Guest, Thorthemighty321: As was said on Spacebattles regarding the Halcyon class: "Hull breaches on all decks, all systems nominal."

The One and Only MUDKIP: Aww, thanks! That really means a lot that you consider my story that good! If I do ever write more, I'll be sure to post it here.

Number III: Was intended more as a nod to Halo 3 than Reach, but yeah I see your point.

redcollector, TazalTerminals, edboy4926, BrokenLifeCycle, perfectshade, ThePizziaMan, War historian: Thanks for all the responses! Glad to know I've succeeded in making Harvest a character you all care about. Let's get on with the show, shall we?

A/N: Here's the final chapter, everyone. It's been quite the ride! Thanks to everyone who followed and favorited this story, those who left comments and reviews, and those who sent me PMs telling me to keep it up! Hope everyone has had as much fun reading it as I have writing it. Let's finish this fight!

Disclaimer: I own neither Halo nor Kantai Collection.

[OPEN FILE]

[BEGIN SESSION]

UEG SELECT COMMITTEE ON THE MISSING 25.1.2558

-Docket no. 12541681: UNSC Harvest FFG-413; LCDR J. Levine commanding (No living family). Ship classified MISSING 15.8.2547 with 215 officers and crew.

-Mission Statement: The purpose of this Committee is to determine the fate of ships and men labeled MISSING by the UNSC during the Human-Covenant War, utilizing records and reports made available to the Committee by all parties in the conflict.

-Enter Document One: Recorded Timeline, PILLAR OF AUTUMN.

[SKIP Y/N?] [Y]

-Enter Document Twelve, Selected Report, 'Thel Vadamee, Fleet of Particular Justice. [Note: Several sections of the report have been judged irrelevant to the inquiry and have been removed for length.]

"Shipmaster Ugakee reported several human ships jumping away on an identical vector, and has requested permission to pursue, stating they may lead to a human world. Given the humans' tendency to feint in the hopes of drawing forces away I, of course, refused said permission, and ordered Ugakee to remain in his position on the right flank. […] "I noticed that several ships were not in the position I had ordered, and upon inquiry was informed that Ugakee had co-opted two destroyers and pursued the human ships against orders. Thus I was forced to retard my performance against the human fleet in order to detach two cruisers from the reserve to bring Ugakee into line.

"As I feared, the cruisers reported they had found debris from a battle, including that of the two destroyers as well as the remains of six human ships of corvette-size [Note: Covenant After-Action reports often classify light and heavy frigates as "corvette-size", despite the SDV Heavy Corvette being almost twice as long as a Paris-class frigate.], alongside the signature of an uncontrolled slipspace event. Ugakee's rashness cost the Covenant two destroyers and one cruiser, not to mention delaying the advance of the Fleet of Particular Justice by several hours."

-Enter Document Thirteen, [SKIP Y/N?] [Y]

-Conclusions: Though the Committee is unable to conclusively determine the exact fate of UNSC HARVEST, the Committee is able reach several conclusions as to the battle in deep space on 15.8.2547.

One: The actions of the Sangheili commander (Ugakee in Covenant reports, though no first name is recorded) were against his orders, and what was thought to be a Covenant ambush was in fact a deviation from the intent of Covenant commanders. Thus, the FLEETCOM order banning convoy departures—where several ships depart on a similar random vector—in fear of further 'ambushes' by the Covenant was likely unnecessary. Thus also unnecessary were the disappearances and delays generated by this order, as damaged or semi-disabled ships transitioned to slipspace without any means of mutual support, only to be lost and stranded in deep space by malfunctioning computers or other equipment, adding greatly to the casualties of the war and the burden on this Committee.

Two: The CCS-class battlecruiser Mantle of Faith was destroyed, rather than heavily damaged as the UNSC believed.

Three: The request by LCDR Levine to RADM Sprague for the light frigates to break formation and follow into battle was decisive, both in providing additional weight of fire against Covenant ships as well as in screening the escape of UNSC Pillar of Autumn into slipspace.

Four: Covenant records list UNSC losses at six frigates, rather than the seven known to be engaged in battle. The loss of five frigates is recorded in the timeline and AAR records from UNSC Pillar of Autumn and RADM Sprague, respectively: Balaclava, Guinevere, Ranger, Walker, and You Want More. Given the Covenant record of six sets of debris, coupled with RADM Sprague's testimony that the last plasma torpedo salvo angled to the cruiser's port side rather than starboard, the Committee concludes that the sixth set of debris likely belongs to UNSC Nicholas, whose status should be altered accordingly.

Five: Given the lack of debris from both UNSC Harvest and the Mantle of Faith, coupled with the evidence of an uncontrolled slipspace rupture recorded by the Covenant, the Committee concludes UNSC Harvest either detonated her own slipspace drive in close enough proximity to destroy Mantle of Faith as well, or UNSC Harvest in some way caused the rupture of the slipspace drive of Mantle of Faith.

-Recommendations: The Committee ends with the following Recommendations:

One: The status of UNSC Nicholas be changed from MISSING, PRESUMED LOST to DESTROYED, the cause of destruction listed as "Enemy Action."

Two: The status of UNSC Harvest be changed from MISSING to DESTROYED, the cause of destruction listed as "Uncontrolled Slipspace Event."

Three: UNSC FLEETCOM approve the nomination by RADM Sprague for LCDR J.M.A. Levine to posthumously receive the Gold Star for Valor and Bravery, as well as the citation's possible upgrade to the Colonial Cross, for the reasons listed in said nomination.

Four: UNSC Harvest be nominated for the Earth Defense Unit Citation, for the reasons following: "Through the highest bravery, and regard only for the lives they were charged to protect, UNSC Harvest and her crew faced and overcame the highest odds, sacrificing themselves to protect their superiors as well as many thousands of innocents. Their actions reflect the highest honor on themselves and their ship, laying down their lives for the protection and defense of Earth and all her colonies."

[END SESSION]

[CLOSE FILE]

Though she had only sailed this route once before in her life, Tenryuu was surprised how familiar it felt. She, her sister, and her destroyers had departed Yokosuka and headed south, passing the Ryukyu Islands before turning eastward for an hour and a half sailing, or one hour if she pushed herself to flank.

It was the same route Tenryuu had taken when she first met UNSC Harvest.

In many ways, the eyepatched cruiser could hardly believe that fateful day had been just one year ago. On one hand it seemed so long ago, yet on the other Tenryuu was shocked by how short a time it felt like.

Six weeks earlier Tenryuu and her destroyers had departed Yokosuka with a very different attitude. The Abyssals, long the scourge of the seas, were on their last ropes—ropes that Tenryuu and the others were setting out to cut. The months since Harvest had come into her own had seen progress on a speed and scale that would have been simply unimaginable without her. Whole swathes of the oceans were cleared in matters of weeks. Tenryuu had set out to help put the last nail in the coffin, the end of organized resistance. The end of the Abyssal War.

The cruiser Tenryuu had sunk in 1942, victim of torpedoes from the American submarine Albacore. But even had her hull lived to see the end of World War Two, it would have seen no cause for celebration. Expended by conflicts on all fronts, isolated diplomatically from every other nation in the world once the Soviet Union declared war, reduced to piles of ashes and bones through bombing and blockade, Japan had ended the Second World War a broken nation. Even as Japan prostrated itself at last, begged for mercy from many who felt Japan's actions left it unworthy of such leniency, the rest of the world celebrated.

Since returning as a kanmusu, Tenryuu had seen the pictures in history books and documentaries. She saw with some amount of jealousy the parades, the celebrations, the outbursts of joy that swept the world when World War Two finally ended. The actions of Japan's kanmusu were in many ways an overdue apology for the war, seeking to balance at last Japan's karma, redeem the nation for the sins of its past. But Tenryuu—and, the cruiser privately suspected, many other kanmusu—also looked forward to the celebration when the war was finally over. A celebration alongside their neighbors, rather than at their expense; a celebration Japan never had.

V-E Day: Victory in Europe. V-J Day: Victory over Japan. Tenryuu looked forward to adding a third to that list; V-A Day: Victory over the Abyssals. V-A Day had come…but it ended up far less joyous than Tenryuu had dreamed. Rather than celebrating their victory the kanmusu were scrambling to react to the new threat, this time in the sky, which claimed yet more thousands of civilian lives before it was dispatched.

And dispatching it had cost the life of a kanmusu Tenryuu never expected to grow so close to.

"We're here," the cruiser said softly. There were no visual landmarks, but Tenryuu knew this patch of ocean just the same. Here was where she crossed swords with a Re-class battleship, knowing full well that doing so could easily mean her demise. A fate that had nearly claimed her, too, saved at the last moment by the strange kanmusu they had diverted to rescue.

Despite the low volume, the battleship behind Tenryuu heard her just fine. She nodded and turned to the rest of the fleet following behind. "We're here," Nagato said. The battleship had spent several days floating in space before a rocket could get out to her and pick her up. Since coming back she hadn't talked much, preferring to spend time to herself, but one thing she did come out to say was that she wanted to perform a memorial service for the tiny frigate. Since the end of the war, many kanmusu had been milling about aimlessly while countries and politicians wondered what to do next; once word got out, the response was massive.

Kanmusu from all over the world made the trip to Japan. All classes, all nationalities, all allegiances were present amongst them. As one large fleet they had made their way down, following Tenryuu as she retraced the steps through which UNSC Harvest was introduced to the world. Those who had worked with the frigate particularly made the effort to come: Prince of Wales and Warspite, Roma and Richelieu, Yorktown and Enterprise. Even Saratoga had made the pilgrimage over, though she was swathed with bandages and supported by her sister at all times. Technically the carrier should still be in hospital—she had been hurt badly when San Diego was glassed—but her determination to pay her respects saw the American through.

As baffling as it was that such a horrible event could be thought of with relief, in fact the glassing had not caused anywhere near as much damage as it could have. Many coastal cities were evacuated during the panicked early days of the Abyssal War, and even when civilians started to move back many cities around kanmusu ports had been taken over almost entirely by the military. The Covenant ship had only spent a few minutes above the city, before it glided away, then charged into the upper atmosphere when Harvest and Nagato made their way on board. Compared to the planets Harvest's second spirit had shown, Earth had gotten off unbelievable easy.

Unbelievably easy, though, was still nowhere near untouched. San Diego may not have had as much population as, say, Los Angeles directly north of it, but the glassing still left over a hundred thousand dead and many more injured in its wake. The American kanmusu corps had also been shaken by the fact that one of the dead was the pioneer of American naval aviation, USS Langley, who like Houshou had retired as a kanmusu and lived off base in the city. Her funeral had only taken place a few days earlier, after which the Americans made their way to Japan. Many American ships were still in San Diego, continuing to provide any help they could in dealing with the disaster.

"Thank you all for coming," Nagato's voice broke Tenryuu out of her musings. The battleship took a deep breath. "Five years. Five long, arduous, blood-soaked years. That's how long the Abyssals had assaulted humanity by the time Harvest joined us. She was a small ship, a light frigate, made to fight for humanity in a war five centuries to come. Yet one year ago today, she appeared here, on this Earth, on this ocean, in our war."

Tenryuu and Tatsuta pulled their destroyers close. "The Abyssals were no longer advancing, but a long road still lay ahead when she arrived," Nagato continued. "After five long years of fighting we were finally, tenuously, holding the line. But to push them back?" Nagato shook her head. "All of us knew we had hard fights ahead of us. How long would it have taken us? Another five years? Another ten? How many of us would have fallen, given our lives to deny the Abyssals one more innocent life, one more kilometer of ocean, one more base from which to strike? Instead we all stand here today, only one year later, on oceans free from the threat of attack."

Akizuki and Hibiki snuggled into Tenryuu's arms as the speech went on. "Harvest spoke of an oath when she agreed to fight for us, an oath I can remember even all this time later. She said she swore, 'to preserve, protect, and defend Earth and all her colonies.' We may not be her Earth, she told me, and there may not yet be colonies, but she still considered herself bound to preserve, protect, and defend us, whether against the Abyssals or against the enemies that followed her to us. Now we are left to ask ourselves, if we are worthy of her devotion."

A few murmurs broke out at that statement, but Nagato went on as Tenryuu became distantly aware of a speck in her vision. "We may not have been present on this Earth before the Abyssals arrived, but we all know what it looked like: a fragmented people, divided by questions of nationality, questions of religion, questions of power, questions of history. Yet throughout this war we have come together as a people, as a planet, united against a common threat. Now through Harvest's miraculous help, that threat has been neutralized, but this raises the question: are we to split back up again, and resume the old feuds? Or instead, are we to maintain this unity and push onward, becoming the power that Harvest knew and was: a humanity united, spreading across the stars?"

More murmurs spread, this time approving rather than questioning. Every kanmusu had experienced the harmony of humanity united against a common threat, and none of them looked forward to that community fracturing; or worse, the prospect of having to face off against one another, in politics or even in battle. Tenryuu agreed with her secretary ship, though as her speech continued more and more of the cruiser's attention shifted elsewhere. "What I ask—what I dream—will not be simple. No matter our experiences of the past six years, there remains much separating us. There is a lot of blood, old blood, bad blood, between many of our nations. I cannot ask you to abandon them, but instead we have to work to move them on. Many of us have influence, many of us have connections; I implore you, use them! Help us move to absolve our grudges, accept our past errs and our current apologies, move beyond the old feuds towards what we should be, what Harvest came from: nations, united, pushing on towards the stars, whatever dangers and threats they may hold."

Tenryuu's attention finally shifted fully away from the battleship's speech—no matter how much she agreed with it—and towards the speck in her vision which seemed to grow larger and larger. Tenryuu's eye narrowed. Nagato said the Covenant ship was destroyed; could she have been wrong? Or could this even be another ship that came through as well? But it seemed too blocky for that…

Tenryuu suddenly blinked as the speck increased in size very, very quickly. "Look at that!" she cried, remembering too late that she was cutting off the battleship Nagato.

Nagato and the others turned at Tenryuu's shout, just as whatever-it-was cast a shadow over them. It definitely wasn't another Covenant ship; that much was for certain. It looked small, though Tenryuu was aware enough to realize the only reason it seemed "small" was in comparison to the gigantic bulbous vessel she had seen over Saipan. But whereas the purple Covenant ship was made of graceful curves, this grey vessel was all sharp lines and angles.

It also looked like it had been through hell; its hull was covered in scorch marks, and several of what looked like antennae were snapped or twisted, as though the ship had taken a terrific tumble. Obvious and hasty patches covered what looked like two large holes in the center. It was only when the ship yawed slightly, giving Tenryuu a view of the split nose, that the cruiser was able to make out writing on the nose: "FFG-413" on the top, and on the bottom and rather smaller, "REPENSUM EST CANICULA."

A hanger door opened on the bottom of the craft, out of which dropped a figure which ignited rockets on its limbs and made its way over to the crowd. "Hey, everybody," Harvest said, a hand protectively nursing the bandages wrapped around her stomach. "Did you miss me?"

Any articulate response was lost, as the assembled kanmusu let loose a cheer loud enough to be heard around the world.