turning red with confusion

"Don't even joke about that, Sasaki." Hilda spoke, smiling slightly as she saw Tatsuya's angry face turn a different shade of red, "That boor will die before any woman falls for him."

Smiling at the somewhat familiar commotion, which brought back almost ancient memories of his time with the Student Council, Lelouch turned to his second in command; who nodded and awaited his commands loyally. Turning to the bridge, he issued his next orders, "Turn the ship around; we'll face them directly." He ordered, to his crew's shock, "I have a plan, but if it's to work; I will need your full cooperation and trust."

The bridge was silent for a moment as they contemplated their Commander's orders; they would be going right into the lion's mouth, facing their seemingly dauntless enemy with nothing but their own weapons. It was betting their lives on odds that were stacked too far against them, it was suicide by any rational means…

"Do I have your full cooperation and trust?" The raven-haired commander asked once more

All at once, the crew of the Rising Sun stood up and brought their hands to their heads in salute; speaking in unison as they cried out with determination, "Yes sir!"

It may have been a risky gamble, and it may have been suicide; but it was also exactly why they followed their commander into the depths of hell, precisely why they put their faith in him to bring them out of the storm each and every time. Commander Leon Lamperouge was a man each and every one of them admired, a man who had led armies and defeated nations with naught but his intellect and charisma in the past.

And he would save humanity from these invaders, no matter the cost.

"Sir! The alien vessel is within range!" Aoi spoke, looking at the bulbous ship on her monitors, "It's stopped moving at a distance of ten kilometers, but it hasn't charged up its weapon systems yet."

Lelouch thought for a moment, before turning towards Tatsuya, "Check the comm traffic; look for any unidentifiable signals." He ordered

Tatsuya was a bit confused by the order, but he followed it nonetheless; before surprise came across his face and he turned to his commander, "There's an unidentified signal coming from the direction of that ship!" He exclaimed

"They're trying to communicate with us? After all that's happened?" Koda spoke with confusion, before turning to his commander along with the rest of the crew

"Receive them; if they want to talk, we'll talk." Lelouch ordered; Tatuya staring dumbstruck at his screen for a moment before snapping out of it and pressing on the signal icon

A holographic screen soon popped up in the front of the bridge, filled with static for a few moments before it cleared up. But as soon as the video became clear, several of the crewmembers involuntarily recoiled in shock as deep, black eyes gazed into them. The alien's face was hairy and brutish, with a seemingly permanent angry expression adorning it. Its elaborate headdress/helmet and armor were golden in color, and sat back on a massive stone chair that seemed at odds to the alien interior of the ship.

Suddenly, he spoke; but it was in a strange language of growls and barks, hardly even identifiable as a language to the crew of the Rising Sun. But the statement was quickly followed by a series of characters that appeared at the bottom of the screen; English characters.

"I am Chieftain Maccabeus of the Jiralhanae, the Vanguard of the Covenant; a mighty empire which stretches across the stars. Who are you?" Read the letters, to the disbelief of the Rising Sun's crew

Lelouch, having already expected something of the sort, spoke back; turning on his computer's auto-transliterate function that would make his words into written form on the screen for the alien's benefit as he replied, "We are the United Federation of Nations Space Command, our species is Humanity." He spoke, unwilling to give the aliens any information on the UFNSC's size, "For what purpose have you come here?"

The brutish alien considered the response for a moment, before speaking back in his growls; a glint of intelligence visible in his eyes, "Who are you?"

Lelouch was taken aback by the statement, but replied nonetheless, "I am Commander Leon Lamperouge, the Commander of this vessel, and I ask once more; for what purpose have you come here, destroyed our ships, killed our people, and declared war on us?" He spoke somewhat angrily

The alien seemingly recognized Lelouch's hostility, and smiled in response, before replying, "Your species have committed the gravest of heresies, the defilation of the works of the Forerunners, and must thusly be punished." He spoke, this time the words appearing in sound form as perfectly recognizable English to the crew's shock

It seemed as though the alien's computers could rapidly learn languages through simply hearing how others pronounced them, and was translating the words and using the alien's voice to present them in sound form. This level of computational ability was amazing, far beyond anything the UFNSC had ever accomplished in terms of language. It seemed as through the aliens had experience with the rapid translation of alien languages.

"The Forerunners? Defilation of their works?" Lelouch thought with confusion, "What are the Forerunners?" He asked, his crew looking on with interest at the exchange between their commander and the strange alien

Maccabeus smiled wider, his sharp fangs showing as he spoke once more, "The Forerunners are our gods, the most mightiest of races who achieved ascension long, long ago." He replied, "We honor their traditions and walk their path, so that we too may ascend through the Great Journey."

"What sort of metaphysical nonsense is this?" Lelough thought, looking towards the Jiralhanae Chieftain with anger, "So it is for the sake of your gods that you destroy us? For these so called heresies we did not even know that we committed?"

Maccabeus looked amused by Lelouch's reply, "If you subjugate to us, to the will of the gods, then perhaps our Prophets may show mercy upon you." He spoke, the sounds of loud surprised growls coming from off-screen in reply to the statement, "You must simply bow to our will, give us all of your relics, and become part of our holy Covenant. Do you accept?"

Lelouch thought carefully about the statement, looking into Maccabeus' alien face, as his crew looked towards him for guidamce, "His offer seems sincere, but we have no 'relics' to give them; and bowing to their will does not necessarily mean that they'll spare us from how worded it…" He thought, rubbing his chin with his right hand, "If we surrender to them, then we may avoid conflict altogether; but even if they spare us, it will come at the high cost of Humanity's freedom and independence."

He looked at the alien's face, seeing nothing but pure ambition and religious fervor on his expression, before curling his mouth in disgust; "I would sooner die than leave Humanity in their hands."

"I refuse."

The alien's expression turned to shock at Lelouch's reply, before his expression contorted with rage and he narrowed his eyes in anger, "What?" He growled with fury

"You heard me; I refuse, we refuse." Lelouch stated in reply, staring the alien straight in the eyes, "Humanity refuses to have any part in your warped Covenant's designs, and we will not hand this world over to you!" He spoke, to his stunned crew's admiration

The Jiralhanae Chieftain was filled with rage, slamming his fist onto the stone chair before replying angrily, "So be it! If you wish to refute my kindness, to refuse the benevolence and mercy of the gods! Then we shall smite you and your people to ashes, and your world will burn until it is but gla-!"

"Then may the best man win, monster." Lelouch spat in reply, interrupting the alien before shutting down the comm link to Maccabeus' frustration

Almost immediately, Aoi spoke up; her attention being drawn back to her screen, "Sir, the aliens are advancing towards us and readying their weapons! I'm detecting massive heat signatures on their bow similar to when they were about to fire upon the Majestic!"

"Let slip the dogs of war." Lelouch thought, the gears of his mind spinning up as the familiar rush of battle began filling his veins, "Then we shall reply in kind; maneuver point-five degrees starboard and fire a concentrated volley of Archer missiles, we will show these aliens what happens when you pick a fight with Humanity!" He ordered, throwing his right arm to the side in a familiar gesture

He received a unanimous "Aye-aye, Commander!" from his crew, before they all worked at their stations; making their commander's orders into reality as they worked together in symphony. The ship lurched as a volley of several hundred Archer missiles screeched their way towards the enemy, flying through the atmosphere at supersonic speeds as they left hundreds of smoke trails through the skies.

The alien ship's point-defenses reacted quickly, however, destroying hundreds of them before they even reached the ship's hull with powerful violet beams. What did manage to reach the ship detonated against the ship's shielding, the blue hexagonal sphere shimmering as it absorbed the explosions with nary a flicker to the crew's frustration. By now, the alien ship had returned fire; two shining torpedoes were launched from the ship's hull, tearing through the air and leaving trails of plasma similar to the missiles as they shone menacingly.

"Commander! Incoming high-energy enemy munitions heading towards us at a rapid rate!" Hilda spoke, "Calculated impact in fifteen seconds!"

"Lieutenant Kugenin! Emergency maneuvers; ten degrees starboard followed by five degrees downwards!" Lelouch ordered, after calculating the velocity of the enemy torpedoes and assessing which maneuver could allow them to evade them in mere seconds

"Aye sir!" Hibiki responded, steering the ship using the emergency thrusters to his commander's specifications

The ship groaned as the maneuver placed extreme stress upon its beams and bolts, shaking the entire ship as the metal behemoth lurched through the air. The plasma torpedoes sailed towards the ship, but to the crew's great shock; they followed the ship as it maneuvered, with one torpedo skimming across the ship's Blaze Luminous shielding and weakening it before another impacted it directly; melting through both the shielding and the Titanium-A armor plating with ease.

The ship shook heavily as the damage from the torpedoes was felt, before Kei spoke up with alarm, "Commander! Reports indicate that parts of Sections 5 and 6 have been heavily damaged or destroyed!"

Lelouch, however, kept a calm face and rational mind; "Damn, it seems as through my initial analysis was correct in that the alien torpedoes have a guiding mechanism." He thought, before an idea came to his mind and he smiled slightly

"Launch another concentrated barrage of Archer missiles, at the same area as last time." The raven-haired commander ordered, to his crew's surprise. "Sir, they'll just shoot it down again!" Hilda spoke, her faith in her commander faltering, "Shouldn't we fire the MAC now? It may be our only hope at winning this!"

"No, not right now." Lelouch replied almost immediately, "We've only got one shot with that, and we can't afford to waste it. Fire the barrage."

Hilda waited for a moment before nodding with reluctance, imputing the command into her controls. "Firing volley!" She stated

Another stream of Archer missiles erupted from the Rising Sun, heading towards the alien vessel with extreme speed; but just as what happened to the previous volley, they were shot down en masse with only a quarter of them even reaching the enemy ship. They impacted against the hexagonal shielding, but this time the shields began flickering as the repeated volleys of missiles from both the Rising Sun and the space battle had finally begun taking their toll.

"Sir! I'm seeing a drop in functionality from the enemy shields!" Kei exclaimed, "Our concentrated firepower is working!"

"But our missiles pods are almost dry, sir!" Hilda spoke, looking at her monitor, "That was our third full volley of Archer missiles; we've only got thirty missiles and the MAC left sir!"

"Charge it up, but do not fire;" Lelouch ordered, eying the enemy ship as energy began concentrating on its hull, "wait until my command."

Two more plasma torpedoes were launched from the ship, heading towards the Rising Sun at blistering speeds. "Sir! Two more enemy torpedoes have been fired!" Hibiki exclaimed, "We can't take another hit like that!"

"Then we won't." Lelouch stated, before thrusting his arm forward, "Advance towards the enemy with a point-five degree starboard turn! I want all non-combat essential power reserves directed to the engines and emergency thrusters!"

Hibiki turned to his commander with shock on his face, "Sir…you can't possibly mean that we're going to ram them?!"

"You heard me, Lieutenant; full speed ahead." Lelouch ordered, narrowing his eyes as he looked towards his startled crew, "I asked for your trust earlier, and you gave it to me; there is no turning back now."

Lieutenant Hibiki Kugenin gritted his teeth, looking downwards as he spoke out, "Engines at full speed; emergency thrusters have been engaged. All crew; brace yourselves!"

The ship roared forward, speeding towards the torpedoes just as they speeded towards it. One of the torpedoes soon impacted; shearing apart the side armor plating of the ship with a glancing blow. But just as the second was about to impact, Lelouch grabbed his station's emergency controls; sending the ship into an upward maneuver which tore apart the ship internally and sent many support beams crashing into the ground. The plasma torpedo completely missed the ship due to the sudden maneuver, blowing past it as the massive ship thundered ahead; directly towards the alien ship.

"Now! Fire the MAC Cannon!" Lelouch ordered fiercely, slamming his fist onto his command chair

The shell-shocked Hilda barely heard the command over the loud shaking of the ship, but slammed her palm onto a red icon on her touch screen as she closed her eyes shut and cried out, "Firing MAC Cannon!"

The roar of the Magnetic Accelerator Cannon was deafening, as the massive inbuilt weapon launched a large metal ferric tungsten slug at 30,000 meters per second through a series of magnetic coils; imparting it with enough kinetic energy to equal to 64.54 kilotons of TNT-equivalent force, enough power to rival a small FLEIA. The round tore through the sky, ripping the very air apart as it impacted against the alien ship almost instantly; exploding violently as it hit the very same area that the Archer missiles had previously targeted.

Finally, the shields gave out; buckling under the tremendous stress as they flickered and died. The crew's morale was raised as they witnessed the shields go down, but realized that they now had nothing to destroy the enemy ship having exhausted almost all their ammunition. Kei, however, turned to the commander with horror; there was only one thing big enough to take down the enemy ship now, and there were still hundreds of crewmembers still residing inside it.

-Rapid Conversion, Same Time-

The Rapid Conversion shook wildly, the kinetic energy from the MAC blast managing to phase the ship even though the shields had taken most of the damage. The Jiralhanae crew, however, held steady; however surprised they may have been by the sudden appearance of the unknown human weapon.

"Our shielding is down, Chieftain!" Vorenus exclaimed, "The capacitors were overloaded from that blast!"

Maccabeus growled angrily, "I care not! Why have you not fired the next salvo of Plasma Torpedoes?!"

"Sir! They have been damaged from the repeated firings; the Huragok is attempting to repair them now!" Another Jiralhanae, Grattius, replied, "We cannot fire them now; and the aliens are rapidly advancing towards us!"

Maccabeus looked upon the incoming ship, watcing it charging towards the Rapid Conversion with the obvious intent of ramming it and taking it down with them. He snarled as he remembered the arrogant words of the alien commander; he would not give them the satisfaction of defeating him even should they be attempting it at the cost of their own lives.

"Tartarus! Fire upon them with the energy projector at full power; gut their wretched ship and kill them!" He bellowed, slamming his palms onto the stone throne as he stood up angrily

"As you command, uncle!" Tartarus replied with malicious glee, raising one of the sliders on his holographic to maximum before slamming his massive hairy palm onto the screen. The ship shook as the energy projector awakened, and the Jiralhanae grinned as they prepared themselves for the destruction they were about to witness

-Rising Sun-

The massive maelstrom of energy that gathered at the bow of the enemy ship spelled doom for the crew of the Rising Sun, as they remembered the powerful energy weapon that had gutted the Majestic back in the orbital battle. It would easily destroy the ship if it hit, and at this range; there was no way that it could miss. The crew turned towards Commander Lamperouge, the raven-haired prince sighing softly as he prepared himself for the tirade to come.

"Commander! If that weapon hits us; it's all over!" Kei spoke with alarm, "We have to disengage!"

"You're going to get us all killed with this banzai charge, Commander!" Aoi exclaimed with a cracking voice

"Aoi is right! Going along this path will only end in our pointless deaths!" Hilda spoke with frustration, "We did the best we could! But this is as far as it goes!"

"Are you all idiots?!"

The crew turned towards Tatsuya, the source of the sudden outburst, who was seething with anger. "Tatsuya?" Aoi spoke with confusion, "What do you mean, idiots?!"

"We all put our trust in the Commander to pull us all through this, I put my trust into the Commander, to pull us all through this and save Harvest from this mess even at the cost of our bloody lives!" Tatsuya shouted, slamming his fist onto his console, "And the minute the going gets rough, the second our deaths are at hand, you all freaking lose your nerves?!"

"We made an oath, guys! An oath to defend Earth and all its colonies at any cost!" Tatsuya exclaimed, "Now I don't know about you, but I intend on sticking to that oath; and I'll…I'll trust Commander Lamperouge even to the very goddamn end!" He shouted

The alien ship got closer and closer, now a mere two kilometers away, as the crew stared awe-struck at Tatsuya; his powerful words resonating within them. Lelouch smiled at the man, his words and attitude reminding him of his ancestor Tamaki; loud-mouthed and annoying beyond comprehension, but at the same time determined and brave beyond measure.

A few moments passed, with the crew taking in Tatsuya's words, before they all silently set at their stations; their eyes filled with resolution as they kept the ship gunning full throttle towards the alien ship. Their actions spoke for them in lieu of their words, and Lelouch found himself satisfied by their resolve to put their lives on the line once more on his orders despite their objections and how their hands shook with fear at what was soon to come as they stared at the swirling vortex of energy ahead of them.

"I commend you all on your perseverance thus far; truly, I could not have asked for a better and more dedicated crew." Commander 'Leon' Lamperouge spoke, "To sacrifice your lives is not an easy decision to make, it is one that requires strength beyond measure; dauntless courage worthy of a hero."

The ship rapidly began closing the distance between it and the alien vessel, which shone the deathly maelstrom of energy directly into their faces; blinding them as they prepared for their inevitable deaths. There was no longer anything they could do to avoid the ship.

This was the end of the Rising Sun.

"And as such," Lelouch suddenly proclaimed, moving a hand over his console before slamming down upon it, "I reward your bravery with victory."

Suddenly, the ship lurched downwards wildly; nearly throwing the crewmembers out of their seats as some of them screamed in surprise from the sudden movement. A computerized voice then spoke out, speaking words that essentially proclaimed the evasion of their death for the crewmembers as a grin came across Lelouch's face.

"Anti-Gravity: Disabled."

-Rapid Conversion-

The energy projector fired with a shrill shriek as it unleashed a massive beam of energy towards the enemy ship, a laugh coming from Tartarus as he fired the beam and awaited the destruction. Maccabeus, however, felt the slightest amount of pity for the aliens; they had fought bravely and fiercely, defiant to the very end, but were now about to be ended in a matter that ill-befitted their courage. It was not the way Jiralhanae did things, but it was unfortunately necessary.

"Sir! I'm reporting no impact on our scanners!" Grattius' shocked voice suddenly called out, drawing Maccabeus back to reality, "The beam failed to hit!"

"What?!" Maccabeus bellowed, staring in shock at the screen as he beheld the ship just barely dropping below the beam; falling to the ground underneath them. "How could they have possibly-?!"

A single, bright light headed towards his ship at blistering speeds suddenly grabbed Maccabeus' attention. He squinted his eyes to try and discern what it was, before his eyes widened with terror as he realized just what was throttling back towards them just as his crew did.

"The Plasma Torpedo we launched before! Its guidance system is still operational!" Tartarus bellowed, "Evasive maneuvers! Evasive maneuvers!"

It was too late, as the torpedo slammed against the ship's front end; colliding against the still-firing energy projector in a massive white and violet explosion that shook the entire ship to its core and blinded the Jiralhanae crew. Electrical surges ran rampant through the controls, just as wires began dropping from the ceiling and holograms distorted heavily before shutting down all at once. The ship had been disabled by its own weapon; a victim of the almost flawless tracking capabilities of the plasma torpedo.

The brutish Jiralhanae were knocked to the floor as the explosion rocked the ship and forced them off their seats, with all but Maccabeus holding on to his chair; roaring alien profanities as he struggled to maintain his grip.

But it wasn't over yet.

-Rising Sun-

"We're alive?" Tatsuya asked with disbelief, "We're alive?" He repeated, before looking around the bridge, "We're alive!" He shouted with a laugh

Outwardly, Kei was still worried about the fact that they were headed towards the ground extremely quickly without an anti-gravity mechanism to brace them; but inwardly, he couldn't help but smile at Tatsuya's reaction: He was as scared of dying as the rest of them, but kept his belief in the commander anyway.

"We used their own weapon against them?" Aoi asked with amazement, smiling widely as she looked towards Lelouch, "That's awesome!"

"It's not over yet; they're still flying." Lelouch suddenly spoke, taking his crew by surprise, before turning towards Hilda, "How many Archer missiles do we have again?"

Hilda gasped with realization, before replying with her voice filled with awe, "A single pod, sir; thirty missiles."

Lelouch smiled, "That's plenty enough to give our enemy a little going-away present, don't you think?"

The blond-haired lieutenant nodded with a grin, turning towards her console with uncharacteristic anticipation before flipping open a glass-covered button and pressing it hard. "Firing Archer missiles!" She stated.

Immediately, thirty missiles rocketed away from the Rising Sun; flying upwards through the air like harbingers of destruction as they shot upwards at blistering speeds, spelling doom for the alien vessel as it both had very little point-defenses on its underside and had most of its systems scrambled by the plasma torpedo blast. The explosion was intense; with the powerful anti-ship missiles detonating with a large blast that took out the ship's engines, causing yet another chain reaction of explosions.

The Rapid Conversion groaned like a dying whale, it's superstructure collapsing and its systems failing, before the behemoth ship began plummeting toward the ground; leaving trails of purple fire as it fell to Harvest's surface. The Rising Sun, similarly, had finally landed; its momentum almost completely lost as it crashed into the ground, tearing up the earth and leaving a large trail as the ship shook heavily yet did not break apart; its stern and sturdy construction keeping it together as it crash landed.

It had come at a great cost, but the seemingly invincible alien ship was finally defeated; toppled by the masterfully executed strategies of Lelouch vi Britannia just like many powerful enemies before it. The crew was shaken from the landing, yet still looked towards their commander with awe and disbelief, for he had achieved the ostensibly impossible; he had given them their promised checkmate, and he had won.

"Status report: I want to know how much of the ship is still functioning." Lelouch spoke suddenly, surprising the shocked crew with how unwearied his words were, "Or how much it is even left, after all that."

"Aye…Commander." Kei spoke with a groan, bringing up a screen on his console that seemed to be flickering somewhat as he raced through the system to try and find out what damage had been done to the ship, "Sections five through six have almost completely been destroyed, and section three is reporting a hull breach, so we've lost the medbay and…part of the habitation quarters."

Tatsuya's face lit up with shock, "Shit, does that include our rooms?!" He asked with alarm

"Hmm, well…don't quite know how to say this Tatsuya…" Kei replied slowly with a sad smile, "But it looks like all of our rooms are fine…" He spoke, which immediately gave Tatsuya immense relief, "Except for yours, yours was completely vaporised by the plasma."

Tatsuya's face fell in incomprehensible shock, his mouth hanging open as he processed his Lt. Commander's words, before he closed his eyes and gripped the sides of his head in anger, letting out a frustrated moan as he shouted, "Crap! All of my fricken' stuff was there!" to the amusement of some of the other bridge members who began to giggle despite the situation

"And…casualties?" Lelouch asked with an annoyed sigh; he'd get Tatsuya a new room later, and his mementoes were more than a fair price to pay for victory

"Ah, sorry Commander." Kei spoke, composing himself as he looked at his screen, "It looks like we're not reporting any casualties; all of the troops were spread out in the engine room and the docking bay like you ordered, so aside from some minor injuries from the maneuvering we did there were no casualties."

"Excellent." Lelouch stated, looking up to the sky at the rapidly falling alien ship, "We're going to need them; prepare the crew for battle and contact the Harvest militia"

"Sir?" Kei asked, looking away from his screen

"We're going to finish them off, Lt Commander." Lelouch spoke, gripping his fist tightly, "Order the Knightmares to sortie, and get the Warthogs out of the bay."

The Commander's next words shook the crew to their bones, spoken with all the ferocity of a lion; yet trapped behind a cage of ice:

"We're going to war."

Author's Note: Sorry for the huge delay in this chapter, school and college applications just took precedence over it for a while now. I also apologise for the lack of Knightmares; wanted to get a little more input on them before deciding on which Knightmare to go with (I also couldn't really squeeze them into the chapter, and I wanted to get it out as soon as possible).

I also went ahead and took the time to read Halo: Contact Harvest, and while I already knew that Harvest had no defence fleet; let's explain that away with the fact that the CG universe is significantly more advanced than our IRL universe at the time, and would therefore be able to colonise faster and increase their total defenses at a greater rate (because it'd be boring if I stuck to the same story without giving Lelouch the chance to fight a ship battle). The Covenant's arrival was changed a bit for plot reasons as well, but I assure you that it'll be an extremely glorious battle with them next chapter (So I wouldn't bet too much on the Knightmares wiping them out; the Brutes have a bit of interesting technology themselves). I also hope to expand more on other parts of the new Halo/CG universe in the next chapter, showing what happened to a few of our favorite Code Geass and Halo characters.

So, as always, thanks for reading and pleeeease review! I really appreciate each and every one of your inputs, and I'm definitely looking forward to seeing more interesting Knightmare concepts.