Lelouch is by no means a scientist. He can't develop tech nor does he possess the knowledge and ability to be an engineer by any means. However, he is very adept in the art of explosives and chemical interactions.

"It isn't a bad assumption," he interrupts, but never once actually moving from his spot. "I would think that the runes act as a converter of sorts. Perhaps one draws out the arcane energies of whatever the machine uses as a basis for fuel while the other focuses it into the energy that actually powers the machine."

Here he had been thinking that, as far as the airships are concerned, it is akin to the Float System. Electromagnetic energies at work to keep the massive thing up in the air. It might still be somewhat correct.