"Observer Alpha! One of our spy planes saw something interesting! It has to do with your new toy," the Siren, Purifier, shouted to an annoyed looking Observer Alpha. However as soon as she heard it had to do with the human, she perked up.

She brought up the feed to one of her screens and a devilish smile spread across her face. She was using a rigging! She was a human and she was using a rigging! What kind of monster was this woman? Humans aren't supposed to be able to use rigging.

"Oh? I see what's happening here now. Have we found Her?" She pondered aloud. Technically when meeting Her, they were supposed to report it to Observer Zero. But Alpha wanted a chance at the woman first. Maybe she could push her over the edge all on her own.

"Her? That woman is Her? Oh this is going to be so much fun Observer Alpha! Can we run that simulation this time?" Purifier asked in a sickeningly sweet voice. Alpha smiled, that was one of the first good ideas Purifier had in a long time.

She smirked and said, "Simulation Ai? Well Purifier, I think that is actually a perfect idea. You will run the operation, and this time, no need to hold back. You are free to engage." She turned back to her screen as the other Siren sailed off, excited for the coming destruction.

"You'll have to dance better my pet if you want to survive what Purifier has in store for you. But, if you do survive, I'll know you're the one. I'll know you're Her," she cooed, shuddering in anticipation.


The next morning Nanami woke up before the others, and though the softness that surrounded her tempted her back to sleep, she gently got out of bed. Both Enterprise and Amagi's faces scrunched up once she was free, and they closed the gap between them to hug one another.

Gods help me, Nanami thought, really wishing she had not got up. But this time she wanted to do something for the pair of them, so she went to the kitchen and began to make omelets with the ingredients Amagi had brought over. When she first opened the fridge, she was amazed. It was full. Between Amagi and Akagi, she had a full cupboard.

As she neared the end of making the omelets, she was thinking about waking up the other two when they both blearily walked in. Nanami had steeped some black tea and made coffee for Amagi and Enterprise respectively and sat their cups down at their plates.

"Good morning ladies," she said, smiling at the sight of them waiting for her. Nanami was filled with an emotion she couldn't quite place. It was warm, like happiness, but it was so much more comforting. She quickly shook her head, ignoring the emotion, and took her place at the table. Despite this, it was still there.

"Morning Nanami," they said in near sleepy unison. Seeing that there was likely not going to be a conversation this morning, Nanami said her table prayer and began eating. Once breakfast was over, they were all significantly more energetic, and they prepared for work in good moods all around.

The three of them entered to office together to see Shoukaku and Essex already there. Shoukaku was getting off the radio right as they arrived.

"Good morning Commander! Shoukaku reporting as ordered. Before we begin this morning, we just received word that the Iron Blood, Vichya, and Sardegna delegation will be arriving next week ahead of the main force. Their main force will arrive two weeks later," Shoukaku informed Nanami. Essex meanwhile was pulling out folders from the dossier cabinet. She laid them out on the desk for Nanami to view.

"Thank you Shoukaku for the update. Essex, thank you for getting out the files. And good morning to you both," Nanami replied calmly. However, she couldn't stop the small smile that crept across her face at the sight of Shoukaku working.

Sitting at her desk she reviewed the dossiers of the representatives that would be arriving. From Iron Blood there was a destroyer, Z23 and a battleship, Tirpitz. The Vichya forces were sending the battlecruiser Dunkerque, and Sardegna had sent the heavy cruiser Zara. Again Nanami was struck by the beauty of each girl. She also go the feeling from her picture that Z23 was more like Laffey, more grown up than the Mutsuki-class.

She thought back on her knowledge of military history to determine if there would be any problematic interactions. At least the Iron Blood were not sending Bismarck. Though that was probably because she needed to run the fleet.

When the rest of the Royal fleet arrived, there could possibly be an issue with Warspite and Zara, but she didn't know either of their temperaments. If either was especially combative or competitive, there might be something there. Then there was Dunkerque. Hood led the raid that forced her out of commission, would she be a problem?

She read into the dossiers further for both Zara and Dunkerque. Their psychological and personality evaluations were glowing. It seems that she had been worried about nothing. Still, she would watch them as they interacted. It seemed that some of them put more stock in what happened in the past than others.

With all of this decided, she settled into work, and the rest of the week that followed was a whirlwind of activity for Nanami. Every day went much the same, she had work of course, but she also had etiquette lessons with Hood during lunch. Some days they took a short walk before she had to go back to work and Hood always kept her on her toes, something that Nanami appreciated.

After returning to work in the afternoon, she would go to exercises, and then back home with Enterprise to a waiting Amagi. The pair didn't stay every night, but most nights the three of them slept together in her bed. This drew Nanami close to temptation on more than one occasion, however she managed to keep herself under control.

During this week, she luckily did not suffer from any visions, dreamwalking, or nightmares. In fact, due to her efforts in keeping her emotions in check, she seemed to return to her normal, cool-headed self.

She also visited Hibiki on one occassion. The little destroyer was feeling much better, but was still injured and still in the infirmary. Seeing the sight of the girl in the bed all bandaged up nearly brought her blood to a boil again, but Hibiki reached out and grabbed her hand. This helped ground her and brought her emotions in check.

Finally there was the warehouse. Every time she walked past the warehouse, she was tempted to go to it. She also felt a fear that kept her away from it, and the fear ultimately won out every time. She gave that door a wide berth, fearing what might happen if she were to speak to the voice once more.

When Monday came around Nanami had gathered the welcoming party at the docks to greet the delegation that was arriving. With her was Hood, Émile Bertin, Shoukaku, Amagi, Enterprise, and Takao.

As the delegation arrived, Nanami noted that the rigging of the Iron Blood ships looked very unique when compared to the riggings she had seen so far. They also felt vaguely familiar. Like the presence of an old friend. Then as they got closer, she noticed the rigging seemed to move on its own, opening and closing mouths at the prows. She would have to ask them about that later. However, if you went by size, Dunkerque's rigging was most impressive.

"Good morning ladies. I am Commander Nanami Winters, Commanding Officer of the Azur Lane joint fleet initiative. I have been looking forward to meeting you all," Nanami greeted the group in front of her. Then she allowed the rest of the women in her command to introduce themselves. Takao took special pleasure in introducing herself as her Commander's bodyguard.

"It is quite warm in the spring here...ah, sorry. Greetings Commander, I am Tirpitz. Some called me the Lone Queen in the North, please do not call me that. This is my aide, Z23. We represent the will of the Iron Blood by command of my sister, Bismarck," Tirpitz returned the greeting, though absentmindedly at first. She had much the same look on her face that Nanami frequently had on hers, one of emotional neutrality.

Nanami nodded and before the others could introduce themselves replied, "Some have called me Ice Queen in the past. Please do not call me that." A wry smile played across her lips as she turned to the other two representatives.

"Guten Tag, Commander. As Tirpitz says, I am the eldest sister of the 1936A-class destroyers, Z23," the destroyer introduced herself. Though she was small, she was very clearly more responsible than the Mutsuki-class destroyers. She seemed more like a older teen than a young child, even if she had the body of a middle-schooler.

"Ciao Commander. I am Zara, first of the Zara-class heavy cruisers, and formerly flagship of my squadron during the war until that night on Cape Matapan..." Zara trailed off, looking into the distance. Nanami realized she might need to talk with Zara about the past if she were to come to terms with it in a more satisfactory manner.

"I am Dunkerque, 1st Division of the Line of the Vichya Dominion. Lady Hood knows how that ended during the war. However, that is in the past. The day we all can stand together has come at last. It is an honor to be here, please allow me to join your magnificent fleet," Dunkerque introduced herself and before Nanami could answer, Émile Bertin lightly moved across the distance between her and Dunkerque.

"My dear Dunkerque! Oh how I have missed you," the cruiser stated, hugging the larger woman tight.

"And I have missed you as well Émile! What shall I make in celebration of our reunion? Mont Blanc? Macarons?" Dunkerque asked, tears of happiness in her eyes at the warm greeting from her friend.

Seeing the pair have a touching reunion made Nanami yearn for that type of connection with someone, but she buried those feelings to focus on the task at hand.

"Shoukaku please go ahead and inform Belfast we will be using the large conference room to hold our meeting,"

"Yes ma'am!" With a bow, Shoukaku left at a quickened pace

"Commander, before we head onto the office, may we pass by our dorm. We must drop our riggings off," Tirpitz requested a detour from the Commander. She was more than willing to give it, but was curious as to the reason.

So Nanami asked, "Can you not just disperse them like the others?" When she asked this, Tirpitz's rigging moved, seemingly on its own. It looked as if it recoiled away from Nanami at her suggestion.

"We can discuss it later, in private, but if you knew more about our rigging, you would know what a cruel question you just asked," Tirpitz explained vaguely. Nanami was excessively curious now.

"I hate to keep you all waiting, but please follow Amagi and Enterprise to the office. I will show the Iron Blood pair to their dorm," Nanami gave a clear order, and though there was a moment of hesitation from Amagi and Enterprise, they followed it. Nanami decided she would have to talk to them later about that. They couldn't afford hesitation like that in battle.

With the group headed to the office, Nanami turned back to the Iron Blood women, "Shall we?" Tirpitz and Z23 both bowed their heads and began following Nanami. For a short while, Nanami did not speak, instead letting silence envelop them.

When she finally spoke, it was a calculated question, "Has the Iron Blood fleet been experimenting?"

"Yes Commander. You likely know exactly what we are experimenting on," Tirpitz replied decisively. Nanami turned and stopped in front of the dorms.

"The Admiralty in the Union will not be happy about that. I do not know why though. Most of the world's technological advancements in the last decade have come from experimenting on their tech," Nanami warned the battleship.

Tirpitz nodded and requested, "We...before we speak on this, we wish to explain our rigging, then we can give you an answer that is hopefully satisfactory. Is that alright with you Commander?"

"I have no objections, but let us head inside first. That way there are fewer potential prying eyes and listening ears," Nanami answered, motioning for them to follow her into the building.

Once inside, both Z23 and Tirpitz immediately began taking off their rigging, and suddenly they began moving on their own. Tirpitz's rigging came up to Nanami and, like an animal, looked like it was sniffing her. She reached out a hand to touch the rigging. As Tirpitz was about to warn her not to, it nuzzled her hand, and both the Iron Blood girls were stunned. These riggings very rarely got along with anyone other than their partner.

"Commander, that was quite extraordinary. I can already see why you are in this position. These are our bio-mechanical riggings. You can see the influence from studying and experimenting on the Sirens, no?" Tirpitz explained to the Commander as she pet the rigging.

"Interesting. Yes, these are quite impressive. I can now see why you said my question was cruel," she admitted, before turning to the rigging and nuzzling it, "Yes dear, I am sorry I said such a thing about you." Seeing this interaction, Tirpitz felt her cheeks warm a little, a reaction she found interesting, as it had never happened to her before. She squirmed slightly knowing what she was about to talk to the Commander about.

"Can I be honest with you Commander? Can I speak to you in your role as the head of Azur Lane, not an Eagle Union Commander?" She asked as Z23 took the riggings to a separate room.

"My former allegiances were severed when I was placed in command here. I am dedicated to Azur Lane and Azur Lane only now," Nanami stated coolly. Though she still had ties in the Admiralty with her uncle, it was clear that he was keeping things from her.

Satisfied with her response, Tirpitz explained"We believe the scientists of the Eagle Union did something far too bold when they first began experimenting with the Siren tech back near the beginning of this conflict. We believe they undertook a project far more advanced than simply creating bio-mechanical rigging, and hid it away." Nanami nodded in understanding, but something bothered her, so she voiced the question hanging in the air.

"Why did they stop if they uncovered something as potentially game-changing as that?" Nanami asked.

Tirpitz looked grim when she responded, "Because whatever they found...it terrified them."


A/N: Thank you all for the responses on the last chapter! I have been writing to keep my mind off my mind the past couple days, so here is the result! The Iron Blood have finally arrived! You will have to wait for the rest of them though!

Again, thank you for all the responses!