She opened her eyes to see something she didn't expect to see ever again - the flag of Eagle Union proudly hanging from the ceiling of a repurposed warehouse. But her first worry wasn't where the hell she was. No. It was the crate and a prototype device she saved. Those two things were vital for holding Pearl Harbor. If that base falls, so would the Eagle Union and then, the rest of the world would follow soon after.

Murray, Fred, dad, 'Liz… I'll finish what you started and help with saving the world…

Only then she noticed the unconscious woman next to her, dressed like a commander of this base would be, and held back a scream, when she noticed the silver hair she sported. She looked way too much like a Siren for her comfort. And just remembering just how savagely that so-called "Purifier" killed her friends made her almost puke.

"She's awake!" a female voice suddenly shouted and she turned around to see a nurse and suddenly felt hope. If there was at least one nurse still alive, there should be more humans as well!

I did it in time! she cheered in her mind, completely oblivious to her surroundings, until someone coughed to gain her attention.

He seemed to be either in his late twenties or early thirties, with short brown hair and eyes and more importantly, he was the commander, judging by the uniform he wore and his somewhat confident posture.

"I am the commander of this base, Harvey Baker. What is your name?"

She stared blankly at him for a moment, before she somehow regained her composure and replied, her voice a bit coarse from not having a drink for only God knows how long.

"I am junior researcher Jessica Matilda Warren. Did you receive the crate and matrix?"

It was now commander Baker's turn to be confused for a moment, before he gestured to the exit and the woman.

"I think that you'll know the answer, if you'll follow me," he said and waited for her to get up, leading her towards the exit. And what she saw was really surprising. After all, everything, but a single CV, was destroyed in one way or another.

"What does it have to do with the Siren look-alike in there?" she asked, genuinely confused about what the commander was trying to say to her.

"Your cubes… they both repaired the Enterprise and gave her a psychical manifestation in the form of that woman in the inframary. She actually overtaxed herself to unconsciousness, when she helped with repelling a Siren attack," he replied and she just stood there, before suddenly jumping and shouting in happiness.

Their sacrifice wasn't in vain! she thought as she smiled at commander Baker and let him guide her to the location of the matrix.


Harvey was a bit sceptical, when he heard the now named Jessica talk about how she was only able to create something called a Bulin and how they were supposedly good mechanics.

But then, she actually put four cubes, which she had somehow hidden in her coat, on the chalice - matrix as she insisted it was called - and pushed a few buttons with the usual mad gleam in her eyes that only a scientist could ever hope to replicate.

At first, nothing happened. But then, the very same light, as the one when Enterprise was summoned, appeared and then there were four small girls with white hair, dress, knee-high shoes and a strange sword-like multitool device in hand.

And on top of that, they seemed to be as hyperactive as a bunch of 7 years old kids, even if they looked like no older than 11.

"What can we do for you, Buli?" one of them asked, almost jumping in place as she awaited orders, and Harvey suddenly got an idea on how to best test the claims that were made about them.

"There is a repaired ship in the docks. Check it for any type of hiccups and fix them," he said and the quartet of little girls ran off towards their newest job at the same time as he pulled out two of the 10 remaining cubes from the box and stood up, fully intending to try and repeat whatever he did yesterday with the Enterprise.


Meanwhile, a certain bunker in Berlin

"We'll grant you the ability to turn those Wunderwaffen of yours into reality. At least the ship ones," began Observer Beta as she casually sat on a couch in front of a very surprised - and definitely pissed off - Adolf Hitler, the dead body of Albert Speer slumped next to a wall, sitting in a pool of his own blood.

And this wasn't her first meeting with the madman, where a dead body was near her. They had a few before, but only now, after witnessing him killing the man for saying no to building some kind of land cruiser or something like that, she relented in giving him the ability to create the Ashes, albeit severely underpowered and not equipped with Siren technology, outside their rigging. After all, they'll need at least some level of advantage over potential backstabbers like the self-proclaimed Führer.

"And yes, you'll get back destroyed ships like your prized Bismarck or Admiral Graf Spee," she continued and floated a blank cube into his hands, fighting to remain expressionless at least until the meeting was finished. After all, he was too easy to manipulate and she knew that if the right words were spoken, he'll destroy any last chance of Azur Lane coming back together.

And Purifier's failure at destroying that last standing human base near Eagle Union's western coast, before they somehow summoned Code G out of all possible things, only served her at finding a very good reason why she should do that, because unified humanity armed with Ashes would spell doom to their efforts far too early. Or what at least she thought they were. After all, Observer Zero and the Empress III never divulged the whole plan.


The sea was burning, dead bodies of humans all around her. But, she wasn't the only one alive in this nightmare. There was someone else, but they were obscured by the shadows cast by the fires and the fact that it was midnight there as well.

Then, they turned and she was shocked to see her own face staring at her, cold as a stone.

"You are me and I am you. There will be a time when you'll hurt and lose your close ones. All because war never changes."

But, before she could say something back, the dream ended by her being swallowed by the fires.

Enterprise woke with a gasp, but somehow also felt… better? It was as if someone fixed the overtaxed boilers and all leaky joints, while she was asleep. And also, she couldn't remember just what she was dreaming about only a few moments ago. It felt… refreshing for her.

And then, she turned to the left and saw that the door was opened, allowing her to see a part of a wreck of a ship, which also made her heart ache for unknown reason, until her mind supplied the name of the vessel.

Vestal… she thought, her consciousness filling with information about the vessel by a sudden headache, making the heartache even worse, because she lost her best friend even before she manifested. But, that only made her think about how she was a weapon and not a human, so it would be okay to die in a battle, if it gets humanity closer to victory.

She then slowly rose from her bed and walked out from the building, only to be bumped into by a small girl that she had never seen before. But, before she could do anything, the girl jumped back on her feet and saluted her, a giant multitool device in her right hand.

"Your ship is fully repaired and in perfect condition, Buli!"

And then she ran off to a nearly sunk ship, next to which was standing the commander and a woman in a lab coat, both engaged in a conversation about something and she saw that the commander held a pair of glowing cubes of some sort in his hand, the other survivors just passing them by and some even greeting Enterprise as if she was their lifelong friend.

I'll send a few fighters to scout the area for possible targets to attack, she decided after a while and willed several F4Fs into existence, before giving them order to scout for hostiles located around the base, accidentally making the fighters go a bit faster than was needed for takeoff.

And it also seemed to break the argument between the two humans, which was to be expected, since she had the only fighters in the entire base. And that was only because the rest was destroyed in the previous Siren attack. Much like me and Vestal, with Arizona, as the only remaining wreck from the battle before we were hit by the Sirens, that is too stubborn to sink.

And with a final sigh, she turned her full attention to scouting around the base.


Somewhere near Japan

Observer Alpha smirked as she implanted false memories into the minds of every single subject that she created from the Sakura empire's ships, so they'll have an easier time allying themselves with her. After all, she'll need all the help to deal with Ash herself, if Purifier was indeed speaking the truth and the pesky Union commander managed to summon her.

But then, her smirk even deepened, when she noticed the rage emanating from the one known as "Akagi" for "losing her beloved sister 'Amagi' to the Union bastards" as it showed that she would carry any order just to bring her back. Oh, I'll have fun observing this one, she thought and moved to the next one in line. This one looked like Akagi, but had blue eyes white hair, fox ears, tails and a blue and white kimono, instead of red eyes, brown hair, fox ears, tails and black and red kimono.

Observer felt only love from this one. Love for her angry "sister" Akagi. And she was willing to not mess with that, because this "Kaga" wouldn't otherwise follow Akagi like a mindless follower.

But then, she noticed something out from the corner of her eye and turned quickly, seeing about a dozen of former IJN sailors walking by, not even noticing what she was doing, thanks to the mirror reality she created. They looked like they were searching for something and Observer would've dismissed them as a bunch of men going to be turned into their willing workers, if she didn't notice the white headband and armband with a red circle on them.

They're some of those still loyal to their deceased emperor, she thought, remembering how she killed the fool after he refused to work with the Empress III, even ordering his guards to kill her. And that was the final mistake of Hirohito. After all, he and his guards were no match for her plasma cannons.

"Lurker, we have a gathering of the Suns near my position. Deal with them," she said calmly to her rigging's "communication device" and waited for the result, not noticing that two of the subjects somehow woke up and sneaked away from the mirror dimension, both of them sad that they had to leave their sisters there.

"I have destroyed most of the pests, but ten of them escaped. They are going to the docks," Lurker finally reported and Observer Alpha paled, when she noticed that the mirror dimension reported that there were two lifeforms missing.

"Purifier! There are two rogue subjects and ten rogue humans! The subjects are: one Queen-type and one Bishop-type," she shouted and quickly finished her work on the remaining subject, before cancelling the mirror dimension.


If there was something that Enterprise didn't expect, it was finding an Union destroyer in pristine condition, anchored near one of the Siren patrols right behind one of the smaller islands around the base. And there was someone on board, because she received the SOS distress signal in Morse code as her F4F flew by… before being shot down by an enemy CL.

But the DD was crewless as the fighter reported to her, so why did it do it? I should notify the commander about this, she decided and turned, only to see the commander standing right next to her, an unasked question in his eyes.

"There is a single seemingly abandoned Union DD surrounded by several Siren ships, about 2 NM south, sir!" she reported and noticed the surprise in his eyes at the information. It was as if he didn't expect that kind of report to reach his ears at all.

"How many main guns does it have? And can you tell the class?" he asked and Enterprise raked in her memory, searching for the correct answer to that question, which was not that easy as she thought it would be.

"5 single 127mm Dual purpose guns, most likely a Mahan-class," she said after a while and the commander nodded at that, before turning to one of the marines that were nearby.

"Call everyone, but the nurses to the mess hall. We have a new mission to do," he commanded and Enterprise silently followed him to the mess hall, knowing that her presence there would be needed.


Nishiyama Toichi dodged yet another attack from the Sirens as he led the group of his nine friends from the Navy towards the docks, where the Atago was docked. They were running to the cruiser, because they were her last sailors alive who knew somewhat how to make her sail for larger distances than a simple dock patrol. And the fact that she would be undermanned, if they even manage to get her going, didn't bother them at all. They needed to escape.

"Stop dodging, pests!" the one known as Lurker shouted and Toichi dodged to the left, a bolt of light barely missing him. And while he knew that running away was not the way to regain his honor, he also had enough common sense to save his own life to fight another day, unlike those charging idiots from the Infantry.

"She is just a few more turns away! We'll make it!" he shouted as he remembered where he was and a newfound rush of energy flooded his senses. They were so close to freedom from those slavers and yet so far…

Suddenly, another Siren jumped from one of the warehouses and blocked their path, a sadistic smile aimed at them and unnatural yellow eyes shining with excitement.

"Purifier! What are you doing here?!" Lurker shouted in frustration, shifting just enough to hit both the humans and her fellow Siren for interrupting her own work.

"Observer Alpha sent me to clear this mess, while she is observing it and sitting on her lazy ass," the one called Purifier answered with an equally loud voice and soon, they seemingly forgot about the men they were sent to hunt down, focusing instead on insulting each other.

Now's the perfect time! Toichi thought and turned to his friends, before nodding towards the field trumpet that Hayato Akahito managed to save from Lurker's wrath, making the man smile as he slowly brought it to his lips, waiting for the right moment to blow.

"Banzai!" Toichi suddenly shouted and Akahito blew the well-known tune as the ten men charged the Purifier, bayonets pointed at her gut, surprising not only the two Sirens and catching them off-guard, but also alerting two women, that were passing by, about humans facing an enemy they are practically unable to beat, one of them raising a flute to her mouth and whistling a tune.

And then, Toichi, as well as everyone else saw a miniature Zero Model 21 suddenly appear and attack the Purifier from behind, forcing her to dodge and free the way for the humans to escape through as they dropped their "suicidal charge" act and ran to the docks, unknowingly passing by their savior and her companion, who soon followed, but not before sending three more Zero fighters to distract the Sirens for a little bit longer.


Atago was shocked, when she realized that the ten men from earlier were in fact the last sailors alive that served on her, until about a month ago, due to the Sirens taking control over Sakura empire and disbanding the Army and Navy. But that also was not what her memories were telling her. According to them, Sakura empire was always without humans and the only human left alive was in charge of something called Azur Lane - a sworn enemy of the empire.

"I think the Sirens were messing with our minds, Shoukaku-san," she said as she fought the incoming headache from overwhelming her, her carrier companion only nodding as she most likely had an even worse headache than her, both of them somehow managing to board her ship, Shoukaku turning hers into a rigging and sitting down next to a turret, while Atago gave her a short hug and a full waterskin, made her ship move and continued walking to her bridge, knowing that she'll find the men there.

I should be careful when talking with them, she thought as she reached the lower end of the flight of stairs that separated them.


"Someone's coming upstairs," Akahito reported when they were just halfway towards the exit from the port, startling everyone, as they didn't expect someone to follow them to the Atago.

"Prepare to fight. Just in case the intruder is a Siren," Toichi ordered just as the door opened and a breathtaking woman walked in. She looked like a female Navy officer with a few medals to her name, black hair, brown eyes… and are those dog ears?!

Are they the real deal? Toichi thought and didn't need to read minds to know that his friends thought the very same thing, but he quickly regained his composure, not trusting the possible Siren in disguise.

"Who are you?!" he demanded to know, his Type 99 rifle - that he grabbed as he ran away from Lurker - aimed at her head, only to be pulled into a hug by her a moment later, the rifle falling from his hands on the floor. And was she… crying as well?!

"I am glad that at least you survived," she said between sobs and a small voice suddenly appeared in the back of Toichi's consciousness, spouting impossible nonsense, but after seeing how the Sirens were willing to kill them off, he was inclined to believe it.

"You're… Atago?!" he said weakly, unsure if his guess was correct,only for the hug to tighten for a second, before she released him and smiled as she nodded in response, surprising all humans in the room by equal measure.

"I am and I brought Shoukaku-san with me. She is resting near the rearmost turret," she said and Toichi then remembered that miniature Zero from earlier and running past both Atago and a white-haired woman in a white kimono with wing-like sleeve design and a flute in her hand.

"And where are we going?" he asked her, noticing that the Atago moved in a zigzag even without them doing something.

"Pearl Harbor. There might be someone that the Sirens want dead," she responded and Toichi's memories supplied a map of the Union naval base he had seen almost a year ago and Lurker mentioning something about something called "Code G" earlier, when she and Purifier were busy shouting at each other.

"It is the only option anyway, since Sirens control the entire empire," Koyama Hideo supplied as he looked up from the map of the Pacific that he always had on him, marking Siren territory with a demon's head and Pearl Harbor with a stylized drawing of an eagle.

"I'll go get Shoukaku-san inside, just to be sure that she is okay," Atago announced and left the bridge, leaving the ten men wondering about what would happen in the next few days, until they reach their destination.