So Black Empire was kind of a slapdash job I added to when I had ideas and just kinda threw them out there. This though is the end result of taking reader feedback to heart and refining what I had.

To put it simply, this is my gift to my loyal readers, something much more clear, better edited, and a clear line to where this story is going.

This will be primarily a Nunnally x Luke story with Lelouch being the brilliant chess master that he is in the background, but expect characters from all over the Legends SWU and of course the wonderful denizens of Code Geass to pop up.

Please review!

In the grand scheme of things a single habitable planet capable of supporting microbe life as well as having the correct allowances to nurture it's evolution into fully sentient and sapient beings is rare. That being said in a galaxy of countless billions of stars and even more countless trillions of planets things tend to get lost and forgotten, so sometimes, with a bit of diligence you find something quite useful to your superiors when you begin kicking over old star charts.

Captain Tobias Neers of the Imperial Star Destroyer Repentance mulled this thought over as he stared at the blue orb before him, it was beautiful and he had no issues admitting it. Born and raised on Coruscant, with its endless grey skylines and smog chocked air the chance to observe raw beauty like this was just something he wished to relish for a few moments before it was time to get back to work.

Turning to his sensor officer he queried the man in a clipped tone, "Specialist, what is the population estimates of this world?"

Turning back to the bridge window he waited patiently for the man to do his job before he quickly replied in a rather awestruck tone, "Sir, going by information we've gathered from their satellite network and our own scans there is over six billion people down there." Gulping as he met his Captains gaze with wide eyes he finished with a quiet, "All human sir." Brow furrowing at that Tobias turned back to the scintillating sapphire before him digesting this new turn of events.

Six billion humans at the galactic equator at a relatively advanced technological level and no one noticed them? This wasn't what Grand Moff Tarkin had sent him out for. He was supposed to find primitives to conscript for the building of the Death Star, not enslave an enclave of fellow man who had been forgotten.

Still...orders were orders.

Clearing his throat he commanded the communications officer to open a wide spectrum channel, "This is Captain Tobias Neers of the Galactic Empire, you are ordered to stand down from all military actions and prepare to be assimilated into his Emperor's glorious Imperium or face annihilation. You have one hour to respond."

Much to his surprise he received a response in no less then twenty minutes, how had they translated the message so quickly? Did they speak basic even after being cut off from the rest of the galaxy for who knew how many millennium?

Regardless the reply was stilted and heavily accented yet understood easily enough. "This is CeCelia...Lamperouge of the Holy Empire of Britannia, Emperor Lelouch vi Britannia is requesting to meet with Captain Neers immediately. He is also willing to come alone if that is what is required."

This surprised but pleased the career officer, nodding he reached over to the terminal and transmitted the response on his own, "I agree to bring your leader aboard, broadcast coordinates and we will send a shuttle down so your 'Emperor' may negotiate your surrender."

The reply while still heavily tinted with an accent sounded almost amused, "Of course Captain, transmitting now."

Resisting the urge to smirk at how smoothly this had gone he decided to meet this 'Royal' in the shuttle bay himself. Even with his high speed access it took him well over five minutes to arrive at the bay, grumbling about slow lifts and the engineers that designed them he met his Stormtrooper escort and allowed them to guide him to the assigned landing pad.

Glancing at his chrono he eventually released a sigh of exasperation, while this entire mission was going more quickly then anticipated he still did not want to waste time on formalities. Still, the leader of this planet allowing himself to be taken hostage so easily would look good on his reports, and if he could fold this planet into the Empire without a fuss, well. He let a smile curl up his lips at that thought, an Admirals bars might very well be on his horizon.

As thoughts of promotions and the ludicrous bonus's that came with them rolled through his mind the shuttle he'd sent out made its return approach. The incoming Lambda folded it's wings into landing position and glided through the magcon field, as it touched down Captain Neers stood straighter and schooled his features to that of a proper officer. A few moments later the ramp folded to the deck and a pair of Stormtroopers walked down the corrugated metal taking flanking positions as a sort of honor guard. He'd admit this was odd but shrugged it off.

A tall man...no boy on the cusp of being a man walked down the ramp next, he was wearing extravagant white and gold robes and a rather silly hat, his violet eyed gaze swept across the wide bay half hidden under a mop of raven black hair.

Eventually his eyes met those of Neers and the boy Emperor smiled gently, "You must be the Captain of this amazing ship, yes?"

Stepping forward Tobias nodded once curtly, "That is correct, Emperor Lelouch I presume?" Smirking the violet eyed teen nodded once. Rubbing his eyes as if to dislodge something he turned back to the Captain who gasped as he took a step back, fear obvious on his face as he stared into the now glowing crimson orbs.

"That's great, I was hoping you could do me a favor Captain, and Serve Me, and Only Me to the Best of Your Abilities."

Tobias saw a crane fly from the boys eyes and suddenly knew nothing else but a desire to please his Emperor, "Of course your Majesty!"

Smirking Lelouch nodded to the gathered troopers, "Will they present a problem Captain?"

Shaking his head quickly Tobias grinned a bit madly, "No your Majesty they are clones and will obey my every command, as it stands they are under orders to remain at ready."

Smirking the Emperor nodded in turn, "Order them to remove their helmets," doing so he then gave them the same glorious command he'd gifted Tobias while his smirk shifted into an amused sneer.

Feeling a panicked need to please his master Tobias rushed forward near salivating, "Your Majesty what else do you require?"

Looking about the massive chamber the Emperor nodded to himself once again before turning back to his servant, "Call an...attendance meeting for how ever many can fit in this room, no eye wear."

Saluting happily Tobias spun on his heel eager to fulfill his masters orders.

One Week Later

It had been almost a month now, a month since the Black Knights had either been killed, captured, or gone to ground hoping for a miracle as the world was crushed beneath the heel of the tyrant Lelouch vi Britannia. In the hidden depths of the sky fortress Damocles Kallen Kozuki sat cross legged staring despondently at her own haggard reflection.

Her normally styled, well kept hair was greasy and lank from lack of cleaning, her clear ocean blue eyes were cloudy and blood shot from crying. Not to mention her back was killing her from sitting proud and defiant for so long, refusing to let the man she thought she had fallen in love with see her weakness when he ordered her death.

First they'd taken Nunnally, they'd been gentle, but the crippled Princess's desperate cries as they dragged her away still rang in her ears days later. Then they'd taken Rakshata, Lloyd, and Cecille, undoubtedly to Geass them into subservience, waste not want not after all, Lelouch had always been a pragmatist after all.

Now, now they were here for everyone else.

The prisoners were lined up and marched out of the brig yet something felt... off about their guards, she glanced over to Tohdoh who seemed to have noticed the same thing. He gave her an understanding nod as he too tried to figure out what had changed, and more importantly, why?

The answer to her question came a few moments later when the Tianzi stumbled forward awkwardly in her restraints, the waif of a woman falling to her knees squeaking out a weak cry in pain. As she looked up her pained expression turned to one of terror as a guard approached her silently. All the prisoners were stunned when rather then strike her with the butt of his rifle or curse at her he gently lifted the Tianzi back to her feet while giving her a soothing reassurance.

"Sorry about that your Highness, we have strict orders to keep you all secured before you reach your new quarters, please bear with it a few more minutes, all right?" Tianzi's wide red eyes conveyed what everyone else was now thinking.

Namely, what the hell?

After being led to a large lift that was most likely intended for Knightmares the group was marched to a massive posh room complete with exercise equipment, an entertainment center, and what looked like a mini bar.

"I...what's going on?" Kallen asked in confusion as the guards politely broke the group up and escorted each of them to one of the doors lining the room. Her guard, a woman this time smiled gently at her as she pressed a panel revealing a bedroom suite complete with a hot tub and wardrobe.

The guard clicked Kallens restraints open and began helping her shuck the straight-jacket like garment, "Things have changed Countess, when you get cleaned up you'll find a somewhat limited wardrobe in the closet, after that you're free to roam the common room and interact with the rest of his Majesties guests.

"If you're hungry please feel free to use the phone, hit the pound key and 'six' for the kitchens and they'll make whatever you want, after you and your friends are done eating you'll be given a file to read. When you're done with it the Emperor would like to speak to you all."

Groaning in frustrated confusion she turned to the guard as she was about to leave, if Kallen hadn't been essentially shoved into a box for the past month she'd probably try to make her escape but really...a soak in that hot tub sounded amazing at the moment.

Instead she called out one final time, "A file on what?" The woman smiled in a friendly manner and it finally hit Kallen, this guard, a simple petty officer was not under a Geass.

"Zero Requiem, a selfless act that is no longer a viable option, good day Countess," with that the door closed but the light indicating it was locked never turned on. Rubbing her temples she eventually sighed and stripped out of her rank prison uniform and turned on the hot water, tossing in a few vials of salts and perfumes she sank into the bubbling tub sighing in satisfaction.

It wasn't until her mind began to clear ten minutes into her bath that something else clicked,

"Countess? Wait...what?" Her father had been Count Stadtfeld and while she'd loved him he'd hated himself for being talked into leaving her mother and marrying that...woman, and in keeping away from all that shamed him he'd been in Pendragon when Schneizel had wiped it off the map. If the peerage system had still been intact she would be the next in line but still...what was going on?

Realizing that she was getting no answers sitting in a bath she begrudgingly decided to get out and go to the common room, drying off she opened her wardrobe closet and stared at the only outfit available. "What the fuck?"

Tohdoh had been the first to enter the common room and after ordering a light breakfast and tea (which he was surprised to say had been quite pleasant and promptly delivered at that) he began reading the thick file left for him by his guard. This Zero Requiem, if it was true, proved that his initial hesitation over the Black Knights betrayal of Zero had been correct, they had their fears played against them by Schneizel and the world had payed for their shortsightedness.

Of course, that is if it was all true, musing over that as he sipped his tea he reached the last page and read a final note scribbled in with a delicate hand,

"If Lelouch had Geassed you all to follow him, how could you have been able to betray him?"

Tohdoh stared at this one simple sentance for well over a minute before he began laughing, he laughed so hard that his eyes began to tear, pounding his fist against the table spilling his tea he nearly sobbed at the simplicity of the statement.

They were idiots, they'd fallen for Schneizel's gambit failing completely to see the logical fallacy in his argument, this was how the other Black Knights found him and they weren't sure what surprised them more. Was it the fact 'Tohdoh of the Miracle' was laughing, or that he was wearing a Britannian Generals uniform?

Before anything else could be said or done a final door opened and Captain Kozuki entered the room and if Tohdoh's attire had raised eyebrows her's raised alarms. She was clad in the white uniform of the Knights of the Round and had a red and gold cape draped over her shoulders, most telling, the pendant on her lapel marked her as the 'Knight of One'.

Turning to her comrades she let out a pained, "Guys...what the hell is going on?"

Tohdoh motioned for her to come to him and Nagisa followed, he was going to have to figure out his feelings for his long time comrade soon, everything was changing so...well...perhaps.

"Captain, or should I say My Lady? I think you should read through this I believe it will answer many questions." Gratefully accepting the clipped together report Kallen began to silently read through it her brow furrowing more and more as she got deeper into it. As this was happening Tohdoh looked around the room and noted what clothes had been left for the rest of the high profile prisoners. Aside from the Tianzi and Lady Kaguya, who were given traditional clothing befitting their station, everyone else was clad in the uniform of Britannia, this was...telling in a way.

"BAKA!" Kallen screamed as she threw the file across the room hitting Ohgi in the face, "I told you, I fucking TOLD you that you morons jumped the gun, but nooooo Schneizel had given you a reason to finally get rid of Lelouch so you jumped on it. I can't believe I fell for it...god..." Much to her surprise and well, his own, Tohdoh leaned over and patted her shoulder reassuringly,

"It could all be lies, if there was one thing we can all agree on when it comes to Zero and Lelouch is that he is able to make people think what he wants, regardless of Geass." There was a bit of laughter at the entrance to the room and they all turned to see the green haired witch leaning against the door frame.

"Quite true quite true, now I know it's been a trying day but would you like to know exactly what's going on? If so, follow me."

There was a near stampede as the former prisoners filed in after Lelouch's number one confidant and after silently moving through several lengthy halls and lift rides they arrived at their destination. Throwing a glance over her shoulder sending cascades of green hair flying she smirked coyly at the group and they all gulped in unison as she winked at them.

An amused C.C. was a dangerous C.C. after all; with a whoosh the massive door slid aside and the group was ushered into a chamber the likes of which they'd never seen.

Technicians were scrambling over a massive four legged Knightmare as they were slowly tearing it apart, a pair of what appeared to be fighters with massive hexagonal wings were also in a similar state of dissassembly, and a strange folded wing ship had its guts torn out by none other then Lloyd Asplund.

Tables were filled with strange looking armor and weapons, and there were...robots walking around the room, real honest to god robots. As they openly gaped C.C. laughed as she motioned them to follow her deeper into the room, the group gawked at all this unknown equipment until they reached a final door. Tapping on it gently it eventually swung open, what greeted them shocked them all.

"C.C. brother was looking for you, oh!" Princess Nunnally vi Britannia turned to the group and smiled, walking forward she then rushed Kallen pulling her into a tight hug, "Kallen! I'm glad you decided to see what Lelouch was up to, come on!"

Grabbing the maybe Countess by the hand the formerly blind and crippled teen dragged her into the slightly dim room and they were soon followed by the others. Tohdoh took note of the odd platforms displaying full 3D holograms of complex machines, what appeared to be alien star systems, and blueprints of massive warships. In the center of the room sat a large circular desk with a harried looking young man pacing back and forth talking into an odd tube while sipping a cup of coffee.

"I know Jeremiah but it isn't like we can just buy the damn things since we can't have anything leading them back to Sol, we got lucky that Neers was just playing on a hunch when he jumped in system. I've already had Repentance drag a half dozen asteroids into the L1 Lagrange point so as soon as you get those mining droids the sooner we get that sakuradite." He paused a moment then nodded, "All right then, be careful," tossing the cylinder on the table he turned to meet the group and they took a collective intake of breath as they finally got a clear look at their hated enemy.

Lelouch looked pale, his normally vibrant eyes were blood shot and sunk into his skull, the lids looking bruised from lack of rest, coarse black stubble indicated he hadn't shaved in several days and his clothes were rumpled and dirty. Turning to Nunnally he thanked her as she handed him a fresh cup of coffee, ignoring the group at large he hit a button and the window shutters unlocked and rolled away revealing the great vista of space.

Plopping into his desk chair without any ceremony he gestured for them to take seats around the table as he jerked his thumb over his shoulder at the white behemoth drifting towards Damocles. "We need to talk."

They'd been talking for three hours, three valuable hours Lelouch could have been spending far more productively planning Earths defense against the greatest enemy it had ever faced.

This Galactic Empire, this Emperor Palpatine, they had done what he had on the macro scale but without the altruistic reasoning, it was for the pursuit of power and control, nothing else. This annoyed the Emperor of Britannia more then he'd like to admit, ignoring the admonishing look from his little sister and the raised eyebrow from the woman he loved he jammed a cigarette into his mouth with a disgruntled sigh.

Turning towards the still debating, and if they were to be honest with themselves, squabbling group Lelouch lifted up an ancient brass lighter snapping the lid open, oddly this seemed to catch the groups attention as he struck the flint. Lighting the cigarette he took a deep breath and exhaled allowing the poisonous and soothing carcinogen to reinvigorate him before speaking.

"So now that you've all absorbed how thoroughly fucked we are and had your fun throwing about the blame does anyone have an actual suggestion or should I just space the lot of you and start from scratch?" Sweeping the group with his exhausted gaze he was broken from his melancholy by his angel, Nunnally dropped her hands to his shoulders squeezing them lightly as she huffed in annoyance.

"None of that big brother, and you are sleeping for more than an hour tonight, if you disagree I'll have Sayoko drug your coffee," glancing up he threw her a miffed look that she deflected with a bright smile. Cheater.

"Right...look as it stands the entire world heard the Repentance's message and I've managed to play off seeing what I had planned panned out by someone else and backpedaled on the whole 'Evil Tyrant' thing. What I plan is for Kaguya and the Tianzi to retake their positions as governors of a sort, you'll be placating the masses while we gear for war."

Xingke raised his head slightly and Lelouch nodded to him to speak, "Is there a reason we were all given uniforms of Britannia?"

Lelouch sighed at this and nodded quickly before replying, "Yes, look we need a unified a government and to put it bluntly I've playacted the all powerful omnipotent leader to the hilt, so we have no choice but to stick with the Britannian aesthetics for the time being. Please do not get me wrong here, I designed the Black Knights uniforms and prefer them, alas we have to make sacrifices and fashion sense over genocide seems like a relatively cheap trade off."

Rather then looking sheepish Xingke nodded slowly in understanding, Lelouch was idly curious if the man realized his rations had been dosed with medications to cure his illness but didn't care enough to ask.

Turning back to the group he crushed his cigarette against the holoprojector and addressed them directly, "This is how it's playing out, Kallen, you killed Suzaku, simply put you're the most skilled pilot in the world at the moment," Kallen froze at this her beautiful blue eyes widening in shock. Lelouch let an eyebrow raise at this as he continued, "What did you think he some how miraculously dove away from a Yggdrissal drive overloading? Regardless you are now the Knight of One."

Turning to Gino and Anya he nodded to the pair slowly, "You are the Knights of Two and Three, it's your job to refill the ranks, we need nine more knights and you have the dossiers of the entire world to look through." Sighing for what felt like the thousandth time this week alone he took to his feet and allowed Nunnally to grab his hand and prevent him from rather embarrassingly face planting into his desk.

"We'll reconvene in the morning when you all have absorbed what we've discussed," after wishing Nunnally a good evening Lelouch staggered down the halls and stopped at his state rooms door. Leaning against the wall he tapped in the code to open the door but before he could move he felt a strong pair of arms wrap around him and guide him along, as he stumbled into the dark room he turned to meet Kallen's intense gaze.

It may have been the exhaustion, it may have been the despair that his planet was doomed, but all Lelouch could focus on where those blue orbs burning a hole through his soul. Stumbling he fell onto his bed as Kallen leaned down and kissed him, her lips a searing agony of bliss, everything that came after that was in the form of snap shots. A shirt here, a shoe there, his hands on her hips, hers running down his back, and then bliss. When he eventually managed to focus again he was holding a beautiful naked redhead tightly, her pert breasts pressed comfortably to his chest.

Absorbing what had just happened he came to the realization that he had no regrets, stroking a hand along her cheek he eventually laughed and kissed her forehead, "Will you marry me?"

The spent woman glared into his violet eyes before smiling, "Of course, idiot..."

The Morning After

When the newly minted couple entered the meeting room from the previous day they were holding hands as Kallen giggled at something Lelouch had said while he sported the first carefree smile he'd had in years. They paused and both blushed when they realized their comrades had beaten them there and many where giving them knowing looks, some disapproving, others, pleased.

Much to their amusement the ever stoic Tohdoh presented his hand to Ohgi and simply stated, "Pay up," which earned amused giggles from the surrounding women and laughter from the men.

Lelouch, in an effort to save face adjusted his collar as he released Kallen's hand to quietly cough into his fist. "Right, umm...it appears we're a bit late..."

Rakshata snickered as she ashed her cigarette into a cup, "By an hour my dear man, but don't worry we've just briefed everyone on our idea and they seem all for it."

"Oh?" Lelouch began as he offered Kallen a chair and soon sat next to her, "What is it?"

"Operation Magpie," Lloyd began without preamble, "We've managed to cobble together a hybrid mechanism using our own Higgs Field Neutralizers used in our FLOAT systems and the aliens FTL drive. Essentially, we can nullify mass from the equation and jump into hyperspace even in a gravity well."

Rakshata grinned evilly at that, "Yes, it means anything within the field can be drawn into hyperspace with the drive. So our suggestion is this..."

Lloyd clapped happily, "We steal everything that isn't nailed down, and some of what is, from the Galactic Empire right under their noses. In so long as our ships are not caught in the direct line of sight of those vessels equipped with directed gravity well projectors we can land on any moon or planet, stretch the field as wide as the power supply can handle, and just jump away."

Lelouch blinked, and turned to Kallen who was staring at the projector flabbergasted, "Are you saying we can land a ship on any stockpile, any factory, any shipyard in a Lagrange point, and simply nick it?"

Lloyd adjusted his glasses and grinned happily, "Precisely!"

Lelouch chuckled darkly as he rested his chin across his bridged fingers, "Lets do it."

Three Years Later

As the Knight of Five took in a ragged breath she held it a few moments to try and calm her nerves. It had been three years since the Emperor had taken the Repentance, two years since she'd begun her military training, and one year since she had earned her commission.

In this three year span Britannia had struck from the shadows pecking away at the Galactic Empire's resources and stealing what they could to shore up their own bulwarks, always staying one step ahead of their enemy.

Earth herself was largely healed from the wars of the past and while there were still dust ups here and there the people were more or less happy despite the gearing up for what could be a fight to the death. It didn't hurt that Lady Kaguya and the Tianzi's efforts had greatly placated the masses, nor that Empress Kallen vi Britannia was considered a darling of the media.

The Knight snorted at that while rolling her violet eyes, Kallen's short tenure as the Knight of One and her reputation as Zero's Red Queen seemed to ignite a sense of romanticism in the masses. This only helped solidify the Emperor's hold over the planet as the nation fawned over his wife and their newborn daughter. Not that the Knight of Five minded all that much, her big brother had done wondrous things for Earth, and she really did adore her sister in law and niece.

"This is Gold Five reporting in, all systems green, and Lancelot is ready to go." It had been her only request when she'd been offered her position at the Round Table, she wished to pilot her dead friends stead in honor of the sacrifice he'd made. It had made Lelouch incredibly uncomfortable but he had acquiesced, he always did when it came to pleasing his little sister.

"Looking good there Nunnally, hows the Mark III feel?" Nunnally had kept most of the Lancelot Albion's systems the same as Suzaku had them, although she'd traded off the hip mounted harkens for hadron blasters.

She didn't really want to make the change but as Lelouch had made readily apparent during last years raid on Kuat, hadrons hurt Star Destroyers...a lot.

"He's responding well Gino, although I'm not very happy with the energy fluctuations in my Yggdrasil drive." That had been a transition. While the Galactic Empire tech beat out Britannia in raw energy production capabilities they completely floundered at using it efficiently.

Lloyd and Rakshata had a field day with that, the new hybrid power systems were now so efficient that Knightmare pilots no longer even had to think about conserving energy. Really, the only units that needed to worry were the new Star Dreadnoughts. They had...very very big guns that took a very long time to charge to their full power.

"Eh, keep an eye on it Princess, just follow Funsize's lead and you'll be fine." There was a spray of static and a moment later Anya Weinberg spoke up, for once conveying some emotion, unfortunately for her husband it was annoyance.

"I suggest you stop using that ridiculous call sign for me if you wish to sleep anywhere but on the couch for the foreseeable future."

Nunnally and the rest of the Round's snickered lightly as the Knight of One panicked a bit, "R-right, anyway everyone form up, we jump in five, once we hit hyperspace it's a long ride out to the rendezvous point so smoke 'em if you got 'em." Sighing Nunnally brought the Lancelot into formation and once the timer hit zero she threw the throttle forward and for the first time in hours relaxed.

"All I can do now is wait..." Rubbing her eyes she pulled out a holocube and started flicking through the pictures displayed above it. Her, Milly,and Lelouch, drunk on their butts at his bachelor party, that had been an interesting night to say the least. C.C. and Miss Cecile holding Lloyd down as Rakshata force fed him one of his bluenette girlfriends culinary horrors. Gino and Anya's wedding ceremony where Lord Jeremiah gave the bride away.

They were happy memories. Memories of peace, prosperity. She didn't want to think about the loses, she didn't want to think about the upcoming war with this vile Empire led by the sick false Emperor Palpatine. She didn't want to think about the fact that she was a soldier.

She was an empath though, she could feel the suffering around her, the rot taking hold on the galaxy whenever she left the safety of Earth, and while she wanted to do anything but fight, she would do it because it was her duty.

Tuning her overhead speakers to play some classical music, Bach this time, she allowed herself to doze off, it was going to be a very long jump.

As Nunnally snapped her eyes open what felt to be mere moments later, she couldn't help but marvel at how quickly things could go from placid to complete mayhem. Her warning systems were going berserk and a moment later she dropped into real space to stare down three enormous wedge shaped vessels.

"Interdictor!" One of her fellow Knights bellowed.

Snapping Lancelot into evasive maneuvers she took aim at the approaching TIE fighters and let them have it with all she had. Let it be said, when a single unit can fire two double barreled full auto VARIS rifles, two hadron cannons, two hadron blasters, and a spray of luminous feathers at once, things explode.

When there are twelve units similarly equipped all piloted by the best that Britannia had to offer? Well, a lot of things explode. The Knight of Four, one Rai Sumeragi guided his customized Gawain variant through the turbolaser fire as he motioned for Nunnally to follow lead.

Firing his twin linked hadron cannons he burnt a line through the shredded cloud of destroyed TIE fighters and struck the bridge tower of the closest Star Destroyer causing it to bubble and boil before erupting into flames.

It had been an odd discovery, and it even had Lelouch's pet mad scientists scratching their heads in confusion, but hadron weapons completely bypassed galactic standard shielding. Not that anyone was complaining, but it was a strange turn of events. Peeling past the burning vessel Nunnally activated her blaze luminous shields and deflected a turbo laser shot as she approached the Interdictor cruiser.

These thing were a pain in the arse even in the simulators, their gravity well projectors mucked with the guidance systems of pretty much anything and you had to basically eyeball your shots. Luckily, it was a kilometer and a half long slab of white steel in a black background, Nunnally had plenty to shoot at.

As she and Rai lit into the cruiser she marveled at her squad mates unrivaled skills as they cut a swath through the supposed ambushing force. Even caught flatfooted they managed to wipe out the opposition in record time, twelve Britannian Knightmares had destroyed three Galactic Empire cruisers and their fighter complements in less then ten minutes.

Gino began laughing as he signaled out for a role call, "Hehe...well that was unexpected but well done, hows everyone looking?" As the Knights of the Round began calling off they were interrupted by new arrivals. Dozens of them. Countless waves of warships surrounded them in a flash, Gino thankfully was no fool, "EVERYONE JUMP NOW!"

Nunnally grabbed her hyperspace controls and flung them forward, as her squad mates blind jumped out of system she felt her stomach turn as she stared at the ship in the center of the formation. All she felt was inky blackness, bilious hatred, and unfathomable loathing, then she jumped.

As Lancelot shook around her she gritted her teeth and squeezed her eyes shut in agony as she blindly flew through hyperspace. Feeling a sudden sense of foreboding she disabled her Higgs Field Neutralizer, and not a moment later she was thrown forward as she was dragged back into real space. Resisting the urge to vomit she took in her surroundings as a planet loomed before her, Lancelot's alarms were blaring and she could barely keep track of the influx of information from the deployed factspheres.

Surface was mostly silica, little water, breathable atmosphere, scattered life readings. As her valiant stead shook around her she fell fully into the planets gravity well and guided her war machine through atmospheric entry.

As her Knightmare stopped vibrating like it was about to explode she felt...something...something...that felt...right? She didn't know, how odd, guiding Lancelot across the desert plains she eventually saw what looked like a hovel on the horizon. Bringing the white and gold machine to a hover she scanned the area with her factspheres, finding that there didn't appear to be any threats she brought Lancelot in for a landing.

Bringing Lancelot to a kneeling position as she began to power down Nunnally popped the cockpit hatch and gasped in shock as the dry desert wind and far too much sand blew into the enclosed space. Hoping this wasn't a major folly she rode the winch down and landed on loose scree, covering her eyes in the dust blown wind she turned to an approaching figure coming from the hovel she'd seen in the air.

The figure stopped before her, he was wearing homespun robes and his face was concealed with a heavy cowl but she felt...wry amusement from him regardless.

"Well hello little one, I don't usually get guests like this, not anymore anyhow. What brings you to my little piece of Tatooine?"

Not knowing why Nunnally felt like she should trust this man, eventually shrugging she performed a brief curtsy before replying, "I'm sorry to intrude sir, I'm Princess Nunnally vi Britannia, the Knight of Five. I...well I just got finished destroying an Imperial cruiser when my squadron was jumped by a...significantly larger force, I blind jumped and now I'm here."

The figure seemed to shake in amusement a moment before pulling back his cowl exposing a weather beaten, yet kindly visage. Smirking he offered her his hand as he used the other to gesture back to what she assumed was his home.

"I'm Obi-Wan Kenobi, care for some tea?"

Grinning widely she accepted his hand as she followed him forward, "I'd love some."

Ten minutes later Nunnally finished explaining her people and their leader as the kindly old man stroked his short beard in contemplation, a small smile playing across his lips.

After a moment he laughed lightly, "Ah to be young and vigorous again, it makes me remember better times...before the Empire..." At this last bit he lost his joviality and a sense of brooding took over the room, Nunnally stood and placed her smooth pale hand atop his wrinkled and weathered one smiling sadly down at him.

"You've suffered so much, I can feel the pain, the lose, and... I don't know why, but I feel I can trust you. It's why I told you what I did without hiding the truth, giving you my true name as well."

The old man stared into her bright violet eyes for several moments before smiling once again, "You are so strong in the light side of the Force young one that it practically radiates off of you. You've suffered such hardships, taken on such responsibilities that were never yours to hold, yet... Yet you did so anyway. You would have made a fine Jedi."

Nunnally tilted her head to the side and frowned slightly, "What's the Force, and Jedi?"

Obi-Wan stared at her for several, rather disconcerting minutes, it was actually almost getting creepy. After a time his eyes narrowed and he offered her an open smile once again.

"Tradition...doomed us...perhaps it's time for change... Perhaps the orders policies should have looked at earlier times, and greater heroes... Very well, I will explain the Force and the Jedi order to you young one, then I shall tell you the tale of Nomi Sunrider, someone I very much hope you could emulate."

Nunnally was confused but felt no ill will from the man so she simply nodded and retook her seat, "Very well Mr. Kenobi, I'm willing to listen."

He laughed at that as he clapped a knee, "Obi-Wan, please, now the Force is an energy field that guides, us, binds us, and flows through all life." As he continued Nunnally leaned forward becoming more and more enamored, was this...was this what she'd been truly waiting for?

On the other side of the Galaxy in the recently completed Imperial Palace of New Pendragon Emperor Lelouch vi Britannia paced back and forth in frustration. A moment later Lord Jeremiah entered the room and bowed lightly as the cyborg coughed to get his Majesty's attention.

"Your Majesty, he is here." Nodding Lelouch rubbed his temples slowly as he waited for his guest to arrive, as the man came to a stop before him the Emperor turned to meet his jade gaze.

"Suzaku...I need you to go find Nunnally..."

I hope I altered and expanded this enough to make it a fun reread for you folks, please review!